You are riding down the road, your husband guiding the horse. The horse moves rhythmically underneath you as you move slowly down the road. You are wearing a flowing white kimono and a similarly colored veiled wide-brimmed hat. The early afternoon sun filters through the trees. A trickle of sweat runs down your underarm. You see a priest dressed in black robes by the roadside.
 

The Priest's Perspective

 

Soon you come to an area which is particularly dense forest. Coming to this area you see a man slumped against a tree, seemingly asleep.

 
Tajomaru's Perspective

 
Suddenly the man you passed is before you. Your husband stops and puts his hand on his sword.

 
Tajomaru's Perspective

 

"What do you want?" your husband asks.

The stranger calmly goes around the horse, leering at you.

"What do you want?" your husband repeats, louder this time.

The stranger squats down in the road in front of you.

"What is it?!" your husband yells.

The stranger begins to walk back the other way, then draws his sword. He swipes at your husband and starts laughing wildly at him.

Your husband partially draws his sword from its sheath and stands ready.

"Isn't this nice?" the stranger says. He holds the sword into the sunlight. "Look! Isn't this nice?" Your husband approaches the man.

"Here, look at it," the stranger says, holding the hilt of the sword out towards your husband.

Your husband doesn't move.

"Over there, I found this tomb with lots of things in it." The stranger points back down the road. "I broke it open. Inside I found swords, daggers, mirrors... I buried them all in the woods. Only I know where they are. If you're interested, I might sell some cheap." He holds out the sword again.

Your husband returns his sword fully to its sheath and takes the blade. He turns it over a few times in the sunlight, examining it.

Your husband finds a trickling stream for the horse to drink from, then follows the stranger. You sit by the stream, creating waves in it with a short twig you've found. Time passes.

Then the stranger comes bolting out of the woods. He approaches you. "Your husband, he's been bitten by a snake!"

Tajomaru's Perspective

 
The stranger takes you running through the forest to where he says your husband is. You lose your hat. Finally, you come to him. You look at your husband, who in turn glares at you. Rage consumes you. Without warning, you draw a knife in the sash about your waist and leap at the stranger. He jumps and dodges and plays with you.

Tajomaru's Perspective

 
The stranger grabs you and has you subdued for a moment, but you bite his wrist.

He screams and lets you go. He laughs at you, mocking you.

Finally, you collapse, exhausted, crying.

As the stranger moves to grab you, you try one last time to kill him, but he avoids the knife. After a brief struggle, he kisses you.

You fight and fight against him, but after awhile the resolve seeps slowly out of you. Maybe there's no hope. You stop struggling. Overpowered. The knife falls from your hand. You put her arms around the stranger and return his affection. You don't know why.
 

 
Days later, you find yourself kneeling and weeping before a magistrate, your face to the ground. You bring your head up slowly. "And then, after having taken advantage of me, he proudly told me that he was the bandit Tajomaru. And then, he sneered at my husband. Oh, how terrible it must have been for him. The more he struggled, the tighter the ropes became. I couldn't stand it. I ran towards him... or tried to. Even now, I remember his eyes. What I saw in them was not sorrow, not even anger. It was a cold hatred of me."

Tajomaru looks at the bound husband and your own sobbing, and laughs his victory. He dashes off, screaming in laughter. You embrace your husband, but he just stares at you. "Don't! Don't look at me like that! Beat me! Kill me if you must, but don't look at me like that. Please, don't." You begin to cry again. Then you look around and find your dagger and cut your husband loose. You give the dagger to him. "Then kill me! Kill me quickly with one thrust!"

He takes the dagger from you. Beyond that he won't even move.

You back away. "Please don't! Don't look like that! Don't, don't look at me like that! Don't look at me like that! Don't! Don't! Don't look like that! Don't look like that! Don't look like that!" You plead with your husband. He doesn't respond and you begin to cry again.

"And then I fainted. When I opened my eyes and looked about, I saw the dagger in my husband's chest!" You collapse in tears before the magistrate. "I didn't know what to do. I ran through the forest. I must have, though I don't remember. Then I found myself standing by a pond at the foot of a hill. I threw myself into it. I tried to kill myself, but I failed. What should a poor helpless woman like me do?" You begin crying again.