Trick ster Moun tain or the Tengu of Kami

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2 Trick ster Moun tain or the Tengu of Kami A play by ED WARD MAST Sug gested by tales and char ac ters from Ja pan Dra matic Pub lish ing Woodstock, Il li nois Aus tra lia New Zea land South Af rica

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5 Trick ster Moun tain or the Tengu of Kami CHAR AC TERS (to be dou bled by as few as 8 per form ers) TENGU...a demon, male or fe male, of in de ter mi nate age MURASAKI...a young woman TONO...a young woman GENJI...an older but still vig or ous mil i tary man AWOI...an older woman YUGIRI...a busi ness man, friend of Genji PRIEST MOMMA....of Murasaki POPPA...of Murasaki YOSHI...a young man GONSUKE (male)...a ban dit OMA (fe male)...a ban dit TRAV ELER (male) KAPPA...a po lite demon ONI...an other type of demon SHOKI...the Demon Queller SOL DIERS, DE MONS, BAN DITS, FOR EST ERS, STREAMS, AN I MALS, TREES 5

6 SET TING: Some hun dreds of years ago in a place re sem - bling Ja pan. Trick ster Moun tain or the Tengu of Kami is not based on any sin gle story, but is a sort of fan ta sia on leg end ary char - ac ters and tales from Ja pan. Read ers of Jap a nese lit er a ture will rec og nize the names of Murasaki and Genji, though maybe not en tirely their per son al i ties. The Tengu and other su per nat u ral crea tures are all vari ants of their forms in Jap - a nese leg ends. The word kami means some thing like di - vin ity, and a moun tain with that name is, as far as I know, an in ven tion of my own. 6

7 ACT ONE SCENE: Bare stage. Mu sic. AT RISE: A funny-look ing crea ture with a big nose the TENGU co mes on; looks at us for a mo ment; then steps aside, snaps fin gers in the air. At this com mand, a river of white silk un furls through the air, di ag o nally across the stage, drawn by two AT - TEN DANTS. The end of the bolt is set down and, be fore it can flut ter to the ground, two teen age young women en ter and take up the silk, fon dling it and slid ing their fin gers along its edges. They are MURASAKI and TONO. The TENGU has gone.) TONO. Not all this. MURASAKI. All this. And all left over from the gown. TONO. So beauuutiful. MURASAKI. And a belt of em broi dered gold for the sash. TONO. He is so gen er ous. (A string is plucked or a lit tle bell rings as MURASAKI im pro vises a poem.) MURASAKI. his generous hand 7

8 8 TRICK STER MOUN TAIN OR Act I a waving flag declaring a so giving heart Is it true that Genji won the Battle of Soonjo Bridge? TONO. They say he did. When he was youn ger. I am told you can read it in his tory books. MURASAKI. I ll find those books and read them. Genji has met the emperor. We ll travel all over the em pire, we ll meet all the fa mous lords and their la dies. We ll travel out side the em pire. TONO. You will? MURASAKI. Why not? To the Manchu coun try. Far ther. Who knows? TONO. Why would you go there? MURASAKI. Don t you want to see the whole world? TONO. What for? I d be happy just to be mar ried to some - one like you re gonna marry. MURASAKI. You will. TONO. No I won t. I ll be an un mar ried toy for gen tle men all my life. That s my place. Un less some dash ing ban dit kid naps me. MURASAKI. Maybe you can come see the world with me. TONO. I can? MURASAKI. Why not? I ll need a per sonal woman, won t I? To dress me and feed me and keep the fires go ing in my rooms, is n t that right? TONO. Of course. MURASAKI. And be sides, we re friends. TONO. We are? MURASAKI. Aren t you my friend? TONO. Well sure, but you don t have to be my friend.

9 Act I THE TENGU OF KAMI 9 MURASAKI. But I want to. Don t you see? I m not like those other la dies. I have n t been rich all my life like them. (Whis pers.) I grew up in a teeny lit tle house. TONO. You did? MURASAKI. Two rooms. Did n t you? TONO. Yeah. MURASAKI. See? I m the same as you. I just got a stroke of won der ful fate, and now I can have all the things I want, and I never have to build a fire again, but that does n t mean we can t be friends. TONO. Re ally? MURASAKI. You re the first friend I ve made here in my new home. TONO. Ex cept your hus band, of course. MURASAKI. Of course. And we re not re ally friends yet. That hap pens af ter the wed ding. Does n t it? TONO. How did he find you? MURASAKI. He was hunt ing, I think. Rid ing, any way, with his men and his ser vants and all, and he saw me from afar. That s what he said: from afar. TONO. Then what? MURASAKI. It was so lovely. He fol lowed me home to find out where I live. Then he came back at night and hung a spindletree branch on the door. TONO. Just like any body? MURASAKI. Just like a boy from the vil lage, as if he were n t a rich no ble man or any thing. My par ents did n t know what to make of it, but he came the next day by him self and said who he was. TONO. What did your par ents do? MURASAKI. Well they did n t have much to talk about, and I was lis ten ing in the other room. So he left kind of

10 10 TRICK STER MOUN TAIN OR Act I po litely, and be fore I even came out to ask, my mom and dad put wa ter on that branch, and so next time he came he knew the an swer was yes. He made them a huge gift of coins, and I was en gaged to a hand some no - ble man. TONO. He s kind of old. MURASAKI. He s ma ture. Grey hair gives him dig nity. He s not some boy. When he vis its I can hear his foot - steps all down the road, like an em peror him self. TONO. Where were you when he saw you from afar? MURASAKI. In a meadow near my house. TONO. Run ning around out side? MURASAKI. Not run ning, but out side. TONO. We never go out side here. MURASAKI. Never? TONO. Into the gar den some times. But when we leave the house we go in car riages with blinds across the win - dows. MURASAKI. Why? TONO. When you live in a no ble man s house, you re not sup posed to be seen by any one else. MURASAKI. That s not a rule, is it? TONO. Sort of. MURASAKI. Oh. Well. That will be fine. We have a huuuge gar den, don t we? (A knock.) Yes? VOICE (TENGU as ser vant, off stage). My Lord Genji vis - its. MURASAKI. Oh! GENJI (off stage). Does my beau ti ful bride re ceive me? MURASAKI. Of course.

11 Act I THE TENGU OF KAMI 11 (MURASAKI and TONO leap into poses as GENJI en - ters with two AT TEN DANTS, one male and one fe male, both masked. GENJI is fifty-two years old, grey-haired, fit and mus cu lar. He has been a sam u rai and gen tle man all his life. He bows low to the girls.) GENJI. Your ser vant Genji is grate ful for the priv i lege of this visit. MURASAKI. My soon-to-be hus band does me honor and must rise at once. (In the pres ence of GENJI, MURASAKI as sumes a higher voice and a timid man ner. She takes very small steps when walk ing, and never looks di rectly at GENJI. GENJI rises. He po litely avoids star ing at her.) GENJI. Your most for tu nate im pend ing groom will be brief in his call. MURASAKI. The time of to mor row s bride is the pos ses - sion of her lord Genji. GENJI. The young lady is com fort able in her sur round ings, I hope? MURASAKI. My lord s lucky young guest could not be hap pier. GENJI. The young com pan ion Tono is suit able? MURASAKI. Tono is charm ing and well cho sen. GENJI. And all my young an gel s de sires are met most promptly? MURASAKI. My lord s at ten dants are swift and zeal ous in their care. GENJI. Ex cel lent. I hope the young woman looks for ward to the wed ding day?

12 12 TRICK STER MOUN TAIN OR Act I MURASAKI. My lord s bride-to-be can hardly wait. GENJI. And the wed ding night, of course. MURASAKI. Mod esty for bids my lord s young bride to ex press her en thused an tic i pa tion. GENJI. And she knows that she can call on me if her least de sire is over looked. MURASAKI. She knows it well. Per haps GENJI. Does my de light re quire some thing? MURASAKI. Per haps my lord and his bride-to-be could go rid ing at some time soon. GENJI. Is the young woman un happy in this pa vil ion? MURASAKI. My lord s wife-to-be is thrilled to be here. GENJI. Ex cel lent. MURASAKI. And the fresh air of my lord s es tates will bring even more de light. GENJI. I see. Per haps we will dis cuss this af ter the happy event. MURASAKI. My lord s young bride will be very pleased. GENJI. Any thing else? MURASAKI. All the wishes of my lord s new bride are met and ex ceeded. GENJI. Un til the day of wed ding, then. MURASAKI. Un til that happy day. GENJI (im pro vises a poem, as a string is plucked). with your hand present the buds of spring come blooming in early winter (With a bow, GENJI and AT TEN DANTS leave. MURA - SAKI re sumes her nor mal pos ture and voice. She con sid - ers.)

13 Act I THE TENGU OF KAMI 13 MURASAKI. Good. We ll dis cuss it. He s go ing to be a won der ful hus band. TONO. I hope so. MURASAKI. It s just like a ro mance in a book. TONO. Do you read books? MURASAKI. Oh yes. Don t you? TONO. I wish I could. Who taught you to read? MURASAKI. My par ents did. They did n t want me to be just an or di nary girl. TONO. Of course not. MURASAKI. I m sorry. You know what I meant. TONO. I do. It s okay. I am an or di nary girl. It s no in sult to say so. (A knock.) MURASAKI. Yes? VOICE (TENGU as ser vant off stage). My Lady Awoi vis - its. MURASAKI. Who? VOICE. My Lady Awoi vis its. MURASAKI (whis pers). Who s that? TONO (whis pers). You don t know? AWOI (off stage, im pa tient). The young lady will re ceive me. (MURASAKI and TONO leap into their poses as AWOI en ters, also with two AT TEN DANTS, both fe male, both masked. AWOI is an older woman, hand some and mag - nif i cently dressed, wear ing a half-mask to des ig nate high sta tus. She steps in, looks skep ti cally at MURASAKI. Si - lence.)

14 14 TRICK STER MOUN TAIN OR Act I AWOI. You are this Murasaki. MURASAKI. I am. (TONO nudges her.) Your La dy ship. AWOI. Your cour tesy does you credit, young lady. You are pretty. (Pause.) I say you are pretty. MURASAKI. Thank Your La dy ship. AWOI. I hope you are pa tient and com pan ion able also, as well as hard work ing when that time co mes. MURASAKI. I hope to be, Your La dy ship. AWOI. I de sire you to know that I bear you no an i mos ity. This is not, af ter all, your fault. MURASAKI. I fail to un der stand Your La dy ship. AWOI. Mm. Of course you do. Well. I was in structed not to come here, but it is my duty. The duty of one in my place. To uhh. To make you wel come. Into my lord Genji s fam ily. MURASAKI. Thank Your La dy ship. What is my lady s re - la tion to the lord Genji? AWOI. Is your ques tion im per ti nent? MURASAKI. No, Your La dy ship. AWOI. I would hope not. But you must be ei ther im per ti - nent or ig no rant. Which shall it be? MURASAKI. If seek ing in for ma tion means ig no rance, my lady, then I am ig no rant on a reg u lar ba sis. Your La dy - ship. AWOI (glares at her a mo ment). Did you not hear me an - nounced as the lady Awoi? MURASAKI. Yes, Your La dy ship. AWOI. The lady Awoi? Lord Genji s wife? MURASAKI. I beg your par don? Wife? (TONO nudges her.) Your La dy ship? AWOI. Yes. Wife.

15 Act I THE TENGU OF KAMI 15 MURASAKI. With many par dons, Your La dy ship, I am to be mar ried to the lord Genji to mor row. AWOI. You sur prise me. Has no one talked to you? Per - haps that is why I was dis cour aged from this visit. I am the wife of Lord Genji. Your cer e mony to mor row, if we may call it so, is a for mal pro cess to make le gal the in - tro duc tion of sec ond ary wives into the household. MURASAKI. I am to be his sec ond wife? AWOI. His fourth wife, ac tu ally. None of the oth ers have called on you? That s un for tu nate. They are usu ally pos - sessed of better man ners. Per haps they were for bid den as well. MURASAKI. There are two oth ers? AWOI. I am sorry to be the bearer of this dis agree able news to you. Yes, there are two oth ers, as well as my - self. You will have a dis tinct ad van tage, how ever. You are still young. All of us started young, but time has passed. It has passed for our Lord Genji as well, he has de vel oped a taste for youn ger wives to make his hair feel not so grey. Do you see now? MURASAKI. Yes. (TONO nudges.) Your La dy ship. AWOI. Hm. I think you are gen u inely sur prised by this. The shock will wear off. We do not have much choice in these mat ters. I hope for your sake that the ar range ment agrees with you. It does seem to suit some peo ple. Good day, Fourth Wife. (AWOI and her ret i nue leave with out bow ing.) TONO. You re ally did n t know? MURASAKI. How was I sup posed to? Why did n t you tell me?

16 16 TRICK STER MOUN TAIN OR Act I TONO. I thought you knew. They told me not to men tion it, but I thought we were just be ing po lite. She was n t sup posed to come here. MURASAKI. Who told her not to? TONO. Lord Genji, I think. MURASAKI. Lord Genji told her not to? TONO. I think so. MURASAKI. I hope the ar range ment agrees with you. It does NOT agree with me. He can look else where for his many spare brides. TONO. Uh MURASAKI. What? TONO. You said he gave gifts to your par ents, right? MURASAKI. So? TONO. So re ally, you be long to him now. MURASAKI. I do? TONO (nods). It s not so bad. You ll have a nice life. All the gowns and jew els you want. Sweets to eat all day. No work to do. MURASAKI. Sounds easy, does n t it. TONO. Sure does. MURASAKI. We ll see. (They leave.) (Mu sic in the back ground. * * * * En ter GENJI, dressed with great for mal ity, with YUGIRI, a friend less splen didly dressed.)