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diff --git a/3992.txt b/3992.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cf027db --- /dev/null +++ b/3992.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1701 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Madame Chrysantheme by Pierre Loti, v2 +#79 in our series The French Immortals Crowned by the French Academy +#4 in our series by Pierre Loti + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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Kangourou. + +As a matter of course, we are on visiting terms with all these ladies. + +First, there is our very merry neighbor Madame Campanule, who is little +Charles N-----'s wife; then Madame Jonquille, who is even merrier than +Campanule, like a young bird, and the daintiest fairy of them all; she +has married X-----, a fair northerner who adores her; they are a lover- +like and inseparable pair, the only one that will probably weep when the +hour of parting comes. Then Sikou-San with Doctor Y-----; and lastly the +midshipman Z------ with the tiny Madame Touki-San, no taller than a boot: +thirteen years old at the outside, and already a regular woman, full of +her own importance, a petulant little gossip. In my childhood I was +sometimes taken to the Learned Animals Theatre, and I remember a certain +Madame de Pompadour, a principal role, filled by a gayly dressed old +monkey; Touki-San reminds me of her. + +In the evening, all these folk usually come and fetch us for a long +processional walk with lighted lanterns. My wife, more serious, more +melancholy, perhaps even more refined, and belonging, I fancy, to a +higher class, tries when these friends come to us to play the part of the +lady of the house. It is comical to see the entry of these ill-matched +pairs, partners for a day, the ladies, with their disjointed bows, +falling on all fours before Chrysantheme, the queen of the establishment. +When we are all assembled, we set out, arm in arm, one behind another, +and always carrying at the end of our short sticks little white or red +paper lanterns; it is a pretty custom. + +We are obliged to scramble down the kind of street, or rather goat's- +path, which leads to the Japanese Nagasaki--with the prospect, alas! +of having to climb up again at night; clamber up all the steps, all the +slippery slopes, stumble over all the stones, before we shall be able to +get home, go to bed, and sleep. We make our descent in the darkness, +under the branches, under the foliage, among dark gardens and venerable +little houses that throw but a faint glimmer on the road; and when the +moon is absent or clouded over, our lanterns are by no means unnecessary. + +When at last we reach the bottom, suddenly, without transition, we find +ourselves in the very heart of Nagasaki and its busy throng in a long +illuminated street, where vociferating djins hurry along and thousands of +paper lanterns swing and gleam in the wind. It is life and animation, +after the peace of our silent suburb. + +Here, decorum requires that we should separate from our wives. All five +take hold of each others' hands, like a batch of little girls out +walking. We follow them with an air of indifference. Seen from behind, +our dolls are really very dainty, with their back hair so tidily +arranged, their tortoiseshell pins so coquettishly placed. They shuffle +along, their high wooden clogs making an ugly sound, striving to walk +with their toes turned in, according to the height of fashion and +elegance. At every minute they burst out laughing. + +Yes, seen from behind, they are very pretty; they have, like all Japanese +women, the most lovely turn of the head. Moreover, they are very funny, +thus drawn up in line. In speaking of them, we say: "Our little trained +dogs," and in truth they are singularly like them. + +This great Nagasaki is the same from one end to another, with its +numberless petroleum lamps burning, its many-colored lanterns flickering, +and innumerable panting djins. Always the same narrow streets, lined on +each side with the same low houses, built of paper and wood. Always the +same shops, without glass windows, open to all the winds, equally +rudimentary, whatever may be sold or made in them; whether they display +the finest gold lacquer ware, the most marvellous china jars, or old +worn-out pots and pans, dried fish, and ragged frippery. All the +salesmen are seated on the ground in the midst of their valuable or +trumpery merchandise, their legs bared nearly to the waist. + +And all kinds of queer little trades are carried on under the public +gaze, by strangely primitive means, by workmen of the most ingenious +type. + +Oh, what wonderful goods are exposed for sale in those streets! What +whimsical extravagance in those bazaars! + +No horses, no carriages are ever seen in the town; nothing but people on +foot, or the comical little carts dragged along by the runners. Some few +Europeans straggling hither and thither, wanderers from the ships in +harbor; some Japanese (fortunately as yet but few) dressed up in coats; +other natives who content themselves with adding to their national +costume the pot-hat, from which their long, sleek locks hang down; and +all around, eager haggling, bargaining, and laughter. + +In the bazaars every evening our mousmes make endless purchases; like +spoiled children they buy everything they fancy: toys, pins, ribbons, +flowers. And then they prettily offer one another presents, with +childish little smiles. For instance, Campanule buys for Chrysantheme an +ingeniously contrived lantern on which, set in motion by some invisible +machinery, Chinese shadows dance in a ring round the flame. In return, +Chrysantheme gives Campanule a magic fan, with paintings that change at +will from butterflies fluttering around cherry-blossoms to outlandish +monsters pursuing each other across black clouds. Touki offers Sikou a +cardboard mask representing the bloated countenance of Dai-Cok, god of +wealth; and Sikou replies with a present of a long crystal trumpet, by +means of which are produced the most extraordinary sounds, like a turkey +gobbling. Everything is uncouth, fantastical to excess, grotesquely +lugubrious; everywhere we are surprised by incomprehensible conceptions, +which seem the work of distorted imaginations. + +In the fashionable tea-houses, where we finish our evenings, the little +serving-maids now bow to us, on our arrival, with an air of respectful +recognition, as belonging to the fast set of Nagasaki. There we carry on +desultory conversations, full of misunderstandings and endless 'quid pro +quo' of uncouth words, in little gardens lighted up with lanterns, near +ponds full of goldfish, with little bridges, little islets, and little +ruined towers. They hand us tea and white and pink-colored sweetmeats +flavored with pepper that taste strange and unfamiliar, and beverages +mixed with snow tasting of flowers or perfumes. + +To give a faithful account of those evenings would require a more +affected style than our own; and some kind of graphic sign would have +also to be expressly invented and scattered at haphazard among the words, +indicating the moment when the reader should laugh--rather a forced +laugh, perhaps, but amiable and gracious. The evening at an end, it is +time to return up there. + +Oh! that street, that road, that we must clamber up every evening, under +the starlit sky or the heavy thunder-clouds, dragging by the hands our +drowsy mousmes in order to regain our homes perched on high halfway up +the hill, where our bed of matting awaits us. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +OUR "VERY TALL FRIEND" + +The cleverest among us has been Louis de S-------. Having formerly +inhabited Japan, and made a marriage Japanese fashion there, he is now +satisfied to remain the friend of our wives, of whom he has become the +'Komodachi taksan takai' ("the very tall friend," as they say, on account +of his excessive height and slenderness). Speaking Japanese more readily +than we, he is their confidential adviser, disturbs or reconciles our +households at will, and has infinite amusement at our expense. + +This "very tall friend" of our wives enjoys all the fun that these little +creatures can give him, without any of the worries of domestic life. +With brother Yves, and little Oyouki (the daughter of Madame Prune, my +landlady), he makes up our incongruous party. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +OUR PIOUS HOSTS + +M. Sucre and Madame Prune, my landlord and his wife, two perfectly +unique personages recently escaped from the panel of some screen, live +below us on the ground floor; and very old they seem to have this +daughter of fifteen, Oyouki, who is Chrysantheme's inseparable friend. + +Both of them are entirely absorbed in the practices of Shinto religion: +perpetually on their knees before their family altar, perpetually +occupied in murmuring their lengthy orisons to the spirits, and clapping +their hands from time to time to recall around them the inattentive +essences floating in the atmosphere. In their spare moments they +cultivate, in little pots of gayly painted earthenware, dwarf shrubs and +unheard-of flowers which are delightfully fragrant in the evening. + +M. Sucre is taciturn, dislikes society, and looks like a mummy in his +blue cotton dress. He writes a great deal (his memoirs, I fancy), with a +paint-brush held in his fingertips, on long strips of rice-paper of a +faint gray tint. + +Madame Prune is eagerly attentive, obsequious, and rapacious; her +eyebrows are closely shaven, her teeth carefully lacquered with black, +as befits a lady of gentility, and at all and no matter what hours, she +appears on all fours at the entrance of our apartment, to offer us her +services. + +As to Oyouki, she rushes upon us ten times a day--whether we are sleeping +or dressing--like a whirlwind on a visit, flashing upon us, a very gust +of dainty youthfulness and droll gayety--a living peal of laughter. She +is round of figure, round of face; half baby, half girl; and so +affectionate that she bestows kisses on the slightest occasion with her +great puffy lips--a little moist, it is true, like a child's, but +nevertheless very fresh and very red. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +Our dwelling is open all the night through, and the lamps burning before +the gilded Buddha bring us the company of the insect inhabitants of every +garden in the neighborhood. Moths, mosquitoes, cicalas, and other +extraordinary insects of which I don't even know the names--all this +company assembles around us. + +It is extremely funny, when some unexpected grasshopper, some free-and- +easy beetle presents itself without invitation or excuse, scampering over +our white mats, to see the manner in which Chrysantheme indicates it to +my righteous vengeance--merely pointing her finger at it, without another +word than "Hou!" said with bent head, a particular pout, and a +scandalised air. + +There is a fan kept expressly for the purpose of blowing them out of +doors again. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +SLEEPING JAPAN + +Here I must own that my story must appear to the reader to drag a little. + +Lacking exciting intrigues and tragic adventures, I wish I knew how to +infuse into it a little of the sweet perfumes of the gardens which +surround me, something of the gentle warmth of the sunshine, of the shade +of these graceful trees. Love being wanting, I should like it to breathe +of the restful tranquillity of this faraway spot. Then, too, I should +like it to reecho the sound of Chrysantheme's guitar, in which I begin to +find a certain charm, for want of something better, in the silence of the +lovely summer evenings. + +All through these moonlit nights of July, the weather has been calm, +luminous, and magnificent. Ah, what glorious clear nights! What +exquisite roseate tints beneath that wonderful moon, what mystery of blue +shadows in the thick tangle of trees! And, from the heights where stood +our veranda, how prettily the town lay sleeping at our feet! + +After all, I do not positively detest this little Chrysantheme, and when +there is no repugnance on either side, habit turns into a makeshift of +attachment. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE SONG OF THE CICALA + +Forever, throughout everything, rises day and night from the whole +country the song of the cicalas, ceaseless, strident, and insistent. +It is everywhere, and never-ending, at no matter what hour of the burning +day, or what hour of the refreshing night. From the harbor, as we +approached our anchorage, we had heard it at the same time from both +shores, from both walls of green mountains. It is wearisome and +haunting; it seems to be the manifestation, the noise expressive of the +kind of life peculiar to this region of the world. It is the voice of +summer in these islands; it is the song of unconscious rejoicing, always +content with itself and always appearing to inflate, to rise, in a +greater and greater exultation at the sheer happiness of living. + +It is to me the noise characteristic of this country--this, and the cry +of the falcon, which had in like manner greeted our entry into Japan. +Over the valleys and the deep bay sail these birds, uttering, from time +to time, their three cries, "Ha! ha! ha!" in a key of sadness that seems +the extreme of painful astonishment. And the mountains around reecho +their cry. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +MY FRIEND AND MY DOLL + +Chrysantheme, Yves, and little Oyouki have struck up a friendship so +intimate that it amuses me. I even think that in my home life this +intimacy is what affords me the greatest entertainment. They form a +contrast which gives rise to the most absurd jokes, and unexpected +situations. He brings into this fragile little paper house his nautical +freedom and ease of manner, and his Breton accent; and these tiny +mousmes, with affected manners and bird-like voices, small as they are, +rule the big fellow as they please; make him eat with chop-sticks; teach +him Japanese pigeon-vole, cheat him, and quarrel, and almost die of +laughter over it all. + +Certainly he and Chrysantheme take a pleasure in each other's society. +But I remain serenely undisturbed, and can not imagine that this little +doll, with whom I play at married life, could possibly occasion any +serious trouble between this "brother" and me. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +MY JAPANESE RELATIVES + +Japanese relatives, very numerous and conspicuous, are a great source of +amusement to those of my brother officers who visit me in my villa on the +hill--most especially to 'komodachi taksan takai' ("the tall friend"). + +I have a charming mother-in-law--quite a woman of the world--tiny sisters +-in-law, little cousins, and aunts who are still quite young. + +I have even a poor second cousin, who is a djin. There was some +hesitation in owning this latter to me; but, behold! during the ceremony +of introduction, we exchanged a smile of recognition. It was Number 415! + +Over this poor Number 415 my friends on board crack no end of jokes--one +in particular, who, less than any one has the right to make them, little +Charles N-----, for his mother-in-law was once a concierge, or something +of the kind, at the gateway of a pagoda. + +I, however, who have a great respect for strength and agility, much +appreciate this new relative of mine. His legs are undoubtedly the best +in all Nagasaki, and whenever I am in haste, I always beg Madame Prune to +send down to the djin-stand and engage my cousin. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +A DEAD FAIRY + +Today I arrived unexpectedly at Diou-djen-dji, in the midst of burning +noonday heat. At the foot of the stairs lay Chrysantheme's wooden shoes +and her sandals of varnished leather. + +In our rooms, upstairs, all was open to the air; bamboo blinds hung on +the sunny side, and through their transparency came warm air and golden +threads of light. Today the flowers Chrysantheme had placed in the +bronze vases were lotus, and as I entered, my eyes fell upon their wide +rosy cups. + +According to her usual custom, Chrysantheme was lying flat on the floor +enjoying her daily siesta. + +What a singular originality these bouquets of Chrysantheme always have: +a something, difficult to define, a Japanese slightness, an artificial +grace which we never should succeed in imparting to them. + +She was sleeping, face down, upon the mats, her high headdress and +tortoise-shell pins standing out boldly from the rest of the horizontal +figure. The train of her tunic appeared to prolong her delicate little +body, like the tail of a bird; her arms were stretched crosswise, the +sleeves spread out like wings, and her long guitar lay beside her. + +She looked like a dead fairy; still more did she resemble some great blue +dragon-fly, which, having alighted on that spot, some unkind hand had +pinned to the floor. + +Madame Prune, who had come upstairs after me, always officious and eager, +manifested by her gestures her sentiments of indignation on beholding the +careless reception accorded by Chrysantheme to her lord and master, and +advanced to wake her. + +"Pray do nothing of the kind, my good Madame Prune; you don't know how +much I prefer her like that!" I had left my shoes below, according to +custom, beside the little shoes and sandals; and I entered on the tips of +my toes, very, very, softly to sit awhile on the veranda. + +What a pity this little Chrysantheme can not always be asleep; she is +really extremely decorative seen in this manner--and like this, at least, +she does not bore me. Who knows what may be passing in that little head +and heart! If I only had the means of finding out! But strange to say, +since we have kept house together, instead of advancing in my study of +the Japanese language, I have neglected it, so much have I felt the +impossibility of ever interesting myself in the subject. + +Seated upon my veranda, my eyes wandered over the temples and cemeteries +spread at my feet, over the woods and the green mountains, over Nagasaki +lying bathed in the sunlight. The cicalas were chirping their loudest, +the strident noise trembling feverishly in the hot air. All was calm, +full of light and full of heat. + +Nevertheless, to my taste, it is not yet enough so! What, then, can have +changed upon the earth? The burning noondays of summer, such as I can +recall in days gone by, were more brilliant, more full of sunshine; +Nature seemed to me in those days more powerful, more terrible. One +would say this was only a pale copy of all that I knew in early years-- +a copy in which something is wanting. Sadly do I ask myself--Is the +splendor of the summer only this? Was it only this? or is it the fault +of my eyes, and as time goes on shall I behold everything around me +fading still more? + +Behind me comes a faint and melancholy strain of music--melancholy enough +to make one shiver--and shrill, shrill as the song of the grasshoppers, +it began to make itself heard, very softly at first, then growing louder +and rising in the silence of the noonday like the diminutive wail of some +poor Japanese soul in pain and anguish; it was Chrysantheme and her +guitar awaking together. + +It pleased me that the idea should have occurred to her to greet me with +music, instead of eagerly hastening to wish me good-morning. At no time +have I ever given myself the trouble to pretend the slightest affection +for her, and a certain coldness even has grown up between us, especially +when we are alone. But to-day I turn to her with a smile, and wave my +hand for her to continue. "Go on, it amuses me to listen to your quaint +little impromptu." It is singular that the music of this essentially +merry people should be so plaintive. But undoubtedly that which +Chrysantheme is playing at this moment is worth listening to. Whence can +it have come to her? What unutterable dreams, forever hidden from me, +surge beneath her ivory brow, when she plays or sings in this manner? + +Suddenly I hear some one tapping three times, with a harsh and bony +finger, against one of the steps of our stairs, and in our doorway +appears an idiot, clad in a suit of gray tweed, who bows low. "Come in, +come in, Monsieur Kangourou. You come just in the nick of time! I was +actually becoming enthusiastic over your country!" + +M. Kangourou brought a little laundry bill, which he wished respectfully +to hand to me, with a profound bend of the whole body, the correct pose +of the hands on the knees, and a long, snake-like hiss. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +ANCIENT TOMBS + +Pursuing the path that winds past our, dwelling, one passes a dozen or +more old villas, a few garden-walls, and then sees nothing but the lonely +mountain-side, with little paths winding upward toward the summit through +plantations of tea, bushes of camellias, underbrush, and rocks. The +mountains round Nagasaki are covered with cemeteries; for centuries and +centuries they have brought their dead up here. + +But there is neither sadness nor horror in these Japanese sepulchres; it +seems as if, among this frivolous and childish people, death itself could +not be taken seriously. The monuments are either granite Buddhas, seated +on lotus, or upright tombstones with inscriptions in gold. They are +grouped together in little enclosures in the midst of the woods, or on +natural terraces delightfully situated, and are usually reached by long +stairways of stone carpeted with moss. Sometimes these pass under one of +the sacred gateways, of which the shape, always the same, rude and +simple, is a smaller reproduction of those in the temples. + +Above us, the tombs of our mountain are of an antiquity so hoary that +they no longer alarm any one, even at night. It is a region of forsaken +cemeteries. The dead hidden away there have long since become one with +the earth around them; and these thousands of little gray stones, these +multitudes of ancient little Buddhas, eaten away by lichens, seem to be +now no more than a proof of a series of existences, long anterior to our +own, and lost forever and altogether in the mysterious depths of ages. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +DAINTY DISHES FOR A DOLL + +The meals that Chrysantheme enjoys are something almost indescribable. + +She begins in the morning, when she wakes, with two little green wild +plums pickled in vinegar and rolled in powdered sugar. A cup of tea +completes this almost traditional breakfast of Japan, the very same that +Madame Prune is eating downstairs, the same that is served in the inns to +travellers. + +At intervals during the day the meals are continued by two little dinners +of the drollest description. They are brought up on a tray of red +lacquer, in microscopic cups with covers, from Madame Prune's apartment, +where they are cooked: a hashed sparrow, a stuffed prawn, seaweed with a +sauce, a salted sweetmeat, a sugared chili! Chrysantheme tastes a little +of all, with dainty pecks and the aid of her little chopsticks, raising +the tips of her fingers with affected grace. At every dish she makes a +face, leaves three parts of it, and dries her finger-tips after it in +apparent disgust. + +These menus vary according to the inspiration that may have seized Madame +Prune. But one thing never varies, either in our household or in any +other, neither in the north nor in the south of the Empire, and that is +the dessert and the manner of eating it: after all these little dishes, +which are a mere make-believe, a wooden bowl is brought in, bound with +copper--an enormous bowl, fit for Gargantua, and filled to the very brim +with rice, plainly cooked in water. Chrysantheme fills another large +bowl from it (sometimes twice, sometimes three times), darkens its snowy +whiteness with a black sauce flavored with fish, which is contained in a +delicately shaped blue cruet, mixes it all together, carries the bowl to +her lips, and crams down all the rice, shovelling it with her two chop- +sticks into her very throat. Next the little cups and covers are picked +up, as well as the tiniest crumb that may have fallen upon the white +mats, the irreproachable purity of which nothing is allowed to tarnish. +And so ends the dinner. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +A FANTASTIC FUNERAL + +Below, in the town, a street-singer had established herself in a little +thoroughfare; people had gathered around her to listen to her singing, +and we three--that is, Yves, Chrysantheme, and I--who happened to be +passing, stopped also. + +She was quite young, rather fat, and fairly pretty, and she strummed her +guitar and sang, rolling her eyes fiercely, like a virtuoso executing +feats of difficulty. She lowered her head, stuck her chin into her neck, +in order to draw deeper notes from the furthermost recesses of her body; +and succeeded in bringing forth a great, hoarse voice--a voice that might +have belonged to an aged frog, a ventriloquist's voice, coming whence it +would be impossible to say (this is the best stage manner, the last touch +of art, in the interpretation of tragic pieces). + +Yves cast an indignant glance upon her. + +"Good gracious," said he, "she has the voice of a----" (words failed him, +in his astonishment) "the voice of a--a monster!" + +And he looked at me, almost frightened by this little being, and desirous +to know what I thought of it. + +Yves was out of temper on this occasion, because I had induced him to +come out in a straw hat with a turned-up brim, which did not please him. + +"That hat suits you remarkably well, Yves, I assure you," I said. + +"Oh, indeed! You say so, you. For my part, I think it looks like a +magpie's nest!" + +As a fortunate diversion from the singer and the hat, here comes a +cortege, advancing toward us from the end of the street, something +remarkably like a funeral. Bonzes march in front, dressed in robes of +black gauze, having much the appearance of Catholic priests; the +principal object of interest of the procession, the corpse, comes last, +laid in a sort of little closed palanquin, which is daintily pretty. +This is followed by a band of mousmes, hiding their laughing faces +beneath a kind of veil, and carrying in vases of the sacred shape the +artificial lotus with silver petals indispensable at a funeral; then come +fine ladies, on foot, smirking and stifling a wish to laugh, beneath +parasols on which are painted, in the gayest colors, butterflies and +storks. + +Now they are quite close to us, we must stand back to give them room. +Chrysantheme all at once assumes a suitable air of gravity, and Yves +bares his head, taking off the magpie's nest. + +Yes, it is true, it is death that is passing! + +I had almost lost sight of the fact, so little does this procession +recall it. + +The procession will climb high above Nagasaki, into the heart of the +green mountain covered with tombs. There the poor fellow will be laid at +rest, with his palanquin above him, and his vases and his flowers of +silvered paper. Well, at least he will lie in a charming spot commanding +a lovely view. + +Then they will return half laughing, half snivelling, and tomorrow no one +will think of it again. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +SOCIABILITY + +August 4th. + +Our ship, the 'Triomphante', which has been lying in the harbor almost at +the foot of the hill on which stands my house, enters the dock to-day to +undergo repairs rendered necessary by the long blockade of Formosa. + +I am now a long way from my home, and am compelled to cross by boat the +whole breadth of the bay when I wish to see Chrysantheme; for the dock is +situated on the shore, opposite to Diou-djen-dji. It is sunk in a little +valley, narrow and deep, midst all kinds of foliage--bamboos, camellias, +trees of all sorts; our masts and spars, seen from the deck, look as if +they were tangled among the branches. + +The situation of the vessel--no longer afloat--gives the crew a greater +facility for clandestine escapes from the ship at no matter what hour of +the night, and our sailors have made friends with all the girls of the +villages perched on the mountains above us. + +These quarters, and this excessive liberty, give me some uneasiness about +my poor Yves; for this country of frivolous pleasure has a little turned +his head. + +Moreover, I am more and more convinced that he is in love with +Chrysantheme. + +It is really a pity that the sentiment has not occurred to me instead, +since it is I who have gone the length of marrying her. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +UNWELCOME GUESTS + +Despite the increased distance, I continue my regular visits to Diou- +djen-dji. When night has fallen, and the four couples who compose our +society have joined us, as well as Yves and the "amazingly tall friend"-- +we descend again into the town, stumbling by lantern-light down the steep +stairways and slopes of the old suburb. + +This nocturnal ramble is always the same, and is accompanied always by +the same amusements: we pause before the same queer booths, we drink the +same sugared drinks served to us in the same little gardens. But our +troop is often more numerous: to begin with, we chaperon Oyouki, who is +confided to our care by her parents; then we have two cousins of my +wife's--pretty little creatures; and lastly friends--guests of sometimes +only ten or twelve years old, little girls of the neighborhood to whom +our mousmes wish to show some politeness. + +Thus a singular company of tiny beings forms our suite and follows us +into the tea-gardens in the evenings! The most absurd faces, with sprigs +of flowers stuck in the oddest fashion in their comical and childish +heads. One might suppose it was a whole school of mousmes out for an +evening's frolic under our care. + +Yves returns with us, when the time comes to remount our hill; +Chrysantheme heaves great sighs like a tired child, and stops on every +step, leaning on our arms. + +When we have reached our destination he says "Goodnight," just touches +Chrysantheme's hand, and descending once more by the slope which leads to +the quays and the shipping, he crosses the roadstead in a sampan, to get +on board the 'Triomphante.' + +Meantime, we, with the aid of a sort of secret key, open the door of our +garden, where Madame Prune's pots of flowers, ranged in the darkness, +send forth delicious odors in the night air. We cross the garden by +moonlight or starlight, and mount to our own rooms. + +If it is very late--a frequent occurrence--we find all our wooden panels +drawn and tightly shut by the careful M. Sucre (as a precaution against +thieves), and our apartment is as close and as private as if it were a +real European house. + +In this dwelling, when every chink is thus closed, a strange odor mingles +with the musk and the lotus--an odor essential to Japan, to the yellow +race, belonging to the soil or emanating from the venerable woodwork; +almost an odor of wild beasts. The mosquito-curtain of dark-blue gauze, +ready hung for the night, falls from the ceiling with the air of a +mysterious vellum. The gilded Buddha smiles eternally at the night-lamps +burning before him; some great moth, a constant frequenter of the house, +which during the day sleeps clinging to our ceiling, flutters at this +hour under the very nose of the god, turning and flitting round the thin, +quivering flames. And, motionless on the wall, its feelers spread out +star-like, sleeps some great garden spider, which one must not kill +because it is night. "Hou!" says Chrysantheme, indignantly, pointing it +out to me with levelled finger. Quick! where is the fan kept for the +purpose, wherewith to hunt it out of doors? + +Around us reigns a silence which is almost oppressive after all the +joyous noises of the town, and all the laughter, now hushed, of our band +of mousmes--a silence of the country, of some sleeping village. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +A QUIET SMOKE + +The sound of the innumerable wooden panels, which at nightfall are pulled +and shut in every Japanese house, is one of the peculiarities of the +country which will remain longest imprinted on my memory. From our +neighbor's houses these noises reach us one after the other, floating to +us over the green gardens, more or less deadened, more or less distant. + +Just below us, Madame Prune's panels move very badly, creak and make a +hideous noise in their wornout grooves. + +Ours are somewhat noisy too, for the old house is full of echoes, and +there are at least twenty screens to run over long slides in order to +close in completely the kind of open hall in which we live. Usually, it +is Chrysantheme who undertakes this piece of household work, and a great +deal of trouble it gives her, for she often pinches her fingers in the +singular awkwardness of her too tiny hands, which never have been +accustomed to do any work. + +Then comes her toilette for the night. With a certain grace she lets +fall the day-dress, and slips on a more simple one of blue cotton, which +has the same pagoda sleeves, the same shape all but the train, and which +she fastens round her waist with a sash of muslin of the same color. + +The high head-dress remains untouched, it is needless to say--that is, +all but the pins, which are taken out and laid beside her in a lacquer +box. + +Then there is the little silver pipe that must absolutely be smoked +before going to sleep; this is one of the customs which most provoke me, +but it has to be borne. + +Chrysantheme squats like a gipsy before a certain square box, made of red +wood, which contains a little tobacco-jar, a little porcelain stove full +of hot embers, and finally a little bamboo pot serving at the same time +as ash-tray and cuspidor. (Madame Prune's smoking-box downstairs, and +every smoking-box in Japan, is exactly the same, and contains precisely +the same objects, arranged in precisely the same manner; and wherever it +may be, whether in the house of the rich or the poor, it always lies +about somewhere on the floor.) + +The word "pipe" is at once too trivial and too big to be applied to this +delicate silver tube, which is perfectly straight and at the end of +which, in a microscopic receptacle, is placed one pinch of golden +tobacco, chopped finer than silken thread. + +Two puffs, or at most three; it lasts scarcely a few seconds, and the +pipe is finished. Then tap, tap, tap, tap, the little tube is struck +smartly against the edge of the smoking-box to knock out the ashes, which +never will fall; and this tapping, heard everywhere, in every house, at +every hour of the day or night, quick and droll as the scratchings of a +monkey, is in Japan one of the noises most characteristic of human life. + +"Anata nominase!" ("You must smoke too!") says Chrysantheme. + +Having again filled the tiresome little pipe, she puts the silver tube to +my lips with a bow. Courtesy forbids my refusal; but I find it +detestably bitter. + +Before laying myself down under the blue mosquito-net, I open two of the +panels in the room, one on the side of the silent and deserted footpath, +the other on the garden side, overlooking the terraces, so that the night +air may breathe upon us, even at the risk of bringing the company of some +belated cockchafer, or more giddy moth. + +Our wooden house, with its thin old walls, vibrates at night like a great +dry violin, and the slightest noises have a startling resonance. + +Beneath the veranda are hung two little AEolian harps, which, at the +least ruffle of the breeze running through their blades of grass, emit a +gentle tinkling sound, like the harmonious murmur of a brook; outside, to +the very farthest limits of the distance, the cicalas continue their +sonorous and never-ending concert; over our heads, on the black roof, is +heard passing, like a witch's sabbath, the raging battle, to the death, +of cats, rats, and owls. + +Presently, when in the early dawn a fresher breeze, mounting upward from +the sea and the deep harbor, reaches us, Chrysantheme rises and slyly +shuts the panels I have opened. + +Before that, however, she will have risen at least three times to smoke: +having yawned like a cat, stretched herself, twisted in every direction +her little amber arms, and her graceful little hands, she sits up +resolutely, with all the waking sighs and broken syllables of a child, +pretty and fascinating enough; then she emerges from the gauze net, fills +her little pipe, and breathes a few puffs of the bitter and unpleasant +mixture. + +Then comes tap, tap, tap, tap, against the box to shake out the ashes. +In the silence of the night it makes quite a terrible noise, which wakes +Madame Prune. This is fatal. Madame Prune is at once seized also with a +longing to smoke which may not be denied; then, to the noise from above, +comes an answering tap, tap, tap, tap, from below, exactly like it, +exasperating and inevitable as an echo. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE PRAYERFUL MADAME PRUNE + +More cheerful are the sounds of morning: the cocks crowing, the wooden +panels all around the neighborhood sliding back upon their rollers; or +the strange cry of some fruit-seller, patrolling our lofty suburb in the +early dawn. And the grasshoppers actually seem to chirp more loudly, to +celebrate the return of the sunlight. + +Above all, rises to our ears from below the sound of Madame Prune's long +prayers, ascending through the floor, monotonous as the song of a +somnambulist, regular and soothing as the plash of a fountain. It lasts +three quarters of an hour at least, it drones along, a rapid flow of +words in a high nasal key; from time to time, when the inattentive +spirits are not listening, it is accompanied by a clapping of dry palms, +or by harsh sounds from a kind of wooden clapper made of two discs of +mandragora root. It is an uninterrupted stream of prayer; its flow never +ceases, and the quavering continues without stopping, like the bleating +of a delirious old goat. + + "After washing the hands and feet," say the sacred books, "the great + God Ama-Terace-Omi-Kami, who is the royal power of Japan, must be + invoked; the manes of all the defunct emperors descended from him + must also be invoked; next, the manes of all his personal ancestors, + to the farthest generation; the spirits of the air and the sea; the + spirits of all secret and impure places; the spirits of the tombs of + the district whence you spring, etc., etc." + +"I worship and implore you," sings Madame Prune, "O Ama-Terace-Omi-Kami, +royal power! Cease not to protect your faithful people, who are ready to +sacrifice themselves for their country. Grant that I may become as holy +as yourself, and drive from my mind all dark thoughts. I am a coward and +a sinner: purge me from my cowardice and sinfulness, even as the north +wind drives the dust into the sea. Wash me clean from all my iniquities, +as one washes away uncleanness in the river of Kamo. Make me the richest +woman in the world. I believe in your glory, which shall be spread over +the whole earth, and illuminate it for ever for my happiness. Grant me +the continued good health of my family, and above all, my own, who, O +Ama-Terace-Omi-Kami! do worship and adore you, and only you, etc., etc." + +Here follow all the emperors, all the spirits, and the interminable list +of ancestors. + +In her trembling old woman's falsetto, Madame Prune sings all this, +without omitting anything, at a pace which almost takes away her breath. + +And very strange it is to hear: at length it seems hardly a human voice; +it sounds like a series of magic formulas, unwinding themselves from an +inexhaustible roller, and escaping to take flight through the air. By +its very weirdness, and by the persistency of its incantation, it ends by +producing in my half-awakened brain an almost religious impression. + +Every day I wake to the sound of this Shintoist litany chanted beneath +me, vibrating through the exquisite clearness of the summer mornings-- +while our night-lamps burn low before the smiling Buddha, while the +eternal sun, hardly risen, already sends through the cracks of our wooden +panels its bright rays, which dart like golden arrows through our +darkened dwelling and our blue gauze tent. + +This is the moment at which I must rise, descend hurriedly to the sea by +grassy footpaths all wet with dew, and so regain my ship. + +Alas! in the days gone by, it was the cry of the muezzin which used to +awaken me in the dark winter mornings in faraway, night-shrouded +Stamboul. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +A DOLL'S CORRESPONDENCE + +Chrysantheme has brought but few things with her, knowing that our +domestic life would probably be brief. + +She has placed her gowns and her fine sashes in little closed recesses, +hidden in one of the walls of our apartment (the north wall, the only one +of the four which can not be taken to pieces). The doors of these niches +are white paper panels; the standing shelves and inside partitions, +consisting of light woodwork, are put together almost too finically and +too ingeniously, giving rise to suspicions of secret drawers and +conjuring tricks. We put there only things without any value, having a +vague feeling that the cupboards themselves might spirit them away. + +The box in which Chrysantheme stores away her gewgaws and letters, is one +of the things that amuse me most; it is of English make, tin, and bears +on its cover the colored representation of some manufactory in the +neighborhood of London. Of course, it is as an exotic work of art, as a +precious knickknack, that Chrysantheme prefers it to any of her other +boxes in lacquer or inlaid work. It contains all that a mousme requires +for her correspondence: Indian ink, a paintbrush, very thin, gray-tinted +paper, cut up in long narrow strips, and odd-shaped envelopes, into which +these strips are slipped (having been folded up in about thirty folds); +the envelopes are ornamented with pictures of landscapes, fishes, crabs, +or birds. + +On some old letters addressed to her, I can make out the two characters +that represent her name: Kikousan ("Chrysantheme, Madame"). And when I +question her, she replies in Japanese, with an air of importance: + +"My dear, they are letters from my woman friends." + +Oh, those friends of Chrysantheme, what funny little faces they have! +That same box contains their portraits, their photographs stuck on +visiting cards, which are printed on the back with the name of Uyeno, the +fashionable photographer in Nagasaki--the little creatures fit only to +figure daintily on painted fans, who have striven to assume a dignified +attitude when once their necks have been placed in the head-rest, and +they have been told: "Now, don't move." + +It would really amuse me to read the letters of my mousme's friends--and +above all her replies! + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +SUDDEN SHOWERS + +August 10th. + +It rained this evening heavily, and the night was close and dark. About +ten o'clock, on our return from one of the fashionable tea-houses we +frequent, we arrived--Yves, Chrysantheme and I--at the familiar angle of +the principal street, the turn where we must take leave of the lights and +noises of the town, to climb up the dark steps and steep paths that lead +to our dwelling at Diou-djen-dji. + +But before beginning our ascent, we must first buy lanterns from an old +tradeswoman called Madame Tres-Propre, whose regular customers we are. +It is amazing what a quantity of these paper lanterns we consume. They +are invariably decorated in the same way, with painted nightmoths or +bats; fastened to the ceiling at the farther end of the shop, they hang +in enormous clusters, and the old woman, seeing us arrive, gets upon a +table to take them down. Gray or red are our usual choice; Madame Tres- +Propre knows our preferences and leaves the green or blue lanterns aside. +But it is always hard work to unhook one, on account of the little short +sticks by which they are held, and the strings with which they are tied +getting entangled together. In an exaggerated pantomime, Madame Tres- +Propre expresses her despair at wasting so much of our valuable time: oh! +if it only depended on her personal efforts! but ah! the natural +perversity of inanimate things which have no consideration for human +dignity! With monkeyish antics, she even deems it her duty to threaten +the lanterns and shake her fist at these inextricably tangled strings +which have the presumption to delay us. + +It is all very well, but we know this manoeuvre by heart; and if the old +lady loses patience, so do we. Chrysantheme, who is half asleep, is +seized with a fit of kitten-like yawning which she does not even trouble +to hide behind her hand, and which appears to be endless. She pulls a +very long face at the thought of the steep hill we must struggle up +tonight through the pelting rain. + +I have the same feeling, and am thoroughly annoyed. To what purpose do I +clamber up every evening to that suburb, when it offers me no attractions +whatever? + +The rain increases; what are we to do? Outside, djins pass rapidly, +calling out: "Take care!" splashing the foot-passengers and casting +through the shower streams of light from their many-colored lanterns. +Mousmes and elderly ladies pass, tucked up, muddy, laughing nevertheless +under their paper umbrellas, exchanging greetings, clacking their wooden +pattens on the stone pavement. The whole street is filled with the noise +of the pattering feet and pattering rain. + +As good luck will have it, at the same moment passes Number 415, our poor +relative, who, seeing our distress, stops and promises to help us out of +our difficulty; as soon as he has deposited on the quay an Englishman he +is conveying, he will come to our aid and bring all that is necessary to +relieve us from our lamentable situation. + +At last our lantern is unhooked, lighted, and paid for. There is another +shop opposite, where we stop every evening; it is that of Madame L'Heure, +the woman who sells waffles; we always buy a provision from her, to +refresh us on the way. A very lively young woman is this pastry-cook, +and most eager to make herself agreeable; she looks quite like a screen +picture behind her piled-up cakes, ornamented with little posies. We +will take shelter under her roof while we wait; and, to avoid the drops +that fall heavily from the waterspouts, wedge ourselves tightly against +her display of white and pink sweetmeats, so artistically spread out on +fresh and delicate branches of cypress. + +Poor Number 415, what a providence he is to us! Already he reappears, +most excellent cousin! ever smiling, ever running, while the water +streams down his handsome bare legs; he brings us two umbrellas, borrowed +from a China merchant, who is also a distant relative of ours. Like me, +Yves has till now never consented to use such a thing, but he now accepts +one because it is droll: of paper, of course, with innumerable folds +waxed and gummed, and the inevitable flight of storks forming a wreath +around it. + +Chrysantheme, yawning more and more in her kitten-like fashion, becomes +coaxing in order to be helped along, and tries to take my arm. + +"I beg you, mousme, this evening to take the arm of Yves-San; I am sure +that will suit us all three." + +And there they go, she, tiny figure, hanging on to the big fellow, +and so they climb up. I lead the way, carrying the lantern that lights +our steps, whose flame I protect as well as I can under my fantastic +umbrella. On each side of the road is heard the roaring torrent of +stormy waters rolling down from the mountain-side. To-night the way +seems long, difficult, and slippery; a succession of interminable flights +of steps, gardens, and houses piled up one above another; waste lands, +and trees which in the darkness shake their dripping foliage on our +heads. + +One would say that Nagasaki is ascending at the same time as ourselves; +but yonder, and very far away, is a vapory mist which seems luminous +against the blackness of the sky, and from the town rises a confused +murmur of voices and laughter, and a rumbling of gongs. + +The summer rain has not yet refreshed the atmosphere. On account of the +stormy heat, the little suburban houses have been left open like sheds, +and we can see all that is going on. Lamps burn perpetually before the +altars dedicated to Buddha and to the souls of the ancestors; but all +good Nipponese have already lain down to rest. Under the traditional +tents of bluish-green gauze, we can see whole families stretched out in +rows; they are either sleeping, or hunting the mosquitoes, or fanning +themselves. Nipponese men and women, Nipponese babies too, lying side by +side with their parents; each one, young or old, in his little dark-blue +cotton nightdress, and with his little wooden block on which to rest the +nape of his neck. + +A few houses are open, where amusements are still going on; here and +there, from the sombre gardens, the sound of a guitar reaches our ears, +playing some dance which gives in its weird rhythm a strange impression +of sadness. + +Here is the well, surrounded by bamboos, where we are wont to make a +nocturnal halt for Chrysantheme to take breath. Yves begs me to throw +forward the red gleam of my lantern, in order to recognize the place, for +it marks our halfway resting-place. + +And at last, at last, here is our house! The door is closed, all is +silent and dark. Our panels have been carefully shut by M. Sucre and +Madame Prune; the rain streams down the wood of our old black walls. + +In such weather it is impossible to allow Yves to return down hill, and +wander along the shore in quest of a sampan. No, he shall not return on +board to-night; we will put him up in our house. His little room has +indeed been already provided for in the conditions of our lease, and +notwithstanding his discreet refusal, we immediately set to work to make +it. Let us go in, take off our boots, shake ourselves like so many cats +that have been out in a shower, and step up to our apartment. + +In front of Buddha, the little lamps are burning; in the middle of the +room, the night-blue gauze is stretched. + +On entering, the first impression is favorable; our dwelling is pretty +this evening; the late hour and deep silence give it an air of mystery. +And then, in such weather, it is always pleasant to get home. + +Come, let us at once prepare Yves's room. Chrysantheme, quite elated at +the prospect of having her big friend near her, sets to work with a good +will; moreover, the task is easy; we have only to slip three or four +paper panels in their grooves, to make at once a separate room or +compartment in the great box we live in. I had thought that these panels +were entirely white; but no! on each is a group of two storks painted in +gray tints in those inevitable attitudes consecrated by Japanese art: one +bearing aloft its proud head and haughtily raising its leg, the other +scratching itself. Oh, these storks! how tired one gets of them, at the +end of a month spent in Japan! + +Yves is now in bed and sleeping under our roof. + +Sleep has come to him sooner than to me to-night; for somehow I fancy I +had seen long glances exchanged between him and Chrysantheme. + +I have left this little creature in his hands like a toy, and I begin to +fear lest I should have caused some perturbation in his mind. I do not +trouble my head about this little Japanese girl. But Yves--it would be +decidedly wrong on his part, and would greatly diminish my faith in him. + +We hear the rain falling on our old roof; the cicalas are mute; odors of +wet earth reach us from the gardens and the mountain. I feel terribly +dreary in this room to-night; the noise of the little pipe irritates me +more than usual, and as Chrysantheme crouches in front of her smoking- +box, I suddenly discover in her an air of low breeding, in the very worst +sense of the word. + +I should hate her, my mousme, if she were to entice Yves into committing +a fault--a fault which I should perhaps never be able to forgive. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +A LITTLE DOMESTIC DIFFICULTY + +August 12th. + +The Y---- and Sikou-San couple were divorced yesterday. The Charles N--- +and Campanule household is getting on very badly. They have had some +trouble with those prying, grinding, insupportable little men, dressed up +in gray suits, who are called police agents, and who, by threatening +their landlord, have had them turned out of their house (under the +obsequious amiability of this people lurks a secret hatred toward +Europeans)--they are therefore obliged to accept their mother-in-law's +hospitality, a very disagreeable situation. And then Charles N--- +fancies his mousme is faithless. It is hardly possible, however, for us +to deceive ourselves: these would-be maidens, to whom M. Kangourou has +introduced us, have already had in their lives one adventure, at least, +and perhaps more; it is therefore only natural that we should have our +suspicions. + +The Z----- and Touki-San couple jog on, quarrelling all the time. + +My household maintains a more dignified air, though it is none the less +dreary. I had indeed thought of a divorce, but have really no good +reason for offering Chrysantheme such a gratuitous affront; moreover, +there is another more imperative reason why I should remain quiet: I, +too, have had difficulties with the civilian authorities. + +The day before yesterday, M. Sucre, quite upset, Madame Prune, almost +swooning, and Mademoiselle Oyouki, bathed in tears, stormed my rooms. +The Nipponese police agents had called and threatened them with the law +for letting rooms outside of the European concession to a Frenchman +morganatically married to a Japanese; and the terror of being prosecuted +brought them to me, with a thousand apologies, but with the humble +request that I should leave. + +The next day I therefore went off, accompanied by "the wonderfully tall +friend"--who expresses himself in Japanese better than I--to the registry +office, with the full intention of making a terrible row. + +In the language of this exquisitely polite people, terms of abuse are +totally wanting; when very angry, one is obliged to be satisfied with +using the 'thou', a mark of inferiority, and the familiar conjugation, +habitually used toward those of low birth. Sitting upon the table used +for weddings, among the flurried little policemen, I opened the +conversation in the following terms: + +"In order that thou shouldst leave me in peace in the suburb I am +inhabiting, what bribe must I offer thee, oh, little beings more +contemptible than any mere street porter?" + +Great and general dismay, silent consternation, and low bows greet my +words. + +They at last reply that my honorable person shall not be molested, +indeed, they ask for nothing better. Only, in order to subscribe to the +laws of the country, I ought to have come here and given my name and that +of the young person that--with whom-- + +"Oh! that is going too far! I came here for that purpose, contemptible +creatures, not three weeks ago!" + +Then, taking up myself the civil register, and turning over the pages +rapidly, I found my signature and beside it the little hieroglyphics +drawn by Chrysantheme: + +"There, idiots, look at that!" + +Arrival of a very high functionary--a ridiculous little old fellow in a +black coat, who from his office had been listening to the row: + +"What is the matter? What is it? What is this annoyance put upon the +French officers?" + +I state my case politely to this personage, who can not make apologies +and promises enough. The little agents prostrate themselves on all +fours, sink into the earth; and we leave them, cold and dignified, +without returning their bows. + +M. Sucre and Madame Prune may now make their minds easy; they will not be +disturbed again. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +BUTTERFLIES AND BEETLES + +August 23d. + +The prolonged sojourn of the Triomphante in the dock, and the distance of +our dwelling from the town, have been my excuse these last two or three +days for not going up to Diou-djen-dji to see Chrysantheme. + +It is dreary work in these docks. At early dawn a legion of little +Japanese workmen invade us, bringing their dinners in baskets and gourds +like the workingmen in our arsenals, but with a poor, shabby appearance, +and a ferreting, hurried manner which reminds one of rats. Silently they +slip under the keel, at the bottom of the hold, in all the holes, sawing, +nailing, repairing. + +The heat is intense in this spot, overshadowed by the rocks and tangled +masses of foliage. + +At two o'clock, in the broad sunlight, we have a new and far prettier +invasion: that of the beetles and butterflies. + +There are butterflies as wonderful as those on the fans. Some, all +black, giddily dash up against us, so light and airy that they seem +merely a pair of quivering wings fastened together without any body. + +Yves, astonished, gazes at them, saying, in his boyish manner: "Oh, I saw +such a big one just now, such a big one, it quite frightened me; I +thought it was a bat attacking me." + +A steersman who has captured a very curious specimen carries it off +carefully to press between the leaves of his signal-book, like a flower. +Another sailor, passing by, taking his small roast to the oven in a mess- +bowl, looks at him quizzically and says: + +"You had much better give it to me. I'd cook it!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +STRANGE YEARNINGS + +August 24th. + +Nearly five days have passed since I abandoned my little house and +Chrysantheme. + +Since yesterday we have had a tremendous storm of rain and wind (a +typhoon that has passed or is passing over us). We beat to quarters in +the middle of the night to lower the topmasts, strike the lower yards, +and take every precaution against bad weather. The butterflies no longer +hover around us; everything tosses and writhes overhead: on the steep +slopes of the mountain the trees shiver, the long grasses bend low as if +in pain; terrible gusts rack them with a hissing sound; branches, bamboo +leaves, and earth fall like rain upon us. + +In this land of pretty little trifles, this violent tempest is out of +harmony; it seems as if its efforts were exaggerated and its music too +loud. + +Toward evening the dark clouds roll by so rapidly that the showers are of +short duration and soon pass over. Then I attempt a walk on the mountain +above us, in the wet verdure: little pathways lead up it, between +thickets of camellias and bamboo. + +Waiting till a shower is over, I take refuge in the courtyard of an old +temple halfway up the hill, buried in a wood of century plants with +gigantic branches; it is reached by granite steps, through strange +gateways, as deeply furrowed as the old Celtic dolmens. The trees have +also invaded this yard; the daylight is overcast with a greenish tint, +and the drenching torrent of rain is full of torn-up leaves and moss. +Old granite monsters, of unknown shapes, are seated in the corners, and +grimace with smiling ferocity: their faces are full of indefinable +mystery that makes me shudder amid the moaning music of the wind, in the +gloomy shadows of the clouds and branches. + +They could not have resembled the Japanese of our day, the men who had +thus conceived these ancient temples, who built them everywhere, and +filled the country with them, even in its most solitary nooks. + +An hour later, in the twilight of that stormy day, on the same mountain, +I encountered a clump of trees somewhat similar to oaks in appearance; +they, too, have been twisted by the tempest, and the tufts of undulating +grass at their feet are laid low, tossed about in every direction. There +was suddenly brought back to my mind my first impression of a strong wind +in the woods of Limoise, in the province of Saintonge, twenty-eight years +ago, in a month of March of my childhood. + +That, the first wind-storm my eyes ever beheld sweeping over the +landscape, blew in just the opposite quarter of the world (and many years +have rapidly passed over that memory), the spot where the best part of my +life has been spent. + +I refer too often, I fancy, to my childhood; I am foolishly fond of it. +But it seems to me that then only did I truly experience sensations or +impressions; the smallest trifles I saw or heard then were full of deep +and hidden meaning, recalling past images out of oblivion, and +reawakening memories of prior existences; or else they were presentiments +of existences to come, future incarnations in the land of dreams, +expectations of wondrous marvels that life and the world held in store +for me-for a later period, no doubt, when I should be grown up. Well, I +have grown up, and have found nothing that answered to my indefinable +expectations; on the contrary, all has narrowed and darkened around me, +my vague recollections of the past have become blurred, the horizons +before me have slowly closed in and become full of gray darkness. Soon +will my time come to return to eternal rest, and I shall leave this world +without ever having understood the mysterious cause of these mirages of +my childhood; I shall bear away with me a lingering regret for I know not +what lost home that I have failed to find, of the unknown beings ardently +longed for, whom, alas, I never have embraced. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +A GENEROUS HUSBAND + +Displaying many affectations, M. Sucre dips the tip of his delicate +paint-brush in India-ink and traces a pair of charming storks on a pretty +sheet of rice-paper, offering them to me in the most courteous manner, as +a souvenir of himself. I have put them in my cabin on board, and when I +look at them, I fancy I can see M. Sucre tracing them with an airy touch +and with elegant facility. + +The saucer in which he mixes his ink is in itself a little gem. It is +chiselled out of a piece of jade, and represents a tiny lake with a +carved border imitating rockwork. On this border is a little mamma toad, +also in jade, advancing as if to bathe in the little lake in which M. +Sucre carefully keeps a few drops of very dark liquid. The mamma toad +has four little baby toads, in jade, one perched on her head, the other +three playing about under her. + +M. Sucre has painted many a stork in the course of his lifetime, and he +really excels in reproducing groups and duets, if one may so express it, +of this bird. Few Japanese possess the art of interpreting this subject +in a manner at once so rapid and so tasteful; first he draws the two +beaks, then the four claws, then the backs, the feathers, dash, dash, +dash--with a dozen strokes of his clever brush, held in his daintily +posed hand, it is done, and always perfectly well done! + +M. Kangourou relates, without seeing anything wrong in it whatever, that +formerly this talent was of great service to M. Sucre. It appears that +Madame Prune--how shall I say such a thing, and, who could guess it now, +on beholding so devout and sedate an old lady, with eyebrows so +scrupulously shaven?--however, it appears that Madame Prune used to +receive a great many visits from gentlemen--gentlemen who always came +alone--which led to some gossip. Therefore, when Madame Prune was +engaged with one visitor, if a new arrival made his appearance, the +ingenious husband, to induce him to wait patiently, and to wile away the +time in the anteroom, immediately offered to paint him some storks in a +variety of attitudes. + +And this is why, in Nagasaki, all the Japanese gentlemen of a certain age +have in their collections two or three of these little pictures, for +which they are indebted to the delicate and original talent of M. Sucre! + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Ah! the natural perversity of inanimate things +Found nothing that answered to my indefinable expectations +Habit turns into a makeshift of attachment +I know not what lost home that I have failed to find +When the inattentive spirits are not listening + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Madame Chrysantheme, v2 +by Pierre Loti + |