Shank's Mare

  'Ho-ho-ho!' laughed the girls. 'What silly things you say. Here, Master Ten, I'll give you a drink.'

  'What's that? said Kita. 'I'm Number Ten, eh? Thank you.'

  Quite unconscious that he was being laughed at Kita took the cup that she offered him, but while the girl was filling it with saké he pinched her leg a little, causing her to give a little scream and a jump, which made her spill all the sake in the bottle on Kita's knee, so that his kimono was soaked with it.

  'Oh dear, I'm so sorry,' she said.

  'Look what you've done,' said another girl. 'Why don't you take care? It'll leave a stain on his kimono. Saké's a dreadful thing to stain. Shall I wash it for you?'

  'Yes,' said the first girl. 'That will be best. I'll rinse it out for you. Just take it off.'

  She started up to take off Kita's kimono, but Kita remembered that he had a woman's kimono on underneath and thought they would laugh at him.

  'Never mind, never mind,' he said. 'Don't trouble about washing it. It's only an old kimono.'

  'No trouble at all,' said the girl. 'Do take it off.'

  Why she and the other girls really wanted Kita to take off his kimono was to see whether it was marked Number Ten like his cloak, and they began to try and take it off by force. This made Kita angry.

  'Let 'em take it off, Kita,' said Yaji. 'It's all right. If there's a stain on it.. . You know. Let 'em wash it a bit. You can easily dry it at the brazier.'

  He was afraid there would be trouble about the stain on the kimono when they took it back, and he looked meaningly at Kita to try and made him understand.

  Kita was puzzled what to do. 'It was only a drop or two of saké,' he said.

  'Even a little leaves a stain,' said Yaji,'and we don't want a stain on them. Sorry to trouble you, waitress, but if you wouldn't mind washing it a bit.'

  'Ay, ay,' said the girl. 'Please take it off.'

  'What a nuisance you are,' said Kita. 'Didn't I say it was all right?'

  In spite of all his excuses, however, the girls persisted in undoing his girdle and finally took off his kimono. As he had got a woman's kimono on underneath the sleeves were very short, and feeling ashamed he tried to hide his hands.

  'Halloa!' said Yaji surprised. 'Have you got a woman's kimono on?'

  'Nonsense,' said Kita. 'I feel cold without my kimono,' and he drew himself back as far as he could.

  'You must be cold,' said the waitress. 'Let me offer you another cup of saké.'

  'Yaji,' said Kita,'take the cup for me.'

  'What's the matter?' asked Yaji. 'Can't you stretch out your hand? There it is. You can take it.'

  'Are you making fun of me also?' grumbled Kita.

  The waitress soon washed the stain out of the kimono and dried it and brought it back.

  'There you are, Master Ten,' she said. 'It's all right now. Ho-ho-ho! Please come a little forward. Ho-ho-ho!'

  Her continued laughter annoyed Kita. 'What are you always talking about Number Ten for?' he asked. 'I came here to amuse myself, not to hear about Number Ten.'

  Kita's anger sobered the girl a little and she asked his pardon if she had offended him.

  'I won't forgive you,' said Kita,'until you tell me what you mean by Number Ten.' 'Don't get cross,' said Saheiji,'like that samurai did just now. It isn't nice.'

  'Never mind whether it's nice or nasty, let's hear what she means by Number Ten,' said Kita.

  Yaji and Saheiji tried to pacify him, but as he had drunk a good deal of sake he refused to listen to reason, and persisted that he would not forgive the girl until she told him what she meant by Number Ten. At last Saheiji, finding the matter getting troublesome, spoke to the girl himself.

  'You have no right to use such an expression,' he said. 'You don't know whether it's true.'

  'Yes,' said the girl,'but.. .'

  'Out with it,' said Kita.

  'If I tell you you'll get angry again,' said the girl.

  'Never mind that,' said Yaji. 'Just tell us plainly what you mean. I want to hear too.'

  'Well, I'll tell you then,' said the girl. 'The Number Ten is here.'

  She turned over the cloaks they had taken off and showed them the Ten marked on the inside.

  'Oh, the cloaks are marked Number Ten, are they?' said Yaji.

  'Ha-ha-ha!' laughed Saheiji. 'Now I see. You know they're both travellers and hadn't any other clothes, so they borrowed some to come in.'

  'What are you talking about?' said Kita. 'See me going about in hired clothes! How absurd!'

  'It's no use talking like that,' said Saheiji. 'All the clothes hired out in Nagamachi have Number Ten marked inside. Everybody knows that, so it's no use trying to conceal it.'

  Now that everybody had found out about their hired clothes Yaji and Kita felt so humiliated that they decided to leave, and they finally slunk out of the house amid the winks and titters of all the waitresses, who gathered at the door to see them off.

  THIRD PART

  HUS the three, having gone to Shinmachi to enjoy themselves and having been unexpectedly humiliated, left the quarter laughing at their discomfiture. It was already past midnight and the night-stalls were gone from Junkei-machi and the street deserted. Hastening their steps they quickly returned to Nagamachi. In the morning they were to receive a hundred pieces of gold. That was enough to wash away that evening's disgrace, but somehow when they lay down in their room they felt dissatisfied and did not sleep much. At last the early cock began to crow and slowly dawn came. Soon it was daylight and the travellers stopping in the inn began to get up and talk. Yaji and Kita rose, and Saheiji came in rubbing his eyes to tell them to be quick.

  After a hasty breakfast they put on the hired clothes they had worn the night before and set off hurriedly for the temple, where they soon found the place where the prizes in the lottery were to be distributed.

  'Here's the place,' said Kita. 'Go in, Yaji.'

  'You go first,' said Yaji.

  'What are you bashful about?' said Kita, and he went in.

  'Excuse me,' he said. 'I've won the first prize in yesterday's lottery. Will you please pay me?'

  The man in the room came hurriedly forward. 'Dear me,' he said. 'Please come in.'

  He led them into the hall, where he left them for a time. Soon he returned.

  'We'll pay you the money,' he said. 'Please come this way.'

  He led them into a large room at the back where they all sat down. The room was a very fine one, with a magnificent alcove and shelves, and not a crack or a stain to mar it. Soon a handsome boy of about thirteen or fourteen, dressed in black silk, came in with tea and a tobacco-box, and afterwards returned with a sake bottle and some cups and some soup.

  'I'll let you have the money directly,' said the priest,'but just have a glass of sake first, won't you?'

  'Thank you, thank you,' said Yaji. 'It's really very good of you,' and he giggled with pleasure.

  'What's there to giggle about?' asked Kita. 'You needn't make a fuss about it but just take what's given you.'

  'You were very lucky to win the first prize,' said the priest. 'Allow me to drink a cup of sake with you in congratulation.'

  'Delighted with the honour,' said Yaji.

  'The honour is mine,' said the priest.

  'Thank you for your hospitality,' said Kita, and he began gulping down the sake.

  When you want to grow corn and reap the grain you have to prepare the ground, and so the priests gave the two as much sake as they wanted and put all sorts of appetising dishes before them. As the priests all took turns in drinking with them they were half drunk when at last the sake was removed and the dinner was brought in.

  'Dear me,' said Kita. 'This is beyond our expectations.'

  'Please don't put yourselves out for us,' said Yaji. 'Ha-ha-ha! It's so amusing I can't help laughing.'

  When they had eaten as much as they could the dishes were removed and a person who seemed to be the chief priest of the temple came in, accompanied by two or three othe
r priests bearing trays on which the gold pieces were piled up. At sight of them Yaji and Kita felt a thrill of rapture and could hardly refrain from laughing for joy.

  'I am the head of this temple,' said the chief priest. 'Allow me to offer you my greetings and congratulate you on your good fortune.'

  'Ay, ay,' said Yaji.

  'Shall I present you with the money?' asked the chief priest.

  'Yes, yes,' said Kita.

  'But first I have a request to make,' said the chief priest. 'As you will have seen, this temple is in a great state of dilapidation, and as the lottery is arranged for the benefit of the temple we always make a request to the winner for a contribution of ten pieces out of every hundred. Will you be willing to make this donation?'

  'Ay, ay,' said Yaji.

  'I have another request to make,' said the priest. 'It's a thing that is always done, and that is to make a donation of five pieces to the manager of the lottery. Will you be willing to do that?'

  'Ay, ay, ay,' said Kita.

  'There is one thing more,' said the priest,'and that is that you buy a ticket for the next lottery.'

  'Ay, ay, ay,' said Yaji.

  'Then I'll deduct twenty pieces from the hundred and hand you the remainder,' said the priest. 'Will that be correct?'

  'Yes, yes,' said Yaji. 'Whatever you like.'

  'Then if you'll hand me the ticket,' said the priest,'I'll give you the money.'

  'Here it is,' said Kita, and he pulled the ticket out of his bosom.

  The priest took it and looked at it with a surprised air. 'Is this the only ticket you have?' he asked.

  'Yes, that's all,' said Kita.

  'Then there has been a mistake,' said the priest.

  'What's the mistake?' said Kita. 'Isn't the winning number eighty-eight?'

  'Yes, certainly,' said the priest; 'number eighty-eight.'

  'Then what mistake can there be?' asked Kita.

  'This is not the right ticket,' said the priest. 'The mark on it is wrong. All the tickets issued by this temple have a special mark on them. The winning ticket was 88 ne. This one you have is marked 88 i.'

  All the tickets were marked on the back with one of the twelve signs of the zodiac, so that there were twelve tickets each bearing the same number but with a different zodiacal sign. Kita had known nothing about this and had paid no attention to the mark. That was how the mistake had come about. At once all their hopes were dashed to the ground and they sat there crushed with despair.

  'Then it ain't any good, ain't it?' said Kita. 'What shall we do, Yaji?'

  'Oh, oh!' groaned Yaji! 'I can't bear it. Really I..'Don't cry,' said Kita. 'It makes you look such a fool.'

  'Don't cry,' said Kita.'It makes you look such a fool.'

  'It was very foolish of you not to examine the ticket,' said another priest,'excessively stupid.'

  'They're frauds,' said the chief priest. 'You'd better be off.'

  'Get out,' cried all the priests.

  'All right, all right,' said Yaji. 'We've had a good feed anyhow, although it wasn't what we came for. I think you might as well give us the money. A mark or two on the ticket don't make much difference.'

  'Don't talk nonsense,' said the priest. ' You're a couple of rascals.'

  'Everybody makes mistakes,' said Kita. 'Don't talk so foolishly.'

  'If you get cheeky I'll knock you down,' said another priest.

  Here Saheiji intervened.

  'We're in the wrong,' he said. 'I'm sorry you've entertained us for nothing, but it can't be helped now. Come on, Yaji, we'd better be going. What's the matter with you? Can't you stand up?'

  'Oh, oh!' groaned Yaji. 'Just lift me up behind.'

  'What's the matter with you?' asked Saheiji.

  'I've lost the use of my legs,' said Yaji. 'Oh!'

  'What a faint-hearted chap you are,' said Kita. 'Come on, stand up.'

  'Don't pull me like that,' said Yaji. 'Oh, oh!'

  They pulled him up at last and he staggered along. No one went to the door to see them off. Only the carriers gathered there jeered at them.

  'I thought they weren't any good,' growled one of them. 'They only came to get a drink. Daylight robbers, that's what they are.'

  'None of your insolence,' said Kita. ' I'll knock your head off.'

  At this all the kago carriers started up, but Saheiji intervened.

  'There, there,' he said. 'It's our fault, it's our fault.'

  He dragged Kita along while holding Yaji up, and thus they went out of the temple grounds like men in a dream.

  'Well,' said Kita. 'It's a bad business. There's all the difference between thinking you're going to do a thing and doing it.'

  'Everything's gone wrong,' groaned Yaji.

  'It's your fault, Saheiji,' said Kita. 'You should really have warned us. We're men from another province and don't know about affairs here. If you'd told us about the special marks on the tickets there wouldn't have been all this disappointment. Botheration! Please remember in future.'

  'I never thought of it,' said Saheiji. 'You must come back to the inn because of the clothes.'

  Saheiji was thinking of the security he had given for the hire of the clothes, while as for Yaji he had almost made up his mind to throw himself into the water from one of the bridges. In this desperate condition, with all their hopes of making a fortune gone astray, they got back to the inn, where the clerk, who had heard about the lottery ticket, thought they must certainly have brought the hundred gold pieces back with them and came out to greet them.

  'Welcome back,' he said. 'Please walk in. Girl, bring some tea. I heard last night that you gentlemen had won a prize in a lottery. Let me congratulate you. Did you get the money?'

  'No such luck,' said Yaji. 'We got off with our lives only,' and he staggered along the passage to the room.

  'It wasn't any good,' whispered Saheiji to the clerk.

  'I suppose the mark on the ticket was wrong,' said the clerk laughing.

  'Yes,' said Saheiji. 'We'll have to be careful about that older one. He's clean lost heart. Don't lose sight of him, even when he goes to the closet. I shouldn't be surprised if he hanged himself.'

  'That won't do,' said the clerk. ' You must get him out of the inn as soon as possible.'

  Saheiji then went off to Yaji's room and announced that the man had come for the hired kimonos.

  'All right, he can take'em back,' said Kita. 'Come on, Yaji, take off yours.'

  They took off the kimonos reluctantly and put on their old clothes.

  Then Saheiji produced a paper from his sleeve.

  'Here's the bill for the clothes,' he said.

  Kita took it and looked at it. 'What's this?' he cried. 'One kwan eight hundred mon? How dear! Just beg him to cut it down.'

  Just as he was handing the bill back to Saheiji a woman came in from the kitchen.

  'A man's come from the teahouse with the bill,' she said and she handed it to Yaji.

  'What?' he said. 'Fifteen mommé for the room, three mommé for refreshments, one mommé five bun for soup, ten mommé three bun for comestibles, two mommé five bun for cake, six mommé eight bun six rin for sake, one mommé two bun four rin for candles, altogether forty-one mommé four bun. Terrible! Terrible! '

  'Look here, Saheiji,' said Kita. 'You think because we are strangers you can make fools of us. What did we have last night to cost all this money? All these Westcountry people are so grasping. Everybody knows they're rascals.'

  'It's you that are stingy,' said Saheiji. 'Pay for what you've had. I never heard of such rudeness.'

  'What do you mean by calling me stingy?' cried Kita. 'Fool!'

  'Then pay up' said Saheiji.

  'Look here, Saheiji,' said Yaji. 'No matter what you say this bill's wrong.'

  'What's wrong with it?' asked Saheiji.

  'Well, it's got the wrong sign of the zodiac on it,' said Yaji. 'It's marked with the character for I when it should be marked with the character for ne.'

  'Don't t
alk nonsense,' said Saheiji,'but just pay up.'

  'What an obstinate beggar he is,' said Kita, and he jumped up. But Saheiji was not to be frightened, and they were just about to go for each other when the landlord came in and scolded Saheiji and soothed Kita, while he inquired into the particulars of the trouble. As the landlord seemed to be a good-natured man the two opened their hearts to him, telling him of their penniless condition, and the difficulties they were in. The landlord was an open-minded man and understood at once.

  'Well, well.' he said. 'Even rich people are known to fall short of money when they are travelling. We have to take our guests as they come and if they haven't got any money to pay, well they haven't and there's an end of it. How long do you wish to stay?'

  'Thank you, thank you,' said Yaji. 'We want to shorten our stay as much as possible, so we'll start to-morrow morning.'

  'Dear me!' said the landlord. 'That seems early after you've come all this way. Take your time and have a look at the city. You haven't seen Sumiyoshi yet. Luckily I'm going to Sumiyo-shi myself to-day so you can come along with me. But as I'm going by boat and have to call at Shinden on business on the way, you'd better walk to Tennoji and wait for me at the Sammonji teahouse. Eh, Saheiji? Make it up and go with them. It's past ten now, so you'd better start at once.'

  This made the two travellers happy again and they readily agreed to the proposal. Mutual apologies were made by them and Saheiji, and everything being ready the landlord went off by boat and the two travellers started to walk to Tennoji with Saheiji as their guide. As they went by Takatsu Shinchi they soon got to the Ikudama Temple.

  This temple is dedicated to Ikudama-no-Mikoto, who was incarnated as a precious jewel, and is visited by crowds of pilgrims. In the precincts are to be found rows and rows of teahouses, where they sell the famous baked beancurd, many shops where they sell tooth-powder, women ballad-reciters, actors like Seichi Azumasei, and many other things. The famous mallets for pounding millet cakes were first made here. A man with a towel tied round his head stood with a mallet raised and cried:

  'Here you are! Here you are! Here's the original millet-mallet as shown on the signboard of the Ikudamaya. It will pound anything. It will pound this and it will pound that. It will pound anything—millet wheat or rice. The servant pounds the master and the young fellow the widow. The old man with the lantern pounds the rice. The courtesan pounds the guest, and the singing girls pound with their feet. Here you are. The cripples' nuts are covered with sand. Yoi! Yoi! Sassa! Here you are! Here you are!'