(a)

In the comparative study of literature, it is often found that there are always some things that can touch the hearts of people in different eras more frequently than other things. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

As a result, there are always certain stories that will be told by many people over and over again. Many people add all kinds of things they want to express in the same thing, and then shape it into a thousand ways.

The incident told in the Noh drama "Ayagu" clearly belongs to this kind of thing.

This story was first told in some kind of folk performance, and then it was extracted by the medieval playwright Ami and written as an exquisite story, and then it was recreated by at least a dozen writers such as Yukio Mishima, not to mention the reinterpretation and reconstruction of stage performances.

This ongoing adaptation and reinterpretation continued into the spring of this year.

Now that the story has been told in so many different ways, its initial appearance becomes unimportant.

So, for now, let me tell the story in my own way. This is the second film and television script I tried to adapt after "Koharu".

Of course, I also added to it what I value and want to express.

This incident shows that all stories are just a kind of borrowing from the narrator, intentionally or unintentionally.

(b)

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful woman named Jae Won. She was so beautiful that she was elected to the Imperial Palace and became the emperor's concubine.

On the day he was selected to enter the palace, the whole family was deeply honored for it. Mrs. Zaiyuan herself is like this.

But she soon learned that there was always a price to be paid for glory. The higher the glory, the greater the cost.

The Emperor had many palaces, but the palace where Mrs. Moto was located was only one of the small ones.

The emperor does not live in this palace every day. They usually only come once or twice a year, for three or five days at a time. If there are other reasons, such as a busy schedule, a tight war, or the emperor's ill health, the emperor may not come here for the whole year.

Although Mrs. Zaiyuan's youth is also as long as other women, the effective youth is not very long.

Even on the few days that the Emperor was fortunate enough to visit this palace, it was almost impossible for Madame Moto to see him alone.

Because there are so many young and beautiful women stored in the palace, in just three or five days, it is impossible for any man to enjoy them one by one, even if he is greedy.

In the blink of an eye, Mrs. Yuan spent 10 years in the palace.

She was only 14 years old when she entered the palace, and now she is 24 years old.

She had only received two imperial blessings from the emperor in total, and she had no children.

Although with the growth of years in the palace, her status is constantly improving, and her grade has been rising, but this is meaningless to her.

All she knew was that what she had exchanged for her youth was that the Emperor had no sense of her existence and had no memory of her dealings with her.

She is forever in the same kind of competition with many women for the only man, and winning in this competition is almost hopeless.

Therefore, when she saw batch after batch of younger and more beautiful women entering the court, she had a deep sense of emptiness.

The hollowness devoured her from within. There is no way to resist.

(c)

Mrs. Zai Yuan lives a lonely day by day in this sense of nothingness, and this cannot be confided.

Although all the women in the palace have such a bitter loneliness, no one dares to reveal it to others.

Mrs. Zaiyuan thought of many ways to deal with her emptiness: entertainment, friendship, dressing, playing the piano, painting, singing flowers, embroidery, divination, and gambling.

She had tried everything that was allowed in her identity. But it doesn't work well.

That feeling of emptiness accumulated little by little in her heart, and then went to the opposite side of the darkness.

She began to develop some anger, some desire to rebel, some malice began to rise, and the yearning for revenge began to grow.

"Why can't my obedient waiting and my devotion be equally rewarded?"

It was under such questions that she began to have some kind of sadistic thoughts.

And when evil thoughts begin to surge, it always catches the object of the sacrifice.

(iv)

One day, when Madame Yuan was passing by a courtyard in the palace, her long silk skirt was hooked by a bush.

Her maids hurried over and tried to free the skirt from the bushes, but in a hurry, they could not succeed for a while.

At this moment, an old man next to him who was cleaning the courtyard with his head down came over and helped them.

The old man first humbly asked Mrs. Yuan to stand and not move, and then, he carefully untied Mrs. Yuan's skirt from the flowers and trees, and he respectfully arranged the long skirt and spread it out at Mrs. Yuan's feet, so that the skirt showed a beautiful fan shape.

This series of actions made Mrs. Zai Yuan notice the old man.

She vaguely remembered that the old man had been cleaning the courtyard here since she had entered the palace.

He was already very old at that time, 10 years had passed, and now, he should be very close to death.

Mrs. Yuan looked at the old man carefully.

Her gaze made the old man feel uncomfortable. He began to tremble, trembling and kneeling again, prostrate on the ground, not daring to look up.

The old man had been cleaning in the palace and had seen countless noble and beautiful women pass by him.

He had become so accustomed to the women who looked at him as if he were nothing, and sometimes he felt that he was transparent and could not be seen by anyone.

He had never been so close to the emperor's stunner, and he had never been so close to one of the stunners for so long and so kindly gazing.

It made him feel like he had stepped into heaven.

And the words that Mrs. Yuan said afterwards made him even more out of his body in an instant.

Mrs. Zai Yuan looked at the old man gently and kindly, and suddenly smiled.

She reached out and helped the old man up herself. She stood across from the old man.

She half-hid her youthful face with the gold-painted folding fan in her hand, and her eyes rolled over his silver-white hair and wrinkled face.

She nodded and motioned for the old man to come closer to her.

The old man hesitated to take a step or two forward, he could already smell the fragrance emanating from Mrs. Yuan's body, the fragrance was vague, it seemed to be nothing, and it had an indescribable attraction.

The old man didn't know that in order to attract the emperor in one place, many concubines would put a lot of effort into clothing and body incense, and there were many secret recipes.

Mrs. Yuan gently approached the old man's ear. She said, "You're cute. ”

"You're the most attractive man I've ever met," she said. ”

She whispered in the old man's ear, "I, very, like you." ”

She said, "I, will, miss you." ”

As Mrs. Yuan spoke, she covered her mouth with a silver bell-like voice and chuckled.

Then, like a butterfly, she flew past the old man's eyes.

She and her maids disappeared to the other side of the courtyard in a dazzling shadow of clothes and temples.

The old man was left standing there as if struck by lightning.

In the blurred old vision, he seemed to see Mrs. Yuan at the exit of the courtyard, and looked back at him and smiled charmingly.