"And now we must say farewell, since the time of my madness, the time when I must return to my tiger state, is near," said Li Zheng's voice. "But I have yet another favour to beg before we part. It concerns my wife and children, still in Guolue. Of course, they know nothing of my fate. After you return from the south, would you tell them that I have died? I do not want them to know anything of what has passed between us today. And, although it is presumptuous of me, I beg you, have pity on their abandoned state and do what you can so they do not die of cold and hunger by some roadside. It would be a debt of gratitude I can never hope to repay."
Li Zheng having spoken these words, a loud cry came from within the thicket. Yuan Can was in tears as he assured his old friend that he would do what was asked. But Li Zheng's voice resumed a tone of self-mockery: "Were I a human in the least, I would have begged this favour before anything else. A man who is more concerned about his wretched poetry than about his wife and children deserves the fate of becoming a beast!"
Nakajima Atsushi, 1942
Translated by Paul McCarthy and Nobuko Ochner, 2011
YOU ARE READING
A "Father" in an Unclean World
FanfictionAfter being kicked out of his own orphanage, Atsushi finds himself out on the streets of Yokohama city. Out of sheer hunger Atsushi steals a pastry from a little girl with golden locks and a red dress. He does not get very far, as who seems to be he...
