Tana

“ Don’t mind if I’m even a bit careless with you, Max. Look after yourselves as well as you can. You are welcome—you know that; but—what’s the use of words? Perhaps ’Tana is dying!”
And turning his back abruptly on his friend, he walked away, while Lyster looked after him with some surprise.
“I seem to be dropped by everybody,” he remarked, “first Haydon and now Dan. But I don’t believe there is danger of her dying. I won’t believe it! Dan has 200 worried himself sick and fearful during these terrible days, but I’ll do my share now and let him get some rest and sleep. ’Tana die! ”

“ I’ve heard you talk to Max about how you would like to live, and what you would like to see; and I think you can soon. But, ’Tana, you will live then where people will be more critical than we are here—”
“More like Captain Leek?” she asked, with a deep wrinkle between her brows; “for if they are, I’ll stay here.”
“N—no; not like him; and yet they will think considerable of his sort of ideas, too,” he answered, blunderingly. “One thing sure is this: When your actual work here is over, you must go at once back to Mrs. Huzzard. ”

“ 'Oh, not much. All I know about it is that a year or so ago I got a letter from Mackenzie, the Scotch missionary, whose station, "The Highlands", is placed at the highest navigable point of the Tana River, in which he said something about it.'
'Have you the letter?' I asked. ”

“ He’ll take care of her, I think. She’s pretty, but not like me. He never saw her. She’s with a woman in Chicago, where I boarded. I haven’t paid her board now for months, but it’s all right; the woman’s a good soul. Dan Overton will pay when you tell him.”
“You write an order for that child, and tell the woman to give it to me,” said ’Tana, decidedly, and looked around for something to write with. A sheet of paper was found, and she went to Harvey for a pencil. ”

“ The duties of kingship among the anthropoids are not many or arduous.
In the afternoon comes Thaka, possibly, to complain that old Mungo has stolen his new wife. Then must Tarzan summon all before him, and if he finds that the wife prefers her new lord he commands that matters remain as they are, or possibly that Mungo give Thaka one of his daughters in exchange.
Whatever his decision, the apes accept it as final, and return to their occupations satisfied.
Then comes Tana, shrieking and holding tight her side from which blood is streaming. Gunto, her husband, has cruelly bitten her! ”

“ Dan is just as likely to get upset over any other vagabond who strays in his direction,” grumbled the captain. “Folks are always falling in his way to be looked after. He has the worst luck! He never did a bit of harm to this stranger—nothing but drop a hand on his shoulder; and all at once the man falls down helpless. And Dan feels in duty bound to take care of him. Then the girl ’Tana has to flop over in the same way, just when I thought we were to get rid of her. And she’s another charge to look after. He’ll be wanting to hire your house for a hospital next thing, Mrs. Huzzard.” ”

“ Was not their conduct in Kyoto to satisfy their desires? Was not Tanaka's present behavior due to his longing to see her resulting in his following her to Tokyo? He might have clasped her hands and embraced her. What they did upstairs in an inn, under no supervision, was anyone's guess. Whether she was soiled or not was in doubt. While thinking of these things, Tokio became unable to control himself and cried out in his mind, "This whole affair is related to my responsibility as her teacher!" He thought that he could not let matters stand as they were. ”

“ Just as the Bible says a woman should forsake her parents and follow her husband, I intend to follow Tanaka.
Tanaka has yet to find a means to make a living. His savings have already been used up, and he had a wretched existence in the closing days of last year. I cannot endure standing idly by and watching his discomfort. Even if I do not receive any assistance from my parents, Tanaka and I will try to live in this world as far as it is possible by ourselves. ”

“ People from the Kanto and the Northeastern regions are quite different from them. They express their thoughts frankly, calling what is good "good," and what is bad "bad"; that's why I like them. But those of the central part of the country are indeed crafty. Tanaka is tricky, has lame excuses, and weeps like a woman...."
"Tanaka does seem to have that sort of fault."
"Wait and see, I'm sure he'll not agree with our terms tomorrow. He'll make various excuses to delay returning home."
Suddenly suspicion regarding the relationship between Yoshiko and Tanaka flashed through Tokio's mind. ”

“ During the voyage I often heard them talking about the atoll, about Crichton—wondering, conjecturing, and always miles off the track. It was plain that he was a good deal disturbed by their hints and furtive questionings. He seemed to be afraid that mere talk about Tanao on the part of an outsider might sully the purity of its loneliness. He may have been a little selfish in his attitude, but if that is a fault in a man of his temperament it is one easily forgiven. And what could he have said to those traders? It was much better to keep silent and let them believe what they liked. ”

“ Nevertheless, if she informed her parents about her love affair it was obvious that they would not approve, and might, if the time was right, come at once to get her. She swore that as Tanaka came up to Tokyo after a lot of trouble and since they had not fallen in love casually nor was theirs superficial love as might be the case of love between worldly men and women, they would never commit a dishonorable act nor indulge themselves. Literature was a difficult road to follow; Tanaka might not be able to support a family by writing novels ”

“ She begged that Tanaka be allowed to remain in Tokyo for the time being. Tokio could not give a flat refusal to her urgent request. He did have doubts as to her chastity based on her behavior at Saga in Kyoto, but on the other hand, he believed her explanation and trusted that no such thing had taken place between the two of them. Reflecting on the experiences of his own youth, he realized that platonic love could be attained, but carnal love could not be so easily put into practice. ”

“ As for the forty-odd tanka which I have translated, their chief attraction lies, I think, in what they reveal to us of the human nature of their authors. Tanabata-tsumé still represents for us the Japanese wife, worshipfully loving;—Hikoboshi appears to us with none of the luminosity of the god, but as the young Japanese husband of the sixth or seventh century, before Chinese ethical convention had begun to exercise its restraint upon life and literature. ”

“ At the back of the photograph was some Japanese writing.
"Is Tanaka there?" Asako asked her maid Titine.
Yes, of course, Tanaka was there, in the next room with his ear near the door.
"Tanaka, what does this mean?"
"Japanese poem," he said, "meaning very difficult: very many meanings: I think perhaps it means, having travelled all over the world, he feels very sad."
"Yes, but word for word, Tanaka, what does it mean?"
"This writing means, World is really not the same it says: all the world very many tell lies." ”

“ The other natives joined in at once with their loud cry, "Chief speak true. Tanaki belong a Queenie England. Tanaki no belong a man a oui-oui. If man a oui-oui want to take Tanaki, man a Tanaki come out and fight him." And they threw themselves at once into a threatening attitude.
"Have you got any Englishmen here?" the French skipper called out, to make sure of his ground.
"Yes," says the missionary—our boys' father—standing out from the crowd. "Three [pg 61] English families here. Settled on the island. ”

“ Tanaka! He had seen the little beast in Yaé's motor car at Chuzenji. He must have come spying after his master as he had done fifty times before. He and that half-caste devil had raced him back to Tokyo, had got in ahead of him, and had told a pack of lies to Asako. She must have believed them, since she had gone away. But where had she gone to? The boy san had said "two Japanese girls." She must have gone to the Fujinami house, and to her horribly unclean cousins.
He must find her at once. He must open her eyes to the truth. He must bring her back. He must take her away from Japan—forever. ”

“ As both my wife and I are engaged in many charitable organizations in our village and we hold some honorable positions, we would be very embarrassed if the news of my daughter's return spreads around. Therefore, I'll follow your suggestion and send Tanaka back to Kyoto, if possible, and I would like to ask you to keep my daughter under your care for another couple of years."
"That's a good idea," Tokio said.
They also conversed on one or two things relating to Yoshiko and Tanaka. Tokio told Yoshiko's father about their stay at Saga in Kyoto, and developments since then ”

“ Do you know the name, Tanaka?"
The Japanese set his head on one side to indicate an attitude of reflection.
"Tokyo?" he suggested.
"Yes, from Tokyo."
"Does Lordship pay his devoir to relatives of Ladyship?"
"Yes, I suppose so, when we go to Tokyo."
"Ladyship's relatives have noble residence?" asked Tanaka; it was his way of inquiring if they were rich.
"I really don't know at all," answered Geoffrey.
"Then I will detect for Lordship. It will be better. A man can do great foolishness if he does not detect."
After this Geoffrey discouraged Tanaka. But Asako thought him a huge joke. ”

“ Knowing how meanly the Tannese treated the Spirits whom they worshiped in Heathenism,—giving them the scraggiest fish, the poorest bananas, and the smallest yams,—we rejoiced in this Christian liberality!!"
Referring to exaggerated Newspaper rumors she says: "Tanna bulks largely in some minds, though it is only a small Island, a little larger than Arran! We had noticed that our Civil War was telegraphed not only to the Australian papers, but to San Francisco, and even to the London Standard. We have been receiving letters of condolence from friends, who think our lives in danger!" ”

“ The sum of her discourse was that they and their women would do well to come down with her to the schooner, recruit at once, and fly to a land of safety where men-of-war never came, where Tanna people reclined all day under the shade of banyan and banana, picked a little cane for their employers occasionally, lived upon tinned meat and sugared tea, and eventually returned loaded with riches in the shape of rifles, cartridges, cotton, and knives. ”

“ He and his brother were the recognised leaders in all deeds of darkness; they gloried in bloodshedding, and in war, and in cannibalism; and they could always command a following of desperate men, who lived in or about their own village, and who were prepared to go anywhere and do anything at Miaki’s will.
The Tannese had hosts of stone idols, charms, and sacred objects, which they abjectly feared, and in which they devoutly believed. They were given up to countless superstitions, and firmly glued to their dark heathen practices. ”

“ There are several families living on the different rivers and creeks round about, and with them all we are on friendly terms; with some we are passably intimate, though with none quite so affectionately at one as with Tama. Perhaps our next best friends would be found at Tanoa.
Tanoa is a large kainga on the Otamatea river, and lies about sixteen miles across the bush from our farm, or somewhat more by the water-road. It contains a population of two or three hundred; men, [Pg 267] women, and children. This Maori town may be considered the metropolis of the Ngatewhatua tribe. ”

“ Drag Tainui till she reaches the sea:{20} But who shall drag her hence? What sound comes from the horizon? The Earth is lighting up, The Heavens arise, In company with the feeble ones Welcome hither! Come, O joyous Tane! Thou leader and provider. Here are the skids laid to the sea, And drops the moisture now from Marama, Caused by the gentle breeze Which blows down from Wai-hi; But still Tainui stays, And will not move. Red, red is the sun, Hot, hot are its rays, And still impatient stands the host: Take ye and hold the rope, And drag with flashing eyes And drag in concert all. ”

“ Even at the present day the Mikado gives out themes at the New Year for his courtiers to show their skill upon, and the pages of the magazines give evidence that Tanka are still produced in considerable quantity.
It may be thought that in the compass of 31 syllables, and with the other limitations to which the poet in Japan is subject, nothing of much value can be the result. This, however, is far from being the case. Although no great qualities can be claimed for the Tanka, it must be admitted that the Japanese poets have made the most of their slender resources. ”

“ The trial and the danger daily grew, of living among a people so dreadfully benighted by superstition, and so easily swayed by prejudice and passion.
The Natives of Tanna were well-nigh constantly at war amongst themselves, every man doing that which was right in his own eyes, and almost every quarrel ending in an appeal to arms. Besides many battles far inland, one was fought beside our houses and several around the Harbor. In these conflicts many men were bruised with clubs and wounded with arrows, but few lives were lost, considering the savage uproar and frenzy of the scene. ”

“ The tanka is certainly brief in form, but it frequently suggests, with haunting insistency, that the fragment really has no end, when imagination seizes it and turns it into a thousand thousand lines. The tanka belongs as much to Japan as Mount Fuji itself. One cannot regard it without thinking that a Japanese poet must essentially have all the finer instincts of an artist. ”