Summary
Once upon a time, in the imperial palace of Kyoto, there lived a high-ranking man. He had a devoted wife, but one day he became infatuated with a young and beautiful girl. Since then, he began to visit the girl frequently, completely forgetting about his wife, with whom he had spent many years. The forgotten wife, suffering from loneliness, sighed and said, "Has he forgotten me? How sad it is."
One day, the man found delicious shellfish while out and thought, "I want to show this shellfish to my beloved wife," so he asked a servant, "Please deliver this shellfish to my wife quickly. Tell her I think she will be interested and should enjoy it."
However, the young messenger mistakenly conveyed the master's message to the long-standing wife. Although surprised, she replied, "That can’t be right. This messenger must have misunderstood the master's intent. But I have certainly received it, and I am grateful for your feelings."
Afterward, she placed the shellfish, covered in seaweed, in a tub and quietly watched it as it absorbed and expelled water. The man, thinking she was pleased, visited the young girl a few days later and asked, "Did you receive what I sent the other day?"
"I haven't received anything," the young girl said, prompting the man to question the messenger, "Who did you deliver the shellfish to?"
"I delivered it to your wife, your existing wife," was the reply. The man shouted, "Go back immediately and retrieve it!" The young messenger hurried to the wife and asked her to return the shellfish.
The wife thought, "It was not sent for me," and brought a tub and some washi paper, writing a poem: "Since it is shellfish that was given to my back, I have been gazing at it all day long." Then she wrapped the tub in the washi paper.
The man read the poem written on the washi paper and remembered his wife's elegance. "The shellfish is still alive in the water!" The astonished man went back to his wife, and the two lived harmoniously together.
He grew completely weary of the young girl and never visited her again. This is from "Konjaku Monogatari."
