Mother monologue (Act 11) — Chushingura; Or, The Treasury of Loyal Retainers

Oh, you are no doubt puzzled, my son. We had heard from our daughter that you were in want of money; and much as we wished to get it for you, we had no prospect of procuring a single _sen_. And so says my old man, “I do not suppose our son is thinking of getting the money by selling his wife; but it may be that he has such a wish and is deterred from carrying it out only by the presence of her parents. What if this old father sells her without his knowledge? It is a custom with the samurai, when other means are exhausted, to take her back by force. It is no shame to sell one’s wife, and if I find for him in this way the money he requires in his lord’s cause, I do not think he will be very angry with me.” So yesterday he went to Gion-machi to settle the matter, but he has not come home yet. While we, I and my daughter, were feeling anxious at his absence, comes this man and says that as he gave the old man half the sum last night, he will pay the remaining fifty _ryo_ now and take away my daughter this moment. I tell him I must see the old man first, but he won’t listen to me, and insists upon taking her away. What shall we do, Kanpei?