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Public announcements are usually written upon small wooden tablets attached to a post; and in the country such announcements are still set up just as suggested in the ballad. Now three or four months after the stepmother of Shuntoku had thus invoked evil upon him he became very sick. Then that stepmother secretly rejoiced.
And the wicked stepmother, following, cried out: "As your father has commanded, you must go away at once, Shuntoku." Shuntoku answered: "See, I have not even a traveling-dress. A pilgrim's gown and leggings I ought to have, and a pilgrim's wallet for begging." At hearing these words, the wicked stepmother was glad; and she at once gave him all that he required.
But presently Shuntoku, giving way to the excitement of his grief, cried out to Otohime: "A malediction has been laid upon me by my stepmother, and my appearance has been changed, as you see. "Therefore never can I be united to you as your husband. Even as I now am, so must I remain until I fester to death. "And so you must go beck home at once, and live in happiness and splendor."
And he made the picture in a very little time. It was much like Shuntoku-maru; and the woman rejoiced as she departed. With that picture of Shuntoku she hastened to Kiyomidzu; and she pasted the picture upon one of the pillars in the rear of the temple. And with forty-seven out of the forty-nine nails she nailed the picture to the pillar; and with the two remaining nails she nailed the eyes.
Since we are bidden to your august house to relate a story, we shall relate the story of Shuntoku. Surely there once lived, in the Province of Kawachi, a very rich man called Nobuyoshi. And his eldest son was called Shuntoku-maru. When Shuntoku-maru, that eldest son, was only three years old, his mother died. And when he was five years old, there was given to him a stepmother.
Together they sought an inn, and there laid aside their pilgrim-dresses, and put on fresh robes, and hired kago and carriers to bear them home. Reaching the house of his father, Shuntoku cried out: "Honored parents, I have returned to you! By virtue of the written charm upon the sacred tablet, I have been healed of my sickness, as you may see. Is all well with you, honored parents?"
Gazing on the girl, Shuntoku fell in love with her. And the two exchanged looks and letters of love. All this was told to the stepmother of Shuntoku by a servant that was a flatterer.
Astonished at hearing the voice of his sweet-heart, Shuntoku rose up quickly, and cried out: "Oh! are you really Otohime? It is a long time since we last met but this is so strange! Is it not all a lie?" And then, stroking each other, they could only cry, instead of speaking.
Otohime answered: "Neither horse nor kago do I need, nor any servant; I need only the dress of a pilgrim, leggings and gown, and a mendicant's wallet." For Otohime held it her duty to set out by herself all alone, just as Shuntoku had done. So she left home, saying farewell to her parents, with eyes full of tears: scarcely could she find voice to utter the word "good-by."
Then, having filled her sleeves with stones, she was about to leap into the water, when there appeared suddenly before her a venerable man of seemingly not less than eighty years, robed all in white, and bearing a tablet in his hand. And the aged man said to her: "Be not thus in haste to die, Otohime! Shuntoku whom you seek is at Kiyomidzu San: go thither and meet him."
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