Once there was a man who ran off with a certain lady. As they traveled they came to a place where there was fresh water. "Would you like some?" the man asked. The lady nodded, and since he had no cup he scooped it up with his hands for her. Thus he took her to the capital. Later he died and she set out to return to her old home. When she reached the spot where he had given her water, she recited this poem:
Where is he now--
The man who scooped up
Handful upon handful
Of Ōhara's clear water,
Asking, "Is it enough?"
Helen McCullough (tr.), Tales of Ise, p. 150.
Tales of Ise is a Heian (tenth-century) collection of waka poems embedded in little anecdotes like the one above. I'm reading them with an eye to adapting one into a short manga. This poignant episode was the one to jump out at me. I imagine it written on the flyleaf of one of Michael Ondaatje's novels. D
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