Pilgrims. Here without interval.
Benkei. Be it not doubted. (All together rapidly rubbing their rosaries. Om mani padme hum!)
Togashi. It is well done ! I gather then that you exhort men to contribute to the re-building of Tôdaiji in Nara. Presumably you carry with you the prospectus of the temple. I desire to hear it read.
Benkei. Is it your wish to hear the prospectus read?
Togashi. Assuredly.
Benkei. I obey. Naturally we have the prospectus. (He takes from the valise a scroll in which correspondence is inscribed, and pretending it to be the prospectus, reads in a stentorian voice:) "After the autumnal moon of the Great Teacher (Shaka) set in the clouds of Nirvana, there remained no man capable of rousing the living and the dead from the long dream in which they were sunk. Then, in mid antiquity, the Mikado, whose name was reverentially called the Emperor Shomu, being separated from his best beloved and powerless to subdue his yearnings, the round tears, welling, fell like strings of pearls from his eyes, and turning into the three paths, he erected a statue of Birushana. Now Shunjôbô Chôgen, grieving that the image should not have a fane, travelled throughout the land seeking alms, and promising that if any gave even a single sheet of paper or so much as half a coin, he should enjoy limitless happiness here, and sit hereafter upon the thousand petalled lotus." (As Benkei concludes his reading in a voice that rises reverberating to the sky, the guards at the barrier all bow their heads in awe.)
Togashi. Pass speedily.
Benkei. We obey. (They pass the barrier.)
Man-at-arms. Sir, Sir, Lord Hangwan is passing.
Togashi. How? Halt there, baggage-bearer!
Pilgrims. How now! They suspect our lord. The crisis! The crisis! (They all turn back.)
43
