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The Damask Drum

[Aya no Tsuzumi] by Seami Motokiyo

•

Persons

  • A Courtier
  • An Old Gardener
  • The Princess

Courtier: I am a courtier at the Palace of Kinomaru in the country of Chikuzen. You must know that in this place there is a famous pond called the Laurel Pond, where the royal ones often take their walks; so it happened that one day the old man who sweeps the garden here caught sight of the Princess. And from that time he has loved her with a love that gives his heart no rest.

Some one told her of this, and she said, “Love’s equal realm knows no divisions,”[1] and in her pity she said, “By that pond there stands a laurel tree, and on its branches there hangs a drum. Let him beat the drum, and if the sound is heard in the palace, he shall see my face again.”

I must tell him of this.

Listen, old Gardener! The worshipful lady has heard of your love and sends you this message: “Go and beat the drum that hangs on the tree by the pond, and if the sound is heard in the palace, you shall see my face again.” Go quickly now and beat the drum!

Gardener: With trembling I receive her words. I will go and beat the drum.

Courtier: Look, here is the drum she spoke of. Make haste and beat it!

(He leaves the Gardener standing by the tree and seats himself at the foot of the Waki’s Pillar.)
  1. ↑ A twelfth-century folk song speaks of “The Way of Love which knows no castes of ‘high’ and ‘low’.”
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