One of them asked the young man where they could get drinking water for their mistress. Then the man, replying that no water could be obtained around there, asked why they needed it. They told him that they were on their way to Kannon Temple with their mistress, who was very thirsty.
Hearing that, the man felt very sorry for her and offered them his oranges to appease her thirst. They gratefully received them and took them to the lady who was resting by the road. She was so thirsty that she ate them all in a moment and expressed her deep gratitude to the poor man. In return for his kindness, she gave him silks.
The man was very happy to receive the fine goods and expressed his thanks to the merciful goddess, who had now turned the gift of straw into silks. That night he sought a night's lodging in a farmhouse.
Early next morning he left the house to continue his journey and before he went a long way he ran across a samurai on horseback accompanied by a group of footmen. Since it was a fine horse, the young man stood still to watch it. All of a sudden the animal fell down and died for no apparent reason. The samurai, who was very surprised at the sudden death of his favorite horse, mounted a second to continue his trip. And he told his retainers to clear away the body of his dead animal.
The man, witnessing this scene, promptly proposed to exchange the dead horse for his silk goods. Since the footmen were at a loss as to the means of clearing away the animal, they accepted his offer and went away with the silks.
Left alone, he said to himself:
"A piece of straw, which I had received from Kannon-sama, turned into three oranges at first, then into silk goods, and now into a dead horse. I am sure Kannon-sama will soon bring this dead animal back to life."
He purified himself by washing his hands and rinsing his mouth and prayed to the goddess: "O merciful Kannon-sama! Please bring this dead horse back to life at once. It must be what you have bestowed upon me."
Behold!
The dead animal suddenly opened its closed eyes and raised its head. At this sight the poor man was greatly delighted and helped the animal rise to its feet. Thanking Kannon-sama for her mercy, he immediately took the horse into a wood by the road to give it a good rest. The animal soon regained strength, and so the man continued his journey to Kyoto riding on the horse.
When he came into a village near Kyoto, he saw a wealthy family busily preparing themselves for a journey. The man thought: "If I should be seen riding on such a fine horse in the capital, I should be mistaken for a horse thief and arrested by the police. It seems better to sell this horse to that family who will perhaps need it for their trip."
Whereupon he immediately got off his horse and asked the family if they would buy it. Admiring the animal, the master of the family said that he had never seen such a fine horse and proposed to buy it at once. But as payment for the horse, he gave the man his vast paddy fields. Therefore the young man had to settle down in the village. From that day on he worked very hard on the farm, which produced plenty of rice crops in autumn. Many years later foe at last became the richest farmer in the village. Thanking Kannon-sama for her tender mercy, he lived a happy life with his family.
8. The hunter's trick
LONG, LONG AGO, in the province of Mimasaka (Okayama Prefecture), there was a small Shinto shrine called Takano Jinja. It was dedicated to Monkey and Serpent. Every year the shrine celebrated a festival, and it was the customary practice to offer a human sacrifice to the deities on the occasion of the festival. This custom had been practiced continuously from time immemorial. The sacrifice was a pretty girl chosen from among the daughters of the people living in the province. Therefore, as the festival came near, the parents of all daughters became restless, wondering who should be the victim of the year.
One year, a sixteen-year-old girl was chosen as a sacrifice. She was the only daughter of an old couple, who loved her so dearly that they wept bitterly over their hapless fate. From the day of selection the daughter and her parents bewailed their ill fortune day and night, numbering the decreasing days of their union at home. It was the practice that the chosen girl be fed attentively until the time of feasting.
One day an "Inuyama" hunter visited this province. The Inuyama was a brave hunter who used a pack of hounds in hunting wild boars and deer in the mountains.
This hunter became very sympathetic with the sorrowful family and offered them his help. He said he would be glad to take her place in the festival, and told them to hang sacred festoons about the house and to keep themselves away from the villagers. Then he selected two strong hounds from among his dogs and trained them to fight monkeys. He also sharpened his sword for a fight.
The day of feasting came around at last, and the shrine priests and the villagers came to take the girl to the shrine. They had a big wooden chest to contain the sacrifice. Taking the place of the girl, however, the hunter, who was wearing her kimono and carrying a sword, secretly hid himself in the chest. He also had the two hounds hidden in it. The girl's parents, as planned, pretended to wail over their sad farewell to the departing chest, so no one imagined that the box contained the hunter and his dogs. The villagers unwittingly carried the chest to the shrine at the foot of a sacred mountain.
Meanwhile, the old couple and their daughter at home were uneasy, thinking that should the deities find the sacrifice to be the wrong person, they would punish the whole family.
The villagers carrying the chest soon reached the shrine, where they solemnly held a rite to offer the sacrifice to the deities. Then they opened the old door of the shrine, put in the chest, and closed the door. And in front of the shrine they waited attentively to see what would happen to the chest.
When left behind in the shrine, the hunter opened the cover of the chest slightly and looked out. And lo! Right in front of an altar was seated a big monkey about seven feet tall. The animal looked very happy with the human sacrifice. On each side of him were about fifty small monkeys, who cried something in their language. A big chopping board and a big knife were placed before the boss monkey, who would cut the sacrifice and eat it.
When the boss monkey stood up laboriously and tried to open the chest, the hunter sent out the hounds to battle with the monkeys and he himself jumped out with his sword. The hounds attacked the bis monkey furiously and bit him. The boss monkey received many wounds and fell down there. Then the hunter dragged him up to the chopping board and said: "As you ate many girls, I will kill you as punishment and let my dogs eat you up. Now, prepare for death!"
The boss monkey cried for help, with his hands clasped before his eyes, and apologized, "Please forgive me for what I have done. I promise you I will never eat people again. So please spare my life!"
"Shut up!" the hunter cried, and tried to kill him. Meanwhile the two hounds killed some small monkeys and other monkeys ran away for their lives.
While the priests and villagers were anxiously waiting, the chief priest suddenly started running about wildly as if he had gone mad. Then he said solemnly, "Listen, you all! I am deity of the shrine. I do not want sacrifices any more. Today I have decided to stop eating girls. Now I have been caught by a hunter who will kill me. So, help me." So saying, the priest fainted away.
"The deity must have entered into the priest!" the villagers cried, and ran into the shrine, where they found the hunter ready to kill the big monkey. They told him of the divine message and asked him to forgive the animal, but the hunter would not meet their request, saying that the monkey must pay dearly for what he had done.
"Through the mouth of the priest, I have said I would never eat people again. So, please do not kill me," the big monkey entreated. Whereupon the hunter reluctantly freed the monkey, which ran away into the mountain.
It is said that the hunter later married the sacrificial girl and lived a happy life with her.
9. No melon to spare
LONG, LONG AGO, one summer day, a caravan of horses was traveling along the highway between Yamato Province and Kyoto, capital of this country. Each hors
e carried many watermelons. From olden times Yamato Province was noted for its watermelons. The caravan was on its way to a market in Kyoto.
It was very hot. As the caravan came near the capital, one of the horse drivers proposed a rest on the roadside. And they halted their horses in the shade of a big tree and put down the burdens from the sweating backs of the animals.
"I am thirsty. Let's eat a watermelon," one of them said. The others were also thirsty, so they agreed to his suggestion. They immediately sliced a watermelon and ate it.
As they were thus quenching their thirst, an old man appeared. He wore a summer kimono and straw sandals, and was carrying a cane. He silently stood by the drivers and watched them eat the watermelon. He looked quite tired and after a while, he humbly asked for some.
"We're very sorry for you, old man. Though we carry so many watermelons here, we have none to spare," one of the drivers said.
Then, the old man said, "It's very unkind of you to keep an old man thirsty under the burning sun. If you cannot spare me even a slice, I will grow many watermelons here and eat them."
"Grow many watermelons here!" the drivers laughed.
The old man set to work at once. He picked up a piece of wood and dug up the ground with it as if to plow the fields.
"What's he going to do?"
"He's turning up the soil as if to plant seeds."
"He must have gone mad."
The old man soon finished his digging work. Then he picked up the seeds of the watermelon which the drivers scattered all over the place, and sowed them in the soil. After a second or two, small leaves turned out of the planted seeds.
"How strange!" the drivers exclaimed.
The small leaves began to grow and soon they became dense. Before the drivers winked their eyes, they sent out buds and turned into the shapes of watermelons which soon began to grow bigger and at last became fine watermelons. The ill-natured drivers, who saw this strange show, were impressed with the old man's magic.
"He might be a kami-sama [a deity]," they thought. And they were struck with awe.
The old man took up one of the fresh water-melons and ate it with gusto. He proudly said, "As you did not spare me a single slice, I have grown them. As I cannot eat them all, you eat too." So saying, the old man picked up some of them and gave them to the amazed drivers. There were so many watermelons there that they could not eat all of them. So the old man invited passers-by to eat them. Since it was very hot, all the persons were delighted with the nice present and gratefully ate watermelons on the road. Before long, they had eaten them all.
"Well, it's time to go," the old man said, and went on his way.
"Let's start, too," the drivers said, and prepared to resume their trip.
"No watermelons!" one of them suddenly cried. The others were also stunned to find their watermelons gone from the baskets.
"They're all gone!"
"How strange!"
"Could such a thing be possible?"
They intently looked for their missing water-melons all over the place, but in vain. The water-melons had all disappeared. The drivers, holding their arms, wondered where their watermelons had gone.
"I suppose the old man took them out of the baskets. Perhaps he played a trick on us in order to keep our eyes off the watermelons."
"I never thought our own watermelons were being eaten up. He must be a magician, indeed."
"Yes, quite a magician! I wonder where he's gone. Well, without the watermelons it's not necessary to go to the market, so let's go back to Yamato."
Thus they agreed to return home. They turned around their horses and went their way back to the province of Yamato.
"They grudged giving only a slice and lost all," a bystander laughed. All the persons who had witnessed this interesting event were mystified by the old man's magic.
10. A water sprite
LONG, LONG AGO, in the capital, an ex-emperor lived in a very large palace named Reizei-in. After the emperor's death, the Reizei-in palace was opened to the public. One-half of its premises was turned into a residential section, and in the other half there was a big pond. Before long many houses mushroomed around this pond.
One summer evening, when it was very sultry, people living in these houses came out on the verandas facing the pond to enjoy the cool air. All of a sudden an old man about three feet tall appeared from nowhere and passed his hand over their faces. They felt a chill creep over them, but they pretended to be unaware of his presence. The queer old man did nothing else and just went away.
"Who is he? What on earth is he?" they asked after seeing the old man. He stood on the edge of the pond, and the next moment his figure suddenly vanished into thin air.
"Wherever did he go? Beyond the edge there is nothing but water!" they wondered. The pond was so old, with various weeds in it, that it appeared very forbidding.
"He must be the spirit of the pond!" they imagined. From that night on, the strange old man came out nightly to feel their faces. This strange story soon spread all over the capital.
"Every night a mysterious old man appears to feel the faces of the people who are enjoying the cool air by the pond."
"Really? What is he?" they asked.
One day a brave young samurai declared he would catch the old man, and as the evening came he took his position by the pond pretending to be enjoying the cool air. He had a rope to tie the old man with. In the early evening the old man did not make his appearance.
"Tut!" the samurai grumbled. "He is not likely to come out this evening." Bored with doing nothing, he soon dozed off. Shortly after midnight, however, he suddenly felt someone passing a hand over his face and so he quickly pounced upon the rogue and tied him up. Then he cried, "Hey! Come out, all of you. I've caught him!" A crowd of people soon gathered about the mysterious creature. Under the light of a torchfire they found a poor old man about three feet tall, dressed in a worn-out, yellow kimono. He blinked his eyes, for he seemed surprised.
"Who are you?"
"Where did you come from?" they attacked him with many questions all at once, but the old man just remained silent. After a short while, however, he smiled and said in a low voice, "Will you please bring me a basin full of water?"
Whereupon they brought a big basin full of water and put it before the strange old man. Then, letting his face reflect on the surface of the water, the man declared solemnly,
"Now, listen. I am the Water Sprite!"
With that, he jumped into the water and his figure soon faded away into it. Next moment the water suddenly swelled up in the basin. It was strange, indeed! In the water nothing remained but the rope, with which the old man had been tied.
At this sight the people knew that the stranger was really the Water Sprite. They carefully carried the water-filled basin to the edge of the pond and poured the water into it.
From that night on, it was said that the old man never made his appearance again around the pond.
11. The ogre's horses
LONG, LONG AGO, a company of three Buddhist priests were going about the country for the practice of Buddhistic austerities. They wore black robes and big straw hats and carried canes and small bells. Ringing the bells, they visited from door to door to offer prayers. In return for this service, they received alms. When night fell, they slept in the open air or asked for a night's lodging.
After they made the rounds of the mainland, they went across the sea to Shikoku Island and visited villages on the seashore.
One day they took the wrong way and found themselves in mountains. They thought that as they had been traveling along the coastline to their right, they would come out on the seashore if they continued. So they went to the right, but they only went deeper into the mountains. The sun had already set and it was dark all around. And they became very hungry.
The priests still kept walking because they thought they would be eaten up by wolves if they should sleep under the stars. As they went farther they saw a light in the distance an
d went straight to it. After some time they found themselves in front of an old house. They immediately asked for admission, but no answer came. Silence prevailed all about the place, and the priests felt uneasy, imagining that the house might be inhabited by man-eating monsters. But they were so tired that they had no choice but to ask for lodging there that night.
Knocking on the door, they asked for admission again. This time a big voice answered and an old priest about sixty years old stuck out his head. They were stunned to see this priest, who had black sparkling eyes, a big mouth and hands, and looked grim enough to eat them up in a moment.
"Do come in and rest yourselves," said the old priest kindly.
The three priests were shown into the drawing room, where a fire was burning in the hearth. The old priest prepared a meal for them, and since they were so hungry they ate it all greedily. After they finished the meal, the host called in his servant, who looked even grimmer than the master.
"We have three guests tonight, so bring 'them' here," said the old priest. Then the servant grinned and retired to the next room.
"What are 'them'?" asked one priest.
"What is he going to do with 'them'?" asked another.
The three priests waited restlessly to see what was going to take place in the room. The servant soon came back with a whip and horse bridles. They wondered what he would use them for.
"Let us begin at once," the old priest said.
"Which one shall we start with, Master?" asked the servant.
"Any one you like," the master replied.
Then the servant picked up one of the three visitors and threw him out into the garden. The other two priests were amazed at his giant strength and fearfully watched what he was going to do with their fellow priest. The servant immediately started whipping him. "Oh! Help me!" the victim cried. The priest was whipped as many as fifty times and his screams finally became almost inaudible. The monstrous servant then took off the priest's kimono and whipped his naked body another fifty times, and he fainted.
Legends of Japan Page 3