The Boy Who Drew Cats and Other Japanese Fairy Tales (2 page)

I
N VERY ancient books it is said that there used to be many goblin-spiders in Japan.

Some folks declare there are still some goblin-spiders. During the daytime they look just like common spiders; but very late at night, when everybody is asleep, and there is no sound, they become very, very big, and do awful things. Goblin-spiders are supposed also to have the magical power of taking human shape—so as to deceive people. And there is a famous Japanese story about such a spider.

There was once, in some lonely part of the country, a haunted temple. No one could live in the building because of the goblins that had taken possession of it. Many brave samurai went to that place at various times for the purpose of killing the goblins. But they were never heard of again after they had entered the temple.

At last one who was famous for his courage and his prudence, went to the temple to watch during the night. And he said to those who accompanied him there: “If in the morning I am still alive, I shall drum upon the drum of the temple.” Then he was left alone, to watch by the light of a lamp.

As the night advanced he crouched down under the altar, which supported a dusty image of Buddha. He saw nothing strange and heard no sound till after midnight. Then there came a goblin, having but half a body and one eye, and said:
“Hitokusai!”
(There is the smell of a man.) But the samurai did not move. The goblin went away.

Then there came a goblin, having but half a body and one eye,
and said:
“Hitokusai!”

Then there came a priest and played upon a
samisen
so wonderfully that the samurai felt sure it was not the playing of a man. So he leaped up with his sword drawn. The priest, seeing him, burst out laughing, and said: “So you thought I was a goblin? Oh no! I am only the priest of this temple; but I have to play to keep off the goblins. Does not this
samisen
sound well? Please play a little.”

And he offered the instrument to the samurai who grasped it very cautiously with his left hand. But instantly the
samisen
changed into a monstrous spiderweb, and the priest into a goblin-spider; and the warrior found himself caught fast in the web by the left hand. He struggled bravely, and struck at the spider with his sword, and wounded it; but he soon became entangled still more in the net, and could not move.

However, the wounded spider crawled away, and the sun rose. In a little while the people came and found the samurai in the horrible web, and freed him. They saw tracks of blood upon the floor, and followed the tracks out of the temple to a hole in the deserted garden. Out of the hole issued a frightful sound of groaning. They found the wounded goblin in the hole, and killed it.

L
ONG, LONG ago there was a funny old woman, who liked to laugh and to make dumplings of rice-flour.

One day, while she was preparing some dumplings for dinner, she let one fall; and it rolled into a hole in the earthen floor of her little kitchen and disappeared. The old woman tried to reach it by putting her hand down the hole, and all at once the earth gave way, and the old woman fell in.

She fell quite a distance, but was not a bit hurt; and when she got up on her feet again, she saw that she was standing on a road, just like the road before her house. It was quite light down there; and she could see plenty of rice-fields, but no one in them. How all this happened, I cannot tell you. But it seems that the old woman had fallen into another country.

The road she had fallen upon sloped very much: so, after having looked for her dumpling in vain, she thought that it must have rolled farther away down the slope. She ran down the road to look, crying:

“My dumpling, my dumpling! Where is that dumpling of mince?”

After a little while she saw a stone
Jiz
standing by the roadside, and she said:

“O Lord
Jiz
,
did you see my dumpling?”
Jiz
answered:

“Yes, I saw your dumpling rolling by me down the road. But you had better not go any farther, because there is a wicked
Oni
living down there, who eats people.”

But the old woman only laughed, and ran on further down the road, crying: “My dumpling, my dumpling! Where is that dumpling of mine?” And she came to another statue of
Jiz
,
and asked it:

“O kind Lord
Jiz
,
did you see my dumpling?”

And
Jiz
said:

“Yes, I saw your dumpling go by a little while ago. But you must not run any further, because there is a wicked
Oni
down there, who eats people.”

But she only laughed, and ran on, still crying out: “My dumpling, my dumpling! Where is that dumpling of mine?” And she came to a third
Jiz
,
and asked it:

“O dear Lord
Jiz
,
did you see my dumpling?”

But
Jiz
said:

“Don't talk about your dumpling now. Here is the
Oni
coming. Squat down here behind my sleeve, and don't make any noise.”

Presently the
Oni
came very close, and stopped and bowed to
Jiz
,
and said:

“Good-day,
Jiz
San!”

Jiz
said good-day, too, very politely.