Note on dialect: For some reason, Kaede is the only person in the Feudal era that speaks archaic English in the dub. What the-? This reminds me of Frog in Chrono Trigger… Anyway, Kaede does not even speak Middle English correctly. For this story, I have used a different style of English than was seen on the show.
On the seventeenth day of the fifth month in the year 1498, Kaede began to write her Play of Plays. On the twenty-first day of the sixth month in the same year, the manuscript was completed and Kaede began editing the text for performance adaptation. Her work was influenced by the twentieth century western situation comedies (otherwise known as "sitcoms") described by Kagome Higurashi; also by the works of William Shakespeare, who became recognised as a phenomenal playwright roughly a century later and in a city named London 9564 kilometres from Kaede's village.
Kaede was born in 1437, of a good family, and in the region of Musashino. Forever onwards, her name shall live in print.
Shippo met Kaede in her hut, and saw the old priestess squinting at a scroll that still had fresh ink on it. "What's that, Kaede?" he asked.
"'Tis the tale of dreams and fantasies to behold; in heaven the light of the Play of Plays; captured by the fresh trail of ink that flows, never ending, from the human soul and whispers, most definitely, of the-"
"Whoa! Way too poetic there, Kaede!" Shippo exclaimed. He hopped over to Kaede and leaned over her shoulder, scrutinising the scroll. "Hey!" he giggled. "Inuyasha and Kikyo are in this!"
The title fixed upon the head of the scroll, read: The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Inuyasha and Kikyo.
"Pfeh!" Shippo wrinkled his nose. "Who wants to read about them?" He glanced down the page and read a line. "Oh my goodness…"
The line read:
INUYASHA: Take thy face hence, you black heathen, you devil's spawn! Thou'rt not fit to live and breathe upon this earth!
"Shakespeare has changed you, Kaede…" Shippo stated, shaking his head. "Whoever heard Inuyasha speaking in olde English?!"
"Perhaps," said Kaede, "You would like to read some of my earlier work, Shippo?" She was dropping the archaic English speech momentarily, for the young fox-demon's benefit. She took another scroll from the depths of her haori and handed it to Shippo. "Read this: 'tis in normal Japanese."
Shippo unfolded the scroll and scanned it. He smiled. "Good," he said. "This looks readable." Then he started to digest the words therein.