36. Story of the Woman Akawi-ko

1Again once when the Heavenly Sovereign, going out for amusement, reached the River Miwa, there was a girl, whose aspect was very beautiful, washing clothes by the river-side. The Heavenly Sovereign asked the girl, [saying]: “Whose child art thou?” She replied, saying: “My name is Akawi-ko of the Hiketa Tribe.” Then he caused her to be told, saying: “Do not thou marry a husband. I will send for thee,”—and [with these words] he returned to the palace. So eighty years had already passed while she reverently awaited the Heavenly Sovereign’s commands. Thereupon Akawi-ko thought: “As, while looking for the [Imperial] commands, I have already passed many years, and as my face and form are lean and withered, there is no longer any hope. Nevertheless, if I do not show [the Heavenly Sovereign] how truly I have waited, my disappointment will be unbearable;”—and [so saying] she caused merchandise to be carried on tables holding an hundred, and came forth and presented [these gifts as] tribute. Thereat the Heavenly Sovereign, who had quite forgotten what he had formerly commanded, asked Akawi-ko, saying: “What old woman art thou, and why art thou come hither?” Then Akawiko replied, saying: “Having in such and such a month of such and such a year received the Heavenly Sovereign’s commands, I have been reverently awaiting the great command until this day, and eighty years have past by. Now my appearance is quite decrepit, and there is no longer any hope. Nevertheless I have come forth in order to show and declare my faithfulness.” Thereupon the Heavenly Sovereign was greatly startled [,and exclaimed]: “I had quite forgotten the former circumstance; and thou meanwhile, ever faithfully awaiting my commands, hast vainly let pass by the years of thy prime. This is very pitiful.” In his heart he wished to marry her, but shrank from her extreme age, and could not make the marriage; but he conferred on her an august Song. That Song said:

2“How awful is the sacred oak-tree, the oak-tree of the august dwelling! Maiden of the oak-plain!”

3“The younger chestnut orchard plain of Hiketa:—o si dormivissen cum illâ in juventâ! Oh! how old she has become!”

4Then the tears that Akawi-ko wept quite drenched the red-dyed sleeve that she had on. In reply to the great august Song, she sang, saying:

5“Left over from the piling up of the jewel-wall piled up round the august dwelling,—to whom shall the person of the Deity’s temple go?”

6“Oh! how enviable is she who is in her bloom like the flowering lotus,—the lotus of the inlet, of the inlet of Kusaka.”

7Then the old woman was sent back plentifully endowed. So these four Songs are Quiet Songs.