Shank's Mare

by Ikku Jippensha

  'Fool!' said Yaji. ' She didn't give you a lot because she's in love with you. It's because she despises you.'

  'Why?' asked Kita.

  'All the servants travelling with their masters are served that way,' explained Yaji, ' so that people can tell which is the master and which is the servant.'

  'Oh, that's it, is it?' said Kita. 'How stupid!'

  'Ha-ha-ha!' laughed Yaji. ' Let's have some more clams.'

  The maid brought another large plate of clams.

  'I expect your clam is nicer still,' said Yaji, giving her a pinch behind.

  'Ho-ho-ho!' she laughed. ' Master's full of jokes.'

  'I'm full of jokes too,' said Kita, giving her another pinch.

  'You be quiet,' said the girl. 'I don't care for you.'

  'Whatever I do she despises me,' said Kita, and he was going on grumbling to himself when the temple bell began to ring.

  'What time's that?' asked Kita.

  'It's four o'clock,' answered the maid.

  'Oh then, my time's up,' said Kita. 'You've got to be the servant now. Here, Yajirobei, I'm tired of riding on horses and in kago. After this we'll walk at our leisure. Buy me some good sandals. These are no good. See how dirty my feet are.'

  'Don't be a fool,' said Yaji. ' Your feet are so split up that they look like claws.'

  'You mustn't talk to your master like that,' said Kita. ' Here, take the baggage.'

  'What a strict master you are,' groaned Yaji. 'Just put it down there.'

  'No, no,' said Kita. 'That won't do.' He gave the baggage a push which caused Yaji to roll over and upset all the plate of hot clams into his sleeve.

  'Oh, oh!' yelled Yaji. 'They're hot. You've upset all the gravy.'

  'Where?' asked Kita. He thrust his hand into Yaji's sleeve to seize the clams, but they were so hot that he had to let go and they all slipped down inside Yaji's kimono. Kita endeavoured to get hold of them but only succeeded in burning Yaji more, till at last Yaji undid his loin-cloth and they all slipped out.

  'Ha-ha-ha!' laughed Kita. 'That's what I call an easy delivery.'

  'It's no joking matter,' said Yaji.' It gave me quite a shock.'

  'Hope you haven't hurt yourself.'

  'No, I haven't hurt myself,' said Yaji, ' but it made me smart.'

  Starting off again they had almost reached Yokkaichi when they met an inn tout. 'Welcome, gentlemen,' he said. ' May I recommend my inn?'

  'We' re going to the Obiya,' said Yaji.

  'There's a daimyō's train stopping in the town,' said the man, ' and both houses of the Obiya are full up. You'd better stop at my inn.'

  This was not true, as it was only a petty official who was travelling through and he had put up at one of the smaller inns. They were too simple-minded to see through the trick, however.

  'How much will you put us up for?' asked Yaji.

  'Whatever you think proper to pay,' replied the man.

  'They treated us very well at the Yokiya at Miya,' continued Yaji. ' The charge was one hundred and fifty coppers for board and lodging and they said nothing about the sake and cakes they gave us. I did think of giving them two hundred extra, but I didn't do so in the end, so it was very cheap altogether. Will you treat us as well as that?'

  'Certainly,' said the man.

  Thus talking they came to the outskirts of Yokkaichi, where the inn tout ran forward.

  'This is the place,' he said. Then he called to the inn people to announce that guests had come, and a maid came out and welcomed them. While they were taking off their sandals they looked about and saw that it was a very dirty place ; a broken cupboard and a cracked kitchen stove stood in the entrance, and the walls were covered with soot.

  'We're very crowded this evening,' said the landlord. ' I hope you gentlemen won't mind sharing a room with other travellers.'

  'Not at all,' said Yaji.

  'Then please come this way,' said the maid. She led them along the passage to a room at the back, where there were two countrymen, who greeted them as they entered.

  'Eh! I am tired,' said Kita. Then, at the invitation of the maid he quickly went off to the bath.

  Soon a boy of fourteen or fifteen came in with a box in a wrapper. ' Do you want any tobacco?' he asked. ' Or toothbrushes, or powder, or some nose paper?'

  'I got some Morning Willow tobacco from a girl at the Otaké when I dropped in there some time ago,' said one of the countrymen, ' but I've smoked it all.'

  'Haven't you got any of the fine tobacco at four coppers?' asked the other countryman.

  'Sorry I haven't got any of that,' said the boy. ' Try some of this.'

  'What's that?' asked the countryman. He took some of it and put it in his pipe and puffed. 'Why, this hasn't got any taste,' he said. 'Let's try the other.' Then he puffed away at the other.

  'How do you find that?' asked the boy.

  'I can't keep it alight,' said the countryman. ' Look, it goes out when I puff at it.'

  'That's because it's burning your knee,' said the boy.

  'Oh, oh, oh! I've burnt a hole in my best kimono,' cried the countryman as he blew the tobacco off his knee. 'No, no, I don't want any tobacco that burns holes in your clothes. Take it away.'

  'All right,' said the boy, and he went off grumbling.

  Then Kita came back from the bath. ' Aren't you going in, Yaji?' he asked.

  'Please take a bath,' said the maid.

  'Eh! She's a fine girl,' said Yaji. ' Quite dazzling.'

  'I've just made an agreement with her in the bath-room for to-night,' said Kita in a low voice. ' Quick, ain't I?'

  'Is it true?' asked Yaji. 'How did you do it?'

  'She came into the bathroom while I was there and asked if the bath was hot enough,' explained Kita, 'so I made an agreement with her. There's another nice woman, somewhat older. If you go and wait in the bath probably she'll come and you can fix it up with her.'

  'All right, I'll try,' said Yaji, and he went off to the bath.

  Then a liquor seller came in. 'Have some spirits?' he said. 'Try some white sake.'

  'Just give me a little of the spirit,' said Kita. ' That's enough.'

  The man poured some spirit into a cup, and Kita, after he had paid the man, filled his mouth with it and blew it on his feet.

  'That feels better,' he said. ' I'm so tired I think I'll lie down. Please excuse me all of you. Ah, that feels good,' he added as he stretched himself out on the mats.

  Meanwhile Yaji had gone to the bathroom and was waiting and waiting for the woman to come, without ever a sign of her. He washed himself over and over, each finger and each toe, and, in fact, spent such a long time in the bath that he began to feel faint. Finally he could no longer stand and he fell over the side of the bath.

  Just then Kita, feeling anxious because Yaji had been so long in the bath, came along and peeped in at the door.

  'Yaji, Yaji,' he called when he saw the state Yaji was in, 'what's the matter?' He threw some cold water over Yaji's face and Yaji responded with a groan.

  'Do you feel better?' asked Kita. 'What's the matter?'

  'Oh!' groaned Yaji. 'You have played an awful trick on me.'

  'How?' asked Kita.

  'I was waiting and waiting in the bath for that woman to come,' said Yaji, ' and the result was that I stayed in too long.'

  'And then you felt faint, I suppose,' said Kita. 'Ha-ha-ha! That shows you haven't got any sense.'

  'My legs are all trembling,' said Yaji. 'It's all your fault.'

  'Ha-ha-ha!' laughed Kita. 'What a joke. There, stand up.' He put Yaji's kimono on him and managed to support him to the room, where Yaji fell flat on the floor as if he had no strength left.

  'Ah, I feel a little better,' he said.

  'What a dreadful thing,' said Kita. 'You ought to have come out before.'

  'I thought the woman would come as you said,' moaned Yaji, 'and I waited and waited. There was a woman there washing something, and I thought she might be the woman you meant, so I asked
her to scrub my back. But she turned out to be an old woman of sixty. She came with a scrubbing brush and asked if she should scrub my back with that.'

  'That was a good one,' said Kita. He was lying on his stomach listening to Yaji's story in a half dream and amusing himself by tweaking the ear of the countryman, who lay stretched out at his feet, with his toes. Apparently the countryman was a good-natured sort of fellow, for he only moved his head aside gently when Kita did this.

  'What did you do then?' asked Kita.

  'Just listen,' said Yaji. 'I was feeling awfully vexed, and then that dreadful old woman comes along with a scrubbing brush. "What are you going to do with that?" I asks her." Ay, ay," she says and she goes off and brings back a broken old kitchen knife. "Shall I scrape the dirt off your back with this?" she asks. "Do you think I'm a pot or a pan?" I says. "Idiot!"'

  'Ha-ha-ha!' laughed Kita. 'Bravo! Bravo!' Once again he lapsed into a sort of dream. His foot stole out unconsciously and he began feeling round the head of the countryman till he found his ear. He was just beginning to play with it again when the countryman caught hold of his foot.

  'I've borne it in silence up to now, 'he said,' but this time I want to know what you mean by playing with my ear.'

  'Eh?' said Kita, startled. 'Excuse me, excuse me.'

  'I shan't excuse you,' said the countryman. 'I don't mind your doing it once unconsciously while you're talking, and so I moved my head aside without saying anything; but then you deliberately go and do it again. What do you mean by touching my head with your muddy foot. It's unpardonable.'

  'He's very sorry,' said Yaji. 'You must excuse him. In a public inn you never know what destiny has in store for you. You really must excuse him.'

  'Since you're so ready to apologise I won't be hard on you,' said the countryman, 'but you shouldn't make a fool of a person.'

  'I'm a little bit drunk,' said Kita, ' so you must excuse me.'

  'You're still trying to make a fool of me,' said the countryman. ' I've been lying here watching you and I haven't seen you drink a drop of sake. I can't believe you're drunk.'

  'No, I haven't been drinking any sake,' said Kita. 'It's my feet that are drunk.'

  'As if your feet could drink sake!' said the countryman. 'Don't be a fool.'

  'Don't get so excited about it,' said Kita. ' I tell you my feet are drunk, because I blew some spirit on to them. They're mad with drink. Look at them. Look how they're trembling and how they want to play with your head. There, there!'

  'Really, your feet are very ill-mannered when they're drunk,' said the countryman.

  'Yes,' said Kita. 'It's much better to have feet that don't drink. My feet give me a good deal of trouble.'

  'Well, I won't say any more about it then,' said the countryman. 'Don't you think it's time we went to sleep?'

  He called to the maid to spread the beds and the two countrymen tumbled into them, and in a second were sound asleep and snoring. Yaji and Kita dropped numerous hints to the girl who came to spread their beds and there were many jokes made, but finally the girl went off into the kitchen.

  'Kita,' said Yaji, in a low voice, 'did you really arrange something with that girl?'

  'Of course,' said Kita. ' But she's not coming here. You've co go along by the wall in the next room and open the door at the end. She's sleeping there.'

  'I'll go first,' said Yaji.

  'You'd better go to sleep instead of getting so jealous about it,' replied Kita.

  Kita turned his back and pretended to go to sleep, and Yaji also pretended to go to sleep while planning how he could spoil Kita's game. In the end, however, worn out with their travels, they both fell fast asleep, and some time elapsed before Yaji woke up with a start to find the night lamp out and the room plunged in darkness. As it was now quite quiet Yaji thought it would be a good time to steal a march on Kita. Softly he got up and crept very quietly into the next room. Feeling his way along by the wall, unhappily he raised his hands too high, and by some mishap unhooked a hanging shelf, which slipped down into his hands to his astonishment. ' This is strange,' he thought. 'I must have put my hands up too high and unfastened it. If I take my hands away it will fall to the floor with all the things on it and wake everybody up, which would be very annoying.'

  He tried to hook the shelf on again, but all in vain, and he had to stand there in his undershirt holding the shelf up with both hands and feeling very cold and miserable.

  While Yaji was standing there wondering what to do, Kita, quite unconscious of what had happened, also woke up. Crawling into the next room he also felt his way along by the side of the wall till he got to where Yaji was standing.

  'Kitahachi! Kitahachi!' whispered Yaji, who could just distinguish him in the dim light.

  'Who's that?' said Kitahachi. 'Is it Yaji?'

  'Don't make a noise,' said Yaji. ' Come here quick.'

  'What's the matter?' asked Kita.

  'Just hold this,' said Yaji. ' Come a little more this way.'

  'Where, where?' asked Kita, stretching up his hands, whereupon Yaji carefully put into his hands the shelf he had been holding up.

  'What's this?' asked Kita. 'Yaji, Yaji, what's this?' He tried to take away his hands, but as soon as he did so the shelf began to fall and he had to clutch on to it again. 'I'm in a fix now,' he thought.

  'Yaji, Yaji,' he whispered. ' Where are you? My arms are getting tired. Whatever shall I do!'

  Confused by the darkness Yaji crept along by the side of the wall till he came to the door into the kitchen. There, by the dim light of a lantern shining from a room across the garden, he saw a recumbent figure by the side of the door, which he took to be that of the girl whom Kita had spoken of. He put out his hand to wake her up, when to his surprise his hand encountered something cold as stone, exactly like a dead person. This is strange, he thought, and feeling round further he found that it was wrapped in a piece of rough straw matting. This gave Yaji a shock and he commenced to shiver and shake as he turned round and made his way back to Kita.

  'Are you there?' he whispered, his teeth chattering.

  'Is that you, Yaji?' said Kita. 'Just come here a moment.'

  'No, no,' said Yaji. 'There's something wrong about this house. There's a dead body covered with a mat over there. 'What's that?' said Kita. 'You don't mean it?' 'It's true,' said Yaji. 'It's just there. What a horrible place we've come to! Dreadful! Dreadful!'

  With that he crept quickly back to his own room.

  'Here, here,' whispered Kita. 'Don't leave me here like this. What shall I do? I feel so bad, I can't stand it any more.'

  Here he began trembling so violently that he was unable to hold the shelf up and it fell with a crash to the ground with all the things on it. Heedless of what he had done, Kita tried to find his way to his own room, but he was so bewildered that he could only wander round and round.

  At the sound of the crash the landlord's voice could be heard from the kitchen. Apparently he was lighting a lamp to come out and see what was the matter. The two countrymen in the inner room were also getting up and they would be coming in and find him there. More and more bewildered finally Kita lay down and covered himself over with a piece of matting which he fortunately found there. Thus covered he stifled his breath and listened to what was happening.

  At last the landlord came in carrying a light. ' Whatever's all this?' he said. 'Why, the shelf's fallen down and all the trays and boxes are broken.' While he was picking up the pieces the two countrymen came in.

  'What a terrible noise it made,' cried one of them. ' Why, one of the boxes has fallen on our statue of Jizo and broken its nose. Oh dear! Oh dear!'

  'Where, where?' asked the other. 'So it has. The nose is broken right off. Is it there? Halloa, who's this sleeping here?'

  At the cries of the two countrymen Kita lifted up his head, and peeping out from under the mat saw that what Yaji had taken for a dead body was a stone statue of Jizō, which was wrapped in a coarse piece of matting.

  'Wh
o are you?' cried the landlord when he saw Kita. 'Aren't you one of the guests stopping at this inn? What are you doing here? There's something strange about this. Your conduct seems to me suspicious, —very suspicious. Perhaps you are a thief. Did you come here to steal something? You'd better confess.'

  'Perhaps this is the man who threw down the shelf and broke off the nose of Jizō,' said one of the countrymen. 'It's a statue of Jizō that we're going to set up in our village. We received it from the stonemason yesterday, and we were going to set it up to-morrow at the Chōtaku temple. Now the nose is broken off it's useless. You'll have to make it good.'

  It appears the two countrymen had been sent by the people of the village to bring back the statue of Jizō which was to be erected in the village temple, and as it had become late they had decided to spend the night at the inn.

  This made the landlord all the more suspicious. 'The nose of the Jizō can't be helped,' he said, 'but are you sure your baggage is all right? There's no doubt he's a suspicious character, though I don't suppose he'll confess anything.'

  'No, no,' said Kita. 'I'm not that sort of man at all. Don't make such assertions. We're quite respectable travellers.'

  'He's probably telling a lie,' said one of the countrymen. 'What's he sleeping here for then if he's respectable?'

  'I was just going to the closet,' said Kita.

  'Don't talk nonsense,' said the landlord. 'Whoever heard of a closet being in a room. Besides you went early in the evening. I can't accept such an excuse as that.'

  'Well, I'm really ashamed to say the real reason,' said Kita, 'but I suppose you won't understand unless I do, so I'll tell you quite frankly.'

  'You must tell us,' said the landlord. 'What was it?'

  'Well, I really feel ashamed to tell you,' said Kita, 'but the reason why I was wandering about here like this was because I was on a love adventure. It was the shelf falling down that upset me.'

  'Love adventure, indeed!' said one of the countrymen. 'Don't be absurd. A love adventure with a stone Jizō!'

  'The more you talk the more foolish you appear,' said the landlord.