Classic Poem

When the emperor [Yuryaku] held a banquet under a hundred-branch zelkova tree at Hatsuse, a lady from Mie of the land of Ise took up a great wine cup to present to him. At that moment, a leaf fell from the zelkova tree and floated in the cup. The lady, unaware of the leaf, presented the wine. The emperor saw the leaf floating in the cup, struck her down, put a sword to her neck and was about to kill her, when she said to him, " Don't kill me, I have something to say, " and sang:
The palace of Sun-White at Makimuku
is a palace on which the morning sun shines,
a palace on which the evening sun casts light,
a palace where bamboo roots grow full,
a palace where roots of trees crawl,
a palace built by firming the good earth with pestles,
a gate of wood of flourishing cypress trees —
growing by the hall of the first fruits,
this zelkova tree has a full hundred branches:
the upper branches cover the heavens,
the middle branches cover the east,
the lower branches cover the villages;
a leaf at the tip of an upper branch
falls and touches a middle branch,
a leaf at the tip of a middle branch
falls and touches a lower branch,
a leaf at the tip of a lower branch
falls and settles like floating oil
in this beautiful cup, which I,
a child of the silk-cloth Mie, present.
The water rolls and rolls,
all this, so awesome,
child of the high-shining sun!
This is the way the story's told.
Because she presented this song, he forgave her for her offense.