chrysanthemums were just in full bloom, the bright fallen leaves were tumbling and tussling in the wind. It was indeed a scene of wonderful beauty that met our eyes.23 Presently he took a flute out of the folds of his dress and began to play upon it. Then putting the flute aside, he began to murmur “Sweet is the shade”24 and other catches. Soon a pleasant-sounding native zithern25 began to tune up somewhere within the house and an ingenious accompaniment was fitted to his careless warblings. Her zithern was tuned to the autumn-mode, and she played with so much tenderness and feeling that though the music came from behind closed shutters it sounded quite modern and passionate, and well accorded with the soft beauty of the moonlight. The courtier was ravished, and as he stepped forward to place himself right under her window he turned to me and remarked in a self-satisfied way that among the fallen leaves no other footstep had left its mark. Then plucking a chrysanthemum, he sang:
y luego, pidiéndole perdón por sus torpes versos, le suplicó que volviera a tocar mientras aún quedaba cerca alguien que deseaba con tanta pasión escucharla. Tras dedicarle muchos otros cumplidos, la dama respondió con voz afectada al verso:
y después de estas caricias, aún sin sospechar nada, tomó el laúd de trece cuerdas y, afinándolo en el modo Banjiki26, aporreó las cuerdas con todo el frenesí que ahora exige la moda.
Fue una buena interpretación sin duda, pero no puedo decir que me causara una impresión muy agradable.
«Un hombre puede divertirse bastante entreteniéndose de vez en cuando con alguna dama de la Corte; sacará el mayor placer que pueda mientras