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diff --git a/4018-h/4018-h.htm b/4018-h/4018-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ab63479 --- /dev/null +++ b/4018-h/4018-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,10611 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Japanese Fairy Tales, by Yei Theodora Ozaki</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + +body { margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; + text-align: justify; } + +h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 {text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-weight: +normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em;} + +h1 {font-size: 300%; + margin-top: 0.6em; + margin-bottom: 0.6em; + letter-spacing: 0.12em; + word-spacing: 0.2em; + text-indent: 0em;} +h2 {font-size: 150%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} +h3 {font-size: 130%; margin-top: 1em;} +h4 {font-size: 120%;} +h5 {font-size: 110%;} + +.no-break {page-break-before: avoid;} /* for epubs */ + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em;} + +hr {width: 80%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + +p {text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + +p.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: 90%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.center {text-align: center; + text-indent: 0em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.footnote {font-size: 90%; + text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:hover {color:red} + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> + +<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Japanese Fairy Tales, by Yei Theodora Ozaki</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Japanese Fairy Tales</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Yei Theodora Ozaki</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: October 11, 2001 [eBook #4018]<br /> +[Most recently updated: November 4, 2021]</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Charles Franks, Greg Weeks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. HTML version by Al Haines.</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JAPANESE FAIRY TALES ***</div> + +<h1>Japanese Fairy Tales</h1> + +<h3><small>COMPILED BY</small></h3> + +<h2 class="no-break">by Yei Theodora Ozaki</h2> + +<h4>Profusely Illustrated by Japanese Artists</h4> + +<hr /> + +<h2>Contents</h2> + +<table summary="" style=""> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#pref01">PREFACE</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> JAPANESE FAIRY TALES</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap01">MY LORD BAG OF RICE</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap02">THE TONGUE-CUT SPARROW</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap03">THE STORY OF URASHIMA TARO, THE FISHER LAD</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap04">THE FARMER AND THE BADGER</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap05">THE “SHINANSHA,” OR THE SOUTH POINTING CARRIAGE</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap06">THE ADVENTURES OF KINTARO, THE GOLDEN BOY</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap07">THE STORY OF PRINCESS HASE. A STORY OF OLD JAPAN</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap08">THE STORY OF THE MAN WHO DID NOT WISH TO DIE</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap09">THE BAMBOO-CUTTER AND THE MOON-CHILD</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap10">THE MIRROR OF MATSUYAMA A STORY OF OLD JAPAN</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap11">THE GOBLIN OF ADACHIGAHARA</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap12">THE SAGACIOUS MONKEY AND THE BOAR</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap13">THE HAPPY HUNTER AND THE SKILLFUL FISHER</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap14">THE STORY OF THE OLD MAN WHO MADE WITHERED TREES TO FLOWER</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap15">THE JELLY FISH AND THE MONKEY</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap16">THE QUARREL OF THE MONKEY AND THE CRAB</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap17">THE WHITE HARE AND THE CROCODILES</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap18">THE STORY OF PRINCE YAMATO TAKE</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap19">MOMOTARO, OR THE STORY OF THE SON OF A PEACH</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap20">THE OGRE OF RASHOMON</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap21">HOW AN OLD MAN LOST HIS WEN</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap22">THE STONES OF FIVE COLORS AND THE EMPRESS JOKWA. AN OLD CHINESE STORY</a></td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3>TO<br/> +ELEANOR MARION-CRAWFORD.</h3> + +<p class="letter"> +I DEDICATE THIS BOOK TO YOU AND TO THE SWEET CHILD-FRIENDSHIP THAT YOU GAVE ME +IN THE DAYS SPENT WITH YOU BY THE SOUTHERN SEA, WHEN YOU USED TO LISTEN WITH +UNFEIGNED PLEASURE TO THESE FAIRY STORIES FROM FAR JAPAN. MAY THEY NOW REMIND +YOU OF MY CHANGELESS LOVE AND REMEMBRANCE.<br/> +<br/> +Y. T. O.<br/> +Tokio, 1908. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="pref01"></a>PREFACE</h2> + +<p> +This collection of Japanese fairy tales is the outcome of a suggestion made to +me indirectly through a friend by Mr. Andrew Lang. They have been translated +from the modern version written by Sadanami Sanjin. These stories are not +literal translations, and though the Japanese story and all quaint Japanese +expressions have been faithfully preserved, they have been told more with the +view to interest young readers of the West than the technical student of +folk-lore. +</p> + +<p> +Grateful acknowledgment is due to Mr. Y. Yasuoka, Miss Fusa Okamoto, my brother +Nobumori Ozaki, Dr. Yoshihiro Takaki, and Miss Kameko Yamao, who have helped me +with translations. +</p> + +<p> +The story which I have named “The Story of the Man who did not Wish to +Die” is taken from a little book written a hundred years ago by one +Shinsui Tamenaga. It is named Chosei Furo, or “Longevity.” +“The Bamboo-cutter and the Moon-child” is taken from the classic +“Taketari Monogatari,” and is NOT classed by the Japanese among +their fairy tales, though it really belongs to this class of literature. +</p> + +<p> +The pictures were drawn by Mr. Kakuzo Fujiyama, a Tokio artist. +</p> + +<p> +In telling these stories in English I have followed my fancy in adding such +touches of local color or description as they seemed to need or as pleased me, +and in one or two instances I have gathered in an incident from another +version. At all times, among my friends, both young and old, English or +American, I have always found eager listeners to the beautiful legends and +fairy tales of Japan, and in telling them I have also found that they were +still unknown to the vast majority, and this has encouraged me to write them +for the children of the West. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +Y. T. O.<br/> +Tokio, 1908. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>JAPANESE FAIRY TALES</h2> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap01"></a>MY LORD BAG OF RICE</h2> + +<p> +Long, long ago there lived, in Japan a brave warrior known to all as Tawara +Toda, or “My Lord Bag of Rice.” His true name was Fujiwara +Hidesato, and there is a very interesting story of how he came to change his +name. +</p> + +<p> +One day he sallied forth in search of adventures, for he had the nature of a +warrior and could not bear to be idle. So he buckled on his two swords, took +his huge bow, much taller than himself, in his hand, and slinging his quiver on +his back started out. He had not gone far when he came to the bridge of +Seta-no-Karashi spanning one end of the beautiful Lake Biwa. No sooner had he +set foot on the bridge than he saw lying right across his path a huge +serpent-dragon. Its body was so big that it looked like the trunk of a large +pine tree and it took up the whole width of the bridge. One of its huge claws +rested on the parapet of one side of the bridge, while its tail lay right +against the other. The monster seemed to be asleep, and as it breathed, fire +and smoke came out of its nostrils. +</p> + +<p> +At first Hidesato could not help feeling alarmed at the sight of this horrible +reptile lying in his path, for he must either turn back or walk right over its +body. He was a brave man, however, and putting aside all fear went forward +dauntlessly. Crunch, crunch! he stepped now on the dragon’s body, now +between its coils, and without even one glance backward he went on his way. +</p> + +<p> +He had only gone a few steps when he heard some one calling him from behind. On +turning back he was much surprised to see that the monster dragon had entirely +disappeared and in its place was a strange-looking man, who was bowing most +ceremoniously to the ground. His red hair streamed over his shoulders and was +surmounted by a crown in the shape of a dragon’s head, and his sea-green +dress was patterned with shells. Hidesato knew at once that this was no +ordinary mortal and he wondered much at the strange occurrence. Where had the +dragon gone in such a short space of time? Or had it transformed itself into +this man, and what did the whole thing mean? While these thoughts passed +through his mind he had come up to the man on the bridge and now addressed him: +</p> + +<p> +“Was it you that called me just now?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, it was I,” answered the man: “I have an earnest request +to make to you. Do you think you can grant it to me?” +</p> + +<p> +“If it is in my power to do so I will,” answered Hidesato, +“but first tell me who you are?” +</p> + +<p> +“I am the Dragon King of the Lake, and my home is in these waters just +under this bridge.” +</p> + +<p> +“And what is it you have to ask of me?” said Hidesato. +</p> + +<p> +“I want you to kill my mortal enemy the centipede, who lives on the +mountain beyond,” and the Dragon King pointed to a high peak on the +opposite shore of the lake. +</p> + +<p> +“I have lived now for many years in this lake and I have a large family +of children and grand-children. For some time past we have lived in terror, for +a monster centipede has discovered our home, and night after night it comes and +carries off one of my family. I am powerless to save them. If it goes on much +longer like this, not only shall I lose all my children, but I myself must fall +a victim to the monster. I am, therefore, very unhappy, and in my extremity I +determined to ask the help of a human being. For many days with this intention +I have waited on the bridge in the shape of the horrible serpent-dragon that +you saw, in the hope that some strong brave man would come along. But all who +came this way, as soon as they saw me were terrified and ran away as fast as +they could. You are the first man I have found able to look at me without fear, +so I knew at once that you were a man of great courage. I beg you to have pity +upon me. Will you not help me and kill my enemy the centipede?” +</p> + +<p> +Hidesato felt very sorry for the Dragon King on hearing his story, and readily +promised to do what he could to help him. The warrior asked where the centipede +lived, so that he might attack the creature at once. The Dragon King replied +that its home was on the mountain Mikami, but that as it came every night at a +certain hour to the palace of the lake, it would be better to wait till then. +So Hidesato was conducted to the palace of the Dragon King, under the bridge. +Strange to say, as he followed his host downwards the waters parted to let them +pass, and his clothes did not even feel damp as he passed through the flood. +Never had Hidesato seen anything so beautiful as this palace built of white +marble beneath the lake. He had often heard of the Sea King’s palace at +the bottom of the sea, where all the servants and retainers were salt-water +fishes, but here was a magnificent building in the heart of Lake Biwa. The +dainty goldfishes, red carp, and silvery trout, waited upon the Dragon King and +his guest. +</p> + +<p> +Hidesato was astonished at the feast that was spread for him. The dishes were +crystallized lotus leaves and flowers, and the chopsticks were of the rarest +ebony. As soon as they sat down, the sliding doors opened and ten lovely +goldfish dancers came out, and behind them followed ten red-carp musicians with +the koto and the samisen. Thus the hours flew by till midnight, and the +beautiful music and dancing had banished all thoughts of the centipede. The +Dragon King was about to pledge the warrior in a fresh cup of wine when the +palace was suddenly shaken by a tramp, tramp! as if a mighty army had begun to +march not far away. +</p> + +<p> +Hidesato and his host both rose to their feet and rushed to the balcony, and +the warrior saw on the opposite mountain two great balls of glowing fire coming +nearer and nearer. The Dragon King stood by the warrior’s side trembling +with fear. +</p> + +<p> +“The centipede! The centipede! Those two balls of fire are its eyes. It +is coming for its prey! Now is the time to kill it.” +</p> + +<p> +Hidesato looked where his host pointed, and, in the dim light of the starlit +evening, behind the two balls of fire he saw the long body of an enormous +centipede winding round the mountains, and the light in its hundred feet glowed +like so many distant lanterns moving slowly towards the shore. +</p> + +<p> +Hidesato showed not the least sign of fear. He tried to calm the Dragon King. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t be afraid. I shall surely kill the centipede. Just bring me +my bow and arrows.” +</p> + +<p> +The Dragon King did as he was bid, and the warrior noticed that he had only +three arrows left in his quiver. He took the bow, and fitting an arrow to the +notch, took careful aim and let fly. +</p> + +<p> +The arrow hit the centipede right in the middle of its head, but instead of +penetrating, it glanced off harmless and fell to the ground. +</p> + +<p> +Nothing daunted, Hidesato took another arrow, fitted it to the notch of the bow +and let fly. Again the arrow hit the mark, it struck the centipede right in the +middle of its head, only to glance off and fall to the ground. The centipede +was invulnerable to weapons! When the Dragon King saw that even this brave +warrior’s arrows were powerless to kill the centipede, he lost heart and +began to tremble with fear. +</p> + +<p> +The warrior saw that he had now only one arrow left in his quiver, and if this +one failed he could not kill the centipede. He looked across the waters. The +huge reptile had wound its horrid body seven times round the mountain and would +soon come down to the lake. Nearer and nearer gleamed fireballs of eyes, and +the light of its hundred feet began to throw reflections in the still waters of +the lake. +</p> + +<p> +Then suddenly the warrior remembered that he had heard that human saliva was +deadly to centipedes. But this was no ordinary centipede. This was so monstrous +that even to think of such a creature made one creep with horror. Hidesato +determined to try his last chance. So taking his last arrow and first putting +the end of it in his mouth, he fitted the notch to his bow, took careful aim +once more and let fly. +</p> + +<p> +This time the arrow again hit the centipede right in the middle of its head, +but instead of glancing off harmlessly as before, it struck home to the +creature’s brain. Then with a convulsive shudder the serpentine body +stopped moving, and the fiery light of its great eyes and hundred feet darkened +to a dull glare like the sunset of a stormy day, and then went out in +blackness. A great darkness now overspread the heavens, the thunder rolled and +the lightning flashed, and the wind roared in fury, and it seemed as if the +world were coming to an end. The Dragon King and his children and retainers all +crouched in different parts of the palace, frightened to death, for the +building was shaken to its foundation. At last the dreadful night was over. Day +dawned beautiful and clear. The centipede was gone from the mountain. +</p> + +<p> +Then Hidesato called to the Dragon King to come out with him on the balcony, +for the centipede was dead and he had nothing more to fear. +</p> + +<p> +Then all the inhabitants of the palace came out with joy, and Hidesato pointed +to the lake. There lay the body of the dead centipede floating on the water, +which was dyed red with its blood. +</p> + +<p> +The gratitude of the Dragon King knew no bounds. The whole family came and +bowed down before the warrior, calling him their preserver and the bravest +warrior in all Japan. +</p> + +<p> +Another feast was prepared, more sumptuous than the first. All kinds of fish, +prepared in every imaginable way, raw, stewed, boiled and roasted, served on +coral trays and crystal dishes, were put before him, and the wine was the best +that Hidesato had ever tasted in his life. To add to the beauty of everything +the sun shone brightly, the lake glittered like a liquid diamond, and the +palace was a thousand times more beautiful by day than by night. +</p> + +<p> +His host tried to persuade the warrior to stay a few days, but Hidesato +insisted on going home, saying that he had now finished what he had come to do, +and must return. The Dragon King and his family were all very sorry to have him +leave so soon, but since he would go they begged him to accept a few small +presents (so they said) in token of their gratitude to him for delivering them +forever from their horrible enemy the centipede. +</p> + +<p> +As the warrior stood in the porch taking leave, a train of fish was suddenly +transformed into a retinue of men, all wearing ceremonial robes and +dragon’s crowns on their heads to show that they were servants of the +great Dragon King. The presents that they carried were as follows: +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +First, a large bronze bell.<br/> +Second, a bag of rice.<br/> +Third, a roll of silk.<br/> +Fourth, a cooking pot.<br/> +Fifth, a bell. +</p> + +<p> +Hidesato did not want to accept all these presents, but as the Dragon King +insisted, he could not well refuse. +</p> + +<p> +The Dragon King himself accompanied the warrior as far as the bridge, and then +took leave of him with many bows and good wishes, leaving the procession of +servants to accompany Hidesato to his house with the presents. +</p> + +<p> +The warrior’s household and servants had been very much concerned when +they found that he did not return the night before, but they finally concluded +that he had been kept by the violent storm and had taken shelter somewhere. +When the servants on the watch for his return caught sight of him they called +to every one that he was approaching, and the whole household turned out to +meet him, wondering much what the retinue of men, bearing presents and banners, +that followed him, could mean. +</p> + +<p> +As soon as the Dragon King’s retainers had put down the presents they +vanished, and Hidesato told all that had happened to him. +</p> + +<p> +The presents which he had received from the grateful Dragon King were found to +be of magic power. The bell only was ordinary, and as Hidesato had no use for +it he presented it to the temple near by, where it was hung up, to boom out the +hour of day over the surrounding neighborhood. +</p> + +<p> +The single bag of rice, however much was taken from it day after day for the +meals of the knight and his whole family, never grew less—the supply in +the bag was inexhaustible. +</p> + +<p> +The roll of silk, too, never grew shorter, though time after time long pieces +were cut off to make the warrior a new suit of clothes to go to Court in at the +New Year. +</p> + +<p> +The cooking pot was wonderful, too. No matter what was put into it, it cooked +deliciously whatever was wanted without any firing—truly a very +economical saucepan. +</p> + +<p> +The fame of Hidesato’s fortune spread far and wide, and as there was no +need for him to spend money on rice or silk or firing, he became very rich and +prosperous, and was henceforth known as My Lord Bag of Rice. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap02"></a>THE TONGUE-CUT SPARROW</h2> + +<p> +Long, long ago in Japan there lived an old man and his wife. The old man was a +good, kind-hearted, hard-working old fellow, but his wife was a regular +cross-patch, who spoiled the happiness of her home by her scolding tongue. She +was always grumbling about something from morning to night. The old man had for +a long time ceased to take any notice of her crossness. He was out most of the +day at work in the fields, and as he had no child, for his amusement when he +came home, he kept a tame sparrow. He loved the little bird just as much as if +she had been his child. +</p> + +<p> +When he came back at night after his hard day’s work in the open air it +was his only pleasure to pet the sparrow, to talk to her and to teach her +little tricks, which she learned very quickly. The old man would open her cage +and let her fly about the room, and they would play together. Then when +supper-time came, he always saved some tit-bits from his meal with which to +feed his little bird. +</p> + +<p> +Now one day the old man went out to chop wood in the forest, and the old woman +stopped at home to wash clothes. The day before, she had made some starch, and +now when she came to look for it, it was all gone; the bowl which she had +filled full yesterday was quite empty. +</p> + +<p> +While she was wondering who could have used or stolen the starch, down flew the +pet sparrow, and bowing her little feathered head—a trick which she had +been taught by her master—the pretty bird chirped and said: +</p> + +<p> +“It is I who have taken the starch. I thought it was some food put out +for me in that basin, and I ate it all. If I have made a mistake I beg you to +forgive me! tweet, tweet, tweet!” +</p> + +<p> +You see from this that the sparrow was a truthful bird, and the old woman ought +to have been willing to forgive her at once when she asked her pardon so +nicely. But not so. +</p> + +<p> +The old woman had never loved the sparrow, and had often quarreled with her +husband for keeping what she called a dirty bird about the house, saying that +it only made extra work for her. Now she was only too delighted to have some +cause of complaint against the pet. She scolded and even cursed the poor little +bird for her bad behavior, and not content with using these harsh, unfeeling +words, in a fit of rage she seized the sparrow—who all this time had +spread out her wings and bowed her head before the old woman, to show how sorry +she was—and fetched the scissors and cut off the poor little bird’s +tongue. +</p> + +<p> +“I suppose you took my starch with that tongue! Now you may see what it +is like to go without it!” And with these dreadful words she drove the +bird away, not caring in the least what might happen to it and without the +smallest pity for its suffering, so unkind was she! +</p> + +<p> +The old woman, after she had driven the sparrow away, made some more +rice-paste, grumbling all the time at the trouble, and after starching all her +clothes, spread the things on boards to dry in the sun, instead of ironing them +as they do in England. +</p> + +<p> +In the evening the old man came home. As usual, on the way back he looked +forward to the time when he should reach his gate and see his pet come flying +and chirping to meet him, ruffling out her feathers to show her joy, and at +last coming to rest on his shoulder. But to-night the old man was very +disappointed, for not even the shadow of his dear sparrow was to be seen. +</p> + +<p> +He quickened his steps, hastily drew off his straw sandals, and stepped on to +the veranda. Still no sparrow was to be seen. He now felt sure that his wife, +in one of her cross tempers, had shut the sparrow up in its cage. So he called +her and said anxiously: +</p> + +<p> +“Where is Suzume San (Miss Sparrow) today?” +</p> + +<p> +The old woman pretended not to know at first, and answered: +</p> + +<p> +“Your sparrow? I am sure I don’t know. Now I come to think of it, I +haven’t seen her all the afternoon. I shouldn’t wonder if the +ungrateful bird had flown away and left you after all your petting!” +</p> + +<p> +But at last, when the old man gave her no peace, but asked her again and again, +insisting that she must know what had happened to his pet, she confessed all. +She told him crossly how the sparrow had eaten the rice-paste she had specially +made for starching her clothes, and how when the sparrow had confessed to what +she had done, in great anger she had taken her scissors and cut out her tongue, +and how finally she had driven the bird away and forbidden her to return to the +house again. +</p> + +<p> +Then the old woman showed her husband the sparrow’s tongue, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“Here is the tongue I cut off! Horrid little bird, why did it eat all my +starch?” +</p> + +<p> +“How could you be so cruel? Oh! how could you so cruel?” was all +that the old man could answer. He was too kind-hearted to punish his be shrew +of a wife, but he was terribly distressed at what had happened to his poor +little sparrow. +</p> + +<p> +“What a dreadful misfortune for my poor Suzume San to lose her +tongue!” he said to himself. “She won’t be able to chirp any +more, and surely the pain of the cutting of it out in that rough way must have +made her ill! Is there nothing to be done?” +</p> + +<p> +The old man shed many tears after his cross wife had gone to sleep. While he +wiped away the tears with the sleeve of his cotton robe, a bright thought +comforted him: he would go and look for the sparrow on the morrow. Having +decided this he was able to go to sleep at last. +</p> + +<p> +The next morning he rose early, as soon as ever the day broke, and snatching a +hasty breakfast, started out over the hills and through the woods, stopping at +every clump of bamboos to cry: +</p> + +<p> +“Where, oh where does my tongue-cut sparrow stay? Where, oh where, does +my tongue-cut sparrow stay!” +</p> + +<p> +He never stopped to rest for his noonday meal, and it was far on in the +afternoon when he found himself near a large bamboo wood. Bamboo groves are the +favorite haunts of sparrows, and there sure enough at the edge of the wood he +saw his own dear sparrow waiting to welcome him. He could hardly believe his +eyes for joy, and ran forward quickly to greet her. She bowed her little head +and went through a number of the tricks her master had taught her, to show her +pleasure at seeing her old friend again, and, wonderful to relate, she could +talk as of old. The old man told her how sorry he was for all that had +happened, and inquired after her tongue, wondering how she could speak so well +without it. Then the sparrow opened her beak and showed him that a new tongue +had grown in place of the old one, and begged him not to think any more about +the past, for she was quite well now. Then the old man knew that his sparrow +was a fairy, and no common bird. It would be difficult to exaggerate the old +man’s rejoicing now. He forgot all his troubles, he forgot even how tired +he was, for he had found his lost sparrow, and instead of being ill and without +a tongue as he had feared and expected to find her, she was well and happy and +with a new tongue, and without a sign of the ill-treatment she had received +from his wife. And above all she was a fairy. +</p> + +<p> +The sparrow asked him to follow her, and flying before him she led him to a +beautiful house in the heart of the bamboo grove. The old man was utterly +astonished when he entered the house to find what a beautiful place it was. It +was built of the whitest wood, the soft cream-colored mats which took the place +of carpets were the finest he had ever seen, and the cushions that the sparrow +brought out for him to sit on were made of the finest silk and crape. Beautiful +vases and lacquer boxes adorned the tokonoma[1] of every room. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] An alcove where precious objects are displayed. +</p> + +<p> +The sparrow led the old man to the place of honor, and then, taking her place +at a humble distance, she thanked him with many polite bows for all the +kindness he had shown her for many long years. +</p> + +<p> +Then the Lady Sparrow, as we will now call her, introduced all her family to +the old man. This done, her daughters, robed in dainty crape gowns, brought in +on beautiful old-fashioned trays a feast of all kinds of delicious foods, till +the old man began to think he must be dreaming. In the middle of the dinner +some of the sparrow’s daughters performed a wonderful dance, called the +“suzume-odori” or the “Sparrow’s dance,” to amuse +the guest. +</p> + +<p> +Never had the old man enjoyed himself so much. The hours flew by too quickly in +this lovely spot, with all these fairy sparrows to wait upon him and to feast +him and to dance before him. +</p> + +<p> +But the night came on and the darkness reminded him that he had a long way to +go and must think about taking his leave and return home. He thanked his kind +hostess for her splendid entertainment, and begged her for his sake to forget +all she had suffered at the hands of his cross old wife. He told the Lady +Sparrow that it was a great comfort and happiness to him to find her in such a +beautiful home and to know that she wanted for nothing. It was his anxiety to +know how she fared and what had really happened to her that had led him to seek +her. Now he knew that all was well he could return home with a light heart. If +ever she wanted him for anything she had only to send for him and he would come +at once. +</p> + +<p> +The Lady Sparrow begged him to stay and rest several days and enjoy the change, +but the old man said he must return to his old wife—who would probably be +cross at his not coming home at the usual time—and to his work, and +there-fore, much as he wished to do so, he could not accept her kind +invitation. But now that he knew where the Lady Sparrow lived he would come to +see her whenever he had the time. +</p> + +<p> +When the Lady Sparrow saw that she could not persuade the old man to stay +longer, she gave an order to some of her servants, and they at once brought in +two boxes, one large and the other small. These were placed before the old man, +and the Lady Sparrow asked him to choose whichever he liked for a present, +which she wished to give him. +</p> + +<p> +The old man could not refuse this kind proposal, and he chose the smaller box, +saying: +</p> + +<p> +“I am now too old and feeble to carry the big and heavy box. As you are +so kind as to say that I may take whichever I like, I will choose the small +one, which will be easier for me to carry.” +</p> + +<p> +Then the sparrows all helped him put it on his back and went to the gate to see +him off, bidding him good-by with many bows and entreating him to come again +whenever he had the time. Thus the old man and his pet sparrow separated quite +happily, the sparrow showing not the least ill-will for all the unkindness she +had suffered at the hands of the old wife. Indeed, she only felt sorrow for the +old man who had to put up with it all his life. +</p> + +<p> +When the old man reached home he found his wife even crosser than usual, for it +was late on in the night and she had been waiting up for him for a long time. +</p> + +<p> +“Where have you been all this time?” she asked in a big voice. +“Why do you come back so late?” +</p> + +<p> +The old man tried to pacify her by showing her the box of presents he had +brought back with him, and then he told her of all that had happened to him, +and how wonderfully he had been entertained at the sparrow’s house. +</p> + +<p> +“Now let us see what is in the box,” said the old man, not giving +her time to grumble again. “You must help me open it.” And they +both sat down before the box and opened it. +</p> + +<p> +To their utter astonishment they found the box filled to the brim with gold and +silver coins and many other precious things. The mats of their little cottage +fairly glittered as they took out the things one by one and put them down and +handled them over and over again. The old man was overjoyed at the sight of the +riches that were now his. Beyond his brightest expectations was the +sparrow’s gift, which would enable him to give up work and live in ease +and comfort the rest of his days. +</p> + +<p> +He said: “Thanks to my good little sparrow! Thanks to my good little +sparrow!” many times. +</p> + +<p> +But the old woman, after the first moments of surprise and satisfaction at the +sight of the gold and silver were over, could not suppress the greed of her +wicked nature. She now began to reproach the old man for not having brought +home the big box of presents, for in the innocence of his heart he had told her +how he had refused the large box of presents which the sparrows had offered +him, preferring the smaller one because it was light and easy to carry home. +</p> + +<p> +“You silly old man,” said she, “Why did you not bring the +large box? Just think what we have lost. We might have had twice as much silver +and gold as this. You are certainly an old fool!” she screamed, and then +went to bed as angry as she could be. +</p> + +<p> +The old man now wished that he had said nothing about the big box, but it was +too late; the greedy old woman, not contented with the good luck which had so +unexpectedly befallen them and which she so little deserved, made up her mind, +if possible, to get more. +</p> + +<p> +Early the next morning she got up and made the old man describe the way to the +sparrow’s house. When he saw what was in her mind he tried to keep her +from going, but it was useless. She would not listen to one word he said. It is +strange that the old woman did not feel ashamed of going to see the sparrow +after the cruel way she had treated her in cutting off her tongue in a fit of +rage. But her greed to get the big box made her forget everything else. It did +not even enter her thoughts that the sparrows might be angry with her—as, +indeed, they were—and might punish her for what she had done. +</p> + +<p> +Ever since the Lady Sparrow had returned home in the sad plight in which they +had first found her, weeping and bleeding from the mouth, her whole family and +relations had done little else but speak of the cruelty of the old woman. +“How could she,” they asked each other, “inflict such a heavy +punishment for such a trifling offense as that of eating some rice-paste by +mistake?” They all loved the old man who was so kind and good and patient +under all his troubles, but the old woman they hated, and they determined, if +ever they had the chance, to punish her as she deserved. They had not long to +wait. +</p> + +<p> +After walking for some hours the old woman had at last found the bamboo grove +which she had made her husband carefully describe, and now she stood before it +crying out: +</p> + +<p> +“Where is the tongue-cut sparrow’s house? Where is the tongue-cut +sparrow’s house?” +</p> + +<p> +At last she saw the eaves of the house peeping out from amongst the bamboo +foliage. She hastened to the door and knocked loudly. +</p> + +<p> +When the servants told the Lady Sparrow that her old mistress was at the door +asking to see her, she was somewhat surprised at the unexpected visit, after +all that had taken place, and she wondered not a little at the boldness of the +old woman in venturing to come to the house. The Lady Sparrow, however, was a +polite bird, and so she went out to greet the old woman, remembering that she +had once been her mistress. +</p> + +<p> +The old woman intended, however, to waste no time in words, she went right to +the point, without the least shame, and said: +</p> + +<p> +“You need not trouble to entertain me as you did my old man. I have come +myself to get the box which he so stupidly left behind. I shall soon take my +leave if you will give me the big box—that is all I want!” +</p> + +<p> +The Lady Sparrow at once consented, and told her servants to bring out the big +box. The old woman eagerly seized it and hoisted it on her back, and without +even stopping to thank the Lady Sparrow began to hurry homewards. +</p> + +<p> +The box was so heavy that she could not walk fast, much less run, as she would +have liked to do, so anxious was she to get home and see what was inside the +box, but she had often to sit down and rest herself by the way. +</p> + +<p> +While she was staggering along under the heavy load, her desire to open the box +became too great to be resisted. She could wait no longer, for she supposed +this big box to be full of gold and silver and precious jewels like the small +one her husband had received. +</p> + +<p> +At last this greedy and selfish old woman put down the box by the wayside and +opened it carefully, expecting to gloat her eyes on a mine of wealth. What she +saw, however, so terrified her that she nearly lost her senses. As soon as she +lifted the lid, a number of horrible and frightful looking demons bounced out +of the box and surrounded her as if they intended to kill her. Not even in +nightmares had she ever seen such horrible creatures as her much-coveted box +contained. A demon with one huge eye right in the middle of its forehead came +and glared at her, monsters with gaping mouths looked as if they would devour +her, a huge snake coiled and hissed about her, and a big frog hopped and +croaked towards her. +</p> + +<p> +The old woman had never been so frightened in her life, and ran from the spot +as fast as her quaking legs would carry her, glad to escape alive. When she +reached home she fell to the floor and told her husband with tears all that had +happened to her, and how she had been nearly killed by the demons in the box. +</p> + +<p> +Then she began to blame the sparrow, but the old man stopped her at once, +saying: +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t blame the sparrow, it is your wickedness which has at last +met with its reward. I only hope this may be a lesson to you in the +future!” +</p> + +<p> +The old woman said nothing more, and from that day she repented of her cross, +unkind ways, and by degrees became a good old woman, so that her husband hardly +knew her to be the same person, and they spent their last days together +happily, free from want or care, spending carefully the treasure the old man +had received from his pet, the tongue-cut sparrow. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap03"></a>THE STORY OF URASHIMA TARO, THE FISHER LAD</h2> + +<p> +Long, long ago in the province of Tango there lived on the shore of Japan in +the little fishing village of Mizu-no-ye a young fisherman named Urashima Taro. +His father had been a fisherman before him, and his skill had more than doubly +descended to his son, for Urashima was the most skillful fisher in all that +country side, and could catch more Bonito and Tai in a day than his comrades +could in a week. +</p> + +<p> +But in the little fishing village, more than for being a clever fisher of the +sea was he known for his kind heart. In his whole life he had never hurt +anything, either great or small, and when a boy, his companions had always +laughed at him, for he would never join with them in teasing animals, but +always tried to keep them from this cruel sport. +</p> + +<p> +One soft summer twilight he was going home at the end of a day’s fishing +when he came upon a group of children. They were all screaming and talking at +the tops of their voices, and seemed to be in a state of great excitement about +something, and on his going up to them to see what was the matter he saw that +they were tormenting a tortoise. First one boy pulled it this way, then another +boy pulled it that way, while a third child beat it with a stick, and the +fourth hammered its shell with a stone. +</p> + +<p> +Now Urashima felt very sorry for the poor tortoise and made up his mind to +rescue it. He spoke to the boys: +</p> + +<p> +“Look here, boys, you are treating that poor tortoise so badly that it +will soon die!” +</p> + +<p> +The boys, who were all of an age when children seem to delight in being cruel +to animals, took no notice of Urashima’s gentle reproof, but went on +teasing it as before. One of the older boys answered: +</p> + +<p> +“Who cares whether it lives or dies? We do not. Here, boys, go on, go +on!” +</p> + +<p> +And they began to treat the poor tortoise more cruelly than ever. Urashima +waited a moment, turning over in his mind what would be the best way to deal +with the boys. He would try to persuade them to give the tortoise up to him, so +he smiled at them and said: +</p> + +<p> +“I am sure you are all good, kind boys! Now won’t you give me the +tortoise? I should like to have it so much!” +</p> + +<p> +“No, we won’t give you the tortoise,” said one of the boys. +“Why should we? We caught it ourselves.” +</p> + +<p> +“What you say is true,” said Urashima, “but I do not ask you +to give it to me for nothing. I will give you some money for it—in other +words, the Ojisan (Uncle) will buy it of you. Won’t that do for you, my +boys?” He held up the money to them, strung on a piece of string through +a hole in the center of each coin. “Look, boys, you can buy anything you +like with this money. You can do much more with this money than you can with +that poor tortoise. See what good boys you are to listen to me.” +</p> + +<p> +The boys were not bad boys at all, they were only mischievous, and as Urashima +spoke they were won by his kind smile and gentle words and began “to be +of his spirit,” as they say in Japan. Gradually they all came up to him, +the ringleader of the little band holding out the tortoise to him. +</p> + +<p> +“Very well, Ojisan, we will give you the tortoise if you will give us the +money!” And Urashima took the tortoise and gave the money to the boys, +who, calling to each other, scampered away and were soon out of sight. +</p> + +<p> +Then Urashima stroked the tortoise’s back, saying as he did so: +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, you poor thing! Poor thing!—there, there! you are safe now! +They say that a stork lives for a thousand years, but the tortoise for ten +thousand years. You have the longest life of any creature in this world, and +you were in great danger of having that precious life cut short by those cruel +boys. Luckily I was passing by and saved you, and so life is still yours. Now I +am going to take you back to your home, the sea, at once. Do not let yourself +be caught again, for there might be no one to save you next time!” +</p> + +<p> +All the time that the kind fisherman was speaking he was walking quickly to the +shore and out upon the rocks; then putting the tortoise into the water he +watched the animal disappear, and turned homewards himself, for he was tired +and the sun had set. +</p> + +<p> +The next morning Urashima went out as usual in his boat. The weather was fine +and the sea and sky were both blue and soft in the tender haze of the summer +morning. Urashima got into his boat and dreamily pushed out to sea, throwing +his line as he did so. He soon passed the other fishing boats and left them +behind him till they were lost to sight in the distance, and his boat drifted +further and further out upon the blue waters. Somehow, he knew not why, he felt +unusually happy that morning; and he could not help wishing that, like the +tortoise he set free the day before, he had thousands of years to live instead +of his own short span of human life. +</p> + +<p> +He was suddenly startled from his reverie by hearing his own name called: +</p> + +<p> +“Urashima, Urashima!” +</p> + +<p> +Clear as a bell and soft as the summer wind the name floated over the sea. +</p> + +<p> +He stood up and looked in every direction, thinking that one of the other boats +had overtaken him, but gaze as he might over the wide expanse of water, near or +far there was no sign of a boat, so the voice could not have come from any +human being. +</p> + +<p> +Startled, and wondering who or what it was that had called him so clearly, he +looked in all directions round about him and saw that without his knowing it a +tortoise had come to the side of the boat. Urashima saw with surprise that it +was the very tortoise he had rescued the day before. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, Mr. Tortoise,” said Urashima, “was it you who called +my name just now?” +</p> + +<p> +The tortoise nodded its head several times and said: +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, it was I. Yesterday in your honorable shadow (o kage sama de) my +life was saved, and I have come to offer you my thanks and to tell you how +grateful I am for your kindness to me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed,” said Urashima, “that is very polite of you. Come up +into the boat. I would offer you a smoke, but as you are a tortoise doubtless +you do not smoke,” and the fisherman laughed at the joke. +</p> + +<p> +“He-he-he-he!” laughed the tortoise; “sake (rice wine) is my +favorite refreshment, but I do not care for tobacco.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed,” said Urashima, “I regret very much that I have no +“sake” in my boat to offer you, but come up and dry your back in +the sun—tortoises always love to do that.” +</p> + +<p> +So the tortoise climbed into the boat, the fisherman helping him, and after an +exchange of complimentary speeches the tortoise said: +</p> + +<p> +“Have you ever seen Rin Gin, the Palace of the Dragon King of the Sea, +Urashima?” +</p> + +<p> +The fisherman shook his head and replied; “No; year after year the sea +has been my home, but though I have often heard of the Dragon King’s +realm under the sea I have never yet set eyes on that wonderful place. It must +be very far away, if it exists at all!” +</p> + +<p> +“Is that really so? You have never seen the Sea King’s Palace? Then +you have missed seeing one of the most wonderful sights in the whole universe. +It is far away at the bottom of the sea, but if I take you there we shall soon +reach the place. If you would like to see the Sea King’s land I will be +your guide.” +</p> + +<p> +“I should like to go there, certainly, and you are very kind to think of +taking me, but you must remember that I am only a poor mortal and have not the +power of swimming like a sea creature such as you are—” +</p> + +<p> +Before the fisherman could say more the tortoise stopped him, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“What? You need not swim yourself. If you will ride on my back I will +take you without any trouble on your part.” +</p> + +<p> +“But,” said Urashima, “how is it possible for me to ride on +your small back?” +</p> + +<p> +“It may seem absurd to you, but I assure you that you can do so. Try at +once! Just come and get on my back, and see if it is as impossible as you +think!” +</p> + +<p> +As the tortoise finished speaking, Urashima looked at its shell, and strange to +say he saw that the creature had suddenly grown so big that a man could easily +sit on its back. +</p> + +<p> +“This is strange indeed!” said Urashima; “then. Mr. Tortoise, +with your kind permission I will get on your back. Dokoisho!”[2] he +exclaimed as he jumped on. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] “All right” (only used by lower classes). +</p> + +<p> +The tortoise, with an unmoved face, as if this strange proceeding were quite an +ordinary event, said: +</p> + +<p> +“Now we will set out at our leisure,” and with these words he leapt +into the sea with Urashima on his back. Down through the water the tortoise +dived. For a long time these two strange companions rode through the sea. +Urashima never grew tired, nor his clothes moist with the water. At last, far +away in the distance a magnificent gate appeared, and behind the gate, the +long, sloping roofs of a palace on the horizon. +</p> + +<p> +“Ya,” exclaimed Urashima. “That looks like the gate of some +large palace just appearing! Mr. Tortoise, can you tell what that place is we +can now see?” +</p> + +<p> +“That is the great gate of the Rin Gin Palace, the large roof that you +see behind the gate is the Sea King’s Palace itself.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then we have at last come to the realm of the Sea King and to his +Palace,” said Urashima. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, indeed,” answered the tortoise, “and don’t you +think we have come very quickly?” And while he was speaking the tortoise +reached the side of the gate. “And here we are, and you must please walk +from here.” +</p> + +<p> +The tortoise now went in front, and speaking to the gatekeeper, said: +</p> + +<p> +“This is Urashima Taro, from the country of Japan. I have had the honor +of bringing him as a visitor to this kingdom. Please show him the way.” +</p> + +<p> +Then the gatekeeper, who was a fish, at once led the way through the gate +before them. +</p> + +<p> +The red bream, the flounder, the sole, the cuttlefish, and all the chief +vassals of the Dragon King of the Sea now came out with courtly bows to welcome +the stranger. +</p> + +<p> +“Urashima Sama, Urashima Sama! welcome to the Sea Palace, the home of the +Dragon King of the Sea. Thrice welcome are you, having come from such a distant +country. And you, Mr. Tortoise, we are greatly indebted to you for all your +trouble in bringing Urashima here.” Then, turning again to Urashima, they +said, “Please follow us this way,” and from here the whole band of +fishes became his guides. +</p> + +<p> +Urashima, being only a poor fisher lad, did not know how to behave in a palace; +but, strange though it was all to him, he did not feel ashamed or embarrassed, +but followed his kind guides quite calmly where they led to the inner palace. +When he reached the portals a beautiful Princess with her attendant maidens +came out to welcome him. She was more beautiful than any human being, and was +robed in flowing garments of red and soft green like the under side of a wave, +and golden threads glimmered through the folds of her gown. Her lovely black +hair streamed over her shoulders in the fashion of a king’s daughter many +hundreds of years ago, and when she spoke her voice sounded like music over the +water. Urashima was lost in wonder while he looked upon her, and he could not +speak. Then he remembered that he ought to bow, but before he could make a low +obeisance the Princess took him by the hand and led him to a beautiful hall, +and to the seat of honor at the upper end, and bade him be seated. +</p> + +<p> +“Urashima Taro, it gives me the highest pleasure to welcome you to my +father’s kingdom,” said the Princess. “Yesterday you set free +a tortoise, and I have sent for you to thank you for saving my life, for I was +that tortoise. Now if you like you shall live here forever in the land of +eternal youth, where summer never dies and where sorrow never comes, and I will +be your bride if you will, and we will live together happily forever +afterwards!” +</p> + +<p> +And as Urashima listened to her sweet words and gazed upon her lovely face his +heart was filled with a great wonder and joy, and he answered her, wondering if +it was not all a dream: +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you a thousand times for your kind speech. There is nothing I +could wish for more than to be permitted to stay here with you in this +beautiful land, of which I have often heard, but have never seen to this day. +Beyond all words, this is the most wonderful place I have ever seen.” +</p> + +<p> +While he was speaking a train of fishes appeared, all dressed in ceremonial, +trailing garments. One by one, silently and with stately steps, they entered +the hall, bearing on coral trays delicacies of fish and seaweed, such as no one +can dream of, and this wondrous feast was set before the bride and bridegroom. +The bridal was celebrated with dazzling splendor, and in the Sea King’s +realm there was great rejoicing. As soon as the young pair had pledged +themselves in the wedding cup of wine, three times three, music was played, and +songs were sung, and fishes with silver scales and golden tails stepped in from +the waves and danced. Urashima enjoyed himself with all his heart. Never in his +whole life had he sat down to such a marvelous feast. +</p> + +<p> +When the feast was over the Princes asked the bridegroom if he would like to +walk through the palace and see all there was to be seen. Then the happy +fisherman, following his bride, the Sea King’s daughter, was shown all +the wonders of that enchanted land where youth and joy go hand in hand and +neither time nor age can touch them. The palace was built of coral and adorned +with pearls, and the beauties and wonders of the place were so great that the +tongue fails to describe them. +</p> + +<p> +But, to Urashima, more wonderful than the palace was the garden that surrounded +it. Here was to be seen at one time the scenery of the four different seasons; +the beauties of summer and winter, spring and autumn, were displayed to the +wondering visitor at once. +</p> + +<p> +First, when he looked to the east, the plum and cherry trees were seen in full +bloom, the nightingales sang in the pink avenues, and butterflies flitted from +flower to flower. +</p> + +<p> +Looking to the south all the trees were green in the fullness of summer, and +the day cicala and the night cricket chirruped loudly. +</p> + +<p> +Looking to the west the autumn maples were ablaze like a sunset sky, and the +chrysanthemums were in perfection. +</p> + +<p> +Looking to the north the change made Urashima start, for the ground was silver +white with snow, and trees and bamboos were also covered with snow and the pond +was thick with ice. +</p> + +<p> +And each day there were new joys and new wonders for Urashima, and so great was +his happiness that he forgot everything, even the home he had left behind and +his parents and his own country, and three days passed without his even +thinking of all he had left behind. Then his mind came back to him and he +remembered who he was, and that he did not belong to this wonderful land or the +Sea King’s palace, and he said to himself: +</p> + +<p> +“O dear! I must not stay on here, for I have an old father and mother at +home. What can have happened to them all this time? How anxious they must have +been these days when I did not return as usual. I must go back at once without +letting one more day pass.” And he began to prepare for the journey in +great haste. +</p> + +<p> +Then he went to his beautiful wife, the Princess, and bowing low before her he +said: +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed, I have been very happy with you for a long time, Otohime +Sama” (for that was her name), “and you have been kinder to me than +any words can tell. But now I must say good-by. I must go back to my old +parents.” +</p> + +<p> +Then Otohime Sama began to weep, and said softly and sadly: +</p> + +<p> +“Is it not well with you here, Urashima, that you wish to leave me so +soon? Where is the haste? Stay with me yet another day only!” +</p> + +<p> +But Urashima had remembered his old parents, and in Japan the duty to parents +is stronger than everything else, stronger even than pleasure or love, and he +would not be persuaded, but answered: +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed, I must go. Do not think that I wish to leave you. It is not +that. I must go and see my old parents. Let me go for one day and I will come +back to you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then,” said the Princess sorrowfully, “there is nothing to +be done. I will send you back to-day to your father and mother, and instead of +trying to keep you with me one more day, I shall give you this as a token of +our love—please take it back with you;” and she brought him a +beautiful lacquer box tied about with a silken cord and tassels of red silk. +</p> + +<p> +Urashima had received so much from the Princess already that he felt some +compunction in taking the gift, and said: +</p> + +<p> +“It does not seem right for me to take yet another gift from you after +all the many favors I have received at your hands, but because it is your wish +I will do so,” and then he added: +</p> + +<p> +“Tell me what is this box?” +</p> + +<p> +“That,” answered the Princess “is the tamate-bako (Box of the +Jewel Hand), and it contains something very precious. You must not open this +box, whatever happens! If you open it something dreadful will happen to you! +Now promise me that you will never open this box!” +</p> + +<p> +And Urashima promised that he would never, never open the box whatever +happened. +</p> + +<p> +Then bidding good-by to Otohime Sama he went down to the seashore, the Princess +and her attendants following him, and there he found a large tortoise waiting +for him. +</p> + +<p> +He quickly mounted the creature’s back and was carried away over the +shining sea into the East. He looked back to wave his hand to Otohime Sama till +at last he could see her no more, and the land of the Sea King and the roofs of +the wonderful palace were lost in the far, far distance. Then, with his face +turned eagerly towards his own land, he looked for the rising of the blue hills +on the horizon before him. +</p> + +<p> +At last the tortoise carried him into the bay he knew so well, and to the shore +from whence he had set out. He stepped on to the shore and looked about him +while the tortoise rode away back to the Sea King’s realm. +</p> + +<p> +But what is the strange fear that seizes Urashima as he stands and looks about +him? Why does he gaze so fixedly at the people that pass him by, and why do +they in turn stand and look at him? The shore is the same and the hills are the +same, but the people that he sees walking past him have very different faces to +those he had known so well before. +</p> + +<p> +Wondering what it can mean he walks quickly towards his old home. Even that +looks different, but a house stands on the spot, and he calls out: +</p> + +<p> +“Father, I have just returned!” and he was about to enter, when he +saw a strange man coming out. +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps my parents have moved while I have been away, and have gone +somewhere else,” was the fisherman’s thought. Somehow he began to +feel strangely anxious, he could not tell why. +</p> + +<p> +“Excuse me,” said he to the man who was staring at him, “but +till within the last few days I have lived in this house. My name is Urashima +Taro. Where have my parents gone whom I left here?” +</p> + +<p> +A very bewildered expression came over the face of the man, and, still gazing +intently on Urashima’s face, he said: +</p> + +<p> +“What? Are you Urashima Taro?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” said the fisherman, “I am Urashima Taro!” +</p> + +<p> +“Ha, ha!” laughed the man, “you must not make such jokes. It +is true that once upon a time a man called Urashima Taro did live in this +village, but that is a story three hundred years old. He could not possibly be +alive now!” +</p> + +<p> +When Urashima heard these strange words he was frightened, and said: +</p> + +<p> +“Please, please, you must not joke with me, I am greatly perplexed. I am +really Urashima Taro, and I certainly have not lived three hundred years. Till +four or five days ago I lived on this spot. Tell me what I want to know without +more joking, please.” +</p> + +<p> +But the man’s face grew more and more grave, and he answered: +</p> + +<p> +“You may or may not be Urashima Taro, I don’t know. But the +Urashima Taro of whom I have heard is a man who lived three hundred years ago. +Perhaps you are his spirit come to revisit your old home?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why do you mock me?” said Urashima. “I am no spirit! I am a +living man—do you not see my feet;” and “don-don,” he +stamped on the ground, first with one foot and then with the other to show the +man. (Japanese ghosts have no feet.) +</p> + +<p> +“But Urashima Taro lived three hundred years ago, that is all I know; it +is written in the village chronicles,” persisted the man, who could not +believe what the fisherman said. +</p> + +<p> +Urashima was lost in bewilderment and trouble. He stood looking all around him, +terribly puzzled, and, indeed, something in the appearance of everything was +different to what he remembered before he went away, and the awful feeling came +over him that what the man said was perhaps true. He seemed to be in a strange +dream. The few days he had spent in the Sea King’s palace beyond the sea +had not been days at all: they had been hundreds of years, and in that time his +parents had died and all the people he had ever known, and the village had +written down his story. There was no use in staying here any longer. He must +get back to his beautiful wife beyond the sea. +</p> + +<p> +He made his way back to the beach, carrying in his hand the box which the +Princess had given him. But which was the way? He could not find it alone! +Suddenly he remembered the box, the tamate-bako. +</p> + +<p> +“The Princess told me when she gave me the box never to open +it—that it contained a very precious thing. But now that I have no home, +now that I have lost everything that was dear to me here, and my heart grows +thin with sadness, at such a time, if I open the box, surely I shall find +something that will help me, something that will show me the way back to my +beautiful Princess over the sea. There is nothing else for me to do now. Yes, +yes, I will open the box and look in!” +</p> + +<p> +And so his heart consented to this act of disobedience, and he tried to +persuade himself that he was doing the right thing in breaking his promise. +</p> + +<p> +Slowly, very slowly, he untied the red silk cord, slowly and wonderingly he +lifted the lid of the precious box. And what did he find? Strange to say only a +beautiful little purple cloud rose out of the box in three soft wisps. For an +instant it covered his face and wavered over him as if loath to go, and then it +floated away like vapor over the sea. +</p> + +<p> +Urashima, who had been till that moment like a strong and handsome youth of +twenty-four, suddenly became very, very old. His back doubled up with age, his +hair turned snowy white, his face wrinkled and he fell down dead on the beach. +</p> + +<p> +Poor Urashima! because of his disobedience he could never return to the Sea +King’s realm or the lovely Princess beyond the sea. +</p> + +<p> +Little children, never be disobedient to those who are wiser than you for +disobedience was the beginning of all the miseries and sorrows of life. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap04"></a>THE FARMER AND THE BADGER</h2> + +<p> +Long, long ago, there lived an old farmer and his wife who had made their home +in the mountains, far from any town. Their only neighbor was a bad and +malicious badger. This badger used to come out every night and run across to +the farmer’s field and spoil the vegetables and the rice which the farmer +spent his time in carefully cultivating. The badger at last grew so ruthless in +his mischievous work, and did so much harm everywhere on the farm, that the +good-natured farmer could not stand it any longer, and determined to put a stop +to it. So he lay in wait day after day and night after night, with a big club, +hoping to catch the badger, but all in vain. Then he laid traps for the wicked +animal. +</p> + +<p> +The farmer’s trouble and patience was rewarded, for one fine day on going +his rounds he found the badger caught in a hole he had dug for that purpose. +The farmer was delighted at having caught his enemy, and carried him home +securely bound with rope. When he reached the house the farmer said to his +wife: +</p> + +<p> +“I have at last caught the bad badger. You must keep an eye on him while +I am out at work and not let him escape, because I want to make him into soup +to-night.” +</p> + +<p> +Saying this, he hung the badger up to the rafters of his storehouse and went +out to his work in the fields. The badger was in great distress, for he did not +at all like the idea of being made into soup that night, and he thought and +thought for a long time, trying to hit upon some plan by which he might escape. +It was hard to think clearly in his uncomfortable position, for he had been +hung upside down. Very near him, at the entrance to the storehouse, looking out +towards the green fields and the trees and the pleasant sunshine, stood the +farmer’s old wife pounding barley. She looked tired and old. Her face was +seamed with many wrinkles, and was as brown as leather, and every now and then +she stopped to wipe the perspiration which rolled down her face. +</p> + +<p> +“Dear lady,” said the wily badger, “you must be very weary +doing such heavy work in your old age. Won’t you let me do that for you? +My arms are very strong, and I could relieve you for a little while!” +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you for your kindness,” said the old woman, “but I +cannot let you do this work for me because I must not untie you, for you might +escape if I did, and my husband would be very angry if he came home and found +you gone.” +</p> + +<p> +Now, the badger is one of the most cunning of animals, and he said again in a +very sad, gentle, voice: +</p> + +<p> +“You are very unkind. You might untie me, for I promise not to try to +escape. If you are afraid of your husband, I will let you bind me again before +his return when I have finished pounding the barley. I am so tired and sore +tied up like this. If you would only let me down for a few minutes I would +indeed be thankful!” +</p> + +<p> +The old woman had a good and simple nature, and could not think badly of any +one. Much less did she think that the badger was only deceiving her in order to +get away. She felt sorry, too, for the animal as she turned to look at him. He +looked in such a sad plight hanging downwards from the ceiling by his legs, +which were all tied together so tightly that the rope and the knots were +cutting into the skin. So in the kindness of her heart, and believing the +creature’s promise that he would not run away, she untied the cord and +let him down. +</p> + +<p> +The old woman then gave him the wooden pestle and told him to do the work for a +short time while she rested. He took the pestle, but instead of doing the work +as he was told, the badger at once sprang upon the old woman and knocked her +down with the heavy piece of wood. He then killed her and cut her up and made +soup of her, and waited for the return of the old farmer. The old man worked +hard in his fields all day, and as he worked he thought with pleasure that no +more now would his labor be spoiled by the destructive badger. +</p> + +<p> +Towards sunset he left his work and turned to go home. He was very tired, but +the thought of the nice supper of hot badger soup awaiting his return cheered +him. The thought that the badger might get free and take revenge on the poor +old woman never once came into his mind. +</p> + +<p> +The badger meanwhile assumed the old woman’s form, and as soon as he saw +the old farmer approaching came out to greet him on the veranda of the little +house, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“So you have come back at last. I have made the badger soup and have been +waiting for you for a long time.” +</p> + +<p> +The old farmer quickly took off his straw sandals and sat down before his tiny +dinner-tray. The innocent man never even dreamed that it was not his wife but +the badger who was waiting upon him, and asked at once for the soup. Then the +badger suddenly transformed himself back to his natural form and cried out: +</p> + +<p> +“You wife-eating old man! Look out for the bones in the kitchen!” +</p> + +<p> +Laughing loudly and derisively he escaped out of the house and ran away to his +den in the hills. The old man was left behind alone. He could hardly believe +what he had seen and heard. Then when he understood the whole truth he was so +scared and horrified that he fainted right away. After a while he came round +and burst into tears. He cried loudly and bitterly. He rocked himself to and +fro in his hopeless grief. It seemed too terrible to be real that his faithful +old wife had been killed and cooked by the badger while he was working quietly +in the fields, knowing nothing of what was going on at home, and congratulating +himself on having once for all got rid of the wicked animal who had so often +spoiled his fields. And oh! the horrible thought; he had very nearly drunk the +soup which the creature had made of his poor old woman. “Oh dear, oh +dear, oh dear!” he wailed aloud. Now, not far away there lived in the +same mountain a kind, good-natured old rabbit. He heard the old man crying and +sobbing and at once set out to see what was the matter, and if there was +anything he could do to help his neighbor. The old man told him all that had +happened. When the rabbit heard the story he was very angry at the wicked and +deceitful badger, and told the old man to leave everything to him and he would +avenge his wife’s death. The farmer was at last comforted, and, wiping +away his tears, thanked the rabbit for his goodness in coming to him in his +distress. +</p> + +<p> +The rabbit, seeing that the farmer was growing calmer, went back to his home to +lay his plans for the punishment of the badger. +</p> + +<p> +The next day the weather was fine, and the rabbit went out to find the badger. +He was not to be seen in the woods or on the hillside or in the fields +anywhere, so the rabbit went to his den and found the badger hiding there, for +the animal had been afraid to show himself ever since he had escaped from the +farmer’s house, for fear of the old man’s wrath. +</p> + +<p> +The rabbit called out: +</p> + +<p> +“Why are you not out on such a beautiful day? Come out with me, and we +will go and cut grass on the hills together.” +</p> + +<p> +The badger, never doubting but that the rabbit was his friend, willingly +consented to go out with him, only too glad to get away from the neighborhood +of the farmer and the fear of meeting him. The rabbit led the way miles away +from their homes, out on the hills where the grass grew tall and thick and +sweet. They both set to work to cut down as much as they could carry home, to +store it up for their winter’s food. When they had each cut down all they +wanted they tied it in bundles and then started homewards, each carrying his +bundle of grass on his back. This time the rabbit made the badger go first. +</p> + +<p> +When they had gone a little way the rabbit took out a flint and steel, and, +striking it over the badger’s back as he stepped along in front, set his +bundle of grass on fire. The badger heard the flint striking, and asked: +</p> + +<p> +“What is that noise. ‘Crack, crack’?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, that is nothing.” replied the rabbit; “I only said +‘Crack, crack’ because this mountain is called Crackling +Mountain.” +</p> + +<p> +The fire soon spread in the bundle of dry grass on the badger’s back. The +badger, hearing the crackle of the burning grass, asked, “What is +that?” +</p> + +<p> +“Now we have come to the ‘Burning Mountain,’” answered +the rabbit. +</p> + +<p> +By this time the bundle was nearly burned out and all the hair had been burned +off the badger’s back. He now knew what had happened by the smell of the +smoke of the burning grass. Screaming with pain the badger ran as fast as he +could to his hole. The rabbit followed and found him lying on his bed groaning +with pain. +</p> + +<p> +“What an unlucky fellow you are!” said the rabbit. “I +can’t imagine how this happened! I will bring you some medicine which +will heal your back quickly!” +</p> + +<p> +The rabbit went away glad and smiling to think that the punishment upon the +badger had already begun. He hoped that the badger would die of his burns, for +he felt that nothing could be too bad for the animal, who was guilty of +murdering a poor helpless old woman who had trusted him. He went home and made +an ointment by mixing some sauce and red pepper together. +</p> + +<p> +He carried this to the badger, but before putting it on he told him that it +would cause him great pain, but that he must bear it patiently, because it was +a very wonderful medicine for burns and scalds and such wounds. The badger +thanked him and begged him to apply it at once. But no language can describe +the agony of the badger as soon as the red pepper had been pasted all over his +sore back. He rolled over and over and howled loudly. The rabbit, looking on, +felt that the farmer’s wife was beginning to be avenged. +</p> + +<p> +The badger was in bed for about a month; but at last, in spite of the red +pepper application, his burns healed and he got well. When the rabbit saw that +the badger was getting well, he thought of another plan by which he could +compass the creature’s death. So he went one day to pay the badger a +visit and to congratulate him on his recovery. +</p> + +<p> +During the conversation the rabbit mentioned that he was going fishing, and +described how pleasant fishing was when the weather was fine and the sea +smooth. +</p> + +<p> +The badger listened with pleasure to the rabbit’s account of the way he +passed his time now, and forgot all his pains and his month’s illness, +and thought what fun it would be if he could go fishing too; so he asked the +rabbit if he would take him the next time he went out to fish. This was just +what the rabbit wanted, so he agreed. +</p> + +<p> +Then he went home and built two boats, one of wood and the other of clay. At +last they were both finished, and as the rabbit stood and looked at his work he +felt that all his trouble would be well rewarded if his plan succeeded, and he +could manage to kill the wicked badger now. +</p> + +<p> +The day came when the rabbit had arranged to take the badger fishing. He kept +the wooden boat himself and gave the badger the clay boat. The badger, who knew +nothing about boats, was delighted with his new boat and thought how kind it +was of the rabbit to give it to him. They both got into their boats and set +out. After going some distance from the shore the rabbit proposed that they +should try their boats and see which one could go the quickest. The badger fell +in with the proposal, and they both set to work to row as fast as they could +for some time. In the middle of the race the badger found his boat going to +pieces, for the water now began to soften the clay. He cried out in great fear +to the rabbit to help him. But the rabbit answered that he was avenging the old +woman’s murder, and that this had been his intention all along, and that +he was happy to think that the badger had at last met his deserts for all his +evil crimes, and was to drown with no one to help him. Then he raised his oar +and struck at the badger with all his strength till he fell with the sinking +clay boat and was seen no more. +</p> + +<p> +Thus at last he kept his promise to the old farmer. The rabbit now turned and +rowed shorewards, and having landed and pulled his boat upon the beach, hurried +back to tell the old farmer everything, and how the badger, his enemy, had been +killed. +</p> + +<p> +The old farmer thanked him with tears in his eyes. He said that till now he +could never sleep at night or be at peace in the daytime, thinking of how his +wife’s death was unavenged, but from this time he would be able to sleep +and eat as of old. He begged the rabbit to stay with him and share his home, so +from this day the rabbit went to stay with the old farmer and they both lived +together as good friends to the end of their days. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap05"></a>THE “SHINANSHA,” OR THE SOUTH POINTING CARRIAGE</h2> + +<p> +The compass, with its needle always pointing to the North, is quite a common +thing, and no one thinks that it is remarkable now, though when it was first +invented it must have been a wonder. +</p> + +<p> +Now long ago in China, there was a still more wonderful invention called the +shinansha. This was a kind of chariot with the figure of a man on it always +pointing to the South. No matter how the chariot was placed the figure always +wheeled about and pointed to the South. +</p> + +<p> +This curious instrument was invented by Kotei, one of the three Chinese +Emperors of the Mythological age. Kotei was the son of the Emperor Yuhi. Before +he was born his mother had a vision which foretold that her son would be a +great man. +</p> + +<p> +One summer evening she went out to walk in the meadows to seek the cool breezes +which blow at the end of the day and to gaze with pleasure at the star-lit +heavens above her. As she looked at the North Star, strange to relate, it shot +forth vivid flashes of lightning in every direction. Soon after this her son +Kotei came into the world. +</p> + +<p> +Kotei in time grew to manhood and succeeded his father the Emperor Yuhi. His +early reign was greatly troubled by the rebel Shiyu. This rebel wanted to make +himself King, and many were the battles which he fought to this end. Shiyu was +a wicked magician, his head was made of iron, and there was no man that could +conquer him. +</p> + +<p> +At last Kotei declared war against the rebel and led his army to battle, and +the two armies met on a plain called Takuroku. The Emperor boldly attacked the +enemy, but the magician brought down a dense fog upon the battlefield, and +while the royal army were wandering about in confusion, trying to find their +way, Shiyu retreated with his troops, laughing at having fooled the royal army. +</p> + +<p> +No matter however strong and brave the Emperor’s soldiers were, the rebel +with his magic could always escape in the end. +</p> + +<p> +Kotei returned to his Palace, and thought and pondered deeply as to how he +should conquer the magician, for he was determined not to give up yet. After a +long time he invented the shinansha with the figure of a man always pointing +South, for there were no compasses in those days. With this instrument to show +him the way he need not fear the dense fogs raised up by the magician to +confound his men. +</p> + +<p> +Kotei again declared war against Shiyu. He placed the shinansha in front of his +army and led the way to the battlefield. +</p> + +<p> +The battle began in earnest. The rebel was being driven backward by the royal +troops when he again resorted to magic, and upon his saying some strange words +in a loud voice, immediately a dense fog came down upon the battlefield. +</p> + +<p> +But this time no soldier minded the fog, not one was confused. Kotei by +pointing to the shinansha could find his way and directed the army without a +single mistake. He closely pursued the rebel army and drove them backward till +they came to a big river. This river Kotei and his men found was swollen by the +floods and impossible to cross. +</p> + +<p> +Shiyu by using his magic art quickly passed over with his army and shut himself +up in a fortress on the opposite bank. +</p> + +<p> +When Kotei found his march checked he was wild with disappointment, for he had +very nearly overtaken the rebel when the river stopped him. +</p> + +<p> +He could do nothing, for there were no boats in those days, so the Emperor +ordered his tent to be pitched in the pleasantest spot that the place afforded. +</p> + +<p> +One day he stepped forth from his tent and after walking about for a short time +he came to a pond. Here he sat down on the bank and was lost in thought. +</p> + +<p> +It was autumn. The trees growing along the edge of the water were shedding +their leaves, which floated hither and thither on the surface of the pond. By +and by, Kotei’s attention was attracted to a spider on the brink of the +water. The little insect was trying to get on to one of the floating leaves +near by. It did so at last, and was soon floating over the water to the other +side of the pond. +</p> + +<p> +This little incident made the clever Emperor think that he might try to make +something that could carry himself and his men over the river in the same way +that the leaf had carried over the spider. He set to work and persevered till +he invented the first boat. When he found that it was a success he set all his +men to make more, and in time there were enough boats for the whole army. +</p> + +<p> +Kotei now took his army across the river, and attacked Shiyu’s +headquarters. He gained a complete victory, and so put an end to the war which +had troubled his country for so long. +</p> + +<p> +This wise and good Emperor did not rest till he had secured peace and +prosperity throughout his whole land. He was beloved by his subjects, who now +enjoyed their happiness of peace for many long years under him. He spent a +great deal of time in making inventions which would benefit his people, and he +succeeded in many besides the boat and the South Pointing shinansha. +</p> + +<p> +He had reigned about a hundred years when one day, as Kotei was looking +upwards, the sky became suddenly red, and something came glittering like gold +towards the earth. As it came nearer Kotei saw that it was a great Dragon. The +Dragon approached and bowed down its head before the Emperor. The Empress and +the courtiers were so frightened that they ran away screaming. +</p> + +<p> +But the Emperor only smiled and called to them to stop, and said: +</p> + +<p> +“Do not be afraid. This is a messenger from Heaven. My time here is +finished!” He then mounted the Dragon, which began to ascend towards the +sky. +</p> + +<p> +When the Empress and the courtiers saw this they all cried out together: +</p> + +<p> +“Wait a moment! We wish to come too.” And they all ran and caught +hold of the Dragon’s beard and tried to mount him. +</p> + +<p> +But it was impossible for so many people to ride on the Dragon. Several of them +hung on to the creature’s beard so that when it tried to mount the hair +was pulled out and they fell to the ground. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the Empress and a few of the courtiers were safely seated on the +Dragon’s back. The Dragon flew up so high in the heavens that in a short +time the inmates of the Palace, who had been left behind disappointed, could +see them no more. +</p> + +<p> +After some time a bow and an arrow dropped to the earth in the courtyard of the +Palace. They were recognized as having belonged to the Emperor Kotei. The +courtiers took them up carefully and preserved them as sacred relics in the +Palace. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap06"></a>THE ADVENTURES OF KINTARO, THE GOLDEN BOY</h2> + +<p> +Long, long ago there lived in Kyoto a brave soldier named Kintoki. Now he fell +in love with a beautiful lady and married her. Not long after this, through the +malice of some of his friends, he fell into disgrace at Court and was +dismissed. This misfortune so preyed upon his mind that he did not long survive +his dismissal—he died, leaving behind him his beautiful young wife to +face the world alone. Fearing her husband’s enemies, she fled to the +Ashigara Mountains as soon as her husband was dead, and there in the lonely +forests where no one ever came except woodcutters, a little boy was born to +her. She called him Kintaro or the Golden Boy. Now the remarkable thing about +this child was his great strength, and as he grew older he grew stronger and +stronger, so that by the time he was eight years of age he was able to cut down +trees as quickly as the woodcutters. Then his mother gave him a large ax, and +he used to go out in the forest and help the woodcutters, who called him +“Wonder-child,” and his mother the “Old Nurse of the +Mountains,” for they did not know her high rank. Another favorite pastime +of Kintaro’s was to smash up rocks and stones. You can imagine how strong +he was! +</p> + +<p> +Quite unlike other boys, Kintaro, grew up all alone in the mountain wilds, and +as he had no companions he made friends with all the animals and learned to +understand them and to speak their strange talk. By degrees they all grew quite +tame and looked upon Kintaro as their master, and he used them as his servants +and messengers. But his special retainers were the bear, the deer, the monkey +and the hare. +</p> + +<p> +The bear often brought her cubs for Kintaro to romp with, and when she came to +take them home Kintaro would get on her back and have a ride to her cave. He +was very fond of the deer too, and would often put his arms round the +creature’s neck to show that its long horns did not frighten him. Great +was the fun they all had together. +</p> + +<p> +One day, as usual, Kintaro went up into the mountains, followed by the bear, +the deer, the monkey, and the hare. After walking for some time up hill and +down dale and over rough roads, they suddenly came out upon a wide and grassy +plain covered with pretty wild flowers. +</p> + +<p> +Here, indeed, was a nice place where they could all have a good romp together. +The deer rubbed his horns against a tree for pleasure, the monkey scratched his +back, the hare smoothed his long ears, and the bear gave a grunt of +satisfaction. +</p> + +<p> +Kintaro said, “Here is a place for a good game. What do you all say to a +wrestling match?” +</p> + +<p> +The bear being the biggest and the oldest, answered for the others: +</p> + +<p> +“That will be great fun,” said she. “I am the strongest +animal, so I will make the platform for the wrestlers;” and she set to +work with a will to dig up the earth and to pat it into shape. +</p> + +<p> +“All right,” said Kintaro, “I will look on while you all +wrestle with each other. I shall give a prize to the one who wins in each +round.” +</p> + +<p> +“What fun! we shall all try to get the prize,” said the bear. +</p> + +<p> +The deer, the monkey and the hare set to work to help the bear raise the +platform on which they were all to wrestle. When this was finished, Kintaro +cried out: +</p> + +<p> +“Now begin! the monkey and the hare shall open the sports and the deer +shall be umpire. Now, Mr. Deer, you are to be umpire!” +</p> + +<p> +“He, he!” answered the deer. “I will be umpire. Now, Mr. +Monkey and Mr. Hare, if you are both ready, please walk out and take your +places on the platform.” +</p> + +<p> +Then the monkey and the hare both hopped out, quickly and nimbly, to the +wrestling platform. The deer, as umpire, stood between the two and called out: +</p> + +<p> +“Red-back! Red-back!” (this to the monkey, who has a red back in +Japan). “Are you ready?” +</p> + +<p> +Then he turned to the hare: +</p> + +<p> +“Long-ears! Long-ears! are you ready?” +</p> + +<p> +Both the little wrestlers faced each other while the deer raised a leaf on high +as signal. When he dropped the leaf the monkey and the hare rushed upon each +other, crying “Yoisho, yoisho!” +</p> + +<p> +While the monkey and the hare wrestled, the deer called out encouragingly or +shouted warnings to each of them as the hare or the monkey pushed each other +near the edge of the platform and were in danger of falling over. +</p> + +<p> +“Red-back! Red-back! stand your ground!” called out the deer. +</p> + +<p> +“Long-ears! Long-ears! be strong, be strong—don’t let the +monkey beat you!” grunted the bear. +</p> + +<p> +So the monkey and the hare, encouraged by their friends, tried their very +hardest to beat each other. The hare at last gained on the monkey. The monkey +seemed to trip up, and the hare giving him a good push sent him flying off the +platform with a bound. +</p> + +<p> +The poor monkey sat up rubbing his back, and his face was very long as he +screamed angrily. “Oh, oh! how my back hurts—my back hurts +me!” +</p> + +<p> +Seeing the monkey in this plight on the ground, the deer holding his leaf on +high said: +</p> + +<p> +“This round is finished—the hare has won.” +</p> + +<p> +Kintaro then opened his luncheon box and taking out a rice-dumpling, gave it to +the hare saying: +</p> + +<p> +“Here is your prize, and you have earned, it well!” +</p> + +<p> +Now the monkey got up looking very cross, and as they say in Japan “his +stomach stood up,” for he felt that he had not been fairly beaten. So he +said to Kintaro and the others who were standing by: +</p> + +<p> +“I have not been fairly beaten. My foot slipped and I tumbled. Please +give me another chance and let the hare wrestle with me for another +round.” +</p> + +<p> +Then Kintaro consenting, the hare and the monkey began to wrestle again. Now, +as every one knows, the monkey is a cunning animal by nature, and he made up +his mind to get the best of the hare this time if it were possible. To do this, +he thought that the best and surest way would be to get hold of the +hare’s long ear. This he soon managed to do. The hare was quite thrown +off his guard by the pain of having his long ear pulled so hard, and the monkey +seizing his opportunity at last, caught hold of one of the hare’s legs +and sent him sprawling in the middle of the dais. The monkey was now the victor +and received, a rice-dumpling from Kintaro, which pleased him so much that he +quite forgot his sore back. +</p> + +<p> +The deer now came up and asked the hare if he felt ready for another round, and +if so whether he would try a round with him, and the hare consenting, they both +stood up to wrestle. The bear came forward as umpire. +</p> + +<p> +The deer with long horns and the hare with long ears, it must have been an +amusing sight to those who watched this queer match. Suddenly the deer went +down on one of his knees, and the bear with the leaf on high declared him +beaten. In this way, sometimes the one, sometimes the other, conquering, the +little party amused themselves till they were tired. +</p> + +<p> +At last Kintaro got up and said: +</p> + +<p> +“This is enough for to-day. What a nice place we have found for +wrestling; let us come again to-morrow. Now, we will all go home. Come +along!” So saying, Kintaro led the way while the animals followed. +</p> + +<p> +After walking some little distance they came out on the banks of a river +flowing through a valley. Kintaro and his four furry friends stood and looked +about for some means of crossing. Bridge there was none. The river rushed +“don, don” on its way. All the animals looked serious, wondering +how they could cross the stream and get home that evening. +</p> + +<p> +Kintaro, however, said: +</p> + +<p> +“Wait a moment. I will make a good bridge for you all in a few +minutes.” +</p> + +<p> +The bear, the deer, the monkey and the hare looked at him to see what he would +do now. +</p> + +<p> +Kintaro went from one tree to another that grew along the river bank. At last +he stopped in front of a very large tree that was growing at the water’s +edge. He took hold of the trunk and pulled it with all his might, once, twice, +thrice! At the third pull, so great was Kintaro’s strength that the roots +gave way, and “meri, meri” (crash, crash), over fell the tree, +forming an excellent bridge across the stream. +</p> + +<p> +“There,” said Kintaro, “what do you think of my bridge? It is +quite safe, so follow me,” and he stepped across first. The four animals +followed. Never had they seen any one so strong before, and they all exclaimed: +</p> + +<p> +“How strong he is! how strong he is!” +</p> + +<p> +While all this was going on by the river a woodcutter, who happened to be +standing on a rock overlooking the stream, had seen all that passed beneath +him. He watched with great surprise Kintaro and his animal companions. He +rubbed his eyes to be sure that he was not dreaming when he saw this boy pull +over a tree by the roots and throw it across the stream to form a bridge. +</p> + +<p> +The woodcutter, for such he seemed to be by his dress, marveled at all he saw, +and said to himself: +</p> + +<p> +“This is no ordinary child. Whose son can he be? I will find out before +this day is done.” +</p> + +<p> +He hastened after the strange party and crossed the bridge behind them. Kintaro +knew nothing of all this, and little guessed that he was being followed. On +reaching the other side of the river he and the animals separated, they to +their lairs in the woods and he to his mother, who was waiting for him. +</p> + +<p> +As soon as he entered the cottage, which stood like a matchbox in the heart of +the pine-woods, he went to greet his mother, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“Okkasan (mother), here I am!” +</p> + +<p> +“O, Kimbo!” said his mother with a bright smile, glad to see her +boy home safe after the long day. “How late you are to-day. I feared that +something had happened to you. Where have you been all the time?” +</p> + +<p> +“I took my four friends, the bear, the deer, the monkey, and the hare, up +into the hills, and there I made them try a wrestling match, to see which was +the strongest. We all enjoyed the sport, and are going to the same place +to-morrow to have another match.” +</p> + +<p> +“Now tell me who is the strongest of all?” asked his mother, +pretending not to know. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, mother,” said Kintaro, “don’t you know that I am +the strongest? There was no need for me to wrestle with any of them.” +</p> + +<p> +“But next to you then, who is the strongest?” +</p> + +<p> +“The bear comes next to me in strength,” answered Kintaro. +</p> + +<p> +“And after the bear?” asked his mother again. +</p> + +<p> +“Next to the bear it is not easy to say which is the strongest, for the +deer, the monkey, and the hare all seem to be as strong as each other,” +said Kintaro. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly Kintaro and his mother were startled by a voice from outside. +</p> + +<p> +“Listen to me, little boy! Next time you go, take this old man with you +to the wrestling match. He would like to join the sport too!” +</p> + +<p> +It was the old woodcutter who had followed Kintaro from the river. He slipped +off his clogs and entered the cottage. Yama-uba and her son were both taken by +surprise. They looked at the intruder wonderingly and saw that he was some one +they had never seen before. +</p> + +<p> +“Who are you?” they both exclaimed. +</p> + +<p> +Then the woodcutter laughed and said: +</p> + +<p> +“It does not matter who I am yet, but let us see who has the strongest +arm—this boy or myself?” +</p> + +<p> +Then Kintaro, who had lived all his life in the forest, answered the old man +without any ceremony, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“We will have a try if you wish it, but you must not be angry whoever is +beaten.” +</p> + +<p> +Then Kintaro and the woodcutter both put out their right arms and grasped each +other’s hands. For a long time Kintaro and the old man wrestled together +in this way, each trying to bend the other’s arm, but the old man was +very strong, and the strange pair were evenly matched. At last the old man +desisted, declaring it a drawn game. +</p> + +<p> +“You are, indeed, a very strong child. There are few men who can boast of +the strength of my right arm!” said the woodcutter. “I saw you +first on the banks of the river a few hours ago, when you pulled up that large +tree to make a bridge across the torrent. Hardly able to believe what I saw I +followed you home. Your strength of arm, which I have just tried, proves what I +saw this afternoon. When you are full-grown you will surely be the strongest +man in all Japan. It is a pity that you are hidden away in these wild +mountains.” +</p> + +<p> +Then he turned to Kintaro’s mother: +</p> + +<p> +“And you, mother, have you no thought of taking your child to the +Capital, and of teaching him to carry a sword as befits a samurai (a Japanese +knight)?” +</p> + +<p> +“You are very kind to take so much interest in my son.” replied the +mother; “but he is as you see, wild and uneducated, and I fear it would +be very difficult to do as you say. Because of his great strength as an infant +I hid him away in this unknown part of the country, for he hurt every one that +came near him. I have often wished that I could, one day, see my boy a knight +wearing two swords, but as we have no influential friend to introduce us at the +Capital, I fear my hope will never come true.” +</p> + +<p> +“You need not trouble yourself about that. To tell you the truth I am no +woodcutter! I am one of the great generals of Japan. My name is Sadamitsu, and +I am a vassal of the powerful Lord Minamoto-no-Raiko. He ordered me to go round +the country and look for boys who give promise of remarkable strength, so that +they may be trained as soldiers for his army. I thought that I could best do +this by assuming the disguise of a woodcutter. By good fortune, I have thus +unexpectedly come across your son. Now if you really wish him to be a SAMURAI +(a knight), I will take him and present him to the Lord Raiko as a candidate +for his service. What do you say to this?” +</p> + +<p> +As the kind general gradually unfolded his plan the mother’s heart was +filled with a great joy. She saw that here was a wonderful chance of the one +wish of her life being fulfilled—that of seeing Kintaro a SAMURAI before +she died. +</p> + +<p> +Bowing her head to the ground, she replied: +</p> + +<p> +“I will then intrust my son to you if you really mean what you +say.” +</p> + +<p> +Kintaro had all this time been sitting by his mother’s side listening to +what they said. When his mother finished speaking, he exclaimed: +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, joy! joy! I am to go with the general and one day I shall be a +SAMURAI!” +</p> + +<p> +Thus Kintaro’s fate was settled, and the general decided to start for the +Capital at once, taking Kintaro with him. It need hardly be said that Yama-uba +was sad at parting with her boy, for he was all that was left to her. But she +hid her grief with a strong face, as they say in Japan. She knew that it was +for her boy’s good that he should leave her now, and she must not +discourage him just as he was setting out. Kintaro promised never to forget +her, and said that as soon as he was a knight wearing two swords he would build +her a home and take care of her in her old age. +</p> + +<p> +All the animals, those he had tamed to serve him, the bear, the deer, the +monkey, and the hare, as soon as they found out that he was going away, came to +ask if they might attend him as usual. When they learned that he was going away +for good they followed him to the foot of the mountain to see him off. +</p> + +<p> +“Kimbo,” said his mother, “mind and be a good boy.” +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Kintaro,” said the faithful animals, “we wish you good +health on your travels.” +</p> + +<p> +Then they all climbed a tree to see the last of him, and from that height they +watched him and his shadow gradually grow smaller and smaller, till he was lost +to sight. +</p> + +<p> +The general Sadamitsu went on his way rejoicing at having so unexpectedly found +such a prodigy as Kintaro. +</p> + +<p> +Having arrived at their destination the general took Kintaro at once to his +Lord, Minamoto-no-Raiko, and told him all about Kintaro and how he had found +the child. Lord Raiko was delighted with the story, and having commanded +Kintaro to be brought to him, made him one of his vassals at once. +</p> + +<p> +Lord Raiko’s army was famous for its band called “The Four +Braves.” These warriors were chosen by himself from amongst the bravest +and strongest of his soldiers, and the small and well-picked band was +distinguished throughout the whole of Japan for the dauntless courage of its +men. +</p> + +<p> +When Kintaro grew up to be a man his master made him the Chief of the Four +Braves. He was by far the strongest of them all. Soon after this event, news +was brought to the city that a cannibal monster had taken up his abode not far +away and that people were stricken with fear. Lord Raiko ordered Kintaro to the +rescue. He immediately started off, delighted at the prospect of trying his +sword. +</p> + +<p> +Surprising the monster in its den, he made short work of cutting off its great +head, which he carried back in triumph to his master. +</p> + +<p> +Kintaro now rose to be the greatest hero of his country, and great was the +power and honor and wealth that came to him. He now kept his promise and built +a comfortable home for his old mother, who lived happily with him in the +Capital to the end of her days. +</p> + +<p> +Is not this the story of a great hero? +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap07"></a>THE STORY OF PRINCESS HASE.<br/> +A STORY OF OLD JAPAN</h2> + +<p> +Many, many years ago there lived in Nara, the ancient Capital of Japan, a wise +State minister, by name Prince Toyonari Fujiwara. His wife was a noble, good, +and beautiful woman called Princess Murasaki (Violet). They had been married by +their respective families according to Japanese custom when very young, and had +lived together happily ever since. They had, however, one cause for great +sorrow, for as the years went by no child was born to them. This made them very +unhappy, for they both longed to see a child of their own who would grow up to +gladden their old age, carry on the family name, and keep up the ancestral +rites when they were dead. The Prince and his lovely wife, after long +consultation and much thought, determined to make a pilgrimage to the temple of +Hase-no-Kwannon (Goddess of Mercy at Hase), for they believed, according to the +beautiful tradition of their religion, that the Mother of Mercy, Kwannon, comes +to answer the prayers of mortals in the form that they need the most. Surely +after all these years of prayer she would come to them in the form of a beloved +child in answer to their special pilgrimage, for that was the greatest need of +their two lives. Everything else they had that this life could give them, but +it was all as nothing because the cry of their hearts was unsatisfied. +</p> + +<p> +So the Prince Toyonari and his wife went to the temple of Kwannon at Hase and +stayed there for a long time, both daily offering incense and praying to +Kwannon, the Heavenly Mother, to grant them the desire of their whole lives. +And their prayer was answered. +</p> + +<p> +A daughter was born at last to the Princess Murasaki, and great was the joy of +her heart. On presenting the child to her husband, they both decided to call +her Hase-Hime, or the Princess of Hase, because she was the gift of the Kwannon +at that place. They both reared her with great care and tenderness, and the +child grew in strength and beauty. +</p> + +<p> +When the little girl was five years old her mother fell dangerously ill and all +the doctors and their medicines could not save her. A little before she +breathed her last she called her daughter to her, and gently stroking her head, +said: +</p> + +<p> +“Hase-Hime, do you know that your mother cannot live any longer? Though I +die, you must grow up a good girl. Do your best not to give trouble to your +nurse or any other of your family. Perhaps your father will marry again and +some one will fill my place as your mother. If so do not grieve for me, but +look upon your father’s second wife as your true mother, and be obedient +and filial to both her and your father. Remember when you are grown up to be +submissive to those who are your superiors, and to be kind to all those who are +under you. Don’t forget this. I die with the hope that you will grow up a +model woman.” +</p> + +<p> +Hase-Hime listened in an attitude of respect while her mother spoke, and +promised to do all that she was told. There is a proverb which says “As +the soul is at three so it is at one hundred,” and so Hase-Hime grew up +as her mother had wished, a good and obedient little Princess, though she was +now too young to understand how great was the loss of her mother. +</p> + +<p> +Not long after the death of his first wife, Prince Toyonari married again, a +lady of noble birth named Princess Terute. Very different in character, alas! +to the good and wise Princess Murasaki, this woman had a cruel, bad heart. She +did not love her step-daughter at all, and was often very unkind to the little +motherless girl, saying to herself: +</p> + +<p> +“This is not my child! this is not my child!” +</p> + +<p> +But Hase-Hime bore every unkindness with patience, and even waited upon her +step-mother kindly and obeyed her in every way and never gave any trouble, just +as she had been trained by her own good mother, so that the Lady Terute had no +cause for complaint against her. +</p> + +<p> +The little Princess was very diligent, and her favorite studies were music and +poetry. She would spend several hours practicing every day, and her father had +the most proficient of masters he could find to teach her the koto (Japanese +harp), the art of writing letters and verse. When she was twelve years of age +she could play so beautifully that she and her step-mother were summoned to the +Palace to perform before the Emperor. +</p> + +<p> +It was the Festival of the Cherry Flowers, and there were great festivities at +the Court. The Emperor threw himself into the enjoyment of the season, and +commanded that Princess Hase should perform before him on the koto, and that +her mother Princess Terute should accompany her on the flute. +</p> + +<p> +The Emperor sat on a raised dais, before which was hung a curtain of +finely-sliced bamboo and purple tassels, so that His Majesty might see all and +not be seen, for no ordinary subject was allowed to look upon his sacred face. +</p> + +<p> +Hase-Hime was a skilled musician though so young, and often astonished her +masters by her wonderful memory and talent. On this momentous occasion she +played well. But Princess Terute, her step-mother, who was a lazy woman and +never took the trouble to practice daily, broke down in her accompaniment and +had to request one of the Court ladies to take her place. This was a great +disgrace, and she was furiously jealous to think that she had failed where her +step-daughter succeeded; and to make matters worse the Emperor sent many +beautiful gifts to the little Princess to reward her for playing so well at the +Palace. +</p> + +<p> +There was also now another reason why Princess Terute hated her step-daughter, +for she had had the good fortune to have a son born to her, and in her inmost +heart she kept saying: +</p> + +<p> +“If only Hase-Hime were not here, my son would have all the love of his +father.” +</p> + +<p> +And never having learned to control herself, she allowed this wicked thought to +grow into the awful desire of taking her step-daughter’s life. +</p> + +<p> +So one day she secretly ordered some poison and poisoned some sweet wine. This +poisoned wine she put into a bottle. Into another similar bottle she poured +some good wine. It was the occasion of the Boys’ Festival on the fifth of +May, and Hase-Hime was playing with her little brother. All his toys of +warriors and heroes were spread out and she was telling him wonderful stories +about each of them. They were both enjoying themselves and laughing merrily +with their attendants when his mother entered with the two bottles of wine and +some delicious cakes. +</p> + +<p> +“You are both so good and happy.” said the wicked Princess Terute +with a smile, “that I have brought you some sweet wine as a +reward—and here are some nice cakes for my good children.” +</p> + +<p> +And she filled two cups from the different bottles. +</p> + +<p> +Hase-Hime, never dreaming of the dreadful part her step-mother was acting, took +one of the cups of wine and gave to her little step brother the other that had +been poured out for him. +</p> + +<p> +The wicked woman had carefully marked the poisoned bottle, but on coming into +the room she had grown nervous, and pouring out the wine hurriedly had +unconsciously given the poisoned cup to her own child. All this time she was +anxiously watching the little Princess, but to her amazement no change whatever +took place in the young girl’s face. Suddenly the little boy screamed and +threw himself on the floor, doubled up with pain. His mother flew to him, +taking the precaution to upset the two tiny jars of wine which she had brought +into the room, and lifted him up. The attendants rushed for the doctor, but +nothing could save the child—he died within the hour in his +mother’s arms. Doctors did not know much in those ancient times, and it +was thought that the wine had disagreed with the boy, causing convulsions of +which he died. +</p> + +<p> +Thus was the wicked woman punished in losing her own child when she had tried +to do away with her step-daughter; but instead of blaming herself she began to +hate Hase-Hime more than ever in the bitterness and wretchedness of her own +heart, and she eagerly watched for an opportunity to do her harm, which was, +however, long in coming. +</p> + +<p> +When Hase-Hime was thirteen years of age, she had already become mentioned as a +poetess of some merit. This was an accomplishment very much cultivated by the +women of old Japan and one held in high esteem. +</p> + +<p> +It was the rainy season at Nara, and floods were reported every day as doing +damage in the neighborhood. The river Tatsuta, which flowed through the +Imperial Palace grounds, was swollen to the top of its banks, and the roaring +of the torrents of water rushing along a narrow bed so disturbed the +Emperor’s rest day and night, that a serious nervous disorder was the +result. An Imperial Edict was sent forth to all the Buddhist temples commanding +the priests to offer up continuous prayers to Heaven to stop the noise of the +flood. But this was of no avail. +</p> + +<p> +Then it was whispered in Court circles that the Princess Hase, the daughter of +Prince Toyonari Fujiwara, second minister at Court, was the most gifted poetess +of the day, though still so young, and her masters confirmed the report. Long +ago, a beautiful and gifted maiden-poetess had moved Heaven by praying in +verse, had brought down rain upon a land famished with drought—so said +the ancient biographers of the poetess Ono-no-Komachi. If the Princess Hase +were to write a poem and offer it in prayer, might it not stop the noise of the +rushing river and remove the cause of the Imperial illness? What the Court said +at last reached the ears of the Emperor himself, and he sent an order to the +minister Prince Toyonari to this effect. +</p> + +<p> +Great indeed was Hase-Hime’s fear and astonishment when her father sent +for her and told her what was required of her. Heavy, indeed, was the duty that +was laid on her young shoulders—that of saving the Emperor’s life +by the merit of her verse. +</p> + +<p> +At last the day came and her poem was finished. It was written on a leaflet of +paper heavily flecked with gold-dust. With her father and attendants and some +of the Court officials, she proceeded to the bank of the roaring torrent and +raising up her heart to Heaven, she read the poem she had composed, aloud, +lifting it heavenwards in her two hands. +</p> + +<p> +Strange indeed it seemed to all those standing round. The waters ceased their +roaring, and the river was quiet in direct answer to her prayer. After this the +Emperor soon recovered his health. +</p> + +<p> +His Majesty was highly pleased, and sent for her to the Palace and rewarded her +with the rank of Chinjo—that of Lieutenant-General—to distinguish +her. From that time she was called Chinjo-hime, or the Lieutenant-General +Princess, and respected and loved by all. +</p> + +<p> +There was only one person who was not pleased at Hase-Hime’s success. +That one was her stepmother. Forever brooding over the death of her own child +whom she had killed when trying to poison her step-daughter, she had the +mortification of seeing her rise to power and honor, marked by Imperial favor +and the admiration of the whole Court. Her envy and jealousy burned in her +heart like fire. Many were the lies she carried to her husband about Hase-Hime, +but all to no purpose. He would listen to none of her tales, telling her +sharply that she was quite mistaken. +</p> + +<p> +At last the step-mother, seizing the opportunity of her husband’s +absence, ordered one of her old servants to take the innocent girl to the +Hibari Mountains, the wildest part of the country, and to kill her there. She +invented a dreadful story about the little Princess, saying that this was the +only way to prevent disgrace falling upon the family—by killing her. +</p> + +<p> +Katoda, her vassal, was bound to obey his mistress. Anyhow, he saw that it +would be the wisest plan to pretend obedience in the absence of the +girl’s father, so he placed Hase-Hime in a palanquin and accompanied her +to the most solitary place he could find in the wild district. The poor child +knew there was no good in protesting to her unkind step-mother at being sent +away in this strange manner, so she went as she was told. +</p> + +<p> +But the old servant knew that the young Princess was quite innocent of all the +things her step-mother had invented to him as reasons for her outrageous +orders, and he determined to save her life. Unless he killed her, however, he +could not return to his cruel task-mistress, so he decided to stay out in the +wilderness. With the help of some peasants he soon built a little cottage, and +having sent secretly for his wife to come, these two good old people did all in +their power to take care of the now unfortunate Princess. She all the time +trusted in her father, knowing that as soon as he returned home and found her +absent, he would search for her. +</p> + +<p> +Prince Toyonari, after some weeks, came home, and was told by his wife that his +daughter Hime had done something wrong and had run away for fear of being +punished. He was nearly ill with anxiety. Every one in the house told the same +story—that Hase-Hime had suddenly disappeared, none of them knew why or +whither. For fear of scandal he kept the matter quiet and searched everywhere +he could think of, but all to no purpose. +</p> + +<p> +One day, trying to forget his terrible worry, he called all his men together +and told them to make ready for a several days’ hunt in the mountains. +They were soon ready and mounted, waiting at the gate for their lord. He rode +hard and fast to the district of the Hibari Mountains, a great company +following him. He was soon far ahead of every one, and at last found himself in +a narrow picturesque valley. +</p> + +<p> +Looking round and admiring the scenery, he noticed a tiny house on one of the +hills quite near, and then he distinctly heard a beautiful clear voice reading +aloud. Seized with curiosity as to who could be studying so diligently in such +a lonely spot, he dismounted, and leaving his horse to his groom, he walked up +the hillside and approached the cottage. As he drew nearer his surprise +increased, for he could see that the reader was a beautiful girl. The cottage +was wide open and she was sitting facing the view. Listening attentively, he +heard her reading the Buddhist scriptures with great devotion. More and more +curious, he hurried on to the tiny gate and entered the little garden, and +looking up beheld his lost daughter Hase-Hime. She was so intent on what she +was saying that she neither heard nor saw her father till he spoke. +</p> + +<p> +“Hase-Hime!” he cried, “it is you, my Hase-Hime!” +</p> + +<p> +Taken by surprise, she could hardly realize that it was her own dear father who +was calling her, and for a moment she was utterly bereft of the power to speak +or move. +</p> + +<p> +“My father, my father! It is indeed you—oh, my father!” was +all she could say, and running to him she caught hold of his thick sleeve, and +burying her face burst into a passion of tears. +</p> + +<p> +Her father stroked her dark hair, asking her gently to tell him all that had +happened, but she only wept on, and he wondered if he were not really dreaming. +</p> + +<p> +Then the faithful old servant Katoda came out, and bowing himself to the ground +before his master, poured out the long tale of wrong, telling him all that had +happened, and how it was that he found his daughter in such a wild and desolate +spot with only two old servants to take care of her. +</p> + +<p> +The Prince’s astonishment and indignation knew no bounds. He gave up the +hunt at once and hurried home with his daughter. One of the company galloped +ahead to inform the household of the glad news, and the step-mother hearing +what had happened, and fearful of meeting her husband now that her wickedness +was discovered, fled from the house and returned in disgrace to her +father’s roof, and nothing more was heard of her. +</p> + +<p> +The old servant Katoda was rewarded with the highest promotion in his +master’s service, and lived happily to the end of his days, devoted to +the little Princess, who never forgot that she owed her life to this faithful +retainer. She was no longer troubled by an unkind step-mother, and her days +passed happily and quietly with her father. +</p> + +<p> +As Prince Toyonari had no son, he adopted a younger son of one of the Court +nobles to be his heir, and to marry his daughter Hase-Hime, and in a few years +the marriage took place. Hase-Hime lived to a good old age, and all said that +she was the wisest, most devout, and most beautiful mistress that had ever +reigned in Prince Toyonari’s ancient house. She had the joy of presenting +her son, the future lord of the family, to her father just before he retired +from active life. +</p> + +<p> +To this day there is preserved a piece of needle-work in one of the Buddhist +temples of Kioto. It is a beautiful piece of tapestry, with the figure of +Buddha embroidered in the silky threads drawn from the stem of the lotus. This +is said to have been the work of the hands of the good Princess Hase. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap08"></a>THE STORY OF THE MAN WHO DID NOT WISH TO DIE</h2> + +<p> +Long, long ago there lived a man called Sentaro. His surname meant +“Millionaire,” but although he was not so rich as all that, he was +still very far removed from being poor. He had inherited a small fortune from +his father and lived on this, spending his time carelessly, without any serious +thoughts of work, till he was about thirty-two years of age. +</p> + +<p> +One day, without any reason whatsoever, the thought of death and sickness came +to him. The idea of falling ill or dying made him very wretched. +</p> + +<p> +“I should like to live,” he said to himself, “till I am five +or six hundred years old at least, free from all sickness. The ordinary span of +a man’s life is very short.” +</p> + +<p> +He wondered whether it were possible, by living simply and frugally henceforth, +to prolong his life as long as he wished. +</p> + +<p> +He knew there were many stories in ancient history of emperors who had lived a +thousand years, and there was a Princess of Yamato, who, it was said, lived to +the age of five hundred. This was the latest story of a very long life record. +</p> + +<p> +Sentaro had often heard the tale of the Chinese King named Shin-no-Shiko. He +was one of the most able and powerful rulers in Chinese history. He built all +the large palaces, and also the famous great wall of China. He had everything +in the world he could wish for, but in spite of all his happiness and the +luxury and the splendor of his Court, the wisdom of his councilors and the +glory of his reign, he was miserable because he knew that one day he must die +and leave it all. +</p> + +<p> +When Shin-no-Shiko went to bed at night, when he rose in the morning, as he +went through his day, the thought of death was always with him. He could not +get away from it. Ah—if only he could find the “Elixir of +Life,” he would be happy. +</p> + +<p> +The Emperor at last called a meeting of his courtiers and asked them all if +they could not find for him the “Elixir of Life” of which he had so +often read and heard. +</p> + +<p> +One old courtier, Jofuku by name, said that far away across the seas there was +a country called Horaizan, and that certain hermits lived there who possessed +the secret of the “Elixir of Life.” Whoever drank of this wonderful +draught lived forever. +</p> + +<p> +The Emperor ordered Jofuku to set out for the land of Horaizan, to find the +hermits, and to bring him back a phial of the magic elixir. He gave Jofuku one +of his best junks, fitted it out for him, and loaded it with great quantities +of treasures and precious stones for Jofuku to take as presents to the hermits. +</p> + +<p> +Jofuku sailed for the land of Horaizan, but he never returned to the waiting +Emperor; but ever since that time Mount Fuji has been said to be the fabled +Horaizan and the home of hermits who had the secret of the elixir, and Jofuku +has been worshiped as their patron god. +</p> + +<p> +Now Sentaro determined to set out to find the hermits, and if he could, to +become one, so that he might obtain the water of perpetual life. He remembered +that as a child he had been told that not only did these hermits live on Mount +Fuji, but that they were said to inhabit all the very high peaks. +</p> + +<p> +So he left his old home to the care of his relatives, and started out on his +quest. He traveled through all the mountainous regions of the land, climbing to +the tops of the highest peaks, but never a hermit did he find. +</p> + +<p> +At last, after wandering in an unknown region for many days, he met a hunter. +</p> + +<p> +“Can you tell me,” asked Sentaro, “where the hermits live who +have the Elixir of Life?” +</p> + +<p> +“No.” said the hunter; “I can’t tell you where such +hermits live, but there is a notorious robber living in these parts. It is said +that he is chief of a band of two hundred followers.” +</p> + +<p> +This odd answer irritated Sentaro very much, and he thought how foolish it was +to waste more time in looking for the hermits in this way, so he decided to go +at once to the shrine of Jofuku, who is worshiped as the patron god of the +hermits in the south of Japan. +</p> + +<p> +Sentaro reached the shrine and prayed for seven days, entreating Jofuku to show +him the way to a hermit who could give him what he wanted so much to find. +</p> + +<p> +At midnight of the seventh day, as Sentaro knelt in the temple, the door of the +innermost shrine flew open, and Jofuku appeared in a luminous cloud, and +calling to Sentaro to come nearer, spoke thus: +</p> + +<p> +“Your desire is a very selfish one and cannot be easily granted. You +think that you would like to become a hermit so as to find the Elixir of Life. +Do you know how hard a hermit’s life is? A hermit is only allowed to eat +fruit and berries and the bark of pine trees; a hermit must cut himself off +from the world so that his heart may become as pure as gold and free from every +earthly desire. Gradually after following these strict rules, the hermit ceases +to feel hunger or cold or heat, and his body becomes so light that he can ride +on a crane or a carp, and can walk on water without getting his feet +wet.” +</p> + +<p> +“You, Sentaro, are fond of good living and of every comfort. You are not +even like an ordinary man, for you are exceptionally idle, and more sensitive +to heat and cold than most people. You would never be able to go barefoot or to +wear only one thin dress in the winter time! Do you think that you would ever +have the patience or the endurance to live a hermit’s life?” +</p> + +<p> +“In answer to your prayer, however, I will help you in another way. I +will send you to the country of Perpetual Life, where death never +comes—where the people live forever!” +</p> + +<p> +Saying this, Jofuku put into Sentaro’s hand a little crane made of paper, +telling him to sit on its back and it would carry him there. +</p> + +<p> +Sentaro obeyed wonderingly. The crane grew large enough for him to ride on it +with comfort. It then spread its wings, rose high in the air, and flew away +over the mountains right out to sea. +</p> + +<p> +Sentaro was at first quite frightened; but by degrees he grew accustomed to the +swift flight through the air. On and on they went for thousands of miles. The +bird never stopped for rest or food, but as it was a paper bird it doubtless +did not require any nourishment, and strange to say, neither did Sentaro. +</p> + +<p> +After several days they reached an island. The crane flew some distance inland +and then alighted. +</p> + +<p> +As soon as Sentaro got down from the bird’s back, the crane folded up of +its own accord and flew into his pocket. +</p> + +<p> +Now Sentaro began to look about him wonderingly, curious to see what the +country of Perpetual Life was like. He walked first round about the country and +then through the town. Everything was, of course, quite strange, and different +from his own land. But both the land and the people seemed prosperous, so he +decided that it would be good for him to stay there and took up lodgings at one +of the hotels. +</p> + +<p> +The proprietor was a kind man, and when Sentaro told him that he was a stranger +and had come to live there, he promised to arrange everything that was +necessary with the governor of the city concerning Sentaro’s sojourn +there. He even found a house for his guest, and in this way Sentaro obtained +his great wish and became a resident in the country of Perpetual Life. +</p> + +<p> +Within the memory of all the islanders no man had ever died there, and sickness +was a thing unknown. Priests had come over from India and China and told them +of a beautiful country called Paradise, where happiness and bliss and +contentment fill all men’s hearts, but its gates could only be reached by +dying. This tradition was handed down for ages from generation to +generation—but none knew exactly what death was except that it led to +Paradise. +</p> + +<p> +Quite unlike Sentaro and other ordinary people, instead of having a great dread +of death, they all, both rich and poor, longed for it as something good and +desirable. They were all tired of their long, long lives, and longed to go to +the happy land of contentment called Paradise of which the priests had told +them centuries ago. +</p> + +<p> +All this Sentaro soon found out by talking to the islanders. He found himself, +according to his ideas, in the land of Topsyturvydom. Everything was upside +down. He had wished to escape from dying. He had come to the land of Perpetual +Life with great relief and joy, only to find that the inhabitants themselves, +doomed never to die, would consider it bliss to find death. +</p> + +<p> +What he had hitherto considered poison these people ate as good food, and all +the things to which he had been accustomed as food they rejected. Whenever any +merchants from other countries arrived, the rich people rushed to them eager to +buy poisons. These they swallowed eagerly, hoping for death to come so that +they might go to Paradise. +</p> + +<p> +But what were deadly poisons in other lands were without effect in this strange +place, and people who swallowed them with the hope of dying, only found that in +a short time they felt better in health instead of worse. +</p> + +<p> +Vainly they tried to imagine what death could be like. The wealthy would have +given all their money and all their goods if they could but shorten their lives +to two or three hundred years even. Without any change to live on forever +seemed to this people wearisome and sad. +</p> + +<p> +In the chemist shops there was a drug which was in constant demand, because +after using it for a hundred years, it was supposed to turn the hair slightly +gray and to bring about disorders of the stomach. +</p> + +<p> +Sentaro was astonished to find that the poisonous globe-fish was served up in +restaurants as a delectable dish, and hawkers in the streets went about selling +sauces made of Spanish flies. He never saw any one ill after eating these +horrible things, nor did he ever see any one with as much as a cold. +</p> + +<p> +Sentaro was delighted. He said to himself that he would never grow tired of +living, and that he considered it profane to wish for death. He was the only +happy man on the island. For his part he wished to live thousands of years and +to enjoy life. He set himself up in business, and for the present never even +dreamed of going back to his native land. +</p> + +<p> +As years went by, however, things did not go as smoothly as at first. He had +heavy losses in business, and several times some affairs went wrong with his +neighbors. This caused him great annoyance. +</p> + +<p> +Time passed like the flight of an arrow for him, for he was busy from morning +till night. Three hundred years went by in this monotonous way, and then at +last he began to grow tired of life in this country, and he longed to see his +own land and his old home. However long he lived here, life would always be the +same, so was it not foolish and wearisome to stay on here forever? +</p> + +<p> +Sentaro, in his wish to escape from the country of Perpetual Life, recollected +Jofuku, who had helped him before when he was wishing to escape from +death—and he prayed to the saint to bring him back to his own land again. +</p> + +<p> +No sooner did he pray than the paper crane popped out of his pocket. Sentaro +was amazed to see that it had remained undamaged after all these years. Once +more the bird grew and grew till it was large enough for him to mount it. As he +did so, the bird spread its wings and flew, swiftly out across the sea in the +direction of Japan. +</p> + +<p> +Such was the willfulness of the man’s nature that he looked back and +regretted all he had left behind. He tried to stop the bird in vain. The crane +held on its way for thousands of miles across the ocean. +</p> + +<p> +Then a storm came on, and the wonderful paper crane got damp, crumpled up, and +fell into the sea. Sentaro fell with it. Very much frightened at the thought of +being drowned, he cried out loudly to Jofuku to save him. He looked round, but +there was no ship in sight. He swallowed a quantity of sea-water, which only +increased his miserable plight. While he was thus struggling to keep himself +afloat, he saw a monstrous shark swimming towards him. As it came nearer it +opened its huge mouth ready to devour him. Sentaro was all but paralyzed with +fear now that he felt his end so near, and screamed out as loudly as ever he +could to Jofuku to come and rescue him. +</p> + +<p> +Lo, and behold, Sentaro was awakened by his own screams, to find that during +his long prayer he had fallen asleep before the shrine, and that all his +extraordinary and frightful adventures had been only a wild dream. He was in a +cold perspiration with fright, and utterly bewildered. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly a bright light came towards him, and in the light stood a messenger. +The messenger held a book in his hand, and spoke to Sentaro: +</p> + +<p> +“I am sent to you by Jofuku, who in answer to your prayer, has permitted +you in a dream to see the land of Perpetual Life. But you grew weary of living +there, and begged to be allowed to return to your native land so that you might +die. Jofuku, so that he might try you, allowed you to drop into the sea, and +then sent a shark to swallow you up. Your desire for death was not real, for +even at that moment you cried out loudly and shouted for help.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is also vain for you to wish to become a hermit, or to find the +Elixir of Life. These things are not for such as you—your life is not +austere enough. It is best for you to go back to your paternal home, and to +live a good and industrious life. Never neglect to keep the anniversaries of +your ancestors, and make it your duty to provide for your children’s +future. Thus will you live to a good old age and be happy, but give up the vain +desire to escape death, for no man can do that, and by this time you have +surely found out that even when selfish desires are granted they do not bring +happiness.” +</p> + +<p> +“In this book I give you there are many precepts good for you to +know—if you study them, you will be guided in the way I have pointed out +to you.” +</p> + +<p> +The angel disappeared as soon as he had finished speaking, and Sentaro took the +lesson to heart. With the book in his hand he returned to his old home, and +giving up all his old vain wishes, tried to live a good and useful life and to +observe the lessons taught him in the book, and he and his house prospered +henceforth. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap09"></a>THE BAMBOO-CUTTER AND THE MOON-CHILD</h2> + +<p> +Long, long ago, there lived an old bamboo wood-cutter. He was very poor and sad +also, for no child had Heaven sent to cheer his old age, and in his heart there +was no hope of rest from work till he died and was laid in the quiet grave. +Every morning he went forth into the woods and hills wherever the bamboo reared +its lithe green plumes against the sky. When he had made his choice, he would +cut down these feathers of the forest, and splitting them lengthwise, or +cutting them into joints, would carry the bamboo wood home and make it into +various articles for the household, and he and his old wife gained a small +livelihood by selling them. +</p> + +<p> +One morning as usual he had gone out to his work, and having found a nice clump +of bamboos, had set to work to cut some of them down. Suddenly the green grove +of bamboos was flooded with a bright soft light, as if the full moon had risen +over the spot. Looking round in astonishment, he saw that the brilliance was +streaming from one bamboo. The old man, full of wonder, dropped his ax and went +towards the light. On nearer approach he saw that this soft splendor came from +a hollow in the green bamboo stem, and still more wonderful to behold, in the +midst of the brilliance stood a tiny human being, only three inches in height, +and exquisitely beautiful in appearance. +</p> + +<p> +“You must be sent to be my child, for I find you here among the bamboos +where lies my daily work,” said the old man, and taking the little +creature in his hand he took it home to his wife to bring up. The tiny girl was +so exceedingly beautiful and so small, that the old woman put her into a basket +to safeguard her from the least possibility of being hurt in any way. +</p> + +<p> +The old couple were now very happy, for it had been a lifelong regret that they +had no children of their own, and with joy they now expended all the love of +their old age on the little child who had come to them in so marvelous a +manner. +</p> + +<p> +From this time on, the old man often found gold in the notches of the bamboos +when he hewed them down and cut them up; not only gold, but precious stones +also, so that by degrees he became rich. He built himself a fine house, and was +no longer known as the poor bamboo woodcutter, but as a wealthy man. +</p> + +<p> +Three months passed quickly away, and in that time the bamboo child had, +wonderful to say, become a full-grown girl, so her foster-parents did up her +hair and dressed her in beautiful kimonos. She was of such wondrous beauty that +they placed her behind the screens like a princess, and allowed no one to see +her, waiting upon her themselves. It seemed as if she were made of light, for +the house was filled with a soft shining, so that even in the dark of night it +was like daytime. Her presence seemed to have a benign influence on those +there. Whenever the old man felt sad, he had only to look upon his +foster-daughter and his sorrow vanished, and he became as happy as when he was +a youth. +</p> + +<p> +At last the day came for the naming of their new-found child, so the old couple +called in a celebrated name-giver, and he gave her the name of Princess +Moonlight, because her body gave forth so much soft bright light that she might +have been a daughter of the Moon God. +</p> + +<p> +For three days the festival was kept up with song and dance and music. All the +friends and relations of the old couple were present, and great was their +enjoyment of the festivities held to celebrate the naming of Princess +Moonlight. Everyone who saw her declared that there never had been seen any one +so lovely; all the beauties throughout the length and breadth of the land would +grow pale beside her, so they said. The fame of the Princess’s loveliness +spread far and wide, and many were the suitors who desired to win her hand, or +even so much as to see her. +</p> + +<p> +Suitors from far and near posted themselves outside the house, and made little +holes in the fence, in the hope of catching a glimpse of the Princess as she +went from one room to the other along the veranda. They stayed there day and +night, sacrificing even their sleep for a chance of seeing her, but all in +vain. Then they approached the house, and tried to speak to the old man and his +wife or some of the servants, but not even this was granted them. +</p> + +<p> +Still, in spite of all this disappointment they stayed on day after day, and +night after night, and counted it as nothing, so great was their desire to see +the Princess. +</p> + +<p> +At last, however, most of the men, seeing how hopeless their quest was, lost +heart and hope both, and returned to their homes. All except five Knights, +whose ardor and determination, instead of waning, seemed to wax greater with +obstacles. These five men even went without their meals, and took snatches of +whatever they could get brought to them, so that they might always stand +outside the dwelling. They stood there in all weathers, in sunshine and in +rain. +</p> + +<p> +Sometimes they wrote letters to the Princess, but no answer was vouchsafed to +them. Then when letters failed to draw any reply, they wrote poems to her +telling her of the hopeless love which kept them from sleep, from food, from +rest, and even from their homes. Still Princes Moonlight gave no sign of having +received their verses. +</p> + +<p> +In this hopeless state the winter passed. The snow and frost and the cold winds +gradually gave place to the gentle warmth of spring. Then the summer came, and +the sun burned white and scorching in the heavens above and on the earth +beneath, and still these faithful Knights kept watch and waited. At the end of +these long months they called out to the old bamboo-cutter and entreated him to +have some mercy upon them and to show them the Princess, but he answered only +that as he was not her real father he could not insist on her obeying him +against her wishes. +</p> + +<p> +The five Knights on receiving this stern answer returned to their several +homes, and pondered over the best means of touching the proud Princess’s +heart, even so much as to grant them a hearing. They took their rosaries in +hand and knelt before their household shrines, and burned precious incense, +praying to Buddha to give them their heart’s desire. Thus several days +passed, but even so they could not rest in their homes. +</p> + +<p> +So again they set out for the bamboo-cutter’s house. This time the old +man came out to see them, and they asked him to let them know if it was the +Princess’s resolution never to see any man whatsoever, and they implored +him to speak for them and to tell her the greatness of their love, and how long +they had waited through the cold of winter and the heat of summer, sleepless +and roofless through all weathers, without food and without rest, in the ardent +hope of winning her, and they were willing to consider this long vigil as +pleasure if she would but give them one chance of pleading their cause with +her. +</p> + +<p> +The old man lent a willing ear to their tale of love, for in his inmost heart +he felt sorry for these faithful suitors and would have liked to see his lovely +foster-daughter married to one of them. So he went in to Princess Moonlight and +said reverently: +</p> + +<p> +“Although you have always seemed to me to be a heavenly being, yet I have +had the trouble of bringing you up as my own child and you have been glad of +the protection of my roof. Will you refuse to do as I wish?” +</p> + +<p> +Then Princess Moonlight replied that there was nothing she would not do for +him, that she honored and loved him as her own father, and that as for herself +she could not remember the time before she came to earth. +</p> + +<p> +The old man listened with great joy as she spoke these dutiful words. Then he +told her how anxious he was to see her safely and happily married before he +died. +</p> + +<p> +“I am an old man, over seventy years of age, and my end may come any time +now. It is necessary and right that you should see these five suitors and +choose one of them.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, why,” said the Princess in distress, “must I do this? I +have no wish to marry now.” +</p> + +<p> +“I found you,” answered the old man, “many years ago, when +you were a little creature three inches high, in the midst of a great white +light. The light streamed from the bamboo in which you were hid and led me to +you. So I have always thought that you were more than mortal woman. While I am +alive it is right for you to remain as you are if you wish to do so, but some +day I shall cease to be and who will take care of you then? Therefore I pray +you to meet these five brave men one at a time and make up your mind to marry +one of them!” +</p> + +<p> +Then the Princess answered that she felt sure that she was not as beautiful as +perhaps report made her out to be, and that even if she consented to marry any +one of them, not really knowing her before, his heart might change afterwards. +So as she did not feel sure of them, even though her father told her they were +worthy Knights, she did not feel it wise to see them. +</p> + +<p> +“All you say is very reasonable,” said the old man, “but what +kind of men will you consent to see? I do not call these five men who have +waited on you for months, light-hearted. They have stood outside this house +through the winter and the summer, often denying themselves food and sleep so +that they may win you. What more can you demand?” +</p> + +<p> +Then Princess Moonlight said she must make further trial of their love before +she would grant their request to interview her. The five warriors were to prove +their love by each bringing her from distant countries something that she +desired to possess. +</p> + +<p> +That same evening the suitors arrived and began to play their flutes in turn, +and to sing their self-composed songs telling of their great and tireless love. +The bamboo-cutter went out to them and offered them his sympathy for all they +had endured and all the patience they had shown in their desire to win his +foster-daughter. Then he gave them her message, that she would consent to marry +whosoever was successful in bringing her what she wanted. This was to test +them. +</p> + +<p> +The five all accepted the trial, and thought it an excellent plan, for it would +prevent jealousy between them. +</p> + +<p> +Princess Moonlight then sent word to the First Knight that she requested him to +bring her the stone bowl which had belonged to Buddha in India. +</p> + +<p> +The Second Knight was asked to go to the Mountain of Horai, said to be situated +in the Eastern Sea, and to bring her a branch of the wonderful tree that grew +on its summit. The roots of this tree were of silver, the trunk of gold, and +the branches bore as fruit white jewels. +</p> + +<p> +The Third Knight was told to go to China and search for the fire-rat and to +bring her its skin. +</p> + +<p> +The Fourth Knight was told to search for the dragon that carried on its head +the stone radiating five colors and to bring the stone to her. +</p> + +<p> +The Fifth Knight was to find the swallow which carried a shell in its stomach +and to bring the shell to her. +</p> + +<p> +The old man thought these very hard tasks and hesitated to carry the messages, +but the Princess would make no other conditions. So her commands were issued +word for word to the five men who, when they heard what was required of them, +were all disheartened and disgusted at what seemed to them the impossibility of +the tasks given them and returned to their own homes in despair. +</p> + +<p> +But after a time, when they thought of the Princess, the love in their hearts +revived for her, and they resolved to make an attempt to get what she desired +of them. +</p> + +<p> +The First Knight sent word to the Princess that he was starting out that day on +the quest of Buddha’s bowl, and he hoped soon to bring it to her. But he +had not the courage to go all the way to India, for in those days traveling was +very difficult and full of danger, so he went to one of the temples in Kyoto +and took a stone bowl from the altar there, paying the priest a large sum of +money for it. He then wrapped it in a cloth of gold and, waiting quietly for +three years, returned and carried it to the old man. +</p> + +<p> +Princess Moonlight wondered that the Knight should have returned so soon. She +took the bowl from its gold wrapping, expecting it to make the room full of +light, but it did not shine at all, so she knew that it was a sham thing and +not the true bowl of Buddha. She returned it at once and refused to see him. +The Knight threw the bowl away and returned to his home in despair. He gave up +now all hopes of ever winning the Princess. +</p> + +<p> +The Second Knight told his parents that he needed change of air for his health, +for he was ashamed to tell them that love for the Princess Moonlight was the +real cause of his leaving them. He then left his home, at the same time sending +word to the Princess that he was setting out for Mount Horai in the hope of +getting her a branch of the gold and silver tree which she so much wished to +have. He only allowed his servants to accompany him half-way, and then sent +them back. He reached the seashore and embarked on a small ship, and after +sailing away for three days he landed and employed several carpenters to build +him a house contrived in such a way that no one could get access to it. He then +shut himself up with six skilled jewelers, and endeavored to make such a gold +and silver branch as he thought would satisfy the Princess as having come from +the wonderful tree growing on Mount Horai. Every one whom he had asked declared +that Mount Horai belonged to the land of fable and not to fact. +</p> + +<p> +When the branch was finished, he took his journey home and tried to make +himself look as if he were wearied and worn out with travel. He put the jeweled +branch into a lacquer box and carried it to the bamboo-cutter, begging him to +present it to the Princess. +</p> + +<p> +The old man was quite deceived by the travel-stained appearance of the Knight, +and thought that he had only just returned from his long journey with the +branch. So he tried to persuade the Princess to consent to see the man. But she +remained silent and looked very sad. The old man began to take out the branch +and praised it as a wonderful treasure to be found nowhere in the whole land. +Then he spoke of the Knight, how handsome and how brave he was to have +undertaken a journey to so remote a place as the Mount of Horai. +</p> + +<p> +Princess Moonlight took the branch in her hand and looked at it carefully. She +then told her foster-parent that she knew it was impossible for the man to have +obtained a branch from the gold and silver tree growing on Mount Horai so +quickly or so easily, and she was sorry to say she believed it artificial. +</p> + +<p> +The old man then went out to the expectant Knight, who had now approached the +house, and asked where he had found the branch. Then the man did not scruple to +make up a long story. +</p> + +<p> +“Two years ago I took a ship and started in search of Mount Horai. After +going before the wind for some time I reached the far Eastern Sea. Then a great +storm arose and I was tossed about for many days, losing all count of the +points of the compass, and finally we were blown ashore on an unknown island. +Here I found the place inhabited by demons who at one time threatened to kill +and eat me. However, I managed to make friends with these horrible creatures, +and they helped me and my sailors to repair the boat, and I set sail again. Our +food gave out, and we suffered much from sickness on board. At last, on the +five-hundredth day from the day of starting, I saw far off on the horizon what +looked like the peak of a mountain. On nearer approach, this proved to be an +island, in the center of which rose a high mountain. I landed, and after +wandering about for two or three days, I saw a shining being coming towards me +on the beach, holding in his hands a golden bowl. I went up to him and asked +him if I had, by good chance, found the island of Mount Horai, and he +answered:” +</p> + +<p> +“‘Yes, this is Mount Horai!’” +</p> + +<p> +“With much difficulty I climbed to the summit, here stood the golden tree +growing with silver roots in the ground. The wonders of that strange land are +many, and if I began to tell you about them I could never stop. In spite of my +wish to stay there long, on breaking off the branch I hurried back. With utmost +speed it has taken me four hundred days to get back, and, as you see, my +clothes are still damp from exposure on the long sea voyage. I have not even +waited to change my raiment, so anxious was I to bring the branch to the +Princess quickly.” +</p> + +<p> +Just at this moment the six jewelers, who had been employed on the making of +the branch, but not yet paid by the Knight, arrived at the house and sent in a +petition to the Princess to be paid for their labor. They said that they had +worked for over a thousand days making the branch of gold, with its silver +twigs and its jeweled fruit, that was now presented to her by the Knight, but +as yet they had received nothing in payment. So this Knight’s deception +was thus found out, and the Princess, glad of an escape from one more +importunate suitor, was only too pleased to send back the branch. She called in +the workmen and had them paid liberally, and they went away happy. But on the +way home they were overtaken by the disappointed man, who beat them till they +were nearly dead, for letting out the secret, and they barely escaped with +their lives. The Knight then returned home, raging in his heart; and in despair +of ever winning the Princess gave up society and retired to a solitary life +among the mountains. +</p> + +<p> +Now the Third Knight had a friend in China, so he wrote to him to get the skin +of the fire-rat. The virtue of any part of this animal was that no fire could +harm it. He promised his friend any amount of money he liked to ask if only he +could get him the desired article. As soon as the news came that the ship on +which his friend had sailed home had come into port, he rode seven days on +horseback to meet him. He handed his friend a large sum of money, and received +the fire-rat’s skin. When he reached home he put it carefully in a box +and sent it in to the Princess while he waited outside for her answer. +</p> + +<p> +The bamboo-cutter took the box from the Knight and, as usual, carried it in to +her and tried to coax her to see the Knight at once, but Princess Moonlight +refused, saying that she must first put the skin to test by putting it into the +fire. If it were the real thing it would not burn. So she took off the crape +wrapper and opened the box, and then threw the skin into the fire. The skin +crackled and burnt up at once, and the Princess knew that this man also had not +fulfilled his word. So the Third Knight failed also. +</p> + +<p> +Now the Fourth Knight was no more enterprising than the rest. Instead of +starting out on the quest of the dragon bearing on its head the +five-color-radiating jewel, he called all his servants together and gave them +the order to seek for it far and wide in Japan and in China, and he strictly +forbade any of them to return till they had found it. +</p> + +<p> +His numerous retainers and servants started out in different directions, with +no intention, however, of obeying what they considered an impossible order. +They simply took a holiday, went to pleasant country places together, and +grumbled at their master’s unreasonableness. +</p> + +<p> +The Knight meanwhile, thinking that his retainers could not fail to find the +jewel, repaired to his house, and fitted it up beautifully for the reception of +the Princess, he felt so sure of winning her. +</p> + +<p> +One year passed away in weary waiting, and still his men did not return with +the dragon-jewel. The Knight became desperate. He could wait no longer, so +taking with him only two men he hired a ship and commanded the captain to go in +search of the dragon; the captain and the sailors refused to undertake what +they said was an absurd search, but the Knight compelled them at last to put +out to sea. +</p> + +<p> +When they had been but a few days out they encountered a great storm which +lasted so long that, by the time its fury abated, the Knight had determined to +give up the hunt of the dragon. They were at last blown on shore, for +navigation was primitive in those days. Worn out with his travels and anxiety, +the fourth suitor gave himself up to rest. He had caught a very heavy cold, and +had to go to bed with a swollen face. +</p> + +<p> +The governor of the place, hearing of his plight, sent messengers with a letter +inviting him to his house. While he was there thinking over all his troubles, +his love for the Princess turned to anger, and he blamed her for all the +hardships he had undergone. He thought that it was quite probable she had +wished to kill him so that she might be rid of him, and in order to carry out +her wish had sent him upon his impossible quest. +</p> + +<p> +At this point all the servants he had sent out to find the jewel came to see +him, and were surprised to find praise instead of displeasure awaiting them. +Their master told them that he was heartily sick of adventure, and said that he +never intended to go near the Princess’s house again in the future. +</p> + +<p> +Like all the rest, the Fifth Knight failed in his quest—he could not find +the swallow’s shell. +</p> + +<p> +By this time the fame of Princess Moonlight’s beauty had reached the ears +of the Emperor, and he sent one of the Court ladies to see if she were really +as lovely as report said; if so he would summon her to the Palace and make her +one of the ladies-in-waiting. +</p> + +<p> +When the Court lady arrived, in spite of her father’s entreaties, +Princess Moonlight refused to see her. The Imperial messenger insisted, saying +it was the Emperor’s order. Then Princess Moonlight told the old man that +if she was forced to go to the Palace in obedience to the Emperor’s +order, she would vanish from the earth. +</p> + +<p> +When the Emperor was told of her persistence in refusing to obey his summons, +and that if pressed to obey she would disappear altogether from sight, he +determined to go and see her. So he planned to go on a hunting excursion in the +neighborhood of the bamboo-cutter’s house, and see the Princess himself. +He sent word to the old man of his intention, and he received consent to the +scheme. The next day the Emperor set out with his retinue, which he soon +managed to outride. He found the bamboo-cutter’s house and dismounted. He +then entered the house and went straight to where the Princess was sitting with +her attendant maidens. +</p> + +<p> +Never had he seen any one so wonderfully beautiful, and he could not but look +at her, for she was more lovely than any human being as she shone in her own +soft radiance. When Princess Moonlight became aware that a stranger was looking +at her she tried to escape from the room, but the Emperor caught her and begged +her to listen to what he had to say. Her only answer was to hide her face in +her sleeves. +</p> + +<p> +The Emperor fell deeply in love with her, and begged her to come to the Court, +where he would give her a position of honor and everything she could wish for. +He was about to send for one of the Imperial palanquins to take her back with +him at once, saying that her grace and beauty should adorn a Court, and not be +hidden in a bamboo-cutter’s cottage. +</p> + +<p> +But the Princess stopped him. She said that if she were forced to go to the +Palace she would turn at once into a shadow, and even as she spoke she began to +lose her form. Her figure faded from his sight while he looked. +</p> + +<p> +The Emperor then promised to leave her free if only she would resume her former +shape, which she did. +</p> + +<p> +It was now time for him to return, for his retinue would be wondering what had +happened to their Royal master when they missed him for so long. So he bade her +good-by, and left the house with a sad heart. Princess Moonlight was for him +the most beautiful woman in the world; all others were dark beside her, and he +thought of her night and day. His Majesty now spent much of his time in writing +poems, telling her of his love and devotion, and sent them to her, and though +she refused to see him again she answered with many verses of her own +composing, which told him gently and kindly that she could never marry any one +on this earth. These little songs always gave him pleasure. +</p> + +<p> +At this time her foster-parents noticed that night after night the Princess +would sit on her balcony and gaze for hours at the moon, in a spirit of the +deepest dejection, ending always in a burst of tears. One night the old man +found her thus weeping as if her heart were broken, and he besought her to tell +him the reason of her sorrow. +</p> + +<p> +With many tears she told him that he had guessed rightly when he supposed her +not to belong to this world—that she had in truth come from the moon, and +that her time on earth would soon be over. On the fifteenth day of that very +month of August her friends from the moon would come to fetch her, and she +would have to return. Her parents were both there, but having spent a lifetime +on the earth she had forgotten them, and also the moon-world to which she +belonged. It made her weep, she said, to think of leaving her kind +foster-parents, and the home where she had been happy for so long. +</p> + +<p> +When her attendants heard this they were very sad, and could not eat or drink +for sadness at the thought that the Princess was so soon to leave them. +</p> + +<p> +The Emperor, as soon as the news was carried to him, sent messengers to the +house to find out if the report were true or not. +</p> + +<p> +The old bamboo-cutter went out to meet the Imperial messengers. The last few +days of sorrow had told upon the old man; he had aged greatly, and looked much +more than his seventy years. Weeping bitterly, he told them that the report was +only too true, but he intended, however, to make prisoners of the envoys from +the moon, and to do all he could to prevent the Princess from being carried +back. +</p> + +<p> +The men returned and told His Majesty all that had passed. On the fifteenth day +of that month the Emperor sent a guard of two thousand warriors to watch the +house. One thousand stationed themselves on the roof, another thousand kept +watch round all the entrances of the house. All were well trained archers, with +bows and arrows. The bamboo-cutter and his wife hid Princess Moonlight in an +inner room. +</p> + +<p> +The old man gave orders that no one was to sleep that night, all in the house +were to keep a strict watch, and be ready to protect the Princess. With these +precautions, and the help of the Emperor’s men-at-arms, he hoped to +withstand the moon-messengers, but the Princess told him that all these +measures to keep her would be useless, and that when her people came for her +nothing whatever could prevent them from carrying out their purpose. Even the +Emperors men would be powerless. Then she added with tears that she was very, +very sorry to leave him and his wife, whom she had learned to love as her +parents, that if she could do as she liked she would stay with them in their +old age, and try to make some return for all the love and kindness they had +showered upon her during all her earthly life. +</p> + +<p> +The night wore on! The yellow harvest moon rose high in the heavens, flooding +the world asleep with her golden light. Silence reigned over the pine and the +bamboo forests, and on the roof where the thousand men-at-arms waited. +</p> + +<p> +Then the night grew gray towards the dawn and all hoped that the danger was +over—that Princess Moonlight would not have to leave them after all. Then +suddenly the watchers saw a cloud form round the moon—and while they +looked this cloud began to roll earthwards. Nearer and nearer it came, and +every one saw with dismay that its course lay towards the house. +</p> + +<p> +In a short time the sky was entirely obscured, till at last the cloud lay over +the dwelling only ten feet off the ground. In the midst of the cloud there +stood a flying chariot, and in the chariot a band of luminous beings. One +amongst them who looked like a king and appeared to be the chief stepped out of +the chariot, and, poised in air, called to the old man to come out. +</p> + +<p> +“The time has come,” he said, “for Princess Moonlight to +return to the moon from whence she came. She committed a grave fault, and as a +punishment was sent to live down here for a time. We know what good care you +have taken of the Princess, and we have rewarded you for this and have sent you +wealth and prosperity. We put the gold in the bamboos for you to find.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have brought up this Princess for twenty years and never once has she +done a wrong thing, therefore the lady you are seeking cannot be this +one,” said the old man. “I pray you to look elsewhere.” +</p> + +<p> +Then the messenger called aloud, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“Princess Moonlight, come out from this lowly dwelling. Rest not here +another moment.” +</p> + +<p> +At these words the screens of the Princess’s room slid open of their own +accord, revealing the Princess shining in her own radiance, bright and +wonderful and full of beauty. +</p> + +<p> +The messenger led her forth and placed her in the chariot. She looked back, and +saw with pity the deep sorrow of the old man. She spoke to him many comforting +words, and told him that it was not her will to leave him and that he must +always think of her when looking at the moon. +</p> + +<p> +The bamboo-cutter implored to be allowed to accompany her, but this was not +allowed. The Princess took off her embroidered outer garment and gave it to him +as a keepsake. +</p> + +<p> +One of the moon beings in the chariot held a wonderful coat of wings, another +had a phial full of the Elixir of Life which was given the Princess to drink. +She swallowed a little and was about to give the rest to the old man, but she +was prevented from doing so. +</p> + +<p> +The robe of wings was about to be put upon her shoulders, but she said: +</p> + +<p> +“Wait a little. I must not forget my good friend the Emperor. I must +write him once more to say good-by while still in this human form.” +</p> + +<p> +In spite of the impatience of the messengers and charioteers she kept them +waiting while she wrote. She placed the phial of the Elixir of Life with the +letter, and, giving them to the old man, she asked him to deliver them to the +Emperor. +</p> + +<p> +Then the chariot began to roll heavenwards towards the moon, and as they all +gazed with tearful eyes at the receding Princess, the dawn broke, and in the +rosy light of day the moon-chariot and all in it were lost amongst the fleecy +clouds that were now wafted across the sky on the wings of the morning wind. +</p> + +<p> +Princess Moonlight’s letter was carried to the Palace. His Majesty was +afraid to touch the Elixir of Life, so he sent it with the letter to the top of +the most sacred mountain in the land. Mount Fuji, and there the Royal +emissaries burnt it on the summit at sunrise. So to this day people say there +is smoke to be seen rising from the top of Mount Fuji to the clouds. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap10"></a>THE MIRROR OF MATSUYAMA<br/> +A STORY OF OLD JAPAN</h2> + +<p> +Long years ago in old Japan there lived in the Province of Echigo, a very +remote part of Japan even in these days, a man and his wife. When this story +begins they had been married for some years and were blessed with one little +daughter. She was the joy and pride of both their lives, and in her they stored +an endless source of happiness for their old age. +</p> + +<p> +What golden letter days in their memory were these that had marked her growing +up from babyhood; the visit to the temple when she was just thirty days old, +her proud mother carrying her, robed in ceremonial kimono, to be put under the +patronage of the family’s household god; then her first dolls festival, +when her parents gave her a set of dolls and their miniature belongings, to be +added to as year succeeded year; and perhaps the most important occasion of +all, on her third birthday, when her first OBI (broad brocade sash) of scarlet +and gold was tied round her small waist, a sign that she had crossed the +threshold of girlhood and left infancy behind. Now that she was seven years of +age, and had learned to talk and to wait upon her parents in those several +little ways so dear to the hearts of fond parents, their cup of happiness +seemed full. There could not be found in the whole of the Island Empire a +happier little family. +</p> + +<p> +One day there was much excitement in the home, for the father had been suddenly +summoned to the capital on business. In these days of railways and jinrickshas +and other rapid modes of traveling, it is difficult to realize what such a +journey as that from Matsuyama to Kyoto meant. The roads were rough and bad, +and ordinary people had to walk every step of the way, whether the distance +were one hundred or several hundred miles. Indeed, in those days it was as +great an undertaking to go up to the capital as it is for a Japanese to make a +voyage to Europe now. +</p> + +<p> +So the wife was very anxious while she helped her husband get ready for the +long journey, knowing what an arduous task lay before him. Vainly she wished +that she could accompany him, but the distance was too great for the mother and +child to go, and besides that, it was the wife’s duty to take care of the +home. +</p> + +<p> +All was ready at last, and the husband stood in the porch with his little +family round him. +</p> + +<p> +“Do not be anxious, I will come back soon,” said the man. +“While I am away take care of everything, and especially of our little +daughter.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, we shall be all right—but you—you must take care of +yourself and delay not a day in coming back to us,” said the wife, while +the tears fell like rain from her eyes. +</p> + +<p> +The little girl was the only one to smile, for she was ignorant of the sorrow +of parting, and did not know that going to the capital was at all different +from walking to the next village, which her father did very often. She ran to +his side, and caught hold of his long sleeve to keep him a moment. +</p> + +<p> +“Father, I will be very good while I am waiting for you to come back, so +please bring me a present.” +</p> + +<p> +As the father turned to take a last look at his weeping wife and smiling, eager +child, he felt as if some one were pulling him back by the hair, so hard was it +for him to leave them behind, for they had never been separated before. But he +knew that he must go, for the call was imperative. With a great effort he +ceased to think, and resolutely turning away he went quickly down the little +garden and out through the gate. His wife, catching up the child in her arms, +ran as far as the gate, and watched him as he went down the road between the +pines till he was lost in the haze of the distance and all she could see was +his quaint peaked hat, and at last that vanished too. +</p> + +<p> +“Now father has gone, you and I must take care of everything till he +comes back,” said the mother, as she made her way back to the house. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I will be very good,” said the child, nodding her head, +“and when father comes home please tell him how good I have been, and +then perhaps he will give me a present.” +</p> + +<p> +“Father is sure to bring you something that you want very much. I know, +for I asked him to bring you a doll. You must think of father every day, and +pray for a safe journey till he comes back.” +</p> + +<p> +“O, yes, when he comes home again how happy I shall be,” said the +child, clapping her hands, and her face growing bright with joy at the glad +thought. It seemed to the mother as she looked at the child’s face that +her love for her grew deeper and deeper. +</p> + +<p> +Then she set to work to make the winter clothes for the three of them. She set +up her simple wooden spinning-wheel and spun the thread before she began to +weave the stuffs. In the intervals of her work she directed the little +girl’s games and taught her to read the old stories of her country. Thus +did the wife find consolation in work during the lonely days of her +husband’s absence. While the time was thus slipping quickly by in the +quiet home, the husband finished his business and returned. +</p> + +<p> +It would have been difficult for any one who did not know the man well to +recognize him. He had traveled day after day, exposed to all weathers, for +about a month altogether, and was sunburnt to bronze, but his fond wife and +child knew him at a glance, and flew to meet him from either side, each +catching hold of one of his sleeves in their eager greeting. Both the man and +his wife rejoiced to find each other well. It seemed a very long time to all +till—the mother and child helping—his straw sandals were untied, +his large umbrella hat taken off, and he was again in their midst in the old +familiar sitting-room that had been so empty while he was away. +</p> + +<p> +As soon as they had sat down on the white mats, the father opened a bamboo +basket that he had brought in with him, and took out a beautiful doll and a +lacquer box full of cakes. +</p> + +<p> +“Here,” he said to the little girl, “is a present for you. It +is a prize for taking care of mother and the house so well while I was +away.” +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you,” said the child, as she bowed her head to the ground, +and then put out her hand just like a little maple leaf with its eager +wide-spread fingers to take the doll and the box, both of which, coming from +the capital, were prettier than anything she had ever seen. No words can tell +how delighted the little girl was—her face seemed as if it would melt +with joy, and she had no eyes and no thought for anything else. +</p> + +<p> +Again the husband dived into the basket, and brought out this time a square +wooden box, carefully tied up with red and white string, and handing it to his +wife, said: +</p> + +<p> +“And this is for you.” +</p> + +<p> +The wife took the box, and opening it carefully took out a metal disk with a +handle attached. One side was bright and shining like a crystal, and the other +was covered with raised figures of pine-trees and storks, which had been carved +out of its smooth surface in lifelike reality. Never had she seen such a thing +in her life, for she had been born and bred in the rural province of Echigo. +She gazed into the shining disk, and looking up with surprise and wonder +pictured on her face, she said: +</p> + +<p> +“I see somebody looking at me in this round thing! What is it that you +have given me?” +</p> + +<p> +The husband laughed and said: +</p> + +<p> +“Why, it is your own face that you see. What I have brought you is called +a mirror, and whoever looks into its clear surface can see their own form +reflected there. Although there are none to be found in this out of the way +place, yet they have been in use in the capital from the most ancient times. +There the mirror is considered a very necessary requisite for a woman to +possess. There is an old proverb that ‘As the sword is the soul of a +samurai, so is the mirror the soul of a woman,’ and according to popular +tradition, a woman’s mirror is an index to her own heart—if she +keeps it bright and clear, so is her heart pure and good. It is also one of the +treasures that form the insignia of the Emperor. So you must lay great store by +your mirror, and use it carefully.” +</p> + +<p> +The wife listened to all her husband told her, and was pleased at learning so +much that was new to her. She was still more pleased at the precious +gift—his token of remembrance while he had been away. +</p> + +<p> +“If the mirror represents my soul, I shall certainly treasure it as a +valuable possession, and never will I use it carelessly.” Saying so, she +lifted it as high as her forehead, in grateful acknowledgment of the gift, and +then shut it up in its box and put it away. +</p> + +<p> +The wife saw that her husband was very tired, and set about serving the evening +meal and making everything as comfortable as she could for him. It seemed to +the little family as if they had not known what true happiness was before, so +glad were they to be together again, and this evening the father had much to +tell of his journey and of all he had seen at the great capital. +</p> + +<p> +Time passed away in the peaceful home, and the parents saw their fondest hopes +realized as their daughter grew from childhood into a beautiful girl of +sixteen. As a gem of priceless value is held in its proud owner’s hand, +so had they reared her with unceasing love and care: and now their pains were +more than doubly rewarded. What a comfort she was to her mother as she went +about the house taking her part in the housekeeping, and how proud her father +was of her, for she daily reminded him of her mother when he had first married +her. +</p> + +<p> +But, alas! in this world nothing lasts forever. Even the moon is not always +perfect in shape, but loses its roundness with time, and flowers bloom and then +fade. So at last the happiness of this family was broken up by a great sorrow. +The good and gentle wife and mother was one day taken ill. +</p> + +<p> +In the first days of her illness the father and daughter thought that it was +only a cold, and were not particularly anxious. But the days went by and still +the mother did not get better; she only grew worse, and the doctor was puzzled, +for in spite of all he did the poor woman grew weaker day by day. The father +and daughter were stricken with grief, and day or night the girl never left her +mother’s side. But in spite of all their efforts the woman’s life +was not to be saved. +</p> + +<p> +One day as the girl sat near her mother’s bed, trying to hide with a +cheery smile the gnawing trouble at her heart, the mother roused herself and +taking her daughter’s hand, gazed earnestly and lovingly into her eyes. +Her breath was labored and she spoke with difficulty: +</p> + +<p> +“My daughter. I am sure that nothing can save me now. When I am dead, +promise me to take care of your dear father and to try to be a good and dutiful +woman.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, mother,” said the girl as the tears rushed to her eyes, +“you must not say such things. All you have to do is to make haste and +get well—that will bring the greatest happiness to father and +myself.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I know, and it is a comfort to me in my last days to know how +greatly you long for me to get better, but it is not to be. Do not look so +sorrowful, for it was so ordained in my previous state of existence that I +should die in this life just at this time; knowing this, I am quite resigned to +my fate. And now I have something to give you whereby to remember me when I am +gone.” +</p> + +<p> +Putting her hand out, she took from the side of the pillow a square wooden box +tied up with a silken cord and tassels. Undoing this very carefully, she took +out of the box the mirror that her husband had given her years ago. +</p> + +<p> +“When you were still a little child your father went up to the capital +and brought me back as a present this treasure; it is called a mirror. This I +give you before I die. If, after I have ceased to be in this life, you are +lonely and long to see me sometimes, then take out this mirror and in the clear +and shining surface you will always see me—so will you be able to meet +with me often and tell me all your heart; and though I shall not be able to +speak, I shall understand and sympathize with you, whatever may happen to you +in the future.” With these words the dying woman handed the mirror to her +daughter. +</p> + +<p> +The mind of the good mother seemed to be now at rest, and sinking back without +another word her spirit passed quietly away that day. +</p> + +<p> +The bereaved father and daughter were wild with grief, and they abandoned +themselves to their bitter sorrow. They felt it to be impossible to take leave +of the loved woman who till now had filled their whole lives and to commit her +body to the earth. But this frantic burst of grief passed, and then they took +possession of their own hearts again, crushed though they were in resignation. +In spite of this the daughter’s life seemed to her desolate. Her love for +her dead mother did not grow less with time, and so keen was her remembrance, +that everything in daily life, even the falling of the rain and the blowing of +the wind, reminded her of her mother’s death and of all that they had +loved and shared together. One day when her father was out, and she was +fulfilling her household duties alone, her loneliness and sorrow seemed more +than she could bear. She threw herself down in her mother’s room and wept +as if her heart would break. Poor child, she longed just for one glimpse of the +loved face, one sound of the voice calling her pet name, or for one +moment’s forgetfulness of the aching void in her heart. Suddenly she sat +up. Her mother’s last words had rung through her memory hitherto dulled +by grief. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! my mother told me when she gave me the mirror as a parting gift, +that whenever I looked into it I should be able to meet her—to see her. I +had nearly forgotten her last words—how stupid I am; I will get the +mirror now and see if it can possibly be true!” +</p> + +<p> +She dried her eyes quickly, and going to the cupboard took out the box that +contained the mirror, her heart beating with expectation as she lifted the +mirror out and gazed into its smooth face. Behold, her mother’s words +were true! In the round mirror before her she saw her mother’s face; but, +oh, the joyful surprise! It was not her mother thin and wasted by illness, but +the young and beautiful woman as she remembered her far back in the days of her +own earliest childhood. It seemed to the girl that the face in the mirror must +soon speak, almost that she heard the voice of her mother telling her again to +grow up a good woman and a dutiful daughter, so earnestly did the eyes in the +mirror look back into her own. +</p> + +<p> +“It is certainly my mother’s soul that I see. She knows how +miserable I am without her and she has come to comfort me. Whenever I long to +see her she will meet me here; how grateful I ought to be!” +</p> + +<p> +And from this time the weight of sorrow was greatly lightened for her young +heart. Every morning, to gather strength for the day’s duties before her, +and every evening, for consolation before she lay down to rest, did the young +girl take out the mirror and gaze at the reflection which in the simplicity of +her innocent heart she believed to be her mother’s soul. Daily she grew +in the likeness of her dead mother’s character, and was gentle and kind +to all, and a dutiful daughter to her father. +</p> + +<p> +A year spent in mourning had thus passed away in the little household, when, by +the advice of his relations, the man married again, and the daughter now found +herself under the authority of a step-mother. It was a trying position; but her +days spent in the recollection of her own beloved mother, and of trying to be +what that mother would wish her to be, had made the young girl docile and +patient, and she now determined to be filial and dutiful to her father’s +wife, in all respects. Everything went on apparently smoothly in the family for +some time under the new regime; there were no winds or waves of discord to +ruffle the surface of every-day life, and the father was content. +</p> + +<p> +But it is a woman’s danger to be petty and mean, and step-mothers are +proverbial all the world over, and this one’s heart was not as her first +smiles were. As the days and weeks grew into months, the step-mother began to +treat the motherless girl unkindly and to try and come between the father and +child. +</p> + +<p> +Sometimes she went to her husband and complained of her step-daughter’s +behavior, but the father knowing that this was to be expected, took no notice +of her ill-natured complaints. Instead of lessening his affection for his +daughter, as the woman desired, her grumblings only made him think of her the +more. The woman soon saw that he began to show more concern for his lonely +child than before. This did not please her at all, and she began to turn over +in her mind how she could, by some means or other, drive her step-child out of +the house. So crooked did the woman’s heart become. +</p> + +<p> +She watched the girl carefully, and one day peeping into her room in the early +morning, she thought she discovered a grave enough sin of which to accuse the +child to her father. The woman herself was a little frightened too at what she +had seen. +</p> + +<p> +So she went at once to her husband, and wiping away some false tears she said +in a sad voice: +</p> + +<p> +“Please give me permission to leave you today.” +</p> + +<p> +The man was completely taken by surprise at the suddenness of her request, and +wondered whatever was the matter. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you find it so disagreeable,” he asked, “in my house, +that you can stay no longer?” +</p> + +<p> +“No! no! it has nothing to do with you—even in my dreams I have +never thought that I wished to leave your side; but if I go on living here I am +in danger of losing my life, so I think it best for all concerned that you +should allow me to go home!” +</p> + +<p> +And the woman began to weep afresh. Her husband, distressed to see her so +unhappy, and thinking that he could not have heard aright, said: +</p> + +<p> +“Tell me what you mean! How is your life in danger here?” +</p> + +<p> +“I will tell you since you ask me. Your daughter dislikes me as her +step-mother. For some time past she has shut herself up in her room morning and +evening, and looking in as I pass by, I am convinced that she has made an image +of me and is trying to kill me by magic art, cursing me daily. It is not safe +for me to stay here, such being the case; indeed, indeed, I must go away, we +cannot live under the same roof any more.” +</p> + +<p> +The husband listened to the dreadful tale, but he could not believe his gentle +daughter guilty of such an evil act. He knew that by popular superstition +people believed that one person could cause the gradual death of another by +making an image of the hated one and cursing it daily; but where had his young +daughter learned such knowledge?—the thing was impossible. Yet he +remembered having noticed that his daughter stayed much in her room of late and +kept herself away from every one, even when visitors came to the house. Putting +this fact together with his wife’s alarm, he thought that there might be +something to account for the strange story. +</p> + +<p> +His heart was torn between doubting his wife and trusting his child, and he +knew not what to do. He decided to go at once to his daughter and try to find +out the truth. Comforting his wife and assuring her that her fears were +groundless, he glided quietly to his daughter’s room. +</p> + +<p> +The girl had for a long time past been very unhappy. She had tried by +amiability and obedience to show her goodwill and to mollify the new wife, and +to break down that wall of prejudice and misunderstanding that she knew +generally stood between step-parents and their step-children. But she soon +found that her efforts were in vain. The step-mother never trusted her, and +seemed to misinterpret all her actions, and the poor child knew very well that +she often carried unkind and untrue tales to her father. She could not help +comparing her present unhappy condition with the time when her own mother was +alive only a little more than a year ago—so great a change in this short +time! Morning and evening she wept over the remembrance. Whenever she could she +went to her room, and sliding the screens to, took out the mirror and gazed, as +she thought, at her mother’s face. It was the only comfort that she had +in these wretched days. +</p> + +<p> +Her father found her occupied in this way. Pushing aside the fusama, he saw her +bending over something or other very intently. Looking over her shoulder, to +see who was entering her room, the girl was surprised to see her father, for he +generally sent for her when he wished to speak to her. She was also confused at +being found looking at the mirror, for she had never told any one of her +mother’s last promise, but had kept it as the sacred secret of her heart. +So before turning to her father she slipped the mirror into her long sleeve. +Her father noting her confusion, and her act of hiding something, said in a +severe manner: +</p> + +<p> +“Daughter, what are you doing here? And what is that that you have hidden +in your sleeve?” +</p> + +<p> +The girl was frightened by her father’s severity. Never had he spoken to +her in such a tone. Her confusion changed to apprehension, her color from +scarlet to white. She sat dumb and shamefaced, unable to reply. +</p> + +<p> +Appearances were certainly against her; the young girl looked guilty, and the +father thinking that perhaps after all what his wife had told him was true, +spoke angrily: +</p> + +<p> +“Then, is it really true that you are daily cursing your step-mother and +praying for her death? Have you forgotten what I told you, that although she is +your step-mother you must be obedient and loyal to her? What evil spirit has +taken possession of your heart that you should be so wicked? You have certainly +changed, my daughter! What has made you so disobedient and unfaithful?” +</p> + +<p> +And the father’s eyes filled with sudden tears to think that he should +have to upbraid his daughter in this way. +</p> + +<p> +She on her part did not know what he meant, for she had never heard of the +superstition that by praying over an image it is possible to cause the death of +a hated person. But she saw that she must speak and clear herself somehow. She +loved her father dearly, and could not bear the idea of his anger. She put out +her hand on his knee deprecatingly: +</p> + +<p> +“Father! father! do not say such dreadful things to me. I am still your +obedient child. Indeed, I am. However stupid I may be, I should never be able +to curse any one who belonged to you, much less pray for the death of one you +love. Surely some one has been telling you lies, and you are dazed, and you +know not what you say—or some evil spirit has taken possession of YOUR +heart. As for me I do not know—no, not so much as a dew-drop, of the evil +thing of which you accuse me.” +</p> + +<p> +But the father remembered that she had hidden something away when he first +entered the room, and even this earnest protest did not satisfy him. He wished +to clear up his doubts once for all. +</p> + +<p> +“Then why are you always alone in your room these days? And tell me what +is that that you have hidden in your sleeve—show it to me at once.” +</p> + +<p> +Then the daughter, though shy of confessing how she had cherished her +mother’s memory, saw that she must tell her father all in order to clear +herself. So she slipped the mirror out from her long sleeve and laid it before +him. +</p> + +<p> +“This,” she said, “is what you saw me looking at just +now.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why,” he said in great surprise, “this is the mirror that I +brought as a gift to your mother when I went up to the capital many years ago! +And so you have kept it all this time? Now, why do you spend so much of your +time before this mirror?” +</p> + +<p> +Then she told him of her mother’s last words, and of how she had promised +to meet her child whenever she looked into the glass. But still the father +could not understand the simplicity of his daughter’s character in not +knowing that what she saw reflected in the mirror was in reality her own face, +and not that of her mother. +</p> + +<p> +“What do you mean?” he asked. “I do not understand how you +can meet the soul of your lost mother by looking in this mirror?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is indeed true,” said the girl: “and if you don’t +believe what I say, look for yourself,” and she placed the mirror before +her. There, looking back from the smooth metal disk, was her own sweet face. +She pointed to the reflection seriously: +</p> + +<p> +“Do you doubt me still?” she asked earnestly, looking up into his +face. +</p> + +<p> +With an exclamation of sudden understanding the father smote his two hands +together. +</p> + +<p> +“How stupid I am! At last I understand. Your face is as like your +mother’s as the two sides of a melon—thus you have looked at the +reflection of your face all this time, thinking that you were brought face to +face with your lost mother! You are truly a faithful child. It seems at first a +stupid thing to have done, but it is not really so, It shows how deep has been +your filial piety, and how innocent your heart. Living in constant remembrance +of your lost mother has helped you to grow like her in character. How clever it +was of her to tell you to do this. I admire and respect you, my daughter, and I +am ashamed to think that for one instant I believed your suspicious +step-mother’s story and suspected you of evil, and came with the +intention of scolding you severely, while all this time you have been so true +and good. Before you I have no countenance left, and I beg you to forgive +me.” +</p> + +<p> +And here the father wept. He thought of how lonely the poor girl must have +been, and of all that she must have suffered under her step-mother’s +treatment. His daughter steadfastly keeping her faith and simplicity in the +midst of such adverse circumstances—bearing all her troubles with so much +patience and amiability—made him compare her to the lotus which rears its +blossom of dazzling beauty out of the slime and mud of the moats and ponds, +fitting emblem of a heart which keeps itself unsullied while passing through +the world. +</p> + +<p> +The step-mother, anxious to know what would happen, had all this while been +standing outside the room. She had grown interested, and had gradually pushed +the sliding screen back till she could see all that went on. At this moment she +suddenly entered the room, and dropping to the mats, she bowed her head over +her outspread hands before her step-daughter. +</p> + +<p> +“I am ashamed! I am ashamed!” she exclaimed in broken tones. +“I did not know what a filial child you were. Through no fault of yours, +but with a step-mother’s jealous heart, I have disliked you all the time. +Hating you so much myself, it was but natural that I should think you +reciprocated the feeling, and thus when I saw you retire so often to your room +I followed you, and when I saw you gaze daily into the mirror for long +intervals, I concluded that you had found out how I disliked you, and that you +were out of revenge trying to take my life by magic art. As long as I live I +shall never forget the wrong I have done you in so misjudging you, and in +causing your father to suspect you. From this day I throw away my old and +wicked heart, and in its place I put a new one, clean and full of repentance. I +shall think of you as a child that I have borne myself. I shall love and +cherish you with all my heart, and thus try to make up for all the unhappiness +I have caused you. Therefore, please throw into the water all that has gone +before, and give me, I beg of you, some of the filial love that you have +hitherto given to your own lost mother.” +</p> + +<p> +Thus did the unkind step-mother humble herself and ask forgiveness of the girl +she had so wronged. +</p> + +<p> +Such was the sweetness of the girl’s disposition that she willingly +forgave her step-mother, and never bore a moment’s resentment or malice +towards her afterwards. The father saw by his wife’s face that she was +truly sorry for the past, and was greatly relieved to see the terrible +misunderstanding wiped out of remembrance by both the wrong-doer and the +wronged. +</p> + +<p> +From this time on, the three lived together as happily as fish in water. No +such trouble ever darkened the home again, and the young girl gradually forgot +that year of unhappiness in the tender love and care that her step-mother now +bestowed on her. Her patience and goodness were rewarded at last. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap11"></a>THE GOBLIN OF ADACHIGAHARA</h2> + +<p> +Long, long ago there was a large plain called Adachigahara, in the province of +Mutsu in Japan. This place was said to be haunted by a cannibal goblin who took +the form of an old woman. From time to time many travelers disappeared and were +never heard of more, and the old women round the charcoal braziers in the +evenings, and the girls washing the household rice at the wells in the +mornings, whispered dreadful stories of how the missing folk had been lured to +the goblin’s cottage and devoured, for the goblin lived only on human +flesh. No one dared to venture near the haunted spot after sunset, and all +those who could, avoided it in the daytime, and travelers were warned of the +dreaded place. +</p> + +<p> +One day as the sun was setting, a priest came to the plain. He was a belated +traveler, and his robe showed that he was a Buddhist pilgrim walking from +shrine to shrine to pray for some blessing or to crave for forgiveness of sins. +He had apparently lost his way, and as it was late he met no one who could show +him the road or warn him of the haunted spot. +</p> + +<p> +He had walked the whole day and was now tired and hungry, and the evenings were +chilly, for it was late autumn, and he began to be very anxious to find some +house where he could obtain a night’s lodging. He found himself lost in +the midst of the large plain, and looked about in vain for some sign of human +habitation. +</p> + +<p> +At last, after wandering about for some hours, he saw a clump of trees in the +distance, and through the trees he caught sight of the glimmer of a single ray +of light. He exclaimed with joy: +</p> + +<p> +“Oh. surely that is some cottage where I can get a night’s +lodging!” +</p> + +<p> +Keeping the light before his eyes he dragged his weary, aching feet as quickly +as he could towards the spot, and soon came to a miserable-looking little +cottage. As he drew near he saw that it was in a tumble-down condition, the +bamboo fence was broken and weeds and grass pushed their way through the gaps. +The paper screens which serve as windows and doors in Japan were full of holes, +and the posts of the house were bent with age and seemed scarcely able to +support the old thatched roof. The hut was open, and by the light of an old +lantern an old woman sat industriously spinning. +</p> + +<p> +The pilgrim called to her across the bamboo fence and said: +</p> + +<p> +“O Baa San (old woman), good evening! I am a traveler! Please excuse me, +but I have lost my way and do not know what to do, for I have nowhere to rest +to-night. I beg you to be good enough to let me spend the night under your +roof.” +</p> + +<p> +The old woman as soon as she heard herself spoken to stopped spinning, rose +from her seat and approached the intruder. +</p> + +<p> +“I am very sorry for you. You must indeed be distressed to have lost your +way in such a lonely spot so late at night. Unfortunately I cannot put you up, +for I have no bed to offer you, and no accommodation whatsoever for a guest in +this poor place!” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, that does not matter,” said the priest; “all I want is a +shelter under some roof for the night, and if you will be good enough just to +let me lie on the kitchen floor I shall be grateful. I am too tired to walk +further to-night, so I hope you will not refuse me, otherwise I shall have to +sleep out on the cold plain.” And in this way he pressed the old woman to +let him stay. +</p> + +<p> +She seemed very reluctant, but at last she said: +</p> + +<p> +“Very well, I will let you stay here. I can offer you a very poor welcome +only, but come in now and I will make a fire, for the night is cold.” +</p> + +<p> +The pilgrim was only too glad to do as he was told. He took off his sandals and +entered the hut. The old woman then brought some sticks of wood and lit the +fire, and bade her guest draw near and warm himself. +</p> + +<p> +“You must be hungry after your long tramp,” said the old woman. +“I will go and cook some supper for you.” She then went to the +kitchen to cook some rice. +</p> + +<p> +After the priest had finished his supper the old woman sat down by the +fire-place, and they talked together for a long time. The pilgrim thought to +himself that he had been very lucky to come across such a kind, hospitable old +woman. At last the wood gave out, and as the fire died slowly down he began to +shiver with cold just as he had done when he arrived. +</p> + +<p> +“I see you are cold,” said the old woman; “I will go out and +gather some wood, for we have used it all. You must stay and take care of the +house while I am gone.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, no,” said the pilgrim, “let me go instead, for you are +old, and I cannot think of letting you go out to get wood for me this cold +night!” +</p> + +<p> +The old woman shook her head and said: +</p> + +<p> +“You must stay quietly here, for you are my guest.” Then she left +him and went out. +</p> + +<p> +In a minute she came back and said: +</p> + +<p> +“You must sit where you are and not move, and whatever happens +don’t go near or look into the inner room. Now mind what I tell +you!” +</p> + +<p> +“If you tell me not to go near the back room, of course I +won’t,” said the priest, rather bewildered. +</p> + +<p> +The old woman then went out again, and the priest was left alone. The fire had +died out, and the only light in the hut was that of a dim lantern. For the +first time that night he began to feel that he was in a weird place, and the +old woman’s words, “Whatever you do don’t peep into the back +room,” aroused his curiosity and his fear. +</p> + +<p> +What hidden thing could be in that room that she did not wish him to see? For +some time the remembrance of his promise to the old woman kept him still, but +at last he could no longer resist his curiosity to peep into the forbidden +place. +</p> + +<p> +He got up and began to move slowly towards the back room. Then the thought that +the old woman would be very angry with him if he disobeyed her made him come +back to his place by the fireside. +</p> + +<p> +As the minutes went slowly by and the old woman did not return, he began to +feel more and more frightened, and to wonder what dreadful secret was in the +room behind him. He must find out. +</p> + +<p> +“She will not know that I have looked unless I tell her. I will just have +a peep before she comes back,” said the man to himself. +</p> + +<p> +With these words he got up on his feet (for he had been sitting all this time +in Japanese fashion with his feet under him) and stealthily crept towards the +forbidden spot. With trembling hands he pushed back the sliding door and looked +in. What he saw froze the blood in his veins. The room was full of dead +men’s bones and the walls were splashed and the floor was covered with +human blood. In one corner skull upon skull rose to the ceiling, in another was +a heap of arm bones, in another a heap of leg bones. The sickening smell made +him faint. He fell backwards with horror, and for some time lay in a heap with +fright on the floor, a pitiful sight. He trembled all over and his teeth +chattered, and he could hardly crawl away from the dreadful spot. +</p> + +<p> +“How horrible!” he cried out. “What awful den have I come to +in my travels? May Buddha help me or I am lost. Is it possible that that kind +old woman is really the cannibal goblin? When she comes back she will show +herself in her true character and eat me up at one mouthful!” +</p> + +<p> +With these words his strength came back to him and, snatching up his hat and +staff, he rushed out of the house as fast as his legs could carry him. Out into +the night he ran, his one thought to get as far as he could from the +goblin’s haunt. He had not gone far when he heard steps behind him and a +voice crying: “Stop! stop!” +</p> + +<p> +He ran on, redoubling his speed, pretending not to hear. As he ran he heard the +steps behind him come nearer and nearer, and at last he recognized the old +woman’s voice which grew louder and louder as she came nearer. +</p> + +<p> +“Stop! stop, you wicked man, why did you look into the forbidden +room?” +</p> + +<p> +The priest quite forgot how tired he was and his feet flew over the ground +faster than ever. Fear gave him strength, for he knew that if the goblin caught +him he would soon be one of her victims. With all his heart he repeated the +prayer to Buddha: +</p> + +<p> +“Namu Amida Butsu, Namu Amida Butsu.” +</p> + +<p> +And after him rushed the dreadful old hag, her hair flying in the wind, and her +face changing with rage into the demon that she was. In her hand she carried a +large blood-stained knife, and she still shrieked after him, “Stop! +stop!” +</p> + +<p> +At last, when the priest felt he could run no more, the dawn broke, and with +the darkness of night the goblin vanished and he was safe. The priest now knew +that he had met the Goblin of Adachigahara, the story of whom he had often +heard but never believed to be true. He felt that he owed his wonderful escape +to the protection of Buddha to whom he had prayed for help, so he took out his +rosary and bowing his head as the sun rose he said his prayers and made his +thanksgiving earnestly. He then set forward for another part of the country, +only too glad to leave the haunted plain behind him. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap12"></a>THE SAGACIOUS MONKEY AND THE BOAR</h2> + +<p> +Long, long ago, there lived in the province of Shinshin in Japan, a traveling +monkey-man, who earned his living by taking round a monkey and showing off the +animal’s tricks. +</p> + +<p> +One evening the man came home in a very bad temper and told his wife to send +for the butcher the next morning. +</p> + +<p> +The wife was very bewildered and asked her husband: +</p> + +<p> +“Why do you wish me to send for the butcher?” +</p> + +<p> +“It’s no use taking that monkey round any longer, he’s too +old and forgets his tricks. I beat him with my stick all I know how, but he +won’t dance properly. I must now sell him to the butcher and make what +money out of him I can. There is nothing else to be done.” +</p> + +<p> +The woman felt very sorry for the poor little animal, and pleaded for her +husband to spare the monkey, but her pleading was all in vain, the man was +determined to sell him to the butcher. +</p> + +<p> +Now the monkey was in the next room and overheard every word of the +conversation. He soon understood that he was to be killed, and he said to +himself: +</p> + +<p> +“Barbarous, indeed, is my master! Here I have served him faithfully for +years, and instead of allowing me to end my days comfortably and in peace, he +is going to let me be cut up by the butcher, and my poor body is to be roasted +and stewed and eaten? Woe is me! What am I to do. Ah! a bright thought has +struck me! There is, I know, a wild boar living in the forest near by. I have +often heard tell of his wisdom. Perhaps if I go to him and tell him the strait +I am in he will give me his counsel. I will go and try.” +</p> + +<p> +There was no time to lose. The monkey slipped out of the house and ran as +quickly as he could to the forest to find the boar. The boar was at home, and +the monkey began his tale of woe at once. +</p> + +<p> +“Good Mr. Boar, I have heard of your excellent wisdom. I am in great +trouble, you alone can help me. I have grown old in the service of my master, +and because I cannot dance properly now he intends to sell me to the butcher. +What do you advise me to do? I know how clever you are!” +</p> + +<p> +The boar was pleased at the flattery and determined to help the monkey. He +thought for a little while and then said: +</p> + +<p> +“Hasn’t your master a baby?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, yes,” said the monkey, “he has one infant son.” +</p> + +<p> +“Doesn’t it lie by the door in the morning when your mistress +begins the work of the day? Well, I will come round early and when I see my +opportunity I will seize the child and run off with it.” +</p> + +<p> +“What then?” said the monkey. +</p> + +<p> +“Why the mother will be in a tremendous scare, and before your master and +mistress know what to do, you must run after me and rescue the child and take +it home safely to its parents, and you will see that when the butcher comes +they won’t have the heart to sell you.” +</p> + +<p> +The monkey thanked the boar many times and then went home. He did not sleep +much that night, as you may imagine, for thinking of the morrow. His life +depended on whether the boar’s plan succeeded or not. He was the first +up, waiting anxiously for what was to happen. It seemed to him a very long time +before his master’s wife began to move about and open the shutters to let +in the light of day. Then all happened as the boar had planned. The mother +placed her child near the porch as usual while she tidied up the house and got +her breakfast ready. +</p> + +<p> +The child was crooning happily in the morning sunlight, dabbing on the mats at +the play of light and shadow. Suddenly there was a noise in the porch and a +loud cry from the child. The mother ran out from the kitchen to the spot, only +just in time to see the boar disappearing through the gate with her child in +its clutch. She flung out her hands with a loud cry of despair and rushed into +the inner room where her husband was still sleeping soundly. +</p> + +<p> +He sat up slowly and rubbed his eyes, and crossly demanded what his wife was +making all that noise about. By the time that the man was alive to what had +happened, and they both got outside the gate, the boar had got well away, but +they saw the monkey running after the thief as hard as his legs would carry +him. +</p> + +<p> +Both the man and wife were moved to admiration at the plucky conduct of the +sagacious monkey, and their gratitude knew no bounds when the faithful monkey +brought the child safely back to their arms. +</p> + +<p> +“There!” said the wife. “This is the animal you want to +kill—if the monkey hadn’t been here we should have lost our child +forever.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are right, wife, for once,” said the man as he carried the +child into the house. “You may send the butcher back when he comes, and +now give us all a good breakfast and the monkey too.” +</p> + +<p> +When the butcher arrived he was sent away with an order for some boar’s +meat for the evening dinner, and the monkey was petted and lived the rest of +his days in peace, nor did his master ever strike him again. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap13"></a>THE HAPPY HUNTER AND THE SKILLFUL FISHER</h2> + +<p> +Long, long ago Japan was governed by Hohodemi, the fourth Mikoto (or +Augustness) in descent from the illustrious Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess. He was +not only as handsome as his ancestress was beautiful, but he was also very +strong and brave, and was famous for being the greatest hunter in the land. +Because of his matchless skill as a hunter, he was called +“Yama-sachi-hiko” or “The Happy Hunter of the +Mountains.” +</p> + +<p> +His elder brother was a very skillful fisher, and as he far surpassed all +rivals in fishing, he was named “Umi-sachi-hiko” or the +“Skillful Fisher of the Sea.” The brothers thus led happy lives, +thoroughly enjoying their respective occupations, and the days passed quickly +and pleasantly while each pursued his own way, the one hunting and the other +fishing. +</p> + +<p> +One day the Happy Hunter came to his brother, the Skillful Fisher, and said: +</p> + +<p> +“Well, my brother, I see you go to the sea every day with your fishing +rod in your hand, and when you return you come laden with fish. And as for me, +it is my pleasure to take my bow and arrow and to hunt the wild animals up the +mountains and down in the valleys. For a long time we have each followed our +favorite occupation, so that now we must both be tired, you of your fishing and +I of my hunting. Would it not be wise for us to make a change? Will you try +hunting in the mountains and I will go and fish in the sea?” +</p> + +<p> +The Skillful Fisher listened in silence to his brother, and for a moment was +thoughtful, but at last he answered: +</p> + +<p> +“O yes, why not? Your idea is not a bad one at all. Give me your bow and +arrow and I will set out at once for the mountains and hunt for game.” +</p> + +<p> +So the matter was settled by this talk, and the two brothers each started out +to try the other’s occupation, little dreaming of all that would happen. +It was very unwise of them, for the Happy Hunter knew nothing of fishing, and +the Skillful Fisher, who was bad tempered, knew as much about hunting. +</p> + +<p> +The Happy Hunter took his brother’s much-prized fishing hook and rod and +went down to the seashore and sat down on the rocks. He baited his hook and +then threw it into the sea clumsily. He sat and gazed at the little float +bobbing up and down in the water, and longed for a good fish to come and be +caught. Every time the buoy moved a little he pulled up his rod, but there was +never a fish at the end of it, only the hook and the bait. If he had known how +to fish properly, he would have been able to catch plenty of fish, but although +he was the greatest hunter in the land he could not help being the most +bungling fisher. +</p> + +<p> +The whole day passed in this way, while he sat on the rocks holding the fishing +rod and waiting in vain for his luck to turn. At last the day began to darken, +and the evening came; still he had caught not a single fish. Drawing up his +line for the last time before going home, he found that he had lost his hook +without even knowing when he had dropped it. +</p> + +<p> +He now began to feel extremely anxious, for he knew that his brother would be +angry at his having lost his hook, for, it being his only one, he valued it +above all other things. The Happy Hunter now set to work to look among the +rocks and on the sand for the lost hook, and while he was searching to and fro, +his brother, the Skillful Fisher, arrived on the scene. He had failed to find +any game while hunting that day, and was not only in a bad temper, but looked +fearfully cross. When he saw the Happy Hunter searching about on the shore he +knew that something must have gone wrong, so he said at once: +</p> + +<p> +“What are you doing, my brother?” +</p> + +<p> +The Happy Hunter went forward timidly, for he feared his brother’s anger, +and said: +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, my brother, I have indeed done badly.” +</p> + +<p> +“What is the matter?—what have you done?” asked the elder +brother impatiently. +</p> + +<p> +“I have lost your precious fishing hook—” +</p> + +<p> +While he was still speaking his brother stopped him, and cried out fiercely: +</p> + +<p> +“Lost my hook! It is just what I expected. For this reason, when you +first proposed your plan of changing over our occupations I was really against +it, but you seemed to wish it so much that I gave in and allowed you to do as +you wished. The mistake of our trying unfamiliar tasks is soon seen! And you +have done badly. I will not return you your bow and arrow till you have found +my hook. Look to it that you find it and return it to me quickly.” +</p> + +<p> +The Happy Hunter felt that he was to blame for all that had come to pass, and +bore his brother’s scornful scolding with humility and patience. He +hunted everywhere for the hook most diligently, but it was nowhere to be found. +He was at last obliged to give up all hope of finding it. He then went home, +and in desperation broke his beloved sword into pieces and made five hundred +hooks out of it. +</p> + +<p> +He took these to his angry brother and offered them to him, asking his +forgiveness, and begging him to accept them in the place of the one he had lost +for him. It was useless; his brother would not listen to him, much less grant +his request. +</p> + +<p> +The Happy Hunter then made another five hundred hooks, and again took them to +his brother, beseeching him to pardon him. +</p> + +<p> +“Though you make a million hooks,” said the Skillful Fisher, +shaking his head, “they are of no use to me. I cannot forgive you unless +you bring me back my own hook.” +</p> + +<p> +Nothing would appease the anger of the Skillful Fisher, for he had a bad +disposition, and had always hated his brother because of his virtues, and now +with the excuse of the lost fishing hook he planned to kill him and to usurp +his place as ruler of Japan. The Happy Hunter knew all this full well, but he +could say nothing, for being the younger he owed his elder brother obedience; +so he returned to the seashore and once more began to look for the missing +hook. He was much cast down, for he had lost all hope of ever finding his +brother’s hook now. While he stood on the beach, lost in perplexity and +wondering what he had best do next, an old man suddenly appeared carrying a +stick in his hand. The Happy Hunter afterwards remembered that he did not see +from whence the old man came, neither did he know how he was there—he +happened to look up and saw the old man coming towards him. +</p> + +<p> +“You are Hohodemi, the Augustness, sometimes called the Happy Hunter, are +you not?” asked the old man. “What are you doing alone in such a +place?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I am he,” answered the unhappy young man. +“Unfortunately, while fishing I lost my brother’s precious fishing +hook. I have hunted this shore all over, but alas! I cannot find it, and I am +very troubled, for my brother won’t forgive me till I restore it to him. +But who are you?” +</p> + +<p> +“My name is Shiwozuchino Okina, and I live near by on this shore. I am +sorry to hear what misfortune has befallen you. You must indeed be anxious. But +if I tell you what I think, the hook is nowhere here—it is either at the +bottom of the sea or in the body of some fish who has swallowed it, and for +this reason, though you spend your whole life in looking for it here, you will +never find it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then what can I do?” asked the distressed man. +</p> + +<p> +“You had better go down to Ryn Gu and tell Ryn Jin, the Dragon King of +the Sea, what your trouble is and ask him to find the hook for you. I think +that would be the best way.” +</p> + +<p> +“Your idea is a splendid one,” said the Happy Hunter, “but I +fear I cannot get to the Sea King’s realm, for I have always heard that +it is situated at the bottom of the sea.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, there will be no difficulty about your getting there,” said +the old man; “I can soon make something for you to ride on through the +sea.” +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you,” said the Happy Hunter, “I shall be very grateful +to you if you will be so kind.” +</p> + +<p> +The old man at once set to work, and soon made a basket and offered it to the +Happy Hunter. He received it with joy, and taking it to the water, mounted it, +and prepared to start. He bade good by to the kind old man who had helped him +so much, and told him that he would certainly reward him as soon as he found +his hook and could return to Japan without fear of his brother’s anger. +The old man pointed out the direction he must take, and told him how to reach +the realm of Ryn Gu, and watched him ride out to sea on the basket, which +resembled a small boat. +</p> + +<p> +The Happy Hunter made all the haste he could, riding on the basket which had +been given him by his friend. His queer boat seemed to go through the water of +its own accord, and the distance was much shorter than he had expected, for in +a few hours he caught sight of the gate and the roof of the Sea King’s +Palace. And what a large place it was, with its numberless sloping roofs and +gables, its huge gateways, and its gray stone walls! He soon landed, and +leaving his basket on the beach, he walked up to the large gateway. The pillars +of the gate were made of beautiful red coral, and the gate itself was adorned +with glittering gems of all kinds. Large katsura trees overshadowed it. Our +hero had often heard of the wonders of the Sea King’s Palace beneath the +sea, but all the stories he had ever heard fell short of the reality which he +now saw for the first time. +</p> + +<p> +The Happy Hunter would have liked to enter the gate there and then, but he saw +that it was fast closed, and also that there was no one about whom he could ask +to open it for him, so he stopped to think what he should do. In the shade of +the trees before the gate he noticed a well full of fresh spring water. Surely +some one would come out to draw water from the well some time, he thought. Then +he climbed into the tree overhanging the well, and seated himself to rest on +one of the branches, and waited for what might happen. Ere long he saw the huge +gate swing open, and two beautiful women came out. Now the Mikoto (Augustness) +had always heard that Ryn Gu was the realm of the Dragon King under the Sea, +and had naturally supposed that the place was inhabited by dragons and similar +terrible creatures, so that when he saw these two lovely princesses, whose +beauty would be rare even in the world from which he had just come, he was +exceedingly surprised, and wondered what it could mean. +</p> + +<p> +He said not a word, however, but silently gazed at them through the foliage of +the trees, waiting to see what they would do. He saw that in their hands they +carried golden buckets. Slowly and gracefully in their trailing garments they +approached the well, standing in the shade of the katsura trees, and were about +to draw water, all unknowing of the stranger who was watching them, for the +Happy Hunter was quite hidden among the branches of the tree where he had +posted himself. +</p> + +<p> +As the two ladies leaned over the side of the well to let down their golden +buckets, which they did every day in the year, they saw reflected in the deep +still water the face of a handsome youth gazing at them from amidst the +branches of the tree in whose shade they stood. Never before had they seen the +face of mortal man; they were frightened, and drew back quickly with their +golden buckets in their hands. Their curiosity, however, soon gave them +courage, and they glanced timidly upwards to see the cause of the unusual +reflection, and then they beheld the Happy Hunter sitting in the tree looking +down at them with surprise and admiration. They gazed at him face to face, but +their tongues were still with wonder and could not find a word to say to him. +</p> + +<p> +When the Mikoto saw that he was discovered, he sprang down lightly from the +tree and said: +</p> + +<p> +“I am a traveler, and as I was very thirsty I came to the well in the +hopes of quenching my thirst, but I could find no bucket with which to draw the +water. So I climbed into the tree, much vexed, and waited for some one to come. +Just at that moment, while I was thirstily and impatiently waiting, you noble +ladies appeared, as if in answer to my great need. Therefore I pray you of your +mercy give me some water to drink, for I am a thirsty traveler in a strange +land.” +</p> + +<p> +His dignity and graciousness overruled their timidity, and bowing in silence +they both once more approached the well, and letting down their golden buckets +drew up some water and poured it into a jeweled cup and offered it to the +stranger. +</p> + +<p> +He received it from them with both hands, raising it to the height of his +forehead in token of high respect and pleasure, and then drank the water +quickly, for his thirst was great. When he had finished his long draught he set +the cup down on the edge of the well, and drawing his short sword he cut off +one of the strange curved jewels (magatama), a necklace of which hung round his +neck and fell over his breast. He placed the jewel in the cup and returned it +to them, and said, bowing deeply: +</p> + +<p> +“This is a token of my thanks!” +</p> + +<p> +The two ladies took the cup, and looking into it to see what he had put +inside—for they did not yet know what it was—they gave a start of +surprise, for there lay a beautiful gem at the bottom of the cup. +</p> + +<p> +“No ordinary mortal would give away a jewel so freely. Will you not honor +us by telling us who you are?” said the elder damsel. +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly,” said the Happy Hunter, “I am Hohodemi, the +fourth Mikoto, also called in Japan, the Happy Hunter.” +</p> + +<p> +“Are you indeed Hohodemi, the grandson of Amaterasu, the Sun +Goddess?” asked the damsel who had spoken first. “I am the eldest +daughter of Ryn Jin, the King of the Sea, and my name is Princess +Tayotama.” +</p> + +<p> +“And,” said the younger maiden, who at last found her tongue, +“I am her sister, the Princess Tamayori.” +</p> + +<p> +“Are you indeed the daughters of Ryn Jin, the King of the Sea? I cannot +tell you how glad I am to meet you,” said the Happy Hunter. And without +waiting for them to reply he went on: +</p> + +<p> +“The other day I went fishing with my brother’s hook and dropped +it, how, I am sure I can’t tell. As my brother prizes his fishing hook +above all his other possessions, this is the greatest calamity that could have +befallen me. Unless I find it again I can never hope to win my brother’s +forgiveness, for he is very angry at what I have done. I have searched for it +many, many times, but I cannot find it, therefore I am much troubled. While I +was hunting for the hook, in great distress, I met a wise old man, and he told +me that the best thing I could do was to come to Ryn Gu, and to Ryn Jin, the +Dragon King of the Sea, and ask him to help me. This kind old man also showed +me how to come. Now you know how it is I am here and why. I want to ask Ryn +Jin, if he knows where the lost hook is. Will you be so kind as to take me to +your father? And do you think he will see me?” asked the Happy Hunter +anxiously. +</p> + +<p> +Princess Tayotama listened to this long story, and then said: +</p> + +<p> +“Not only is it easy for you to see my father, but he will be much +pleased to meet you. I am sure he will say that good fortune has befallen him, +that so great and noble a man as you, the grandson of Amaterasu, should come +down to the bottom of the sea.” And then turning to her younger sister, +she said: +</p> + +<p> +“Do you not think so, Tamayori?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, indeed,” answered the Princess Tamayori, in her sweet voice. +“As you say, we can know no greater honor than to welcome the Mikoto to +our home.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then I ask you to be so kind as to lead the way,” said the Happy +Hunter. +</p> + +<p> +“Condescend to enter, Mikoto (Augustness),” said both the sisters, +and bowing low, they led him through the gate. +</p> + +<p> +The younger Princess left her sister to take charge of the Happy Hunter, and +going faster than they, she reached the Sea King’s Palace first, and +running quickly to her father’s room, she told him of all that had +happened to them at the gate, and that her sister was even now bringing the +Augustness to him. The Dragon King of the Sea was much surprised at the news, +for it was but seldom, perhaps only once in several hundred years, that the Sea +King’s Palace was visited by mortals. +</p> + +<p> +Ryn Jin at once clapped his hands and summoned all his courtiers and the +servants of the Palace, and the chief fish of the sea together, and solemnly +told them that the grandson of the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu, was coming to the +Palace, and that they must be very ceremonious and polite in serving the august +visitor. He then ordered them all to the entrance of the Palace to welcome the +Happy Hunter. +</p> + +<p> +Ryn Jin then dressed himself in his robes of ceremony, and went out to welcome +him. In a few moments the Princess Tayotama and the Happy Hunter reached the +entrance, and the Sea King and his wife bowed to the ground and thanked him for +the honor he did them in coming to see them. The Sea King then led the Happy +Hunter to the guest room, and placing him in the uppermost seat, he bowed +respectfully before him, and said: +</p> + +<p> +“I am Ryn Jin, the Dragon King of the Sea, and this is my wife. +Condescend to remember us forever!” +</p> + +<p> +“Are you indeed Ryn Jin, the King of the Sea, of whom I have so often +heard?” answered the Happy Hunter, saluting his host most ceremoniously. +“I must apologize for all the trouble I am giving you by my unexpected +visit.” And he bowed again, and thanked the Sea King. +</p> + +<p> +“You need not thank me,” said Ryn Jin. “It is I who must +thank you for coming. Although the Sea Palace is a poor place, as you see, I +shall be highly honored if you will make us a long visit.” +</p> + +<p> +There was much gladness between the Sea King and the Happy Hunter, and they sat +and talked for a long time. At last the Sea King clapped his hands, and then a +huge retinue of fishes appeared, all robed in ceremonial garments, and bearing +in their fins various trays on which all kinds of sea delicacies were served. A +great feast was now spread before the King and his Royal guest. All the +fishes-in-waiting were chosen from amongst the finest fish in the sea, so you +can imagine what a wonderful array of sea creatures it was that waited upon the +Happy Hunter that day. All in the Palace tried to do their best to please him +and to show him that he was a much honored guest. During the long repast, which +lasted for hours, Ryn Jin commanded his daughters to play some music, and the +two Princesses came in and performed on the KOTO (the Japanese harp), and sang +and danced in turns. The time passed so pleasantly that the Happy Hunter seemed +to forget his trouble and why he had come at all to the Sea King’s Realm, +and he gave himself up to the enjoyment of this wonderful place, the land of +fairy fishes! Who has ever heard of such a marvelous place? But the Mikoto soon +remembered what had brought him to Ryn Gu, and said to his host: +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps your daughters have told you, King Ryn Jin, that I have come +here to try and recover my brother’s fishing hook, which I lost while +fishing the other day. May I ask you to be so kind as to inquire of all your +subjects if any of them have seen a fishing hook lost in the sea?” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly,” said the obliging Sea King, “I will immediately +summon them all here and ask them.” +</p> + +<p> +As soon as he had issued his command, the octopus, the cuttlefish, the bonito, +the oxtail fish, the eel, the jelly fish, the shrimp, and the plaice, and many +other fishes of all kinds came in and sat down before Ryn Jin their King, and +arranged themselves and their fins in order. Then the Sea King said solemnly: +</p> + +<p> +“Our visitor who is sitting before you all is the august grandson of +Amaterasu. His name is Hohodemi, the fourth Augustness, and he is also called +the Happy Hunter of the Mountains. While he was fishing the other day upon the +shore of Japan, some one robbed him of his brother’s fishing hook. He has +come all this way down to the bottom of the sea to our Kingdom because he +thought that one of you fishes may have taken the hook from him in mischievous +play. If any of you have done so you must immediately return it, or if any of +you know who the thief is you must at once tell us his name and where he is +now.” +</p> + +<p> +All the fishes were taken by surprise when they heard these words, and could +say nothing for some time. They sat looking at each other and at the Dragon +King. At last the cuttlefish came forward and said: +</p> + +<p> +“I think the TAI (the red bream) must be the thief who has stolen the +hook!” +</p> + +<p> +“Where is your proof?” asked the King. +</p> + +<p> +“Since yesterday evening the TAI has not been able to eat anything, and +he seems to be suffering from a bad throat! For this reason I think the hook +may be in his throat. You had better send for him at once!” +</p> + +<p> +All the fish agreed to this, and said: +</p> + +<p> +“It is certainly strange that the TAI is the only fish who has not obeyed +your summons. Will you send for him and inquire into the matter. Then our +innocence will be proved.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” said the Sea King, “it is strange that the TAI has not +come, for he ought to be the first to be here. Send for him at once!” +</p> + +<p> +Without waiting for the King’s order the cuttlefish had already started +for the TAI’S dwelling, and he now returned, bringing the TAI with him. +He led him before the King. +</p> + +<p> +The TAI sat there looking frightened and ill. He certainly was in pain, for his +usually red face was pale, and his eyes were nearly closed and looked but half +their usual size. +</p> + +<p> +“Answer, O TAI!” cried the Sea King, “why did you not come in +answer to my summons today?” +</p> + +<p> +“I have been ill since yesterday,” answered the TAI; “that is +why I could not come.” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t say another word!” cried out Ryn Jin angrily. +“Your illness is the punishment of the gods for stealing the +Mikoto’s hook.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is only too true!” said the TAI; “the hook is still in my +throat, and all my efforts to get it out have been useless. I can’t eat, +and I can scarcely breathe, and each moment I feel that it will choke me, and +sometimes it gives me great pain. I had no intention of stealing the +Mikoto’s hook. I heedlessly snapped at the bait which I saw in the water, +and the hook came off and stuck in my throat. So I hope you will pardon +me.” +</p> + +<p> +The cuttlefish now came forward, and said to the King: +</p> + +<p> +“What I said was right. You see the hook still sticks in the TAI’S +throat. I hope to be able to pull it out in the presence of the Mikoto, and +then we can return it to him safely!” +</p> + +<p> +“O please make haste and pull it out!” cried the TAI, pitifully, +for he felt the pains in his throat coming on again; “I do so want to +return the hook to the Mikoto.” +</p> + +<p> +“All right, TAI SAN,” said his friend the cuttlefish, and then +opening the TAI’S mouth as wide as he could and putting one of his +feelers down the TAI’S throat, he quickly and easily drew the hook out of +the sufferer’s large mouth. He then washed it and brought it to the King. +</p> + +<p> +Ryn Jin took the hook from his subject, and then respectfully returned it to +the Happy Hunter (the Mikoto or Augustness, the fishes called him), who was +overjoyed at getting back his hook. He thanked Ryn Jin many times, his face +beaming with gratitude, and said that he owed the happy ending of his quest to +the Sea King’s wise authority and kindness. +</p> + +<p> +Ryn Jin now desired to punish the TAI, but the Happy Hunter begged him not to +do so; since his lost hook was thus happily recovered he did not wish to make +more trouble for the poor TAI. It was indeed the TAI who had taken the hook, +but he had already suffered enough for his fault, if fault it could be called. +What had been done was done in heedlessness and not by intention. The Happy +Hunter said he blamed himself; if he had understood how to fish properly he +would never have lost his hook, and therefore all this trouble had been caused +in the first place by his trying to do something which he did not know how to +do. So he begged the Sea King to forgive his subject. +</p> + +<p> +Who could resist the pleading of so wise and compassionate a judge? Ryn Jin +forgave his subject at once at the request of his august guest. The TAI was so +glad that he shook his fins for joy, and he and all the other fish went out +from the presence of their King, praising the virtues of the Happy Hunter. +</p> + +<p> +Now that the hook was found the Happy Hunter had nothing to keep him in Ryn Gu, +and he was anxious to get back to his own kingdom and to make peace with his +angry brother, the Skillful Fisher; but the Sea King, who had learnt to love +him and would fain have kept him as a son, begged him not to go so soon, but to +make the Sea Palace his home as long as ever he liked. While the Happy Hunter +was still hesitating, the two lovely Princesses, Tayotama and Tamayori, came, +and with the sweetest of bows and voices joined with their father in pressing +him to stay, so that without seeming ungracious he could not say them +“Nay,” and was obliged to stay on for some time. +</p> + +<p> +Between the Sea Realm and the Earth there was no difference in the night of +time, and the Happy Hunter found that three years went fleeting quickly by in +this delightful land. The years pass swiftly when any one is truly happy. But +though the wonders of that enchanted land seemed to be new every day, and +though the Sea King’s kindness seemed rather to increase than to grow +less with time, the Happy Hunter grew more and more homesick as the days +passed, and he could not repress a great anxiety to know what had happened to +his home and his country and his brother while he had been away. +</p> + +<p> +So at last he went to the Sea King and said: +</p> + +<p> +“My stay with you here has been most happy and I am very grateful to you +for all your kindness to me, but I govern Japan, and, delightful as this place +is, I cannot absent myself forever from my country. I must also return the +fishing hook to my brother and ask his forgiveness for having deprived him of +it for so long. I am indeed very sorry to part from you, but this time it +cannot be helped. With your gracious permission, I will take my leave to-day. I +hope to make you another visit some day. Please give up the idea of my staying +longer now.” +</p> + +<p> +King Ryn Jin was overcome with sorrow at the thought that he must lose his +friend who had made a great diversion in the Palace of the Sea, and his tears +fell fast as he answered: +</p> + +<p> +“We are indeed very sorry to part with you, Mikoto, for we have enjoyed +your stay with us very much. You have been a noble and honored guest and we +have heartily made you welcome. I quite understand that as you govern Japan you +ought to be there and not here, and that it is vain for us to try and keep you +longer with us, much as we would like to have you stay. I hope you will not +forget us. Strange circumstances have brought us together and I trust the +friendship thus begun between the Land and the Sea will last and grow stronger +than it has ever been before.” +</p> + +<p> +When the Sea King had finished speaking he turned to his two daughters and bade +them bring him the two Tide-Jewels of the Sea. The two Princesses bowed low, +rose and glided out of the hall. In a few minutes they returned, each one +carrying in her hands a flashing gem which filled the room with light. As the +Happy Hunter looked at them he wondered what they could be. The Sea King took +them from his daughters and said to his guest: +</p> + +<p> +“These two valuable talismans we have inherited from our ancestors from +time immemorial. We now give them to you as a parting gift in token of our +great affection for you. These two gems are called the nanjiu and the +kanjiu.” +</p> + +<p> +The Happy Hunter bowed low to the ground and said: +</p> + +<p> +“I can never thank you enough for all your kindness to me. And now will +you add one more favor to the rest and tell me what these jewels are and what I +am to do with them?” +</p> + +<p> +“The nanjiu,” answered the Sea King, “is also called the +Jewel of the Flood Tide, and whoever holds it in his possession can command the +sea to roll in and to flood the land at any time that he wills. The kanjiu is +also called the Jewel of the Ebbing Tide, and this gem controls the sea and the +waves thereof, and will cause even a tidal wave to recede.” +</p> + +<p> +Then Ryn Jin showed his friend how to use the talismans one by one and handed +them to him. The Happy Hunter was very glad to have these two wonderful gems, +the Jewel of the Flood Tide and the Jewel of the Ebbing Tide, to take back with +him, for he felt that they would preserve him in case of danger from enemies at +any time. After thanking his kind host again and again, he prepared to depart. +The Sea King and the two Princesses, Tayotama and Tamayori, and all the inmates +of the Palace, came out to say “Good-by,” and before the sound of +the last farewell had died away the Happy Hunter passed out from under the +gateway, past the well of happy memory standing in the shade of the great +KATSURA trees on his way to the beach. +</p> + +<p> +Here he found, instead of the queer basket on which he had come to the Realm of +Ryn Gu, a large crocodile waiting for him. Never had he seen such a huge +creature. It measured eight fathoms in length from the tip of its tail to the +end of its long mouth. The Sea King had ordered the monster to carry the Happy +Hunter back to Japan. Like the wonderful basket which Shiwozuchino Okina had +made, it could travel faster than any steamboat, and in this strange way, +riding on the back of a crocodile, the Happy Hunter returned to his own land. +</p> + +<p> +As soon as the crocodile landed him, the Happy Hunter hastened to tell the +Skillful Fisher of his safe return. He then gave him back the fishing hook +which had been found in the mouth of the TAI and which had been the cause of so +much trouble between them. He earnestly begged his brother’s forgiveness, +telling him all that had happened to him in the Sea King’s Palace and +what wonderful adventures had led to the finding of the hook. +</p> + +<p> +Now the Skillful Fisher had used the lost hook as an excuse for driving his +brother out of the country. When his brother had left him that day three years +ago, and had not returned, he had been very glad in his evil heart and had at +once usurped his brother’s place as ruler of the land, and had become +powerful and rich. Now in the midst of enjoying what did not belong to him, and +hoping that his brother might never return to claim his rights, quite +unexpectedly there stood the Happy Hunter before him. +</p> + +<p> +The Skillful Fisher feigned forgiveness, for he could make no more excuses for +sending his brother away again, but in his heart he was very angry and hated +his brother more and more, till at last he could no longer bear the sight of +him day after day, and planned and watched for an opportunity to kill him. +</p> + +<p> +One day when the Happy Hunter was walking in the rice fields his brother +followed him with a dagger. The Happy Hunter knew that his brother was +following him to kill him, and he felt that now, in this hour of great danger, +was the time to use the Jewels of the Flow and Ebb of the Tide and prove +whether what the Sea King had told him was true or not. +</p> + +<p> +So he took out the Jewel of the Flood Tide from the bosom of his dress and +raised it to his forehead. Instantly over the fields and over the farms the sea +came rolling in wave upon wave till it reached the spot where his brother was +standing. The Skillful Fisher stood amazed and terrified to see what was +happening. In another minute he was struggling in the water and calling on his +brother to save him from drowning. +</p> + +<p> +The Happy Hunter had a kind heart and could not bear the sight of his +brother’s distress. He at once put back the Jewel of the Flood Tide and +took out the Jewel of the Ebb Tide. No sooner did he hold it up as high as his +forehead than the sea ran back and back, and ere long the tossing rolling +floods had vanished, and the farms and fields and dry land appeared as before. +</p> + +<p> +The Skillful Fisher was very frightened at the peril of death in which he had +stood, and was greatly impressed by the wonderful things he had seen his +brother do. He learned now that he was making a fatal mistake to set himself +against his brother, younger than he thought he was, for he now had become so +powerful that the sea would flow in and the tide ebb at his word of command. So +he humbled himself before the Happy Hunter and asked him to forgive him all the +wrong he had done him. The Skillful Fisher promised to restore his brother to +his rights and also swore that though the Happy Hunter was the younger brother +and owed him allegiance by right of birth, that he, the Skillful Fisher, would +exalt him as his superior and bow before him as Lord of all Japan. +</p> + +<p> +Then the Happy Hunter said that he would forgive his brother if he would throw +into the receding tide all his evil ways. The Skillful Fisher promised and +there was peace between the two brothers. From this time he kept his word and +became a good man and a kind brother. +</p> + +<p> +The Happy Hunter now ruled his Kingdom without being disturbed by family +strife, and there was peace in Japan for a long, long time. Above all the +treasures in his house he prized the wonderful Jewels of the Flow and Ebb of +the Tide which had been given him by Ryn Jin, the Dragon King of the Sea. +</p> + +<p> +This is the congratulatory ending of the Happy Hunter and the Skillful Fisher. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap14"></a>THE STORY OF THE OLD MAN WHO MADE WITHERED TREES TO FLOWER</h2> + +<p> +Long, long ago there lived an old man and his wife who supported themselves by +cultivating a small plot of land. Their life had been a very happy and peaceful +one save for one great sorrow, and this was they had no child. Their only pet +was a dog named Shiro, and on him they lavished all the affection of their old +age. Indeed, they loved him so much that whenever they had anything nice to eat +they denied themselves to give it to Shiro. Now Shiro means +“white,” and he was so called because of his color. He was a real +Japanese dog, and very like a small wolf in appearance. +</p> + +<p> +The happiest hour of the day both for the old man and his dog was when the man +returned from his work in the field, and having finished his frugal supper of +rice and vegetables, would take what he had saved from the meal out to the +little veranda that ran round the cottage. Sure enough, Shiro was waiting for +his master and the evening tit-bit. Then the old man said “Chin, +chin!” and Shiro sat up and begged, and his master gave him the food. +Next door to this good old couple there lived another old man and his wife who +were both wicked and cruel, and who hated their good neighbors and the dog +Shiro with all their might. Whenever Shiro happened to look into their kitchen +they at once kicked him or threw something at him, sometimes even wounding him. +</p> + +<p> +One day Shiro was heard barking for a long time in the field at the back of his +master’s house. The old man, thinking that perhaps some birds were +attacking the corn, hurried out to see what was the matter. As soon as Shiro +saw his master he ran to meet him, wagging his tail, and, seizing the end of +his kimono, dragged him under a large yenoki tree. Here he began to dig very +industriously with his paws, yelping with joy all the time. The old man, unable +to understand what it all meant, stood looking on in bewilderment. But Shiro +went on barking and digging with all his might. +</p> + +<p> +The thought that something might be hidden beneath the tree, and that the dog +had scented it, at last struck the old man. He ran back to the house, fetched +his spade and began to dig the ground at that spot. What was his astonishment +when, after digging for some time, he came upon a heap of old and valuable +coins, and the deeper he dug the more gold coins did he find. So intent was the +old man on his work that he never saw the cross face of his neighbor peering at +him through the bamboo hedge. At last all the gold coins lay shining on the +ground. Shiro sat by erect with pride and looking fondly at his master as if to +say, “You see, though only a dog, I can make some return for all the +kindness you show me.” +</p> + +<p> +The old man ran in to call his wife, and together they carried home the +treasure. Thus in one day the poor old man became rich. His gratitude to the +faithful dog knew no bounds, and he loved and petted him more than ever, if +that were possible. +</p> + +<p> +The cross old neighbor, attracted by Shiro’s barking, had been an unseen +and envious witness of the finding of the treasure. He began to think that he, +too, would like to find a fortune. So a few days later he called at the old +man’s house and very ceremoniously asked permission to borrow Shiro for a +short time. +</p> + +<p> +Shiro’s master thought this a strange request, because he knew quite well +that not only did his neighbor not love his pet dog, but that he never lost an +opportunity of striking and tormenting him whenever the dog crossed his path. +But the good old man was too kind-hearted to refuse his neighbor, so he +consented to lend the dog on condition that he should be taken great care of. +</p> + +<p> +The wicked old man returned to his home with an evil smile on his face, and +told his wife how he had succeeded in his crafty intentions. He then took his +spade and hastened to his own field, forcing the unwilling Shiro to follow him. +As soon as he reached a yenoki tree, he said to the dog, threateningly: +</p> + +<p> +“If there were gold coins under your master’s tree, there must also +be gold coins under my tree. You must find them for me! Where are they? Where? +Where?” +</p> + +<p> +And catching hold of Shiro’s neck he held the dog’s head to the +ground, so that Shiro began to scratch and dig in order to free himself from +the horrid old man’s grasp. +</p> + +<p> +The old man was very pleased when he saw the dog begin to scratch and dig, for +he at once supposed that some gold coins lay buried under his tree as well as +under his neighbor’s, and that the dog had scented them as before; so +pushing Shiro away he began to dig himself, but there was nothing to be found. +As he went on digging a foul smell was noticeable, and he at last came upon a +refuse heap. +</p> + +<p> +The old man’s disgust can be imagined. This soon gave way to anger. He +had seen his neighbor’s good fortune, and hoping for the same luck +himself, he had borrowed the dog Shiro; and now, just as he seemed on the point +of finding what he sought, only a horrid smelling refuse heap had rewarded him +for a morning’s digging. Instead of blaming his own greed for his +disappointment, he blamed the poor dog. He seized his spade, and with all his +strength struck Shiro and killed him on the spot. He then threw the dog’s +body into the hole which he had dug in the hope of finding a treasure of gold +coins, and covered it over with the earth. Then he returned to the house, +telling no one, not even his wife, what he had done. +</p> + +<p> +After waiting several days, as the dog Shiro did not return, his master began +to grow anxious. Day after day went by and the good old man waited in vain. +Then he went to his neighbor and asked him to give him back his dog. Without +any shame or hesitation, the wicked neighbor answered that he had killed Shiro +because of his bad behavior. At this dreadful news Shiro’s master wept +many sad and bitter tears. Great indeed, was his woful surprise, but he was too +good and gentle to reproach his bad neighbor. Learning that Shiro was buried +under the yenoki tree in the field, he asked the old man to give him the tree, +in remembrance of his poor dog Shiro. +</p> + +<p> +Even the cross old neighbor could not refuse such a simple request, so he +consented to give the old man the tree under which Shiro lay buried. +Shiro’s master then cut the tree down and carried it home. Out of the +trunk he made a mortar. In this his wife put some rice, and he began to pound +it with the intention of making a festival to the memory of his dog Shiro. +</p> + +<p> +A strange thing happened! His wife put the rice into the mortar, and no sooner +had he begun to pound it to make the cakes, than it began to increase in +quantity gradually till it was about five times the original amount, and the +cakes were turned out of the mortar as if an invisible hand were at work. +</p> + +<p> +When the old man and his wife saw this, they understood that it was a reward to +them from Shiro for their faithful love to him. They tasted the cakes and found +them nicer than any other food. So from this time they never troubled about +food, for they lived upon the cakes with which the mortar never ceased to +supply them. +</p> + +<p> +The greedy neighbor, hearing of this new piece of good luck, was filled with +envy as before, and called on the old man and asked leave to borrow the +wonderful mortar for a short time, pretending that he, too, sorrowed for the +death of Shiro, and wished to make cakes for a festival to the dog’s +memory. +</p> + +<p> +The old man did not in the least wish to lend it to his cruel neighbor, but he +was too kind to refuse. So the envious man carried home the mortar, but he +never brought it back. +</p> + +<p> +Several days passed, and Shiro’s master waited in vain for the mortar, so +he went to call on the borrower, and asked him to be good enough to return the +mortar if he had finished with it. He found him sitting by a big fire made of +pieces of wood. On the ground lay what looked very much like pieces of a broken +mortar. In answer to the old man’s inquiry, the wicked neighbor answered +haughtily: +</p> + +<p> +“Have you come to ask me for your mortar? I broke it to pieces, and now I +am making a fire of the wood, for when I tried to pound cakes in it only some +horrid smelling stuff came out.” +</p> + +<p> +The good old man said: +</p> + +<p> +“I am very sorry for that. It is a great pity you did not ask me for the +cakes if you wanted them. I would have given you as many as ever you wanted. +Now please give me the ashes of the mortar, as I wish to keep them in +remembrance of my dog.” +</p> + +<p> +The neighbor consented at once, and the old man carried home a basket full of +ashes. +</p> + +<p> +Not long after this the old man accidentally scattered some of the ashes made +by the burning of the mortar on the trees of his garden. A wonderful thing +happened! +</p> + +<p> +It was late in autumn and all the trees had shed their leaves, but no sooner +did the ashes touch their branches than the cherry trees, the plum trees, and +all other blossoming shrubs burst into bloom, so that the old man’s +garden was suddenly transformed into a beautiful picture of spring. The old +man’s delight knew no bounds, and he carefully preserved the remaining +ashes. +</p> + +<p> +The story of the old man’s garden spread far and wide, and people from +far and near came to see the wonderful sight. +</p> + +<p> +One day, soon after this, the old man heard some one knocking at his door, and +going to the porch to see who it was he was surprised to see a Knight standing +there. This Knight told him that he was a retainer of a great Daimio (Earl); +that one of the favorite cherry trees in this nobleman’s garden had +withered, and that though every one in his service had tried all manner of +means to revive it, none took effect. The Knight was sore perplexed when he saw +what great displeasure the loss of his favorite cherry tree caused the Daimio. +At this point, fortunately, they had heard that there was a wonderful old man +who could make withered trees to blossom, and that his Lord had sent him to ask +the old man to come to him. +</p> + +<p> +“And,” added the Knight, “I shall be very much obliged if you +will come at once.” +</p> + +<p> +The good old man was greatly surprised at what he heard, but respectfully +followed the Knight to the nobleman’s Palace. +</p> + +<p> +The Daimio, who had been impatiently awaiting the old man’s coming, as +soon as he saw him asked him at once: +</p> + +<p> +“Are you the old man who can make withered trees flower even out of +season?” +</p> + +<p> +The old man made an obeisance, and replied: +</p> + +<p> +“I am that old man!” +</p> + +<p> +Then the Daimio said: +</p> + +<p> +“You must make that dead cherry tree in my garden blossom again by means +of your famous ashes. I shall look on.” +</p> + +<p> +Then they all went into the garden—the Daimio and his retainers and the +ladies-in waiting, who carried the Daimio’s sword. +</p> + +<p> +The old man now tucked up his kimono and made ready to climb the tree. Saying +“Excuse me,” he took the pot of ashes which he had brought with +him, and began to climb the tree, every one watching his movements with great +interest. +</p> + +<p> +At last he climbed to the spot where the tree divided into two great branches, +and taking up his position here, the old man sat down and scattered the ashes +right and left all over the branches and twigs. +</p> + +<p> +Wonderful, indeed, was the result! The withered tree at once burst into full +bloom! The Daimio was so transported with joy that he looked as if he would go +mad. He rose to his feet and spread out his fan, calling the old man down from +the tree. He himself gave the old man a wine cup filled with the best SAKE, and +rewarded him with much silver and gold and many other precious things. The +Daimio ordered that henceforth the old man should call himself by the name of +Hana-Saka-Jijii, or “The Old Man who makes the Trees to Blossom,” +and that henceforth all were to recognize him by this name, and he sent him +home with great honor. +</p> + +<p> +The wicked neighbor, as before, heard of the good old man’s fortune, and +of all that had so auspiciously befallen him, and he could not suppress all the +envy and jealousy that filled his heart. He called to mind how he had failed in +his attempt to find the gold coins, and then in making the magic cakes; this +time surely he must succeed if he imitated the old man, who made withered trees +to flower simply by sprinkling ashes on them. This would be the simplest task +of all. +</p> + +<p> +So he set to work and gathered together all the ashes which remained in the +fire-place from the burning of the wonderful mortar. Then he set out in the +hope of finding some great man to employ him, calling out loudly as he went +along: +</p> + +<p> +“Here comes the wonderful man who can make withered trees blossom! Here +comes the old man who can make dead trees blossom!” +</p> + +<p> +The Daimio in his Palace heard this cry, and said: +</p> + +<p> +“That must be the Hana-Saka-Jijii passing. I have nothing to do to-day. +Let him try his art again; it will amuse me to look on.” +</p> + +<p> +So the retainers went out and brought in the impostor before their Lord. The +satisfaction of false old man can now be imagined. +</p> + +<p> +But the Daimio looking at him, thought it strange that he was not at all like +the old man he had seen before, so he asked him: +</p> + +<p> +“Are you the man whom I named Hana-Saka-Jijii?” +</p> + +<p> +And the envious neighbor answered with a lie: +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, my Lord!” +</p> + +<p> +“That is strange!” said the Daimio. “I thought there was only +one Hana-Saka-Jijii in the world! Has he now some disciples?” +</p> + +<p> +“I am the true Hana-Saka-Jijii. The one who came to you before was only +my disciple!” replied the old man again. +</p> + +<p> +“Then you must be more skillful than the other. Try what you can do and +let me see!” +</p> + +<p> +The envious neighbor, with the Daimio and his Court following, then went into +the garden, and approaching a dead tree, took out a handful of the ashes which +he carried with him, and scattered them over the tree. +</p> + +<p> +But not only did the tree not burst into flower, but not even a bud came forth. +Thinking that he had not used enough ashes, the old man took handfuls and again +sprinkled them over the withered tree. But all to no effect. After trying +several times, the ashes were blown into the Daimio’s eyes. This made him +very angry, and he ordered his retainers to arrest the false Hana-Saka-Jijii at +once and put him in prison for an impostor. From this imprisonment the wicked +old man was never freed. Thus did he meet with punishment at last for all his +evil doings. +</p> + +<p> +The good old man, however, with the treasure of gold coins which Shiro had +found for him, and with all the gold and the silver which the Daimio had +showered on him, became a rich and prosperous man in his old age, and lived a +long and happy life, beloved and respected by all. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap15"></a>THE JELLY FISH AND THE MONKEY</h2> + +<p> +Long, long ago, in old Japan, the Kingdom of the Sea was governed by a +wonderful King. He was called Rin Jin, or the Dragon King of the Sea. His power +was immense, for he was the ruler of all sea creatures both great and small, +and in his keeping were the Jewels of the Ebb and Flow of the Tide. The Jewel +of the Ebbing Tide when thrown into the ocean caused the sea to recede from the +land, and the Jewel of the Flowing Tide made the waves to rise mountains high +and to flow in upon the shore like a tidal wave. +</p> + +<p> +The Palace of Rin Jin was at the bottom of the sea, and was so beautiful that +no one has ever seen anything like it even in dreams. The walls were of coral, +the roof of jadestone and chrysoprase, and the floors were of the finest +mother-of-pearl. But the Dragon King, in spite of his wide-spreading Kingdom, +his beautiful Palace and all its wonders, and his power which none disputed +throughout the whole sea, was not at all happy, for he reigned alone. At last +he thought that if he married he would not only be happier, but also more +powerful. So he decided to take a wife. Calling all his fish retainers +together, he chose several of them as ambassadors to go through the sea and +seek for a young Dragon Princess who would be his bride. +</p> + +<p> +At last they returned to the Palace bringing with them a lovely young dragon. +Her scales were of glittering green like the wings of summer beetles, her eyes +threw out glances of fire, and she was dressed in gorgeous robes. All the +jewels of the sea worked in with embroidery adorned them. +</p> + +<p> +The King fell in love with her at once, and the wedding ceremony was celebrated +with great splendor. Every living thing in the sea, from the great whales down +to the little shrimps, came in shoals to offer their congratulations to the +bride and bridegroom and to wish them a long and prosperous life. Never had +there been such an assemblage or such gay festivities in the Fish-World before. +The train of bearers who carried the bride’s possessions to her new home +seemed to reach across the waves from one end of the sea to the other. Each +fish carried a phosphorescent lantern and was dressed in ceremonial robes, +gleaming blue and pink and silver; and the waves as they rose and fell and +broke that night seemed to be rolling masses of white and green fire, for the +phosphorus shone with double brilliancy in honor of the event. +</p> + +<p> +Now for a time the Dragon King and his bride lived very happily. They loved +each other dearly, and the bridegroom day after day took delight in showing his +bride all the wonders and treasures of his coral Palace, and she was never +tired of wandering with him through its vast halls and gardens. Life seemed to +them both like a long summer’s day. +</p> + +<p> +Two months passed in this happy way, and then the Dragon Queen fell ill and was +obliged to stay in bed. The King was sorely troubled when he saw his precious +bride so ill, and at once sent for the fish doctor to come and give her some +medicine. He gave special orders to the servants to nurse her carefully and to +wait upon her with diligence, but in spite of all the nurses’ assiduous +care and the medicine that the doctor prescribed, the young Queen showed no +signs of recovery, but grew daily worse. +</p> + +<p> +Then the Dragon King interviewed the doctor and blamed him for not curing the +Queen. The doctor was alarmed at Rin Jin’s evident displeasure, and +excused his want of skill by saying that although he knew the right kind of +medicine to give the invalid, it was impossible to find it in the sea. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you mean to tell me that you can’t get the medicine +here?” asked the Dragon King. +</p> + +<p> +“It is just as you say!” said the doctor. +</p> + +<p> +“Tell me what it is you want for the Queen?” demanded Rin Jin. +</p> + +<p> +“I want the liver of a live monkey!” answered the doctor. +</p> + +<p> +“The liver of a live monkey! Of course that will be most difficult to +get,” said the King. +</p> + +<p> +“If we could only get that for the Queen, Her Majesty would soon +recover,” said the doctor. +</p> + +<p> +“Very well, that decides it; we MUST get it somehow or other. But where +are we most likely to find a monkey?” asked the King. +</p> + +<p> +Then the doctor told the Dragon King that some distance to the south there was +a Monkey Island where a great many monkeys lived. +</p> + +<p> +“If only you could capture one of these monkeys?” said the doctor. +</p> + +<p> +“How can any of my people capture a monkey?” said the Dragon King, +greatly puzzled. “The monkeys live on dry land, while we live in the +water; and out of our element we are quite powerless! I don’t see what we +can do!” +</p> + +<p> +“That has been my difficulty too,” said the doctor. “But +amongst your innumerable servants you surely can find one who can go on shore +for that express purpose!” +</p> + +<p> +“Something must be done,” said the King, and calling his chief +steward he consulted him on the matter. +</p> + +<p> +The chief steward thought for some time, and then, as if struck by a sudden +thought, said joyfully: +</p> + +<p> +“I know what we must do! There is the kurage (jelly fish). He is +certainly ugly to look at, but he is proud of being able to walk on land with +his four legs like a tortoise. Let us send him to the Island of Monkeys to +catch one.” +</p> + +<p> +The jelly fish was then summoned to the King’s presence, and was told by +His Majesty what was required of him. +</p> + +<p> +The jelly fish, on being told of the unexpected mission which was to be +intrusted to him, looked very troubled, and said that he had never been to the +island in question, and as he had never had any experience in catching monkeys +he was afraid that he would not be able to get one. +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” said the chief steward, “if you depend on your +strength or dexterity you will never catch a monkey. The only way is to play a +trick on one!” +</p> + +<p> +“How can I play a trick on a monkey? I don’t know how to do +it,” said the perplexed jelly fish. +</p> + +<p> +“This is what you must do,” said the wily chief steward. +“When you approach the Island of Monkeys and meet some of them, you must +try to get very friendly with one. Tell him that you are a servant of the +Dragon King, and invite him to come and visit you and see the Dragon +King’s Palace. Try and describe to him as vividly as you can the grandeur +of the Palace and the wonders of the sea so as to arouse his curiosity and make +him long to see it all!” +</p> + +<p> +“But how am I to get the monkey here? You know monkeys don’t +swim?” said the reluctant jelly fish. +</p> + +<p> +“You must carry him on your back. What is the use of your shell if you +can’t do that!” said the chief steward. +</p> + +<p> +“Won’t he be very heavy?” queried kurage again. +</p> + +<p> +“You mustn’t mind that, for you are working for the Dragon +King,” replied the chief steward. +</p> + +<p> +“I will do my best then,” said the jelly fish, and he swam away +from the Palace and started off towards the Monkey Island. Swimming swiftly he +reached his destination in a few hours, and landed by a convenient wave upon +the shore. On looking round he saw not far away a big pine-tree with drooping +branches and on one of those branches was just what he was looking for—a +live monkey. +</p> + +<p> +“I’m in luck!” thought the jelly fish. “Now I must +flatter the creature and try to entice him to come back with me to the Palace, +and my part will be done!” +</p> + +<p> +So the jelly fish slowly walked towards the pine-tree. In those ancient days +the jelly fish had four legs and a hard shell like a tortoise. When he got to +the pine-tree he raised his voice and said: +</p> + +<p> +“How do you do, Mr. Monkey? Isn’t it a lovely day?” +</p> + +<p> +“A very fine day,” answered the monkey from the tree. “I have +never seen you in this part of the world before. Where have you come from and +what is your name?” +</p> + +<p> +“My name is kurage or jelly fish. I am one of the servants of the Dragon +King. I have heard so much of your beautiful island that I have come on purpose +to see it,” answered the jelly fish. +</p> + +<p> +“I am very glad to see you,” said the monkey. +</p> + +<p> +“By the bye,” said the jelly fish, “have you ever seen the +Palace of the Dragon King of the Sea where I live?” +</p> + +<p> +“I have often heard of it, but I have never seen it!” answered the +monkey. +</p> + +<p> +“Then you ought most surely to come. It is a great pity for you to go +through life without seeing it. The beauty of the Palace is beyond all +description—it is certainly to my mind the most lovely place in the +world,” said the jelly fish. +</p> + +<p> +“Is it so beautiful as all that?” asked the monkey in astonishment. +</p> + +<p> +Then the jelly fish saw his chance, and went on describing to the best of his +ability the beauty and grandeur of the Sea King’s Palace, and the wonders +of the garden with its curious trees of white, pink and red coral, and the +still more curious fruits like great jewels hanging on the branches. The monkey +grew more and more interested, and as he listened he came down the tree step by +step so as not to lose a word of the wonderful story. +</p> + +<p> +“I have got him at last!” thought the jelly fish, but aloud he +said: +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Monkey. I must now go back. As you have never seen the Palace of the +Dragon King, won’t you avail yourself of this splendid opportunity by +coming with me? I shall then be able to act as guide and show you all the +sights of the sea, which will be even more wonderful to you—a +land-lubber.” +</p> + +<p> +“I should love to go,” said the monkey, “but how am I to +cross the water! I can’t swim, as you surely know!” +</p> + +<p> +“There is no difficulty about that. I can carry you on my back.” +</p> + +<p> +“That will be troubling you too much,” said the monkey. +</p> + +<p> +“I can do it quite easily. I am stronger than I look, so you +needn’t hesitate,” said the jelly fish, and taking the monkey on +his back he stepped into the sea. +</p> + +<p> +“Keep very still, Mr. monkey,” said the jelly fish. “You +mustn’t fall into the sea; I am responsible for your safe arrival at the +King’s Palace.” +</p> + +<p> +“Please don’t go so fast, or I am sure I shall fall off,” +said the monkey. +</p> + +<p> +Thus they went along, the jelly fish skimming through the waves with the monkey +sitting on his back. When they were about half-way, the jelly fish, who knew +very little of anatomy, began to wonder if the monkey had his liver with him or +not! +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Monkey, tell me, have you such a thing as a liver with you?” +</p> + +<p> +The monkey was very much surprised at this queer question, and asked what the +jelly fish wanted with a liver. +</p> + +<p> +“That is the most important thing of all,” said the stupid jelly +fish, “so as soon as I recollected it, I asked you if you had yours with +you?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why is my liver so important to you?” asked the monkey. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! you will learn the reason later,” said the jelly fish. +</p> + +<p> +The monkey grew more and more curious and suspicious, and urged the jelly fish +to tell him for what his liver was wanted, and ended up by appealing to his +hearer’s feelings by saying that he was very troubled at what he had been +told. +</p> + +<p> +Then the jelly fish, seeing how anxious the monkey looked, was sorry for him, +and told him everything. How the Dragon Queen had fallen ill, and how the +doctor had said that only the liver of a live monkey would cure her, and how +the Dragon King had sent him to find one. +</p> + +<p> +“Now I have done as I was told, and as soon as we arrive at the Palace +the doctor will want your liver, so I feel sorry for you!” said the silly +jelly fish. +</p> + +<p> +The poor monkey was horrified when he learnt all this, and very angry at the +trick played upon him. He trembled with fear at the thought of what was in +store for him. +</p> + +<p> +But the monkey was a clever animal, and he thought it the wisest plan not to +show any sign of the fear he felt, so he tried to calm himself and to think of +some way by which he might escape. +</p> + +<p> +“The doctor means to cut me open and then take my liver out! Why I shall +die!” thought the monkey. At last a bright thought struck him, so he said +quite cheerfully to the jelly fish: +</p> + +<p> +“What a pity it was, Mr. Jelly Fish, that you did not speak of this +before we left the island!” +</p> + +<p> +“If I had told why I wanted you to accompany me you would certainly have +refused to come,” answered the jelly fish. +</p> + +<p> +“You are quite mistaken,” said the monkey. “Monkeys can very +well spare a liver or two, especially when it is wanted for the Dragon Queen of +the Sea. If I had only guessed of what you were in need. I should have +presented you with one without waiting to be asked. I have several livers. But +the greatest pity is, that as you did not speak in time, I have left all my +livers hanging on the pine-tree.” +</p> + +<p> +“Have you left your liver behind you?” asked the jelly fish. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” said the cunning monkey, “during the daytime I usually +leave my liver hanging up on the branch of a tree, as it is very much in the +way when I am climbing about from tree to tree. To-day, listening to your +interesting conversation, I quite forgot it, and left it behind when I came off +with you. If only you had spoken in time I should have remembered it, and +should have brought it along with me!” +</p> + +<p> +The jelly fish was very disappointed when he heard this, for he believed every +word the monkey said. The monkey was of no good without a liver. Finally the +jelly fish stopped and told the monkey so. +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” said the monkey, “that is soon remedied. I am really +sorry to think of all your trouble; but if you will only take me back to the +place where you found me, I shall soon be able to get my liver.” +</p> + +<p> +The jelly fish did not at all like the idea of going all the way back to the +island again; but the monkey assured him that if he would be so kind as to take +him back he would get his very best liver, and bring it with him the next time. +Thus persuaded, the jelly fish turned his course towards the Monkey Island once +more. +</p> + +<p> +No sooner had the jelly fish reached the shore than the sly monkey landed, and +getting up into the pine-tree where the jelly fish had first seen him, he cut +several capers amongst the branches with joy at being safe home again, and then +looking down at the jelly fish said: +</p> + +<p> +“So many thanks for all the trouble you have taken! Please present my +compliments to the Dragon King on your return!” +</p> + +<p> +The jelly fish wondered at this speech and the mocking tone in which it was +uttered. Then he asked the monkey if it wasn’t his intention to come with +him at once after getting his liver. +</p> + +<p> +The monkey replied laughingly that he couldn’t afford to lose his liver: +it was too precious. +</p> + +<p> +“But remember your promise!” pleaded the jelly fish, now very +discouraged. +</p> + +<p> +“That promise was false, and anyhow it is now broken!” answered the +monkey. Then he began to jeer at the jelly fish and told him that he had been +deceiving him the whole time; that he had no wish to lose his life, which he +certainly would have done had he gone on to the Sea King’s Palace to the +old doctor waiting for him, instead of persuading the jelly fish to return +under false pretenses. +</p> + +<p> +“Of course, I won’t GIVE you my liver, but come and get it if you +can!” added the monkey mockingly from the tree. +</p> + +<p> +There was nothing for the jelly fish to do now but to repent of his stupidity, +and to return to the Dragon King of the Sea and to confess his failure, so he +started sadly and slowly to swim back. The last thing he heard as he glided +away, leaving the island behind him, was the monkey laughing at him. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the Dragon King, the doctor, the chief steward, and all the servants +were waiting impatiently for the return of the jelly fish. When they caught +sight of him approaching the Palace, they hailed him with delight. They began +to thank him profusely for all the trouble he had taken in going to Monkey +Island, and then they asked him where the monkey was. +</p> + +<p> +Now the day of reckoning had come for the jelly fish. He quaked all over as he +told his story. How he had brought the monkey halfway over the sea, and then +had stupidly let out the secret of his commission; how the monkey had deceived +him by making him believe that he had left his liver behind him. +</p> + +<p> +The Dragon King’s wrath was great, and he at once gave orders that the +jelly fish was to be severely punished. The punishment was a horrible one. All +the bones were to be drawn out from his living body, and he was to be beaten +with sticks. +</p> + +<p> +The poor jelly fish, humiliated and horrified beyond all words, cried out for +pardon. But the Dragon King’s order had to be obeyed. The servants of the +Palace forthwith each brought out a stick and surrounded the jelly fish, and +after pulling out his bones they beat him to a flat pulp, and then took him out +beyond the Palace gates and threw him into the water. Here he was left to +suffer and repent his foolish chattering, and to grow accustomed to his new +state of bonelessness. +</p> + +<p> +From this story it is evident that in former times the jelly fish once had a +shell and bones something like a tortoise, but, ever since the Dragon +King’s sentence was carried out on the ancestor of the jelly fishes, his +descendants have all been soft and boneless just as you see them to-day thrown +up by the waves high upon the shores of Japan. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap16"></a>THE QUARREL OF THE MONKEY AND THE CRAB</h2> + +<p> +Long, long ago, one bright autumn day in Japan, it happened, that a pink-faced +monkey and a yellow crab were playing together along the bank of a river. As +they were running about, the crab found a rice-dumpling and the monkey a +persimmon-seed. +</p> + +<p> +The crab picked up the rice-dumpling and showed it to the monkey, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“Look what a nice thing I have found!” +</p> + +<p> +Then the monkey held up his persimmon-seed and said: +</p> + +<p> +“I also have found something good! Look!” +</p> + +<p> +Now though the monkey is always very fond of persimmon fruit, he had no use for +the seed he had just found. The persimmon-seed is as hard and uneatable as a +stone. He, therefore, in his greedy nature, felt very envious of the +crab’s nice dumpling, and he proposed an exchange. The crab naturally did +not see why he should give up his prize for a hard stone-like seed, and would +not consent to the monkey’s proposition. +</p> + +<p> +Then the cunning monkey began to persuade the crab, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“How unwise you are not to think of the future! Your rice-dumpling can be +eaten now, and is certainly much bigger than my seed; but if you sow this seed +in the ground it will soon grow and become a great tree in a few years, and +bear an abundance of fine ripe persimmons year after year. If only I could show +it to you then with the yellow fruit hanging on its branches! Of course, if you +don’t believe me I shall sow it myself; though I am sure, later on, you +will be very sorry that you did not take my advice.” +</p> + +<p> +The simple-minded crab could not resist the monkey’s clever persuasion. +He at last gave in and consented to the monkey’s proposal, and the +exchange was made. The greedy monkey soon gobbled up the dumpling, and with +great reluctance gave up the persimmon-seed to the crab. He would have liked to +keep that too, but he was afraid of making the crab angry and of being pinched +by his sharp scissor-like claws. They then separated, the monkey going home to +his forest trees and the crab to his stones along the river-side. As soon as +the crab reached home he put the persimmon-seed in the ground as the monkey had +told him. +</p> + +<p> +In the following spring the crab was delighted to see the shoot of a young tree +push its way up through the ground. Each year it grew bigger, till at last it +blossomed one spring, and in the following autumn bore some fine large +persimmons. Among the broad smooth green leaves the fruit hung like golden +balls, and as they ripened they mellowed to a deep orange. It was the little +crab’s pleasure to go out day by day and sit in the sun and put out his +long eyes in the same way as a snail puts out its horn, and watch the +persimmons ripening to perfection. +</p> + +<p> +“How delicious they will be to eat!” he said to himself. +</p> + +<p> +At last, one day, he knew the persimmons must be quite ripe and he wanted very +much to taste one. He made several attempts to climb the tree, in the vain hope +of reaching one of the beautiful persimmons hanging above him; but he failed +each time, for a crab’s legs are not made for climbing trees but only for +running along the ground and over stones, both of which he can do most +cleverly. In his dilemma he thought of his old playmate the monkey, who, he +knew, could climb trees better than any one else in the world. He determined to +ask the monkey to help him, and set out to find him. +</p> + +<p> +Running crab-fashion up the stony river bank, over the pathways into the +shadowy forest, the crab at last found the monkey taking an afternoon nap in +his favorite pine-tree, with his tail curled tight around a branch to prevent +him from falling off in his dreams. He was soon wide awake, however, when he +heard himself called, and eagerly listening to what the crab told him. When he +heard that the seed which he had long ago exchanged for a rice-dumpling had +grown into a tree and was now bearing good fruit, he was delighted, for he at +once devised a cunning plan which would give him all the persimmons for +himself. +</p> + +<p> +He consented to go with the crab to pick the fruit for him. When they both +reached the spot, the monkey was astonished to see what a fine tree had sprung +from the seed, and with what a number of ripe persimmons the branches were +loaded. +</p> + +<p> +He quickly climbed the tree and began to pluck and eat, as fast as he could, +one persimmon after another. Each time he chose the best and ripest he could +find, and went on eating till he could eat no more. Not one would he give to +the poor hungry crab waiting below, and when he had finished there was little +but the hard, unripe fruit left. +</p> + +<p> +You can imagine the feelings of the poor crab after waiting patiently, for so +long as he had done, for the tree to grow and the fruit to ripen, when he saw +the monkey devouring all the good persimmons. He was so disappointed that he +ran round and round the tree calling to the monkey to remember his promise. The +monkey at first took no notice of the crab’s complaints, but at last he +picked out the hardest, greenest persimmon he could find and aimed it at the +crab’s head. The persimmon is as hard as stone when it is unripe. The +monkey’s missile struck home and the crab was sorely hurt by the blow. +Again and again, as fast as he could pick them, the monkey pulled off the hard +persimmons and threw them at the defenseless crab till he dropped dead, covered +with wounds all over his body. There he lay a pitiful sight at the foot of the +tree he had himself planted. +</p> + +<p> +When the wicked monkey saw that he had killed the crab he ran away from the +spot as fast as he could, in fear and trembling, like a coward as he was. +</p> + +<p> +Now the crab had a son who had been playing with a friend not far from the spot +where this sad work had taken place. On the way home he came across his father +dead, in a most dreadful condition—his head was smashed and his shell +broken in several places, and around his body lay the unripe persimmons which +had done their deadly work. At this dreadful sight the poor young crab sat down +and wept. +</p> + +<p> +But when he had wept for some time he told himself that this crying would do no +good; it was his duty to avenge his father’s murder, and this he +determined to do. He looked about for some clue which would lead him to +discover the murderer. Looking up at the tree he noticed that the best fruit +had gone, and that all around lay bits of peel and numerous seeds strewn on the +ground as well as the unripe persimmons which had evidently been thrown at his +father. Then he understood that the monkey was the murderer, for he now +remembered that his father had once told him the story of the rice-dumpling and +the persimmon-seed. The young crab knew that monkeys liked persimmons above all +other fruit, and he felt sure that his greed for the coveted fruit had been the +cause of the old crab’s death. Alas! +</p> + +<p> +He at first thought of going to attack the monkey at once, for he burned with +rage. Second thoughts, however, told him that this was useless, for the monkey +was an old and cunning animal and would be hard to overcome. He must meet +cunning with cunning and ask some of his friends to help him, for he knew it +would be quite out of his power to kill him alone. +</p> + +<p> +The young crab set out at once to call on the mortar, his father’s old +friend, and told him of all that had happened. He besought the mortar with +tears to help him avenge his father’s death. The mortar was very sorry +when he heard the woful tale and promised at once to help the young crab punish +the monkey to death. He warned him that he must be very careful in what he did, +for the monkey was a strong and cunning enemy. The mortar now sent to fetch the +bee and the chestnut (also the crab’s old friends) to consult them about +the matter. In a short time the bee and the chestnut arrived. When they were +told all the details of the old crab’s death and of the monkey’s +wickedness and greed, they both gladly consented to help the young crab in his +revenge. +</p> + +<p> +After talking for a long time as to the ways and means of carrying out their +plans they separated, and Mr. Mortar went home with the young crab to help him +bury his poor father. +</p> + +<p> +While all this was taking place the monkey was congratulating himself (as the +wicked often do before their punishment comes upon them) on all he had done so +neatly. He thought it quite a fine thing that he had robbed his friend of all +his ripe persimmons and then that he had killed him. Still, smile as hard as he +might, he could not banish altogether the fear of the consequences should his +evil deeds be discovered. IF he were found out (and he told himself that this +could not be for he had escaped unseen) the crab’s family would be sure +to bear him hatred and seek to take revenge on him. So he would not go out, and +kept himself at home for several days. He found this kind of life, however, +extremely dull, accustomed as he was to the free life of the woods, and at last +he said: +</p> + +<p> +“No one knows that it was I who killed the crab! I am sure that the old +thing breathed his last before I left him. Dead crabs have no mouths! Who is +there to tell that I am the murderer? Since no one knows, what is the use of +shutting myself up and brooding over the matter? What is done cannot be +undone!” +</p> + +<p> +With this he wandered out into the crab settlement and crept about as slyly as +possible near the crab’s house and tried to hear the neighbors’ +gossip round about. He wanted to find out what the crabs were saving about +their chief’s death, for the old crab had been the chief of the tribe. +But he heard nothing and said to himself: +</p> + +<p> +“They are all such fools that they don’t know and don’t care +who murdered their chief!” +</p> + +<p> +Little did he know in his so-called “monkey’s wisdom” that +this seeming unconcern was part of the young crab’s plan. He purposely +pretended not to know who killed his father, and also to believe that he had +met his death through his own fault. By this means he could the better keep +secret the revenge on the monkey, which he was meditating. +</p> + +<p> +So the monkey returned home from his walk quite content. He told himself he had +nothing now to fear. +</p> + +<p> +One fine day, when the monkey was sitting at home, he was surprised by the +appearance of a messenger from the young crab. While he was wondering what this +might mean, the messenger bowed before him and said: +</p> + +<p> +“I have been sent by my master to inform you that his father died the +other day in falling from a persimmon tree while trying to climb the tree after +fruit. This, being the seventh day, is the first anniversary after his death, +and my master has prepared a little festival in his father’s honor, and +bids you come to participate in it as you were one of his best friends. My +master hopes you will honor his house with your kind visit.” +</p> + +<p> +When the monkey heard these words he rejoiced in his inmost heart, for all his +fears of being suspected were now at rest. He could not guess that a plot had +just been set in motion against him. He pretended to be very surprised at the +news of the crab’s death, and said: +</p> + +<p> +“I am, indeed, very sorry to hear of your chief’s death. We were +great friends as you know. I remember that we once exchanged a rice-dumpling +for a persimmon-seed. It grieves me much to think that that seed was in the end +the cause of his death. I accept your kind invitation with many thanks. I shall +be delighted to do honor to my poor old friend!” And he screwed some +false tears from his eyes. +</p> + +<p> +The messenger laughed inwardly and thought, “The wicked monkey is now +dropping false tears, but within a short time he shall shed real ones.” +But aloud he thanked the monkey politely and went home. +</p> + +<p> +When he had gone, the wicked monkey laughed aloud at what he thought was the +young crab’s innocence, and without the least feeling began to look +forward to the feast to be held that day in honor of the dead crab, to which he +had been invited. He changed his dress and set out solemnly to visit the young +crab. +</p> + +<p> +He found all the members of the crab’s family and his relatives waiting +to receive and welcome him. As soon as the bows of meeting were over they led +him to a hall. Here the young chief mourner came to receive him. Expressions of +condolence and thanks were exchanged between them, and then they all sat down +to a luxurious feast and entertained the monkey as the guest of honor. +</p> + +<p> +The feast over, he was next invited to the tea-ceremony room to drink a cup of +tea. When the young crab had conducted the monkey to the tearoom he left him +and retired. Time passed and still he did not return. At last the monkey became +impatient. He said to himself: +</p> + +<p> +“This tea ceremony is always a very slow affair. I am tired of waiting so +long. I am very thirsty after drinking so much sake at the dinner!” +</p> + +<p> +He then approached the charcoal fire-place and began to pour out some hot water +from the kettle boiling there, when something burst out from the ashes with a +great pop and hit the monkey right in the neck. It was the chestnut, one of the +crab’s friends, who had hidden himself in the fireplace. The monkey, +taken by surprise, jumped backward, and then started to run out of the room. +</p> + +<p> +The bee, who was hiding outside the screens, now flew out and stung him on the +cheek. The monkey was in great pain, his neck was burned by the chestnut and +his face badly stung by the bee, but he ran on screaming and chattering with +rage. +</p> + +<p> +Now the stone mortar had hidden himself with several other stones on the top of +the crab’s gate, and as the monkey ran underneath, the mortar and all +fell down on the top of the monkey’s head. Was it possible for the monkey +to bear the weight of the mortar falling on him from the top of the gate? He +lay crushed and in great pain, quite unable to get up. As he lay there helpless +the young crab came up, and, holding his great claw scissors over the monkey, +he said: +</p> + +<p> +“Do you now remember that you murdered my father?” +</p> + +<p> +“Then you—are—my—enemy?” gasped the monkey +brokenly. +</p> + +<p> +“Of course,” said the young crab. +</p> + +<p> +“It—was—your—father’s—fault—not—mine!” +gasped the unrepentant monkey. +</p> + +<p> +“Can you still lie? I will soon put an end to your breath!” and +with that he cut off the monkey’s head with his pitcher claws. Thus the +wicked monkey met his well-merited punishment, and the young crab avenged his +father’s death. +</p> + +<p> +This is the end of the story of the monkey, the crab, and the persimmon-seed. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap17"></a>THE WHITE HARE AND THE CROCODILES</h2> + +<p> +Long, long ago, when all the animals could talk, there lived in the province of +Inaba in Japan, a little white hare. His home was on the island of Oki, and +just across the sea was the mainland of Inaba. +</p> + +<p> +Now the hare wanted very much to cross over to Inaba. Day after day he would go +out and sit on the shore and look longingly over the water in the direction of +Inaba, and day after day he hoped to find some way of getting across. +</p> + +<p> +One day as usual, the hare was standing on the beach, looking towards the +mainland across the water, when he saw a great crocodile swimming near the +island. +</p> + +<p> +“This is very lucky!” thought the hare. “Now I shall be able +to get my wish. I will ask the crocodile to carry me across the sea!” +</p> + +<p> +But he was doubtful whether the crocodile would consent to do what wanted. So +he thought instead of asking a favor he would try to get what he wanted by a +trick. +</p> + +<p> +So with a loud voice he called to the crocodile, and said: +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, Mr. Crocodile, isn’t it a lovely day?” +</p> + +<p> +The crocodile, who had come out all by itself that day to enjoy the bright +sunshine, was just beginning to feel a bit lonely when the hare’s +cheerful greeting broke the silence. The crocodile swam nearer the shore, very +pleased to hear some one speak. +</p> + +<p> +“I wonder who it was that spoke to me just now! Was it you, Mr. Hare? You +must be very lonely all by yourself!” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, no, I am not at all lonely,” said the hare, “but as it +was such a fine day I came out here to enjoy myself. Won’t you stop and +play with me a little while?” +</p> + +<p> +The crocodile came out of the sea and sat on the shore, and the two played +together for some time. Then the hare said: +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Crocodile, you live in the sea and I live on this island, and we do +not often meet, so I know very little about you. Tell me, do you think the +number of your company is greater than mine?” +</p> + +<p> +“Of course, there are more crocodiles than hares,” answered the +crocodile. “Can you not see that for yourself? You live on this small +island, while I live in the sea, which spreads through all parts of the world, +so if I call together all the crocodiles who dwell in the sea you hares will be +as nothing compared to us!” The crocodile was very conceited. +</p> + +<p> +The hare, who meant to play a trick on the crocodile, said: +</p> + +<p> +“Do you think it possible for you to call up enough crocodiles to form a +line from this island across the sea to Inaba?” +</p> + +<p> +The crocodile thought for a moment and then answered: +</p> + +<p> +“Of course, it is possible.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then do try,” said the artful hare, “and I will count the +number from here!” +</p> + +<p> +The crocodile, who was very simple-minded, and who hadn’t the least idea +that the hare intended to play a trick on him, agreed to do what the hare +asked, and said: +</p> + +<p> +“Wait a little while I go back into the sea and call my company +together!” +</p> + +<p> +The crocodile plunged into the sea and was gone for some time. The hare, +meanwhile, waited patiently on the shore. At last the crocodile appeared, +bringing with him a large number of other crocodiles. +</p> + +<p> +“Look, Mr. Hare!” said the crocodile, “it is nothing for my +friends to form a line between here and Inaba. There are enough crocodiles to +stretch from here even as far as China or India. Did you ever see so many +crocodiles?” +</p> + +<p> +Then the whole company of crocodiles arranged themselves in the water so as to +form a bridge between the Island of Oki and the mainland of Inaba. When the +hare saw the bridge of crocodiles, he said: +</p> + +<p> +“How splendid! I did not believe this was possible. Now let me count you +all! To do this, however, with your permission, I must walk over on your backs +to the other side, so please be so good as not to move, or else I shall fall +into the sea and be drowned!” +</p> + +<p> +So the hare hopped off the island on to the strange bridge of crocodiles, +counting as he jumped from one crocodile’s back to the other: +</p> + +<p> +“Please keep quite still, or I shall not be able to count. One, two, +three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine—” +</p> + +<p> +Thus the cunning hare walked right across to the mainland of Inaba. Not content +with getting his wish, he began to jeer at the crocodiles instead of thanking +them, and said, as he leapt off the last one’s back: +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! you stupid crocodiles, now I have done with you!” +</p> + +<p> +And he was just about to run away as fast as he could. But he did not escape so +easily, for so soon as the crocodiles understood that this was a trick played +upon them by the hare so as to enable him to cross the sea, and that the hare +was now laughing at them for their stupidity, they became furiously angry and +made up their minds to take revenge. So some of them ran after the hare and +caught him. Then they all surrounded the poor little animal and pulled out all +his fur. He cried out loudly and entreated them to spare him, but with each +tuft of fur they pulled out they said: +</p> + +<p> +“Serve you right!” +</p> + +<p> +When the crocodiles had pulled out the last bit of fur, they threw the poor +hare on the beach, and all swam away laughing at what they had done. +</p> + +<p> +The hare was now in a pitiful plight, all his beautiful white fur had been +pulled out, and his bare little body was quivering with pain and bleeding all +over. He could hardly move, and all he could do was to lie on the beach quite +helpless and weep over the misfortune that had befallen him. Notwithstanding +that it was his own fault that had brought all this misery and suffering upon +the white hare of Inaba, any one seeing the poor little creature could not help +feeling sorry for him in his sad condition, for the crocodiles had been very +cruel in their revenge. +</p> + +<p> +Just at this time a number of men, who looked like King’s sons, happened +to pass by, and seeing the hare lying on the beach crying, stopped and asked +what was the matter. +</p> + +<p> +The hare lifted up his head from between his paws, and answered them, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“I had a fight with some crocodiles, but I was beaten, and they pulled +out all my fur and left me to suffer here—that is why I am crying.” +</p> + +<p> +Now one of these young men had a bad and spiteful disposition. But he feigned +kindness, and said to the hare: +</p> + +<p> +“I feel very sorry for you. If you will only try it, I know of a remedy +which will cure your sore body. Go and bathe yourself in the sea, and then come +and sit in the wind. This will make your fur grow again, and you will be just +as you were before.” +</p> + +<p> +Then all the young men passed on. The hare was very pleased, thinking that he +had found a cure. He went and bathed in the sea and then came out and sat where +the wind could blow upon him. +</p> + +<p> +But as the wind blew and dried him, his skin became drawn and hardened, and the +salt increased the pain so much that he rolled on the sand in his agony and +cried aloud. +</p> + +<p> +Just then another King’s son passed by, carrying a great bag on his back. +He saw the hare, and stopped and asked why he was crying so loudly. +</p> + +<p> +But the poor hare, remembering that he had been deceived by one very like the +man who now spoke to him, did not answer, but continued to cry. +</p> + +<p> +But this man had a kind heart, and looked at the hare very pityingly, and said: +</p> + +<p> +“You poor thing! I see that your fur is all pulled out and that your skin +is quite bare. Who can have treated you so cruelly?” +</p> + +<p> +When the hare heard these kind words he felt very grateful to the man, and +encouraged by his gentle manner the hare told him all that had befallen him. +The little animal hid nothing from his friend, but told him frankly how he had +played a trick on the crocodiles and how he had come across the bridge they had +made, thinking that he wished to count their number: how he had jeered at them +for their stupidity, and then how the crocodiles had revenged themselves on +him. Then he went on to say how he had been deceived by a party of men who +looked very like his kind friend: and the hare ended his long tale of woe by +begging the man to give him some medicine that would cure him and make his fur +grow again. +</p> + +<p> +When the hare had finished his story, the man was full of pity towards him, and +said: +</p> + +<p> +“I am very sorry for all you have suffered, but remember, it was only the +consequence of the deceit you practiced on the crocodiles.” +</p> + +<p> +“I know,” answered the sorrowful hare, “but I have repented +and made up my mind never to use deceit again, so I beg you to show me how I +may cure my sore body and make the fur grow again.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then I will tell you of a good remedy,” said the man. “First +go and bathe well in that pond over there and try to wash all the salt from +your body. Then pick some of those kaba flowers that are growing near the edge +of the water, spread them on the ground and roll yourself on them. If you do +this the pollen will cause your fur to grow again, and you will be quite well +in a little while.” +</p> + +<p> +The hare was very glad to be told what to do, so kindly. He crawled to the pond +pointed out to him, bathed well in it, and then picked the kaba flowers growing +near the water, and rolled himself on them. +</p> + +<p> +To his amazement, even while he was doing this, he saw his nice white fur +growing again, the pain ceased, and he felt just as he had done before all his +misfortunes. +</p> + +<p> +The hare was overjoyed at his quick recovery, and went hopping joyfully towards +the young man who had so helped him, and kneeling down at his feet, said: +</p> + +<p> +“I cannot express my thanks for all you have done for me! It is my +earnest wish to do something for you in return. Please tell me who you +are?” +</p> + +<p> +“I am no King’s son as you think me. I am a fairy, and my name is +Okuni-nushi-no-Mikoto,” answered the man, “and those beings who +passed here before me are my brothers. They have heard of a beautiful Princess +called Yakami who lives in this province of Inaba, and they are on their way to +find her and to ask her to marry one of them. But on this expedition I am only +an attendant, so I am walking behind them with this great big bag on my +back.” +</p> + +<p> +The hare humbled himself before this great fairy Okuni-nushi-no-Mikoto, whom +many in that part of the land worshiped as a god. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, I did not know that you were Okuni-nushi-no-Mikoto. How kind you +have been to me! It is impossible to believe that that unkind fellow who sent +me to bathe in the sea is one of your brothers. I am quite sure that the +Princess, whom your brothers have gone to seek, will refuse to be the bride of +any of them, and will prefer you for your goodness of heart. I am quite sure +that you will win her heart without intending to do so, and she will ask to be +your bride.” +</p> + +<p> +Okuni-nushi-no-Mikoto took no notice of what the hare said, but bidding the +little animal goodby, went on his way quickly and soon overtook his brothers. +He found them just entering the Princess’s gate. +</p> + +<p> +Just as the hare had said, the Princess could not be persuaded to become the +bride of any of the brothers, but when she looked at the kind brother’s +face she went straight up to him and said: +</p> + +<p> +“To you I give myself,” and so they were married. +</p> + +<p> +This is the end of the story. Okuni-nushi-no-Mikoto is worshiped by the people +in some parts of Japan, as a god, and the hare has become famous as “The +White Hare of Inaba.” But what became of the crocodiles nobody knows. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap18"></a>THE STORY OF PRINCE YAMATO TAKE</h2> + +<p> +The insignia of the great Japanese Empire is composed of three treasures which +have been considered sacred, and guarded with jealous care from time +immemorial. These are the Yatano-no-Kagami or the Mirror of Yata, the +Yasakami-no-Magatama or the Jewel of Yasakami, and the Murakumo-no-Tsurugi or +the Sword of Murakumo. +</p> + +<p> +Of these three treasures of the Empire, the sword of Murakumo, afterwards known +as Kusanagi-no-Tsrugugi, or the grass-cleaving sword, is considered the most +precious and most highly to be honored, for it is the symbol of strength to +this nation of warriors and the talisman of invincibility for the Emperor, +while he holds it sacred in the shrine of his ancestors. +</p> + +<p> +Nearly two thousand years ago this sword was kept at the shrines of Ite, the +temples dedicated to the worship of Amaterasu, the great and beautiful Sun +Goddess from whom the Japanese Emperors are said to be descended. +</p> + +<p> +There is a story of knightly adventure and daring which explains why the name +of the sword was changed from that of Murakumo to Kasanagi, which means grass +clearing. +</p> + +<p> +Once, many, many years ago, there was born a son to the Emperor Keiko, the +twelfth in descent from the great Jimmu, the founder of the Japanese dynasty. +This Prince was the second son of the Emperor Keiko, and he was named Yamato. +From his childhood he proved himself to be of remarkable strength, wisdom and +courage, and his father noticed with pride that he gave promise of great +things, and he loved him even more than he did his elder son. +</p> + +<p> +Now when Prince Yamato had grown to manhood (in the olden days of Japanese +history, a boy was considered to have reached man’s estate at the early +age of sixteen) the realm was much troubled by a band of outlaws whose chiefs +were two brothers, Kumaso and Takeru. These rebels seemed to delight in +rebelling against the King, in breaking the laws and defying all authority. +</p> + +<p> +At last King Keiko ordered his younger son Prince Yamato to subdue the brigands +and, if possible, to rid the land of their evil lives. Prince Yamato was only +sixteen years of age, he had but reached his manhood according to the law, yet +though he was such a youth in years he possessed the dauntless spirit of a +warrior of fuller age and knew not what fear was. Even then there was no man +who could rival him for courage and bold deeds, and he received his +father’s command with great joy. +</p> + +<p> +He at once made ready to start, and great was the stir in the precincts of the +Palace as he and his trusty followers gathered together and prepared for the +expedition, and polished up their armor and donned it. Before he left his +father’s Court he went to pray at the shrine of Ise and to take leave of +his aunt the Princess Yamato, for his heart was somewhat heavy at the thought +of the dangers he had to face, and he felt that he needed the protection of his +ancestress, Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess. The Princess his aunt came out to give +him glad welcome, and congratulated him on being trusted with so great a +mission by his father the King. She then gave him one of her gorgeous robes as +a keepsake to go with him and to bring him good luck, saying that it would +surely be of service to him on this adventure. She then wished him all success +in his undertaking and bade him good speed. +</p> + +<p> +The young Prince bowed low before his aunt, and received her gracious gift with +much pleasure and many respectful bows. +</p> + +<p> +“I will now set out,” said the Prince, and returning to the Palace +he put himself at the head of his troops. Thus cheered by his aunt’s +blessing, he felt ready for all that might befall, and marching through the +land he went down to the Southern Island of Kiushiu, the home of the brigands. +</p> + +<p> +Before many days had passed he reached the Southern Island, and then slowly but +surely made his way to the head-quarters of the chiefs Kumaso and Takeru. He +now met with great difficulties, for he found the country exceedingly wild and +rough. The mountains were high and steep, the valleys dark and deep, and huge +trees and bowlders of rock blocked up the road and stopped the progress of his +army. It was all but impossible to go on. +</p> + +<p> +Though the Prince was but a youth he had the wisdom of years, and, seeing that +it was vain to try and lead his men further, he said to himself: +</p> + +<p> +“To attempt to fight a battle in this impassable country unknown to my +men only makes my task harder. We cannot clear the roads and fight as well. It +is wiser for me to resort to stratagem and come upon my enemies unawares. In +that way I may be able to kill them without much exertion.” +</p> + +<p> +So he now bade his army halt by the way. His wife, the Princess Ototachibana, +had accompanied him, and he bade her bring him the robe his aunt the priestess +of Ise had given him, and to help him attire himself as a woman. With her help +he put on the robe, and let his hair down till it flowed over his shoulders. +Ototachibana then brought him her comb, which he put in his black tresses, and +then adorned himself with strings of strange jewels just as you see in the +picture. When he had finished his unusual toilet, Ototachibana brought him her +mirror. He smiled as he gazed at himself—the disguise was so perfect. +</p> + +<p> +He hardly knew himself, so changed was he. All traces of the warrior had +disappeared, and in the shining surface only a beautiful lady looked back at +him. +</p> + +<p> +Thus completely disguised, he set out for the enemy’s camp alone. In the +folds of his silk gown, next his strong heart, was hidden a sharp dagger. +</p> + +<p> +The two chiefs Kumaso and Takeru wore sitting in their tent, resting in the +cool of the evening, when the Prince approached. They were talking of the news +which had recently been carried to them, that the King’s son had entered +their country with a large army determined to exterminate their band. They had +both heard of the young warrior’s renown, and for the first time in their +wicked lives they felt afraid. In a pause in their talk they happened to look +up, and saw through the door of the tent a beautiful woman robed in sumptuous +garments coming towards them. Like an apparition of loveliness she appeared in +the soft twilight. Little did they dream that it was their enemy whose coming +they so dreaded who now stood before them in this disguise. +</p> + +<p> +“What a beautiful woman! Where has she come from?” said the +astonished Kumaso, forgetting war and council and everything as he looked at +the gentle intruder. +</p> + +<p> +He beckoned to the disguised Prince and bade him sit down and serve them with +wine. Yamato Take felt his heart swell with a fierce glee for he now knew that +his plan would succeed. However, he dissembled cleverly, and putting on a sweet +air of shyness he approached the rebel chief with slow steps and eyes glancing +like a frightened deer. Charmed to distraction by the girl’s loveliness +Kumaso drank cup after cup of wine for the pleasure of seeing her pour it out +for him, till at last he was quite overcome with the quantity he had drunk. +</p> + +<p> +This was the moment for which the brave Prince had been waiting. Flinging down +the wine jar, he seized the tipsy and astonished Kumaso and quickly stabbed him +to death with the dagger which he had secretly carried hidden in his breast. +</p> + +<p> +Takeru, the brigand’s brother, was terror-struck as soon as he saw what +was happening and tried to escape, but Prince Yamato was too quick for him. Ere +he could reach the tent door the Prince was at his heel, his garments were +clutched by a hand of iron, and a dagger flashed before his eyes and he lay +stabbed to the earth, dying but not yet dead. +</p> + +<p> +“Wait one moment!” gasped the brigand painfully, and he seized the +Prince’s hand. +</p> + +<p> +Yamato relaxed his hold somewhat and said. +</p> + +<p> +“Why should I pause, thou villain?” +</p> + +<p> +The brigand raised himself fearfully and said: +</p> + +<p> +“Tell me from whence you come, and whom I have the honor of addressing? +Hitherto I believed that my dead brother and I were the strongest men in the +land, and that there was no one who could overcome us. Alone you have ventured +into our stronghold, alone you have attacked and killed us! Surely you are more +than mortal?” +</p> + +<p> +Then the young Prince answered with a proud smile:—“I am the son of +the King and my name is Yamato, and I have been sent by my father as the +avenger of evil to bring death to all rebels! No longer shall robbery and +murder hold my people in terror!” and he held the dagger dripping red +above the rebel’s head. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah,” gasped the dying man with a great effort, “I have often +heard of you. You are indeed a strong man to have so easily overcome us. Allow +me to give you a new name. From henceforth you shall be known as Yamato Take. +Our title I bequeath to you as the bravest man in Yamato.” +</p> + +<p> +And with these noble words, Takeru fell back and died. +</p> + +<p> +The Prince having thus successfully put an end to his father’s enemies in +the world, was prepared to return to the capital. On the way back he passed +through the province of Idum. Here he met with another outlaw named Idzumo +Takeru who he knew had done much harm in the land. He again resorted to +stratagem, and feigned friendship with the rebel under an assumed name. Having +done this he made a sword of wood and jammed it tightly in the shaft of his own +strong sword. This he purposedly buckled to his side and wore on every occasion +when he expected to meet the third robber Takeru. +</p> + +<p> +He now invited Takeru to the bank of the River Hinokawa, and persuaded him to +try a swim with him in the cool refreshing waters of the river. +</p> + +<p> +As it was a hot summer’s day, the rebel was nothing loath to take a +plunge in the river, while his enemy was still swimming down the stream the +Prince turned back and landed with all possible haste. Unperceived, he managed +to change swords, putting his wooden one in place of the keen steel sword of +Takeru. +</p> + +<p> +Knowing nothing of this, the brigand came up to the bank shortly. As soon as he +had landed and donned his clothes, the Prince came forward and asked him to +cross swords with him to prove his skill, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“Let us two prove which is the better swordsman of the two!” +</p> + +<p> +The robber agreed with delight, feeling certain of victory, for he was famous +as a fencer in his province and he did not know who his adversary was. He +seized quickly what he thought was his sword and stood on guard to defend +himself. Alas! for the rebel the sword was the wooden one of the young Prince +and in vain Takeru tried to unsheathe it—it was jammed fast, not all his +exerted strength could move it. Even if his efforts had been successful the +sword would have been of no use to him for it was of wood. Yamato Take saw that +his enemy was in his power, and swinging high the sword he had taken from +Takeru he brought it down with great might and dexterity and cut off the +robber’s head. +</p> + +<p> +In this way, sometimes by using his wisdom and sometimes by using his bodily +strength, and at other times by resorting to craftiness, which was as much +esteemed in those days as it is despised in these, he prevailed against all the +King’s foes one by one, and brought peace and rest to the land and the +people. +</p> + +<p> +When he returned to the capital the King praised him for his brave deeds, and +held a feast in the Palace in honor of his safe coming home and presented him +with many rare gifts. From this time forth the King loved him more than ever +and would not let Yamato Take go from his side, for he said that his son was +now as precious to him as one of his arms. +</p> + +<p> +But the Prince was not allowed to live an idle life long. When he was about +thirty years old, news was brought that the Ainu race, the aborigines of the +islands of Japan, who had been conquered and pushed northwards by the Japanese, +had rebelled in the Eastern provinces, and leaving the vicinity which had been +allotted to them were causing great trouble in the land. The King decided that +it was necessary to send an army to do battle with them and bring them to +reason. But who was to lead the men? +</p> + +<p> +Prince Yamato Take at once offered to go and bring the newly arisen rebels into +subjection. Now as the King loved the Prince dearly, and could not bear to have +him go out of his sight even for the length of one day, he was of course very +loath to send him on his dangerous expedition. But in the whole army there was +no warrior so strong or so brave as the Prince his son, so that His Majesty, +unable to do otherwise, reluctantly complied with Yamato’s wish. +</p> + +<p> +When the time came for the Prince to start, the King gave him a spear called +the Eight-Arms-Length-Spear of the Holly Tree (the handle was probably made +from the wood of the holly tree), and ordered him to set out to subjugate the +Eastern Barbarians as the Ainu were then called. +</p> + +<p> +The Eight-Arms-Length-Spear of the Holly Tree of those old days, was prized by +warriors just as much as the Standard or Banner is valued by a regiment in +these modern days, when given by the King to his soldiers on the occasion of +setting out for war. +</p> + +<p> +The Prince respectfully and with great reverence received the King’s +spear, and leaving the capital, marched with his army to the East. On his way +he visited first of all the temples of Ise for worship, and his aunt the +Princess of Yamato and High Priestess came out to greet him. She it was who had +given him her robe which had proved such a boon to him before in helping him to +overcome and slay the brigands of the West. +</p> + +<p> +He told her all that had happened to him, and of the great part her keepsake +had played in the success of his previous undertaking, and thanked her very +heartily. When she heard that he was starting out once again to do battle with +his father’s enemies, she went into the temple, and reappeared bearing a +sword and a beautiful bag which she had made herself, and which was full of +flints, which in those times people used instead of matches for making fire. +These she presented to him as a parting gift. +</p> + +<p> +The sword was the sword of Murakumo, one of the three sacred treasures which +comprise the insignia of the Imperial House of Japan. No more auspicious +talisman of luck and success could she have given her nephew, and she bade him +use it in the hour of his greatest need. +</p> + +<p> +Yamato Take now bade farewell to his aunt, and once more placing himself at the +head of his men he marched to the farthest East through the province of Owari, +and then he reached the province of Suruga. Here the governor welcomed the +Prince right heartily and entertained him royally with many feasts. When these +were over, the governor told his guest that his country was famous for its fine +deer, and proposed a deer hunt for the Prince’s amusement. The Prince was +utterly deceived by the cordiality of his host, which was all feigned, and +gladly consented to join in the hunt. +</p> + +<p> +The governor then led the Prince to a wild and extensive plain where the grass +grew high and in great abundance. Quite ignorant that the governor had laid a +trap for him with the desire to compass his death, the Prince began to ride +hard and hunt down the deer, when all of a sudden to his amazement he saw +flames and smoke bursting out from the bush in front of him. Realizing his +danger he tried to retreat, but no sooner did he turn his horse in the opposite +direction than he saw that even there the prairie was on fire. At the same time +the grass on his left and right burst into flames, and these began to spread +swiftly towards him on all sides. He looked round for a chance of escape. There +was none. He was surrounded by fire. +</p> + +<p> +“This deer hunt was then only a cunning trick of the enemy!” said +the Prince, looking round on the flames and the smoke that crackled and rolled +in towards him on every side. “What a fool I was to be lured into this +trap like a wild beast!” and he ground his teeth with rage as he thought +of the governor’s smiling treachery. +</p> + +<p> +Dangerous as was his situation now, the Prince was not in the least confounded. +In his dire extremity he remembered the gifts his aunt had given him when they +parted, and it seemed to him as if she must, with prophetic foresight, have +divined this hour of need. He coolly opened the flint-bag that his aunt had +given him and set fire to the grass near him. Then drawing the sword of +Murakumo from its sheath he set to work to cut down the grass on either side of +him with all speed. He determined to die, if that were necessary, fighting for +his life and not standing still waiting for death to come to him. +</p> + +<p> +Strange to say the wind began to change and to blow from the opposite +direction, and the fiercest portion of the burning bush which had hitherto +threatened to come upon him was now blown right away from him, and the Prince, +without even a scratch on his body or a single hair burned, lived to tell the +tale of his wonderful escape, while the wind rising to a gale overtook the +governor, and he was burned to death in the flames he had set alight to kill +Yamato Take. +</p> + +<p> +Now the Prince ascribed his escape entirely to the virtue of the sword of +Murakumo, and to the protection of Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess of Ise, who +controls the wind and all the elements and insures the safety of all who pray +to her in the hour of danger. Lifting the precious sword he raised it above his +head many times in token of his great respect, and as he did this he re-named +it Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi or the Grass-Cleaving Sword, and the place where he set +fire to the grass round him and escaped from death in the burning prairie, he +called Yaidzu. To this day there is a spot along the great Tokaido railway +named Yaidzu, which is said to be the very place where this thrilling event +took place. +</p> + +<p> +Thus did the brave Prince Yamato Take escape out of the snare laid for him by +his enemy. He was full of resource and courage, and finally outwitted and +subdued all his foes. Leaving Yaidzu he marched eastward, and came to the shore +at Idzu from whence he wished to cross to Kadzusa. +</p> + +<p> +In these dangers and adventures he had been followed by his faithful loving +wife the Princess Ototachibana. For his sake she counted the weariness of the +long journeys and the dangers of war as nothing, and her love for her warrior +husband was so great that she felt well repaid for all her wanderings if she +could but hand him his sword when he sallied forth to battle, or minister to +his wants when he returned weary to the camp. +</p> + +<p> +But the heart of the Prince was full of war and conquest and he cared little +for the faithful Ototachibana. From long exposure in traveling, and from care +and grief at her lord’s coldness to her, her beauty had faded, and her +ivory skin was burnt brown by the sun, and the Prince told her one day that her +place was in the Palace behind the screens at home and not with him upon the +warpath. But in spite of rebuffs and indifference on her husband’s part, +Ototachibana could not find it in her heart to leave him. But perhaps it would +have been better for her if she had done so, for on the way to Idzu, when they +came to Owari, her heart was well-nigh broken. +</p> + +<p> +Here dwelt in a Palace shaded by pine-trees and approached by imposing gates, +the Princess Miyadzu, beautiful as the cherry blossom in the blushing dawn of a +spring morning. Her garments were dainty and bright, and her skin was white as +snow, for she had never known what it was to be weary along the path of duty or +to walk in the heat of a summer’s sun. And the Prince was ashamed of his +sunburnt wife in her travel-stained garments, and bade her remain behind while +he went to visit the Princess Miyadzu. Day after day he spent hours in the +gardens and the Palace of his new friend, thinking only of his pleasure, and +caring little for his poor wife who remained behind to weep in the tent at the +misery which had come into her life. Yet she was so faithful a wife, and her +character so patient, that she never allowed a reproach to escape her lips, or +a frown to mar the sweet sadness of her face, and she was ever ready with a +smile to welcome her husband back or usher him forth wherever he went. +</p> + +<p> +At last the day came when the Prince Yamato Take must depart for Idzu and cross +over the sea to Kadzusa, and he bade his wife follow in his retinue as an +attendant while he went to take a ceremonious farewell of the Princess Miyadzu. +She came out to greet him dressed in gorgeous robes, and she seemed more +beautiful than ever, and when Yamato Take saw her he forgot his wife, his duty, +and everything except the joy of the idle present, and swore that he would +return to Owari and marry her when the war was over. And as he looked up when +he had said these words he met the large almond eyes of Ototachibana fixed full +upon him in unspeakable sadness and wonder, and he knew that he had done wrong, +but he hardened his heart and rode on, caring little for the pain he had caused +her. +</p> + +<p> +When they reached the seashore at Idzu his men sought for boats in which to +cross the straits to Kadzusa, but it was difficult to find boats enough to +allow all the soldiers to embark. Then the Prince stood on the beach, and in +the pride of his strength he scoffed and said: +</p> + +<p> +“This is not the sea! This is only a brook! Why do you men want so many +boats? I could jump this if I would.” +</p> + +<p> +When at last they had all embarked and were fairly on their way across the +straits, the sky suddenly clouded and a great storm arose. The waves rose +mountains high, the wind howled, the lightning flashed and the thunder rolled, +and the boat which held Ototachibana and the Prince and his men was tossed from +crest to crest of the rolling waves, till it seemed that every moment must be +their last and that they must all be swallowed up in the angry sea. For Kin +Jin, the Dragon King of the Sea, had heard Yamato Take jeer, and had raised +this terrible storm in anger, to show the scoffing Prince how awful the sea +could be though it did but look like a brook. +</p> + +<p> +The terrified crew lowered the sails and looked after the rudder, and worked +for their dear lives’ sake, but all in vain—the storm only seemed +to increase in violence, and all gave themselves up for lost. Then the faithful +Ototachibana rose, and forgetting all the grief that her husband had caused +her, forgetting even that he had wearied of her, in the one great desire of her +love to save him, she determined to sacrifice her life to rescue him from death +if it were possible. +</p> + +<p> +While the waves dashed over the ship and the wind whirled round them in fury +she stood up and said: +</p> + +<p> +“Surely all this has come because the Prince has angered Rin Jin, the God +of the Sea, by his jesting. If so, I, Ototachibana, will appease the wrath of +the Sea God who desires nothing less than my husband’s life!” +</p> + +<p> +Then addressing the sea she said: +</p> + +<p> +“I will take the place of His Augustness, Yamato Take. I will now cast +myself into your outraged depths, giving my life for his. Therefore hear me and +bring him safely to the shore of Kadzusa.” +</p> + +<p> +With these words she leaped quickly into the boisterous sea, and the waves soon +whirled her away and she was lost to sight. Strange to say, the storm ceased at +once, and the sea became as calm and smooth as the matting on which the +astonished onlookers were sitting. The gods of the sea were now appeased, and +the weather cleared and the sun shone as on a summer’s day. +</p> + +<p> +Yamato Take soon reached the opposite shore and landed safely, even as his wife +Ototachibana had prayed. His prowess in war was marvelous, and he succeeded +after some time in conquering the Eastern Barbarians, the Ainu. +</p> + +<p> +He ascribed his safe landing wholly to the faithfulness of his wife, who had so +willingly and lovingly sacrificed herself in the hour of his utmost peril. His +heart was softened at the remembrance of her, and he never allowed her to pass +from his thoughts even for a moment. Too late had he learned to esteem the +goodness of her heart and the greatness of her love for him. +</p> + +<p> +As he was returning on his homeward way he came to the high pass of the Usui +Toge, and here he stood and gazed at the wonderful prospect beneath him. The +country, from this great elevation, all lay open to his sight, a vast panorama +of mountain and plain and forest, with rivers winding like silver ribbons +through the land; then far off he saw the distant sea, which shimmered like a +luminous mist in the great distance, where Ototachibana had given her life for +him, and as he turned towards it he stretched out his arms, and thinking of her +love which he had scorned and his faithlessness to her, his heart burst out +into a sorrowful and bitter cry: +</p> + +<p> +“Azuma, Azuma, Ya!” (Oh! my wife, my wife!) And to this day there +is a district in Tokio called Azuma, which commemorates the words of Prince +Yamato Take, and the place where his faithful wife leapt into the sea to save +him is still pointed out. So, though in life the Princess Ototachibana was +unhappy, history keeps her memory green, and the story of her unselfishness and +heroic death will never pass away. +</p> + +<p> +Yamato Take had now fulfilled all his father’s orders, he had subdued all +rebels, and rid the land of all robbers and enemies to the peace, and his +renown was great, for in the whole land there was no one who could stand up +against him, he was so strong in battle and wise in council. +</p> + +<p> +He was about to return straight for home by the way he had come, when the +thought struck him that he would find it more interesting to take another +route, so he passed through the province of Owari and came to the province of +Omi. +</p> + +<p> +When the Prince reached Omi he found the people in a state of great excitement +and fear. In many houses as he passed along he saw the signs of mourning and +heard loud lamentations. On inquiring the cause of this he was told that a +terrible monster had appeared in the mountains, who daily came down from thence +and made raids on the villages, devouring whoever he could seize. Many homes +had been made desolate and the men were afraid to go out to their daily work in +the fields, or the women to go to the rivers to wash their rice. +</p> + +<p> +When Yamato Take heard this his wrath was kindled, and he said fiercely: +</p> + +<p> +“From the western end of Kiushiu to the eastern corner of Yezo I have +subdued all the King’s enemies—there is no one who dares to break +the laws or to rebel against the King. It is indeed a matter for wonder that +here in this place, so near the capital, a wicked monster has dared to take up +his abode and be the terror of the King’s subjects. Not long shall it +find pleasure in devouring innocent folk. I will start out and kill it at +once.” +</p> + +<p> +With these words he set out for the Ibuki Mountain, where the monster was said +to live. He climbed up a good distance, when all of a sudden, at a winding in +the path, a monster serpent appeared before him and stopped the way. +</p> + +<p> +“This must be the monster,” said the Prince; “I do not need +my sword for a serpent. I can kill him with my hands.” +</p> + +<p> +He thereupon sprang upon the serpent and tried to strangle it to death with his +bare arms. It was not long before his prodigious strength gained the mastery +and the serpent lay dead at his feet. Now a sudden darkness came over the +mountain and rain began to fall, so that for the gloom and the rain the Prince +could hardly see which way to take. In a short time, however, while he was +groping his way down the pass, the weather cleared, and our brave hero was able +to make his way quickly down the mountain. +</p> + +<p> +When he got back he began to feel ill and to have burning pains in his feet, so +he knew that the serpent had poisoned him. So great was his suffering that he +could hardly move, much less walk, so he had himself carried to a place in the +mountains famous for its hot mineral springs, which rose bubbling out of the +earth, and almost boiling from the volcanic fires beneath. +</p> + +<p> +Yamato Take bathed daily in these waters, and gradually he felt his strength +come again, and the pains left him, till at last one day he found with great +joy that he was quite recovered. He now hastened to the temples of Ise, where +you will remember that he prayed before undertaking this long expedition. His +aunt, priestess of the shrine, who had blessed him on his setting out, now came +to welcome him back. He told her of the many dangers he had encountered and of +how marvelously his life had been preserved through all—and she praised +his courage and his warrior’s prowess, and then putting on her most +magnificent robes she returned thanks to their ancestress the Sun Goddess +Amaterasu, to whose protection they both ascribed the Prince’s wonderful +preservation. +</p> + +<p> +Here ends the story of Prince Yamato Take of Japan. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap19"></a>MOMOTARO, OR THE STORY OF THE SON OF A PEACH</h2> + +<p> +Long, long ago there lived, an old man and an old woman; they were peasants, +and had to work hard to earn their daily rice. The old man used to go and cut +grass for the farmers around, and while he was gone the old woman, his wife, +did the work of the house and worked in their own little rice field. +</p> + +<p> +One day the old man went to the hills as usual to cut grass and the old woman +took some clothes to the river to wash. +</p> + +<p> +It was nearly summer, and the country was very beautiful to see in its fresh +greenness as the two old people went on their way to work. The grass on the +banks of the river looked like emerald velvet, and the pussy willows along the +edge of the water were shaking out their soft tassels. +</p> + +<p> +The breezes blew and ruffled the smooth surface of the water into wavelets, and +passing on touched the cheeks of the old couple who, for some reason they could +not explain, felt very happy that morning. +</p> + +<p> +The old woman at last found a nice spot by the river bank and put her basket +down. Then she set to work to wash the clothes; she took them one by one out of +the basket and washed them in the river and rubbed them on the stones. The +water was as clear as crystal, and she could see the tiny fish swimming to and +fro, and the pebbles at the bottom. +</p> + +<p> +As she was busy washing her clothes a great peach came bumping down the stream. +The old woman looked up from her work and saw this large peach. She was sixty +years of age, yet in all her life she had never seen such a big peach as this. +</p> + +<p> +“How delicious that peach must be!” she said to herself. “I +must certainly get it and take it home to my old man.” +</p> + +<p> +She stretched out her arm to try and get it, but it was quite out of her reach. +She looked about for a stick, but there was not one to be seen, and if she went +to look for one she would lose the peach. +</p> + +<p> +Stopping a moment to think what she would do, she remembered an old +charm-verse. Now she began to clap her hands to keep time to the rolling of the +peach down stream, and while she clapped she sang this song: +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“Distant water is bitter,<br/> +The near water is sweet;<br/> +Pass by the distant water<br/> +And come into the sweet.” +</p> + +<p> +Strange to say, as soon as she began to repeat this little song the peach began +to come nearer and nearer the bank where the old woman was standing, till at +last it stopped just in front of her so that she was able to take it up in her +hands. The old woman was delighted. She could not go on with her work, so happy +and excited was she, so she put all the clothes back in her bamboo basket, and +with the basket on her back and the peach in her hand she hurried homewards. +</p> + +<p> +It seemed a very long time to her to wait till her husband returned. The old +man at last came back as the sun was setting, with a big bundle of grass on his +back—so big that he was almost hidden and she could hardly see him. He +seemed very tired and used the scythe for a walking stick, leaning on it as he +walked along. +</p> + +<p> +As soon as the old woman saw him she called out: +</p> + +<p> +“O Fii San! (old man) I have been waiting for you to come home for such a +long time to-day!” +</p> + +<p> +“What is the matter? Why are you so impatient?” asked the old man, +wondering at her unusual eagerness. “Has anything happened while I have +been away?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, no!” answered the old woman, “nothing has happened, only +I have found a nice present for you!” +</p> + +<p> +“That is good,” said the old man. He then washed his feet in a +basin of water and stepped up to the veranda. +</p> + +<p> +The old woman now ran into the little room and brought out from the cupboard +the big peach. It felt even heavier than before. She held it up to him, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“Just look at this! Did you ever see such a large peach in all your +life?” +</p> + +<p> +When the old man looked at the peach he was greatly astonished and said: +</p> + +<p> +“This is indeed the largest peach I have ever seen! Wherever did you buy +it?” +</p> + +<p> +“I did not buy it,” answered the old woman. “I found it in +the river where I was washing.” And she told him the whole story. +</p> + +<p> +“I am very glad that you have found it. Let us eat it now, for I am +hungry,” said the O Fii San. +</p> + +<p> +He brought out the kitchen knife, and, placing the peach on a board, was about +to cut it when, wonderful to tell, the peach split in two of itself and a clear +voice said: +</p> + +<p> +“Wait a bit, old man!” and out stepped a beautiful little child. +</p> + +<p> +The old man and his wife were both so astonished at what they saw that they +fell to the ground. The child spoke again: +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t be afraid. I am no demon or fairy. I will tell you the +truth. Heaven has had compassion on you. Every day and every night you have +lamented that you had no child. Your cry has been heard and I am sent to be the +son of your old age!” +</p> + +<p> +On hearing this the old man and his wife were very happy. They had cried night +and day for sorrow at having no child to help them in their lonely old age, and +now that their prayer was answered they were so lost with joy that they did not +know where to put their hands or their feet. First the old man took the child +up in his arms, and then the old woman did the same; and they named him +MOMOTARO, OR SON OF A PEACH, because he had come out of a peach. +</p> + +<p> +The years passed quickly by and the child grew to be fifteen years of age. He +was taller and far stronger than any other boys of his own age, he had a +handsome face and a heart full of courage, and he was very wise for his years. +The old couple’s pleasure was very great when they looked at him, for he +was just what they thought a hero ought to be like. +</p> + +<p> +One day Momotaro came to his foster-father and said solemnly: +</p> + +<p> +“Father, by a strange chance we have become father and son. Your goodness +to me has been higher than the mountain grasses which it was your daily work to +cut, and deeper than the river where my mother washes the clothes. I do not +know how to thank you enough.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why,” answered the old man, “it is a matter of course that a +father should bring up his son. When you are older it will be your turn to take +care of us, so after all there will be no profit or loss between us—all +will be equal. Indeed, I am rather surprised that you should thank me in this +way!” and the old man looked bothered. +</p> + +<p> +“I hope you will be patient with me,” said Momotaro; “but +before I begin to pay back your goodness to me I have a request to make which I +hope you will grant me above everything else.” +</p> + +<p> +“I will let you do whatever you wish, for you are quite different to all +other boys!” +</p> + +<p> +“Then let me go away at once!” +</p> + +<p> +“What do you say? Do you wish to leave your old father and mother and go +away from your old home?” +</p> + +<p> +“I will surely come back again, if you let me go now!” +</p> + +<p> +“Where are you going?” +</p> + +<p> +“You must think it strange that I want to go away,” said Momotaro, +“because I have not yet told you my reason. Far away from here to the +northeast of Japan there is an island in the sea. This island is the stronghold +of a band of devils. I have often heard how they invade this land, kill and rob +the people, and carry off all they can find. They are not only very wicked but +they are disloyal to our Emperor and disobey his laws. They are also cannibals, +for they kill and eat some of the poor people who are so unfortunate as to fall +into their hands. These devils are very hateful beings. I must go and conquer +them and bring back all the plunder of which they have robbed this land. It is +for this reason that I want to go away for a short time!” +</p> + +<p> +The old man was much surprised at hearing all this from a mere boy of fifteen. +He thought it best to let the boy go. He was strong and fearless, and besides +all this, the old man knew he was no common child, for he had been sent to them +as a gift from Heaven, and he felt quite sure that the devils would be +powerless to harm him. +</p> + +<p> +“All you say is very interesting, Momotaro,” said the old man. +“I will not hinder you in your determination. You may go if you wish. Go +to the island as soon as ever you like and destroy the demons and bring peace +to the land.” +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you, for all your kindness,” said Momotaro, who began to get +ready to go that very day. He was full of courage and did not know what fear +was. +</p> + +<p> +The old man and woman at once set to work to pound rice in the kitchen mortar +to make cakes for Momotaro to take with him on his journey. +</p> + +<p> +At last the cakes were made and Momotaro was ready to start on his long +journey. +</p> + +<p> +Parting is always sad. So it was now. The eyes of the two old people were +filled with tears and their voices trembled as they said: +</p> + +<p> +“Go with all care and speed. We expect you back victorious!” +</p> + +<p> +Momotaro was very sorry to leave his old parents (though he knew he was coming +back as soon as he could), for he thought of how lonely they would be while he +was away. But he said “Good-by!” quite bravely. +</p> + +<p> +“I am going now. Take good care of yourselves while I am away. +Good-by!” And he stepped quickly out of the house. In silence the eyes of +Momotaro and his parents met in farewell. +</p> + +<p> +Momotaro now hurried on his way till it was midday. He began to feel hungry, so +he opened his bag and took out one of the rice-cakes and sat down under a tree +by the side of the road to eat it. While he was thus having his lunch a dog +almost as large as a colt came running out from the high grass. He made +straight for Momotaro, and showing his teeth, said in a fierce way: +</p> + +<p> +“You are a rude man to pass my field without asking permission first. If +you leave me all the cakes you have in your bag you may go; otherwise I will +bite you till I kill you!” +</p> + +<p> +Momotaro only laughed scornfully: +</p> + +<p> +“What is that you are saying? Do you know who I am? I am Momotaro, and I +am on my way to subdue the devils in their island stronghold in the northeast +of Japan. If you try to stop me on my way there I will cut you in two from the +head downwards!” +</p> + +<p> +The dog’s manner at once changed. His tail dropped between his legs, and +coming near he bowed so low that his forehead touched the ground. +</p> + +<p> +“What do I hear? The name of Momotaro? Are you indeed Momotaro? I have +often heard of your great strength. Not knowing who you were I have behaved in +a very stupid way. Will you please pardon my rudeness? Are you indeed on your +way to invade the Island of Devils? If you will take such a rude fellow with +you as one of your followers, I shall be very grateful to you.” +</p> + +<p> +“I think I can take you with me if you wish to go,” said Momotaro. +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you!” said the dog. “By the way, I am very very +hungry. Will you give me one of the cakes you are carrying?” +</p> + +<p> +“This is the best kind of cake there is in Japan,” said Momotaro. +“I cannot spare you a whole one; I will give you half of one.” +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you very much,” said the dog, taking the piece thrown to +him. +</p> + +<p> +Then Momotaro got up and the dog followed. For a long time they walked over the +hills and through the valleys. As they were going along an animal came down +from a tree a little ahead of them. The creature soon came up to Momotaro and +said: +</p> + +<p> +“Good morning, Momotaro! You are welcome in this part of the country. +Will you allow me to go with you?” +</p> + +<p> +The dog answered jealously: +</p> + +<p> +“Momotaro already has a dog to accompany him. Of what use is a monkey +like you in battle? We are on our way to fight the devils! Get away!” +</p> + +<p> +The dog and the monkey began to quarrel and bite, for these two animals always +hate each other. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, don’t quarrel!” said Momotaro, putting himself between +them. “Wait a moment, dog!” +</p> + +<p> +“It is not at all dignified for you to have such a creature as that +following you!” said the dog. +</p> + +<p> +“What do you know about it?” asked Momotaro; and pushing aside the +dog, he spoke to the monkey: +</p> + +<p> +“Who are you?” +</p> + +<p> +“I am a monkey living in these hills,” replied the monkey. “I +heard of your expedition to the Island of Devils, and I have come to go with +you. Nothing will please me more than to follow you!” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you really wish to go to the Island of Devils and fight with +me?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir,” replied the monkey. +</p> + +<p> +“I admire your courage,” said Momotaro. “Here is a piece of +one of my fine rice-cakes. Come along!” +</p> + +<p> +So the monkey joined Momotaro. The dog and the monkey did not get on well +together. They were always snapping at each other as they went along, and +always wanting to have a fight. This made Momotaro very cross, and at last he +sent the dog on ahead with a flag and put the monkey behind with a sword, and +he placed himself between them with a war-fan, which is made of iron. +</p> + +<p> +By and by they came to a large field. Here a bird flew down and alighted on the +ground just in front of the little party. It was the most beautiful bird +Momotaro had ever seen. On its body were five different robes of feathers and +its head was covered with a scarlet cap. +</p> + +<p> +The dog at once ran at the bird and tried to seize and kill it. But the bird +struck out its spurs and flew at the dog’s tail, and the fight went hard +with both. +</p> + +<p> +Momotaro, as he looked on, could not help admiring the bird; it showed so much +spirit in the fight. It would certainly make a good fighter. +</p> + +<p> +Momotaro went up to the two combatants, and holding the dog back, said to the +bird: +</p> + +<p> +“You rascal! you are hindering my journey. Surrender at once, and I will +take you with me. If you don’t I will set this dog to bite your head +off!” +</p> + +<p> +Then the bird surrendered at once, and begged to be taken into Momotaro’s +company. +</p> + +<p> +“I do not know what excuse to offer for quarreling with the dog, your +servant, but I did not see you. I am a miserable bird called a pheasant. It is +very generous of you to pardon my rudeness and to take me with you. Please +allow me to follow you behind the dog and the monkey!” +</p> + +<p> +“I congratulate you on surrendering so soon,” said Momotaro, +smiling. “Come and join us in our raid on the devils.” +</p> + +<p> +“Are you going to take this bird with you also?” asked the dog, +interrupting. +</p> + +<p> +“Why do you ask such an unnecessary question? Didn’t you hear what +I said? I take the bird with me because I wish to!” +</p> + +<p> +“Humph!” said the dog. +</p> + +<p> +Then Momotaro stood and gave this order: +</p> + +<p> +“Now all of you must listen to me. The first thing necessary in an army +is harmony. It is a wise saying which says that ‘Advantage on earth is +better than advantage in Heaven!’ Union amongst ourselves is better than +any earthly gain. When we are not at peace amongst ourselves it is no easy +thing to subdue an enemy. From now, you three, the dog, the monkey and the +pheasant, must be friends with one mind. The one who first begins a quarrel +will be discharged on the spot!” +</p> + +<p> +All the three promised not to quarrel. The pheasant was now made a member of +Momotaro’s suite, and received half a cake. +</p> + +<p> +Momotaro’s influence was so great that the three became good friends, and +hurried onwards with him as their leader. +</p> + +<p> +Hurrying on day after day they at last came out upon the shore of the +North-Eastern Sea. There was nothing to be seen as far as the horizon—not +a sign of any island. All that broke the stillness was the rolling of the waves +upon the shore. +</p> + +<p> +Now, the dog and the monkey and the pheasant had come very bravely all the way +through the long valleys and over the hills, but they had never seen the sea +before, and for the first time since they set out they were bewildered and +gazed at each other in silence. How were they to cross the water and get to the +Island of Devils? +</p> + +<p> +Momotaro soon saw that they were daunted by the sight of the sea, and to try +them he spoke loudly and roughly: +</p> + +<p> +“Why do you hesitate? Are you afraid of the sea? Oh! what cowards you +are! It is impossible to take such weak creatures as you with me to fight the +demons. It will be far better for me to go alone. I discharge you all at +once!” +</p> + +<p> +The three animals were taken aback at this sharp reproof, and clung to +Momotaro’s sleeve, begging him not to send them away. +</p> + +<p> +“Please, Momotaro!” said the dog. +</p> + +<p> +“We have come thus far!” said the monkey. +</p> + +<p> +“It is inhuman to leave us here!” said the pheasant. +</p> + +<p> +“We are not at all afraid of the sea,” said the monkey again. +</p> + +<p> +“Please do take us with you,” said the pheasant. +</p> + +<p> +“Do please,” said the dog. +</p> + +<p> +They had now gained a little courage, so Momotaro said: +</p> + +<p> +“Well, then, I will take you with me, but be careful!” +</p> + +<p> +Momotaro now got a small ship, and they all got on board. The wind and weather +were fair, and the ship went like an arrow over the sea. It was the first time +they had ever been on the water, and so at first the dog, the monkey and the +pheasant were frightened at the waves and the rolling of the vessel, but by +degrees they grew accustomed to the water and were quite happy again. Every day +they paced the deck of their little ship, eagerly looking out for the +demons’ island. +</p> + +<p> +When they grew tired of this, they told each other stories of all their +exploits of which they were proud, and then played games together; and Momotaro +found much to amuse him in listening to the three animals and watching their +antics, and in this way he forgot that the way was long and that he was tired +of the voyage and of doing nothing. He longed to be at work killing the +monsters who had done so much harm in his country. +</p> + +<p> +As the wind blew in their favor and they met no storms the ship made a quick +voyage, and one day when the sun was shining brightly a sight of land rewarded +the four watchers at the bow. +</p> + +<p> +Momotaro knew at once that what they saw was the devils’ stronghold. On +the top of the precipitous shore, looking out to sea, was a large castle. Now +that his enterprise was close at hand, he was deep in thought with his head +leaning on his hands, wondering how he should begin the attack. His three +followers watched him, waiting for orders. At last he called to the pheasant: +</p> + +<p> +“It is a great advantage for us to have you with us.” said Momotaro +to the bird, “for you have good wings. Fly at once to the castle and +engage the demons to fight. We will follow you.” +</p> + +<p> +The pheasant at once obeyed. He flew off from the ship beating the air gladly +with his wings. The bird soon reached the island and took up his position on +the roof in the middle of the castle, calling out loudly: +</p> + +<p> +“All you devils listen to me! The great Japanese general Momotaro has +come to fight you and to take your stronghold from you. If you wish to save +your lives surrender at once, and in token of your submission you must break +off the horns that grow on your forehead. If you do not surrender at once, but +make up your mind to fight, we, the pheasant, the dog and the monkey, will kill +you all by biting and tearing you to death!” +</p> + +<p> +The horned demons looking up and only seeing a pheasant, laughed and said: +</p> + +<p> +“A wild pheasant, indeed! It is ridiculous to hear such words from a mean +thing like you. Wait till you get a blow from one of our iron bars!” +</p> + +<p> +Very angry, indeed, were the devils. They shook their horns and their shocks of +red hair fiercely, and rushed to put on tiger skin trousers to make themselves +look more terrible. They then brought out great iron bars and ran to where the +pheasant perched over their heads, and tried to knock him down. The pheasant +flew to one side to escape the blow, and then attacked the head of first one +and then another demon. He flew round and round them, beating the air with his +wings so fiercely and ceaselessly, that the devils began to wonder whether they +had to fight one or many more birds. +</p> + +<p> +In the meantime, Momotaro had brought his ship to land. As they had approached, +he saw that the shore was like a precipice, and that the large castle was +surrounded by high walls and large iron gates and was strongly fortified. +</p> + +<p> +Momotaro landed, and with the hope of finding some way of entrance, walked up +the path towards the top, followed by the monkey and the dog. They soon came +upon two beautiful damsels washing clothes in a stream. Momotaro saw that the +clothes were blood-stained, and that as the two maidens washed, the tears were +falling fast down their cheeks. He stopped and spoke to them: +</p> + +<p> +“Who are you, and why do you weep?” +</p> + +<p> +“We are captives of the Demon King. We were carried away from our homes +to this island, and though we are the daughters of Daimios (Lords), we are +obliged to be his servants, and one day he will kill us”—and the +maidens held up the blood-stained clothes—“and eat us, and there is +no one to help us!” +</p> + +<p> +And their tears burst out afresh at this horrible thought. +</p> + +<p> +“I will rescue you,” said Momotaro. “Do not weep any more, +only show me how I may get into the castle.” +</p> + +<p> +Then the two ladies led the way and showed Momotaro a little back door in the +lowest part of the castle wall—so small that Momotaro could hardly crawl +in. +</p> + +<p> +The pheasant, who was all this time fighting hard, saw Momotaro and his little +band rush in at the back. +</p> + +<p> +Momotaro’s onslaught was so furious that the devils could not stand +against him. At first their foe had been a single bird, the pheasant, but now +that Momotaro and the dog and the monkey had arrived they were bewildered, for +the four enemies fought like a hundred, so strong were they. Some of the devils +fell off the parapet of the castle and were dashed to pieces on the rocks +beneath; others fell into the sea and were drowned; many were beaten to death +by the three animals. +</p> + +<p> +The chief of the devils at last was the only one left. He made up his mind to +surrender, for he knew that his enemy was stronger than mortal man. +</p> + +<p> +He came up humbly to Momotaro and threw down his iron bar, and kneeling down at +the victor’s feet he broke off the horns on his head in token of +submission, for they were the sign of his strength and power. +</p> + +<p> +“I am afraid of you,” he said meekly. “I cannot stand against +you. I will give you all the treasure hidden in this castle if you will spare +my life!” +</p> + +<p> +Momotaro laughed. +</p> + +<p> +“It is not like you, big devil, to beg for mercy, is it? I cannot spare +your wicked life, however much you beg, for you have killed and tortured many +people and robbed our country for many years.” +</p> + +<p> +Then Momotaro tied the devil chief up and gave him into the monkey’s +charge. Having done this, he went into all the rooms of the castle and set the +prisoners free and gathered together all the treasure he found. +</p> + +<p> +The dog and the pheasant carried home the plunder, and thus Momotaro returned +triumphantly to his home, taking with him the devil chief as a captive. +</p> + +<p> +The two poor damsels, daughters of Daimios, and others whom the wicked demon +had carried off to be his slaves, were taken safely to their own homes and +delivered to their parents. +</p> + +<p> +The whole country made a hero of Momotaro on his triumphant return, and +rejoiced that the country was now freed from the robber devils who had been a +terror of the land for a long time. +</p> + +<p> +The old couple’s joy was greater than ever, and the treasure Momotaro had +brought home with him enabled them to live in peace and plenty to the end of +their days. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap20"></a>THE OGRE OF RASHOMON</h2> + +<p> +Long, long ago in Kyoto, the people of the city were terrified by accounts of a +dreadful ogre, who, it was said, haunted the Gate of Rashomon at twilight and +seized whoever passed by. The missing victims were never seen again, so it was +whispered that the ogre was a horrible cannibal, who not only killed the +unhappy victims but ate them also. Now everybody in the town and neighborhood +was in great fear, and no one durst venture out after sunset near the Gate of +Rashomon. +</p> + +<p> +Now at this time there lived in Kyoto a general named Raiko, who had made +himself famous for his brave deeds. Some time before this he made the country +ring with his name, for he had attacked Oeyama, where a band of ogres lived +with their chief, who instead of wine drank the blood of human beings. He had +routed them all and cut off the head of the chief monster. +</p> + +<p> +This brave warrior was always followed by a band of faithful knights. In this +band there were five knights of great valor. One evening as the five knights +sat at a feast quaffing SAKE in their rice bowls and eating all kinds of fish, +raw, and stewed, and broiled, and toasting each other’s healths and +exploits, the first knight, Hojo, said to the others: +</p> + +<p> +“Have you all heard the rumor that every evening after sunset there comes +an ogre to the Gate of Rashomon, and that he seizes all who pass by?” +</p> + +<p> +The second knight, Watanabe, answered him, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“Do not talk such nonsense! All the ogres were killed by our chief Raiko +at Oeyama! It cannot be true, because even if any ogres did escape from that +great killing they would not dare to show themselves in this city, for they +know that our brave master would at once attack them if he knew that any of +them were still alive!” +</p> + +<p> +“Then do you disbelieve what I say, and think that I am telling you a +falsehood?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, I do not think that you are telling a lie,” said Watanabe; +“but you have heard some old woman’s story which is not worth +believing.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then the best plan is to prove what I say, by going there yourself and +finding out yourself whether it is true or not,” said Hojo. +</p> + +<p> +Watanabe, the second knight, could not bear the thought that his companion +should believe he was afraid, so he answered quickly: +</p> + +<p> +“Of course, I will go at once and find out for myself!” +</p> + +<p> +So Watanabe at once got ready to go—he buckled on his long sword and put +on a coat of armor, and tied on his large helmet. When he was ready to start he +said to the others: +</p> + +<p> +“Give me something so that I can prove I have been there!” +</p> + +<p> +Then one of the men got a roll of writing paper and his box of Indian ink and +brushes, and the four comrades wrote their names on a piece of paper. +</p> + +<p> +“I will take this,” said Watanabe, “and put it on the Gate of +Rashomon, so to-morrow morning will you all go and look at it? I may be able to +catch an ogre or two by then!” and he mounted his horse and rode off +gallantly. +</p> + +<p> +It was a very dark night, and there was neither moon nor star to light Watanabe +on his way. To make the darkness worse a storm came on, the rain fell heavily +and the wind howled like wolves in the mountains. Any ordinary man would have +trembled at the thought of going out of doors, but Watanabe was a brave warrior +and dauntless, and his honor and word were at stake, so he sped on into the +night, while his companions listened to the sound of his horse’s hoofs +dying away in the distance, then shut the sliding shutters close and gathered +round the charcoal fire and wondered what would happen—and whether their +comrade would encounter one of those horrible Oni. +</p> + +<p> +At last Watanabe reached the Gate of Rashomon, but peer as he might through the +darkness he could see no sign of an ogre. +</p> + +<p> +“It is just as I thought,” said Watanabe to himself; “there +are certainly no ogres here; it is only an old woman’s story. I will +stick this paper on the gate so that the others can see I have been here when +they come to-morrow, and then I will take my way home and laugh at them +all.” +</p> + +<p> +He fastened the piece of paper, signed by all his four companions, on the gate, +and then turned his horse’s head towards home. +</p> + +<p> +As he did so he became aware that some one was behind him, and at the same time +a voice called out to him to wait. Then his helmet was seized from the back. +“Who are you?” said Watanabe fearlessly. He then put out his hand +and groped around to find out who or what it was that held him by the helmet. +As he did so he touched something that felt like an arm—it was covered +with hair and as big round as the trunk of a tree! +</p> + +<p> +Watanabe knew at once that this was the arm of an ogre, so he drew his sword +and cut at it fiercely. +</p> + +<p> +There was a loud yell of pain, and then the ogre dashed in front of the +warrior. +</p> + +<p> +Watanabe’s eyes grew large with wonder, for he saw that the ogre was +taller than the great gate, his eyes were flashing like mirrors in the +sunlight, and his huge mouth was wide open, and as the monster breathed, flames +of fire shot out of his mouth. +</p> + +<p> +The ogre thought to terrify his foe, but Watanabe never flinched. He attacked +the ogre with all his strength, and thus they fought face to face for a long +time. At last the ogre, finding that he could neither frighten nor beat +Watanabe and that he might himself be beaten, took to flight. But Watanabe, +determined not to let the monster escape, put spurs to his horse and gave +chase. +</p> + +<p> +But though the knight rode very fast the ogre ran faster, and to his +disappointment he found himself unable to overtake the monster, who was +gradually lost to sight. +</p> + +<p> +Watanabe returned to the gate where the fierce fight had taken place, and got +down from his horse. As he did so he stumbled upon something lying on the +ground. +</p> + +<p> +Stooping to pick it up he found that it was one of the ogre’s huge arms +which he must have slashed off in the fight. His joy was great at having +secured such a prize, for this was the best of all proofs of his adventure with +the ogre. So he took it up carefully and carried it home as a trophy of his +victory. +</p> + +<p> +When he got back, he showed the arm to his comrades, who one and all called him +the hero of their band and gave him a great feast. His wonderful deed was soon +noised abroad in Kyoto, and people from far and near came to see the +ogre’s arm. +</p> + +<p> +Watanabe now began to grow uneasy as to how he should keep the arm in safety, +for he knew that the ogre to whom it belonged was still alive. He felt sure +that one day or other, as soon as the ogre got over his scare, he would come to +try to get his arm back again. Watanabe therefore had a box made of the +strongest wood and banded with iron. In this he placed the arm, and then he +sealed down the heavy lid, refusing to open it for anyone. He kept the box in +his own room and took charge of it himself, never allowing it out of his sight. +</p> + +<p> +Now one night he heard some one knocking at the porch, asking for admittance. +</p> + +<p> +When the servant went to the door to see who it was, there was only an old +woman, very respectable in appearance. On being asked who she was and what was +her business, the old woman replied with a smile that she had been nurse to the +master of the house when he was a little baby. If the lord of the house were at +home she begged to be allowed to see him. +</p> + +<p> +The servant left the old woman at the door and went to tell his master that his +old nurse had come to see him. Watanabe thought it strange that she should come +at that time of night, but at the thought of his old nurse, who had been like a +foster-mother to him and whom he had not seen for a long time, a very tender +feeling sprang up for her in his heart. He ordered the servant to show her in. +</p> + +<p> +The old woman was ushered into the room, and after the customary bows and +greetings were over, she said: +</p> + +<p> +“Master, the report of your brave fight with the ogre at the Gate of +Rashomon is so widely known that even your poor old nurse has heard of it. Is +it really true, what every one says, that you cut off one of the ogre’s +arms? If you did, your deed is highly to be praised!” +</p> + +<p> +“I was very disappointed,” said Watanabe, “that I was not +able take the monster captive, which was what I wished to do, instead of only +cutting off an arm!” +</p> + +<p> +“I am very proud to think,” answered the old woman, “that my +master was so brave as to dare to cut off an ogre’s arm. There is nothing +that can be compared to your courage. Before I die it is the great wish of my +life to see this arm,” she added pleadingly. +</p> + +<p> +“No,” said Watanabe, “I am sorry, but I cannot grant your +request.” +</p> + +<p> +“But why?” asked the old woman. +</p> + +<p> +“Because,” replied Watanabe, “ogres are very revengeful +creatures, and if I open the box there is no telling but that the ogre may +suddenly appear and carry off his arm. I have had a box made on purpose with a +very strong lid, and in this box I keep the ogre’s arm secure; and I +never show it to any one, whatever happens.” +</p> + +<p> +“Your precaution is very reasonable,” said the old woman. +“But I am your old nurse, so surely you will not refuse to show ME the +arm. I have only just heard of your brave act, and not being able to wait till +the morning I came at once to ask you to show it to me.” +</p> + +<p> +Watanabe was very troubled at the old woman’s pleading, but he still +persisted in refusing. Then the old woman said: +</p> + +<p> +“Do you suspect me of being a spy sent by the ogre?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, of course I do not suspect you of being the ogre’s spy, for +you are my old nurse,” answered Watanabe. +</p> + +<p> +“Then you cannot surely refuse to show me the arm any longer.” +entreated the old woman; “for it is the great wish of my heart to see for +once in my life the arm of an ogre!” +</p> + +<p> +Watanabe could not hold out in his refusal any longer, so he gave in at last, +saying: +</p> + +<p> +“Then I will show you the ogre’s arm, since you so earnestly wish +to see it. Come, follow me!” and he led the way to his own room, the old +woman following. +</p> + +<p> +When they were both in the room Watanabe shut the door carefully, and then +going towards a big box which stood in a corner of the room, he took off the +heavy lid. He then called to the old woman to come near and look in, for he +never took the arm out of the box. +</p> + +<p> +“What is it like? Let me have a good look at it,” said the old +nurse, with a joyful face. +</p> + +<p> +She came nearer and nearer, as if she were afraid, till she stood right against +the box. Suddenly she plunged her hand into the box and seized the arm, crying +with a fearful voice which made the room shake: +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, joy! I have got my arm back again!” +</p> + +<p> +And from an old woman she was suddenly transformed into the towering figure of +the frightful ogre! +</p> + +<p> +Watanabe sprang back and was unable to move for a moment, so great was his +astonishment; but recognizing the ogre who had attacked him at the Gate of +Rashomon, he determined with his usual courage to put an end to him this time. +He seized his sword, drew it out of its sheath in a flash, and tried to cut the +ogre down. +</p> + +<p> +So quick was Watanabe that the creature had a narrow escape. But the ogre +sprang up to the ceiling, and bursting through the roof, disappeared in the +mist and clouds. +</p> + +<p> +In this way the ogre escaped with his arm. The knight gnashed his teeth with +disappointment, but that was all he could do. He waited in patience for another +opportunity to dispatch the ogre. But the latter was afraid of Watanabe’s +great strength and daring, and never troubled Kyoto again. So once more the +people of the city were able to go out without fear even at night time, and the +brave deeds of Watanabe have never been forgotten! +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap21"></a>HOW AN OLD MAN LOST HIS WEN</h2> + +<p> +Many, many years ago there lived a good old man who had a wen like a +tennis-ball growing out of his right cheek. This lump was a great disfigurement +to the old man, and so annoyed him that for many years he spent all his time +and money in trying to get rid of it. He tried everything he could think of. He +consulted many doctors far and near, and took all kinds of medicines both +internally and externally. But it was all of no use. The lump only grew bigger +and bigger till it was nearly as big as his face, and in despair he gave up all +hopes of ever losing it, and resigned himself to the thought of having to carry +the lump on his face all his life. +</p> + +<p> +One day the firewood gave out in his kitchen, so, as his wife wanted some at +once, the old man took his ax and set out for the woods up among the hills not +very far from his home. It was a fine day in the early autumn, and the old man +enjoyed the fresh air and was in no hurry to get home. So the whole afternoon +passed quickly while he was chopping wood, and he had collected a goodly pile +to take back to his wife. When the day began to draw to a close, he turned his +face homewards. +</p> + +<p> +The old man had not gone far on his way down the mountain pass when the sky +clouded and rain began to fall heavily. He looked about for some shelter, but +there was not even a charcoal-burner’s hut near. At last he espied a +large hole in the hollow trunk of a tree. The hole was near the ground, so he +crept in easily, and sat down in hopes that he had only been overtaken by a +mountain shower, and that the weather would soon clear. +</p> + +<p> +But much to the old man’s disappointment, instead of clearing the rain +fell more and more heavily, and finally a heavy thunderstorm broke over the +mountain. The thunder roared so terrifically, and the heavens seemed to be so +ablaze with lightning, that the old man could hardly believe himself to be +alive. He thought that he must die of fright. At last, however, the sky +cleared, and the whole country was aglow in the rays of the setting sun. The +old man’s spirits revived when he looked out at the beautiful twilight, +and he was about to step out from his strange hiding-place in the hollow tree +when the sound of what seemed like the approaching steps of several people +caught his ear. He at once thought that his friends had come to look for him, +and he was delighted at the idea of having some jolly companions with whom to +walk home. But on looking out from the tree, what was his amazement to see, not +his friends, but hundreds of demons coming towards the spot. The more he +looked, the greater was his astonishment. Some of these demons were as large as +giants, others had great big eyes out of all proportion to the rest of their +bodies, others again had absurdly long noses, and some had such big mouths that +they seemed to open from ear to ear. All had horns growing on their foreheads. +The old man was so surprised at what he saw that he lost his balance and fell +out of the hollow tree. Fortunately for him the demons did not see him, as the +tree was in the background. So he picked himself up and crept back into the +tree. +</p> + +<p> +While he was sitting there and wondering impatiently when he would be able to +get home, he heard the sounds of gay music, and then some of the demons began +to sing. +</p> + +<p> +“What are these creatures doing?” said the old man to himself. +“I will look out, it sounds very amusing.” +</p> + +<p> +On peeping out, the old man saw that the demon chief himself was actually +sitting with his back against the tree in which he had taken refuge, and all +the other demons were sitting round, some drinking and some dancing. Food and +wine was spread before them on the ground, and the demons were evidently having +a great entertainment and enjoying themselves immensely. +</p> + +<p> +It made the old man laugh to see their strange antics. +</p> + +<p> +“How amusing this is!” laughed the old man to himself “I am +now quite old, but I have never seen anything so strange in all my life.” +</p> + +<p> +He was so interested and excited in watching all that the demons were doing, +that he forgot himself and stepped out of the tree and stood looking on. +</p> + +<p> +The demon chief was just taking a big cup of SAKE and watching one of the +demons dancing. In a little while he said with a bored air: +</p> + +<p> +“Your dance is rather monotonous. I am tired of watching it. Isn’t +there any one amongst you all who can dance better than this fellow?” +</p> + +<p> +Now the old man had been fond of dancing all his life, and was quite an expert +in the art, and he knew that he could do much better than the demon. +</p> + +<p> +“Shall I go and dance before these demons and let them see what a human +being can do? It may be dangerous, for if I don’t please them they may +kill me!” said the old fellow to himself. +</p> + +<p> +His fears, however, were soon overcome by his love of dancing. In a few minutes +he could restrain himself no longer, and came out before the whole party of +demons and began to dance at once. The old man, realizing that his life +probably depended on whether he pleased these strange creatures or not, exerted +his skill and wit to the utmost. +</p> + +<p> +The demons were at first very surprised to see a man so fearlessly taking part +in their entertainment, and then their surprise soon gave place to admiration. +</p> + +<p> +“How strange!” exclaimed the horned chief. “I never saw such +a skillful dancer before! He dances admirably!” +</p> + +<p> +When the old man had finished his dance, the big demon said: +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you very much for your amusing dance. Now give us the pleasure of +drinking a cup of wine with us,” and with these words he handed him his +largest wine-cup. +</p> + +<p> +The old man thanked him very humbly: +</p> + +<p> +“I did not expect such kindness from your lordship. I fear I have only +disturbed your pleasant party by my unskillful dancing.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, no,” answered the big demon. “You must come often and +dance for us. Your skill has given us much pleasure.” +</p> + +<p> +The old man thanked him again and promised to do so. +</p> + +<p> +“Then will you come again to-morrow, old man?” asked the demon. +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly, I will,” answered the old man. +</p> + +<p> +“Then you must leave some pledge of your word with us,” said the +demon. +</p> + +<p> +“Whatever you like,” said the old man. +</p> + +<p> +“Now what is the best thing he can leave with us as a pledge?” +asked the demon, looking round. +</p> + +<p> +Then said one of the demon’s attendants kneeling behind the chief: +</p> + +<p> +“The token he leaves with us must be the most important thing to him in +his possession. I see the old man has a wen on his right cheek. Now mortal men +consider such a wen very fortunate. Let my lord take the lump from the old +man’s right cheek, and he will surely come to-morrow, if only to get that +back.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are very clever,” said the demon chief, giving his horns an +approving nod. Then he stretched out a hairy arm and claw-like hand, and took +the great lump from the old man’s right cheek. Strange to say, it came +off as easily as a ripe plum from the tree at the demon’s touch, and then +the merry troop of demons suddenly vanished. +</p> + +<p> +The old man was lost in bewilderment by all that had happened. He hardly knew +for some time where he was. When he came to understand what had happened to +him, he was delighted to find that the lump on his face, which had for so many +years disfigured him, had really been taken away without any pain to himself. +He put up his hand to feel if any scar remained, but found that his right cheek +was as smooth as his left. +</p> + +<p> +The sun had long set, and the young moon had risen like a silver crescent in +the sky. The old man suddenly realized how late it was and began to hurry home. +He patted his right cheek all the time, as if to make sure of his good fortune +in having lost the wen. He was so happy that he found it impossible to walk +quietly—he ran and danced the whole way home. +</p> + +<p> +He found his wife very anxious, wondering what had happened to make him so +late. He soon told her all that had passed since he left home that afternoon. +She was quite as happy as her husband when he showed her that the ugly lump had +disappeared from his face, for in her youth she had prided herself on his good +looks, and it had been a daily grief to her to see the horrid growth. +</p> + +<p> +Now next door to this good old couple there lived a wicked and disagreeable old +man. He, too, had for many years been troubled with the growth of a wen on his +left cheek, and he, too, had tried all manner of things to get rid of it, but +in vain. +</p> + +<p> +He heard at once, through the servant, of his neighbor’s good luck in +losing the lump on his face, so he called that very evening and asked his +friend to tell him everything that concerned the loss of it. The good old man +told his disagreeable neighbor all that had happened to him. He described the +place where he would find the hollow tree in which to hide, and advised him to +be on the spot in the late afternoon towards the time of sunset. +</p> + +<p> +The old neighbor started out the very next afternoon, and after hunting about +for some time, came to the hollow tree just as his friend had described. Here +he hid himself and waited for the twilight. +</p> + +<p> +Just as he had been told, the band of demons came at that hour and held a feast +with dance and song. When this had gone on for some time the chief of the +demons looked around and said: +</p> + +<p> +“It is now time for the old man to come as he promised us. Why +doesn’t he come?” +</p> + +<p> +When the second old man heard these words he ran out of his hiding-place in the +tree and, kneeling down before the Oni, said: +</p> + +<p> +“I have been waiting for a long time for you to speak!” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, you are the old man of yesterday,” said the demon chief. +“Thank you for coming, you must dance for us soon.” +</p> + +<p> +The old man now stood up and opened his fan and began to dance. But he had +never learned to dance, and knew nothing about the necessary gestures and +different positions. He thought that anything would please the demons, so he +just hopped about, waving his arms and stamping his feet, imitating as well as +he could any dancing he had ever seen. +</p> + +<p> +The Oni were very dissatisfied at this exhibition, and said amongst themselves: +</p> + +<p> +“How badly he dances to-day!” +</p> + +<p> +Then to the old man the demon chief said: +</p> + +<p> +“Your performance to-day is quite different from the dance of yesterday. +We don’t wish to see any more of such dancing. We will give you back the +pledge you left with us. You must go away at once.” +</p> + +<p> +With these words he took out from a fold of his dress the lump which he had +taken from the face of the old man who had danced so well the day before, and +threw it at the right cheek of the old man who stood before him. The lump +immediately attached itself to his cheek as firmly as if it had grown there +always, and all attempts to pull it off were useless. The wicked old man, +instead of losing the lump on his left cheek as he had hoped, found to his +dismay that he had but added another to his right cheek in his attempt to get +rid of the first. +</p> + +<p> +He put up first one hand and then the other to each side of his face to make +sure if he were not dreaming a horrible nightmare. No, sure enough there was +now a great wen on the right side of his face as on the left. The demons had +all disappeared, and there was nothing for him to do but to return home. He was +a pitiful sight, for his face, with the two large lumps, one on each side, +looked just like a Japanese gourd. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap22"></a>THE STONES OF FIVE COLORS AND THE EMPRESS JOKWA.<br/> +AN OLD CHINESE STORY</h2> + +<p> +Long, long ago there lived a great Chinese Empress who succeeded her brother +the Emperor Fuki. It was the age of giants, and the Empress Jokwa, for that was +her name, was twenty-five feet high, nearly as tall as her brother. She was a +wonderful woman, and an able ruler. There is an interesting story of how she +mended a part of the broken heavens and one of the terrestrial pillars which +upheld the sky, both of which were damaged during a rebellion raised by one of +King Fuki’s subjects. +</p> + +<p> +The rebel’s name was Kokai. He was twenty-six feet high. His body was +entirely covered with hair, and his face was as black as iron. He was a wizard +and a very terrible character indeed. When the Emperor Fuki died, Kokai was +bitten with the ambition to be Emperor of China, but his plan failed, and +Jokwa, the dead Emperor’s sister, mounted the throne. Kokai was so angry +at being thwarted in his desire that he raised a revolt. His first act was to +employ the Water Devil, who caused a great flood to rush over the country. This +swamped the poor people out of their homes, and when the Empress Jokwa saw the +plight of her subjects, and knew it was Kokai’s fault, she declared war +against him. +</p> + +<p> +Now Jokwa, the Empress, had two young warriors called Hako and Eiko, and the +former she made General of the front forces. Hako was delighted that the +Empress’s choice should fall on him, and he prepared himself for battle. +He took up the longest lance he could find and mounted a red horse, and was +just about to set out when he heard some one galloping hard behind him and +shouting: +</p> + +<p> +“Hako! Stop! The general of the front forces must be I!” +</p> + +<p> +He looked back and saw Eiko his comrade, riding on a white horse, in the act of +unsheathing a large sword to draw upon him. Hako’s anger was kindled, and +as he turned to face his rival he cried: +</p> + +<p> +“Insolent wretch! I have been appointed by the Empress to lead the front +forces to battle. Do you dare to stop me?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” answered Eiko. “I ought to lead the army. It is you +who should follow me.” +</p> + +<p> +At this bold reply Hako’s anger burst from a spark into a flame. +</p> + +<p> +“Dare you answer me thus? Take that,” and he lunged at him with his +lance. +</p> + +<p> +But Eiko moved quickly aside, and at the same time, raising his sword, he +wounded the head of the General’s horse. Obliged to dismount, Hako was +about to rush at his antagonist, when Eiko, as quick as lightning, tore from +his breast the badge of commandership and galloped away. The action was so +quick that Hako stood dazed, not knowing what to do. +</p> + +<p> +The Empress had been a spectator of the scene, and she could not but admire the +quickness of the ambitious Eiko, and in order to pacify the rivals she +determined to appoint them both to the Generalship of the front army. +</p> + +<p> +So Hako was made commander of the left wing of the front army, and Eiko of the +right. One hundred thousand soldiers followed them and marched to put down the +rebel Kokai. +</p> + +<p> +Within a short time the two Generals reached the castle where Kokai had +fortified himself. When aware of their approach, the wizard said: +</p> + +<p> +“I will blow these two poor children away with one breath.” (He +little thought how hard he would find the fight.) +</p> + +<p> +With these words Kokai seized an iron rod and mounted a black horse, and rushed +forth like an angry tiger to meet his two foes. +</p> + +<p> +As the two young warriors saw him tearing down upon them, they said to each +other: “We must not let him escape alive,” and they attacked him +from the right and from the left with sword and with lance. But the +all-powerful Kokai was not to be easily beaten—he whirled his iron rod +round like a great water-wheel, and for a long time they fought thus, neither +side gaining nor losing. At last, to avoid the wizard’s iron rod, Hako +turned his horse too quickly; the animal’s hoofs struck against a large +stone, and in a fright the horse reared as straight on end as a screen, +throwing his master to the ground. +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon Kokai drew his three-edged sword and was about to kill the prostrate +Hako, but before the wizard could work his wicked will the brave Eiko had +wheeled his horse in front of Kokai and dared him to try his strength with him, +and not to kill a fallen man. But Kokai was tired, and he did not feel inclined +to face this fresh and dauntless young soldier, so suddenly wheeling his horse +round, he fled from the fray. +</p> + +<p> +Hako, who had been only slightly stunned, had by this time got upon his feet, +and he and his comrade rushed after the retreating enemy, the one on foot and +the other on horseback. +</p> + +<p> +Kokai, seeing that he was pursued, turned upon his nearest assailant, who was, +of course, the mounted Eiko, and drawing forth an arrow from the quiver at his +back, fitted it to his bow and drew upon Eiko. +</p> + +<p> +As quick as lightning the wary Eiko avoided the shaft, which only touched his +helmet strings, and glancing off, fell harmless against Hako’s coat of +armor. +</p> + +<p> +The wizard saw that both his enemies remained unscathed. He also knew that +there was no time to pull a second arrow before they would be upon him, so to +save himself he resorted to magic. He stretched forth his wand, and immediately +a great flood arose, and Jokwa’s army and her brave young Generals were +swept away like a falling of autumn leaves on a stream. +</p> + +<p> +Hako and Eiko found themselves struggling neck deep in water, and looking round +they saw the ferocious Kokai making towards them through the water with his +iron rod on high. They thought every moment that they would be cut down, but +they bravely struck out to swim as far as they could from Kokai’s reach. +All of a sudden they found themselves in front of what seemed to be an island +rising straight out of the water. They looked up, and there stood an old man +with hair as white as snow, smiling at them. They cried to him to help them. +The old man nodded his head and came down to the edge of the water. As soon as +his feet touched the flood it divided, and a good road appeared, to the +amazement of the drowning men, who now found themselves safe. +</p> + +<p> +Kokai had by this time reached the island which had risen as if by a miracle +out of the water, and seeing his enemies thus saved he was furious. He rushed +through the water upon the old man, and it seemed as if he would surely be +killed. But the old man appeared not in the least dismayed, and calmly awaited +the wizard’s onslaught. +</p> + +<p> +As Kokai drew near, the old man laughed aloud merrily, and turning into a large +and beautiful white crane, flapped his wings and flew upwards into the heavens. +</p> + +<p> +When Hako and Eiko saw this, they knew that their deliverer was no mere human +being—was perhaps a god in disguise—and they hoped later on to find +out who the venerable old man was. +</p> + +<p> +In the meantime they had retreated, and it being now the close of day, for the +sun was setting, both Kokai and the young warriors gave up the idea of fighting +more that day. +</p> + +<p> +That night Hako and Eiko decided that it was useless to fight against the +wizard Kokai, for he had supernatural powers, while they were only human. So +they presented themselves before the Empress Jokwa. After a long consultation, +the Empress decided to ask the Fire King, Shikuyu, to help her against the +rebel wizard and to lead her army against him. +</p> + +<p> +Now Shikuyu, the Fire King, lived at the South Pole. It was the only safe place +for him to be in, for he burnt up everything around him anywhere else, but it +was impossible to burn up ice and snow. To look at he was a giant, and stood +thirty feet high. His face was just like marble, and his hair and beard long +and as white as snow. His strength was stupendous, and he was master of all +fire just as Kokai was of water. +</p> + +<p> +“Surely,” thought the Empress, “Shikuyu can conquer +Kokai.” So she sent Eiko to the South Pole to beg Shikuyu to take the war +against Kokai into his own hands and conquer him once for all. +</p> + +<p> +The Fire King, on hearing the Empress’s request, smiled and said: +</p> + +<p> +“That is an easy matter, to be sure! It was none other than I who came to +your rescue when you and your companion were drowning in the flood raised by +Kokai!” +</p> + +<p> +Eiko was surprised at learning this. He thanked the Fire King for coming to the +rescue in their dire need, and then besought him to return with him and lead +the war and defeat the wicked Kokai. +</p> + +<p> +Shikuyu did as he was asked, and returned with Eiko to the Empress. She +welcomed the Fire King cordially, and at once told him why she had sent for +him—to ask him to be the Generalissimo of her army. His reply was very +reassuring: +</p> + +<p> +“Do not have any anxiety. I will certainly kill Kokai.” +</p> + +<p> +Shikuyu then placed himself at the head of thirty thousand soldiers, and with +Hako and Eiko showing him the way, marched to the enemy’s castle. The +Fire King knew the secret of Kokai’s power, and he now told all the +soldiers to gather a certain kind of shrub. This they burned in large +quantities, and each soldier was then ordered to fill a bag full of the ashes +thus obtained. +</p> + +<p> +Kokai, on the other hand, in his own conceit, thought that Shikuyu was of +inferior power to himself, and he murmured angrily: +</p> + +<p> +“Even though you are the Fire King, I can soon extinguish you.” +</p> + +<p> +Then he repeated an incantation, and the water-floods rose and welled as high +as mountains. Shikuyu, not in the least frightened, ordered his soldiers to +scatter the ashes which he had caused them to make. Every man did as he was +bid, and such was the power of the plant that they had burned, that as soon as +the ashes mingled with the water a stiff mud was formed, and they were all safe +from drowning. +</p> + +<p> +Now Kokai the wizard was dismayed when he saw that the Fire King was superior +in wisdom to himself, and his anger was so great that he rushed headlong +towards the enemy. +</p> + +<p> +Eiko rode to meet him, and the two fought together for some time. They were +well matched in a hand-to-hand combat. Hako, who was carefully watching the +fray, saw that Eiko began to tire, and fearing that his companion would be +killed, he took his place. +</p> + +<p> +But Kokai had tired as well, and feeling him self unable to hold out against +Hako, he said artfully: +</p> + +<p> +“You are too magnanimous, thus to fight for your friend and run the risk +of being killed. I will not hurt such a good man.” +</p> + +<p> +And he pretended to retreat, turning away the head of his horse. His intention +was to throw Hako off his guard and then to wheel round and take him by +surprise. +</p> + +<p> +But Shikuyu understood the wily wizard, and he spoke at once: +</p> + +<p> +“You are a coward! You cannot deceive me!” +</p> + +<p> +Saying this, the Fire King made a sign to the unwary Hako to attack him. Kokai +now turned upon Shikuyu furiously, but he was tired and unable to fight well, +and he soon received a wound in his shoulder. He now broke from the fray and +tried to escape in earnest. +</p> + +<p> +While the fight between their leaders had been going on the two armies had +stood waiting for the issue. Shikuyu now turned and bade Jokwa’s soldiers +charge the enemy’s forces. This they did, and routed them with great +slaughter, and the wizard barely escaped with his life. +</p> + +<p> +It was in vain that Kokai called upon the Water Devil to help him, for Shikuyu +knew the counter-charm. The wizard found that the battle was against him. Mad +with pain, for his wound began to trouble him, and frenzied with disappointment +and fear, he dashed his head against the rocks of Mount Shu and died on the +spot. +</p> + +<p> +There was an end of the wicked Kokai, but not of trouble in the Empress +Jokwa’s Kingdom, as you shall see. The force with which the wizard fell +against the rocks was so great that the mountain burst, and fire rushed out +from the earth, and one of the pillars upholding the Heavens was broken so that +one corner of the sky dropped till it touched the earth. +</p> + +<p> +Shikuyu, the Fire King, took up the body of the wizard and carried it to the +Empress Jokwa, who rejoiced greatly that her enemy was vanquished, and her +generals victorious. She showered all manner of gifts and honors upon Shikuyu. +</p> + +<p> +But all this time fire was bursting from the mountain broken by the fall of +Kokai. Whole villages were destroyed, rice-fields burnt up, river beds filled +with the burning lava, and the homeless people were in great distress. So the +Empress left the capital as soon as she had rewarded the victor Shikuyu, and +journeyed with all speed to the scene of disaster. She found that both Heaven +and earth had sustained damage, and the place was so dark that she had to light +her lamp to find out the extent of the havoc that had been wrought. +</p> + +<p> +Having ascertained this, she set to work at repairs. To this end she ordered +her subjects to collect stones of five colors—blue, yellow, red, white +and black. When she had obtained these, she boiled them with a kind of +porcelain in a large caldron, and the mixture became a beautiful paste, and +with this she knew that she could mend the sky. Now all was ready. +</p> + +<p> +Summoning the clouds that were sailing ever so high above her head, she mounted +them, and rode heavenwards, carrying in her hands the vase containing the paste +made from the stones of five colors. She soon reached the corner of the sky +that was broken, and applied the paste and mended it. Having done this, she +turned her attention to the broken pillar, and with the legs of a very large +tortoise she mended it. When this was finished she mounted the clouds and +descended to the earth, hoping to find that all was now right, but to her +dismay she found that it was still quite dark. Neither the sun shone by day nor +the moon by night. +</p> + +<p> +Greatly perplexed, she at last called a meeting of all the wise men of the +Kingdom, and asked their advice as to what she should do in this dilemma. +</p> + +<p> +Two of the wisest said: +</p> + +<p> +“The roads of Heaven have been damaged by the late accident, and the Sun +and Moon have been obliged to stay at home. Neither the Sun could make his +daily journey nor the Moon her nightly one because of the bad roads. The Sun +and Moon do not yet know that your Majesty has mended all that was damaged, so +we will go and inform them that since you have repaired them the roads are +safe.” +</p> + +<p> +The Empress approved of what the wise men suggested, and ordered them to set +out on their mission. But this was not easy, for the Palace of the Sun and Moon +was many, many hundreds of thousands of miles distant into the East. If they +traveled on foot they might never reach the place, they would die of old age on +the road. But Jokwa had recourse to magic. She gave her two ambassadors +wonderful chariots which could whirl through the air by magic power a thousand +miles per minute. They set out in good spirits, riding above the clouds, and +after many days they reached the country where the Sun and the Moon were living +happily together. +</p> + +<p> +The two ambassadors were granted an interview with their Majesties of Light and +asked them why they had for so many days secluded themselves from the Universe? +Did they not know that by doing so they plunged the world and all its people +into uttermost darkness both day and night? +</p> + +<p> +Replied the Sun and the Moon: +</p> + +<p> +“Surely you know that Mount Shu has suddenly burst forth with fire, and +the roads of Heaven have been greatly damaged! I, the Sun, found it impossible +to make my daily journey along such rough roads—and certainly the Moon +could not issue forth at night! so we both retired into private life for a +time.” +</p> + +<p> +Then the two wise men bowed themselves to the ground and said: +</p> + +<p> +“Our Empress Jokwa has already repaired the roads with the wonderful +stones of five colors, so we beg to assure your Majesties that the roads are +just as they were before the eruption took place.” +</p> + +<p> +But the Sun and the Moon still hesitated, saying that they had heard that one +of the pillars of Heaven had been broken as well, and they feared that, even if +the roads had been remade, it would still be dangerous for them to sally forth +on their usual journeys. +</p> + +<p> +“You need have no anxiety about the broken pillar,” said the two +ambassadors. “Our Empress restored it with the legs of a great tortoise, +and it is as firm as ever it was.” +</p> + +<p> +Then the Sun and Moon appeared satisfied, and they both set out to try the +roads. They found that what the Empress’s deputies had told them was +correct. +</p> + +<p> +After the examination of the heavenly roads, the Sun and Moon again gave light +to the earth. All the people rejoiced greatly, and peace and prosperity were +secured in China for a long time under the reign of the wise Empress Jokwa. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +THE END. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JAPANESE FAIRY TALES ***</div> +<div style='text-align:left'> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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