Wei Sheng - Akutagawa Ryūnosuke

 

   Wei Sheng was waiting under a bridge. He’d been waiting quite awhile for a woman to come.

    Looking up, he noticed that vines were creeping halfway along the railing of the high stone bridge. The hems of white garments of occasional passers-by flashed into view through the railing, flapping gently in the breeze.

    The woman still did not come.

    Whistling softly, Wei Sheng looked across the sandbar beneath the bridge, feeling cheerful. The yellow-brown mud of the sandbar extended only about four yards; beyond that was water. Between the reeds at the water’s edge were a number of round holes that served as crab dwellings. The holes made a faint gurgling sound whenever a wave washed over them.

    The woman still did not come.

    Wei Sheng moved to the water’s edge. He was beginning to notice the passage of time. He gazed out at the quiet course of the river, where no boats were currently passing.

    The course of the river was lined with green reeds. Here and there, round river willows grew thick and luxuriant along the coast. The surface of the river that could be seen through vegetation snaked along. It didn’t look as wide as it truly was. 

    The belt of clear water meandered silently through the reeds, gilded with the reflection of clouds.

    The woman still did not come.

    Wei Sheng walked along the edge of the water, wandering on the sandbar, which was no longer quite as wide. Twilight advanced slowly. He listened to the stillness around him.

    There had been no sign of any travelers up on the bridge for a little while. He hadn’t heard any sound of boots, or any sound of hooves, or any sound of wheels from up there. All he heard was the sound of the breeze, the sound of the reeds, the sound of water, and from somewhere there came the piercing cry of a heron. He stopped where he was, thinking about sound and what he’d heard, and realized that the tide was coming in. The water that washed the yellow-brown mud sparkled nearer than it had earlier.

    The woman still did not come.

    Arching his eyebrows sharply, Wei Sheng walked back up the dimly lit sandbar in haste until he was once more under the bridge. Inch by inch, foot by foot, the water of the river rose up the sandbar. At the same time, the smells of duckweed and water rising from the river flowed cold across his skin. When he looked up, the resplendent rays of the setting sun were gone from the bridge. The stone bridge railing showed black against the dark blue evening sky.

    The woman still did not come.

    Wei Sheng stood fixed in his place.

    Soaking his boots, the water of the river spread below the bridge and shone colder than steel. His knees, his gut, and then his chest would be hidden by the brutal tide soon. The water continued to rise and his shins were submerged already.

    The woman still did not come.

    As he stood in the water, Wei Sheng kept turning his eyes to the sky over the bridge, appealing to the heavens as his last hope. 

    Surrounded by a mist of shadowy darkness rising from the water that submerged his knees, he heard a rustle of reeds and willows. Wei Sheng’s nose was grazed by a fish--perhaps a sea bass. The fish flashed its white belly at him. A few stars were visible in the sky through the water overhead. The fish leaped over Wei Sheng’s head, and the shape of the bridge railing and its vines blended with the darkness of the night.

    The woman still did not come.

    Late at night, as the light of the moon bathed the reeds and willows and the river water exchanged quiet murmurs with a slight breeze, Wei Sheng’s dead body was carried softly to the sea from beneath the bridge. Wei Sheng’s spirit,  yearning for the light of the moon high in the lonely sky, slipped out of his body and calmly ascended, just like the smell of water and duckweed rising silently from the river.

    Several thousand years passed after Wei Sheng’s spirit first ascended to the heavens. His spirit experienced countless transmigrations and was finally assigned to give life to a human form again.

    His spirit now dwells within me. Because of it, even though I was born in modern times, I am unable to do any meaningful work. I spend my life in melancholy dreaming, day and night, waiting for an indescribable something that I know is going to come.

    I am Wei Sheng standing under the bridge at the end of the day, waiting forever for a lover who will never come.

 

THE END

 

Translator's Note:  尾生(Wěi Shēng) Wei Sheng is a legendary character in Chinese mythology who waited for his love under a bridge until he was drowned in the surging waters. In modern Chinese, the name is an idiom that means, “someone who keeps to their word no matter what.”