The Golden Country Read Online Free Page B
Author: Shusaku Endo
next.
MOKICHI: Enough of that talk! It's bad luck. That'll never happen here!
KASUKE: When I wake up in the middle of the night and think about it, I shudder. If even they who were hidden so well...
HISAICHI: If we're caught, we're caught.
NOROSAKU: If we're caught, we're caught.
KASUKE: This is no laughing matter. You're young and speak bravely. But what will you do if you're caught and brought before the bureau?
HISAICHI: I won't know until the time comes.
NOROSAKU: Won't know when the time comes.
KASUKE: Will you stand or will you fall? When they ask you "Do you give up Christ?" will you say "Yes, I give him up," or won't you? That's something you'd better start thinking about now. I suppose most people of the village will refuse at first to give in. In that case, what will the officials do next? You saw Moritaro of Isahaya when they sent him back after he'd given in. He was skin and bones, and black and blue all over. And that even though he'd done what they'd asked.
HISAICHI: I'll escape as long as I can. I'll hide from them as best as I can. And if I'm caught, whatever happens, I'll bear up under it as well as I can.
MOKICHI: What will you do, Kasuke? If they put you to the water torture or the fire, what will you do?
KASUKE: Me? There's nothing I can do but cling to God.
MOKICHI: Hatsu, you haven't said anything. What about you? Will you give in?
HATSU: God will never let such a terrible thing happen to us. Didn't Father Ferreira tell us that he was merciful? He said that before things ever came to such a pass God would surely come to our aid.
MOKICHI: I also lived in that hope at first. But will God really come to our aid?
NOROSAKU (in a loud voice): He will come to our aid.
MOKICHI: I wasn't asking you, fool. Kasuke, Father said that those who gave up their lives would go to Paradise, didn't he?
KASUKE: Yes, he did.
MOKICHI: And that those who didn't bear up under the torture, and said "I give in" would go to hell?
NOROSAKU (in a loud voice): No, they won't go to hell.
KASUKE: Be quiet. If afterward they don't return to the practice of their religion but remain fallen away for the rest of their lives, they have betrayed God and are marked for hell.
MOKICHI: But here's the point! If we'd been born in a different age—not the present time of persecution but in the old days when everyone was Christian, including the daimyo, then we wouldn't have had to put up with all this. We'd have worked and prayed as Father told us, and would have peacefully made our way to Paradise.
KASUKE: What you say is true.
MOKICHI: A moment ago you mentioned Moritaro, who gave up his faith under torture. Now if he'd been born a generation ago, he'd probably have been a good Christian and gone to heaven. The other Christians would never have had cause to denounce him as a traitor worthy of hell. It was just his bad luck to have been born in this age of persecution. He couldn't stand up
under the torture, and so he fell. The more I think about it, the less I understand.
As if angry
MOKICHI: That's the way I look at it.
NOROSAKU: That's the way I look at it too. I can't understand.
HATSU: Mokichi, what are you saying? You mustn't murmur against God's Providence.
NOROSAKU: That's what I think too. You mustn't murmur against God.
KASUKE: He may be somewhat thick, but life is certainly easy for him—no worries, no problems.
HATSU: Father says that it was for his own good that God didn't give Norosaku more brains than he needed.
HISAICHI: Norosaku, what do you think Paradise is like?
NOROSAKU: When I enter the gates of Paradise, Santa Maria will greet me. Then she will wait on me until I've eaten my fill. And then she'll offer me sake and I'll drink it down.
MOKICHI: That's enough. It's easy to see why he's a Christian.
The sound of tapping on the door-according to the prearranged signal.
MOKICHI: Kyrie eleison.
VOICE OUTSIDE: Christe eleison.
Five or six Christians of both sexes enter.
WOMAN: We came in the
MOKICHI: Enough of that talk! It's bad luck. That'll never happen here!
KASUKE: When I wake up in the middle of the night and think about it, I shudder. If even they who were hidden so well...
HISAICHI: If we're caught, we're caught.
NOROSAKU: If we're caught, we're caught.
KASUKE: This is no laughing matter. You're young and speak bravely. But what will you do if you're caught and brought before the bureau?
HISAICHI: I won't know until the time comes.
NOROSAKU: Won't know when the time comes.
KASUKE: Will you stand or will you fall? When they ask you "Do you give up Christ?" will you say "Yes, I give him up," or won't you? That's something you'd better start thinking about now. I suppose most people of the village will refuse at first to give in. In that case, what will the officials do next? You saw Moritaro of Isahaya when they sent him back after he'd given in. He was skin and bones, and black and blue all over. And that even though he'd done what they'd asked.
HISAICHI: I'll escape as long as I can. I'll hide from them as best as I can. And if I'm caught, whatever happens, I'll bear up under it as well as I can.
MOKICHI: What will you do, Kasuke? If they put you to the water torture or the fire, what will you do?
KASUKE: Me? There's nothing I can do but cling to God.
MOKICHI: Hatsu, you haven't said anything. What about you? Will you give in?
HATSU: God will never let such a terrible thing happen to us. Didn't Father Ferreira tell us that he was merciful? He said that before things ever came to such a pass God would surely come to our aid.
MOKICHI: I also lived in that hope at first. But will God really come to our aid?
NOROSAKU (in a loud voice): He will come to our aid.
MOKICHI: I wasn't asking you, fool. Kasuke, Father said that those who gave up their lives would go to Paradise, didn't he?
KASUKE: Yes, he did.
MOKICHI: And that those who didn't bear up under the torture, and said "I give in" would go to hell?
NOROSAKU (in a loud voice): No, they won't go to hell.
KASUKE: Be quiet. If afterward they don't return to the practice of their religion but remain fallen away for the rest of their lives, they have betrayed God and are marked for hell.
MOKICHI: But here's the point! If we'd been born in a different age—not the present time of persecution but in the old days when everyone was Christian, including the daimyo, then we wouldn't have had to put up with all this. We'd have worked and prayed as Father told us, and would have peacefully made our way to Paradise.
KASUKE: What you say is true.
MOKICHI: A moment ago you mentioned Moritaro, who gave up his faith under torture. Now if he'd been born a generation ago, he'd probably have been a good Christian and gone to heaven. The other Christians would never have had cause to denounce him as a traitor worthy of hell. It was just his bad luck to have been born in this age of persecution. He couldn't stand up
under the torture, and so he fell. The more I think about it, the less I understand.
As if angry
MOKICHI: That's the way I look at it.
NOROSAKU: That's the way I look at it too. I can't understand.
HATSU: Mokichi, what are you saying? You mustn't murmur against God's Providence.
NOROSAKU: That's what I think too. You mustn't murmur against God.
KASUKE: He may be somewhat thick, but life is certainly easy for him—no worries, no problems.
HATSU: Father says that it was for his own good that God didn't give Norosaku more brains than he needed.
HISAICHI: Norosaku, what do you think Paradise is like?
NOROSAKU: When I enter the gates of Paradise, Santa Maria will greet me. Then she will wait on me until I've eaten my fill. And then she'll offer me sake and I'll drink it down.
MOKICHI: That's enough. It's easy to see why he's a Christian.
The sound of tapping on the door-according to the prearranged signal.
MOKICHI: Kyrie eleison.
VOICE OUTSIDE: Christe eleison.
Five or six Christians of both sexes enter.
WOMAN: We came in the
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