L'Usurpateur. English
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE HIGH-PRIESTESS OF THE SUN.
The earliest temple to Ten-Sio-Dai-Tsin is situated in the provinceof Ise, and is bathed by the waves of the Pacific Ocean. Accordingto sacred legend, the Goddess Sun was born upon the very site of thetemple.
Here antique tradition and vague legends of a bygone age arereligiously preserved by the priests, who meditate upon the deepmeaning of their symbolism.
In the mysterious time before the world existed, the confusedassemblage of elements floated in space. That which afterwards becameearth, that which became the heavens, was then mingled together as theyolk and the white are blended in the embryo egg.
But three immaterial gods arose,--the Supreme God, the Creator ofSouls, and the Creator of Matter; and chaos ceased. The heavy andopaque bodies were gathered together, and formed the earth; the lightand subtile portions rose, and became the heavens.
Soon from the soft and slimy mass constituting the earth arose, amongthe floating fogs, a half-open, velvety flower, bearing in its cup thenascent Reed God. He brooded for countless years over the infant world.The Spirit of the Waters came after him, and reigned for a thousandmillion years.
During these immeasurable periods of time one god succeeded to anotherin heaven, until the seventh of the divine dynasties ruled in theinvisible ether.
One day, from the height of a bridge that spanned the clouds, the GodIza-Na-Gi and his companion, Iza-Na-Mi, looked down upon the earth.
"I see nothing but an immense expanse of waters," said the God.
He stirred the surface of the sea with his jewel-tipped spear; the mudand ooze bubbled, rose, and spread over the waters. Thus the primitiveisland of Japan was formed. Soon it was covered with vegetation; it waspeopled with birds and beasts, and became so attractive that Iza-Na-Giand his companion descended and came to dwell there. The birds taughtthem love, and the Sun-Goddess was born; then the divine couple gavebirth to the Spirits of the Wind, the Rain, and the Volcano; to theMoon God, "who gazes through the darkness of night;" and finally to thefirst men, whose posterity peopled the island. Then the creators ofJapan re-ascended to heaven, confiding the government of the world totheir beloved daughter, the Sun-Goddess.
All the subjects of the bright divinity are bound, at least once intheir lifetime, to make a pilgrimage to her temple at Naikou, to purifytheir souls. Therefore that city is always thronged with pilgrimscoming and going,--some in norimonos or on horseback; others,--andthese are more meritorious,--on foot, carrying a straw mat which servesas bed, and a long wooden spoon, to dip water from the roadside stream.
The temple is of the utmost simplicity of construction. It is a smallstructure, open on one side, surmounted by a broad thatched roof,surrounded by hundred-year-old cedars, and preceded at the distance oftwenty paces by a tory, or sacred gateway, composed of two tall postsleaning slightly together, and united at the top by two crossbeams,the uppermost being arched upwards at the ends. The temple containsnothing but a large round mirror of polished metal,--symbol of purityand perspicacity.
Opposite this mirror, upon the few wooden steps leading to the temple,the Prince of Nagato knelt at the moment appointed by the Kisaki. Itwas already night; the moon had risen, and its light, broken by thethick screen of leaves and branches, fell upon the ground. Solitudereigned around the temple; the priests had returned to the sumptuouspagodas adjacent to this rustic monument of the earliest ages; thepilgrims had departed; nothing was to be heard but the low rustle ofthe cedars in the wind.
The Prince listened. Involuntarily impressed by the sanctity of thespot, the night seemed strangely solemn to him. The silence wassomewhat menacing; the shade of the cedars was hostile; the azureeye of the moon seemed to weep upon his upturned face. Why did suchunspeakable agony oppress his soul? What was he about to hear? Why wasthe Queen at Naikou, instead of at her palace? A hundred times he askedhimself these questions, which he could not answer.
At last he felt a light touch on his shoulder; he rose; a young bonzestood beside him; he walked away without a word. Nagato followed.
They traversed bamboo groves, avenues of cedars, and reached a broadstone staircase, rising between two slopes, upon which the moon casta snowy light; they climbed these stairs, leading to the terrace ofa high pagoda, whose pointed roof, narrow as an inverted lily, wasterminated by a slender spire.
The young bonze paused, signed to Nagato to remain where he was, andretired. The Prince then saw a white form issuing from the pagoda andadvancing towards him from the shadow of the roof. The light of themoon struck full upon it, and he recognized the Kisaki. She was clad ina long sleeveless tunic of white silk, over a garment of cloth of gold.It was the dross of the high-priestess of the Sun.
"Queen!" cried the Prince, springing toward her, "am I the victim of adream? That dress--"
"Is henceforth mine, Iwakura," said she. "I have laid aside my crown; Ihave drawn nearer to Heaven. Still, from a last feeling of weakness, Iwanted to see you once more, to bid you farewell for ever."
"Ah! perjured one!" exclaimed the Prince; "so this is the way you keepyour promises!"
"Come," said the Queen, "the night is mild; let us leave this exposedplace."
They entered a long path bordered with bushes and filled with silverymists.
"Listen," said she; "and do not condemn me unheard. Many things havehappened since you left Kioto. Know, friend, that on the day,--therecollection of which still charms me against my will,--the day onwhich you saved me, and we talked together so long, sitting beneath abush, a man was listening to all we said."
"Impossible!" cried the Prince, in alarm.
"It is true; he who carried me off, instead of escaping, returned andoverheard us. He was a spy of Hieyas. That perfidious wretch knew howto profit by the secret which his servant discovered; he revealed itto the Mikado. At first the Son of the Gods was incredulous; he wasfilled with indignation against the infamous villain who stained theland with blood. But by skilful wiles Hieyas contrived to change thesentiments of the Mikado, and to win his confidence. He cited, as aproof of our guilty understanding, your devotion and heroic conduct atthe time of the attack on Kioto. Then the Son of the Gods called me tohim, and when I stood before him he handed me a paper upon which ourconversation was reported, but perverted and made infamous. Falsehoodnever stained my lips. I proudly owned that my heart was yours, thoughnever while I lived should I have cause to blush for my deeds. Butafter this confession I could no longer remain at the Dairi. Thehigh-priestess of Ten-Sio-Dai-Tsin had died some time previous. Shewas my husband's sister. I asked permission to fill her sacred office,desiring to end my life in retreat. The Mikado at once sent me thetitle that I craved, and a few days later married the granddaughter ofHieyas,--a child of fifteen."
"Oh, grief!" exclaimed the Prince, falling at the Queen's feet. "Formy sake, you have descended from your throne; you have left thepalace of your ancestors, to kneel, sad and alone, in the shade of atemple,--you, the smiling divinity whom a whole nation adored."
"I shall love this solitude, Iwakura," said she. "Here at least I amfree; I am delivered from the affection of a husband whom I did notlove, although he was a god. My thoughts shall be wholly yours."
"Why will you not fly with me? Have we not suffered enough? You loveme, and I only breathe because you are on this earth. Why should wetorture ourselves thus? Come! Let us exile ourselves! You are mycountry; my world is the spot where your feet rest! What do we care forwhat the gossips say? The celestial music of our love will drown theirdespicable voices. What does the bird who soars aloft, intoxicated withlight, care for the hiss of the reptiles writhing in the swampy mire?"
"Hush, friend!" said she; "do not make me repent my wish to see youonce more."
"Why will you not hear me? why are you so merciless, so cruel? If yourhusband has taken another wife, you are free."
"No, Prince, I have not fallen so low; the Mikado has added one more tothe number of his wives, but he has not raised her to the rank
whichI held. I am his equal, and he is still my lord and master. If I werereally free, despite the blame I might incur, I would drain the nuptialcup with you, and I would live wherever you liked."
"Ah! I will kill the man who parts us!" cried the Prince, whose mindbegan to wander.
"Silence, Iwakura!" said the Queen, in a grave voice. "Behold the dressI wear; think what I am. Henceforth I belong to this world no more;its fevers, its follies can touch me no longer. Purified by the divineflame of the Sun, I must meditate upon her mysterious and creativeessence, become absorbed in her splendor, let her rays penetrate mybeing, identify myself with her light, and become as pure as she, untilthe day when my soul shall fly hence and receive its merited reward."
"Forgive me!" said the Prince. "What matters one man's despair? I wasmad to entreat you. See, I am calm now,--calm as the dead in theirtombs. Forgive me for offending your ears by my too human words."
"I have power to pardon you now," said she; "and I absolve you with allmy soul. Rise, friend! we must part."
They retraced their steps. At the end of this path, bathed in diffusedlight, all would be over for them; they must part to meet no more.Involuntarily the high-priestess slackened her pace. The Prince'ssudden calm terrified her; she felt assured that it was the result ofan irrevocable resolve. He was silent, and gazed at her with a peacefulexpression.
"He means to die," thought she. But she felt that nothing she might saywould shake him in his determination.
They had reached the end of the garden-walk, and advanced along theterrace.
"Farewell!" said she.
As she uttered the word, her heart seemed to break within her; she wason the point of falling into the Prince's arms, exclaiming: "Take me;let us go where you will!"
"Farewell!" he whispered; "do not forget that you have given me yourtryst on the threshold of another life."
She fled with a sob. As she reached the pagoda, she turned back forthe last time. She seemed some super-natural being, standing in themoonlight, in her robe of gold, which glittered beneath her silk tunic,white as her face. Iwakura stretched out his arms to her; but thehigh-priestess of the Sun vanished in the darkness, which wrapped herround and hid her forever.