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Updated: May 28, 2025
First there was Umè at the willow; then Tatsu, in the same place, taking his mad plunge for death's oblivion; Umè, the hooded acolyte, kneeling in the sick chamber at the head of her husband's bed; Umè, the nun, standing each day at twilight on the edge of the temple cliff to catch a glimpse of him she loved; and, at the last, Tatsu and Umè rejoined beside the tomb of Kano Uta-ko.
Umè herself had not known of it until that first instant when, now three weeks ago, a strange young face, hung about with shadows, had peered into her father's gate. With the first sound of his voice, she had entered in, had knelt before a shrine whereon, wrapped in fire, a Secret lay.
In the darker alleys the couple walked side by side. Umè, at times, even rested a small hand on her husband's sleeve. In the broad, well-lighted thoroughfares he strode on some paces in advance while Umè followed, in decorous humility, as a good wife should. Few words passed between them. The incident at the willow tree had left a gloomy aftermath of thought.
He says you are his already. Oh, he is strange and wild, this youth. There are no reins to hold him, but he is a painter!" A grunt of derision came from the kitchen wall. Umè sat motionless, but her face was growing very pale. "Well," said her father with impatience, "do you agree? And what is the earliest possible date?" "I must consult with Mata," whispered the girl. "She listens at the crack.
A term regularly used of the great Malaki, and combining the sense of "all-wise" and "invincible." Matulus is often used with a connotation of having magical power. See footnote 3, p. 15, also 3, p. 16. The number sacred in ceremonial and song. See footnote 2, p. 16. Visayan word for rice growing in the field; Bagobo, 'ume. The long sword of the Moro, with a wavy, two-edged blade.
Could it be true, as the old priest said, that her soul continually hovered near, waiting only for him to give it recognition? "Umè, Umè, my wife! Come back to me!" he cried aloud in an agony so great that it should drag her backward through that dark shadow-world, not only the phantom of what she was, but Umè-ko herself, with the flower-like body, and the smile of light.
I only wish to be alone. Ah, nurse, you have always spoiled me, give me my way." Mata went off grumbling. She wished that Umè had shown a more natural indignation. The hot bath, however, notwithstanding Kano's five lost years of pain presumably in solution, brought her ease of body, as did the soothing potion, ease of mind.
She then wiped her arm on her apron and went to the threshold of the guest-room to inform the waiting occupant. "In ten minutes more, without fail, the water will be at right heat for your augustness." Now, in the kitchen, a great searching among jars and boxes on high shelves told of preparation for the occasional brew. Again she thought of calling Umè.
Even a dragon painter from the mountains must know something of certain primitive obligations to the dead, and for Umè not even an ihai had been set up by that of her mother in the family shrine. When Tatsu learned this he would marvel, and probably be angry. If by his own condition of silence he were debarred from attacking Kano, so much the better for Kano.
Umè-ko's kirigirisu which, some weeks before, she had released from its cage, had, as if in gratitude made a home among the lichens of the big plum tree. Umè believed that she always knew its voice from among the rest, no matter how full the chorus of silver chiming. She had gone back to her room, and sat now, in the centre of it, staring toward the garden.
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