Folk Legends of Japan (29 page)

Now the third youth, who was making a fire in the cookstove, heard of this. He said to himself: "Well, I will look and see for myself." And he went to peep into the daughter's room. He saw a she-demon in white costume, with flowing hair, eating the blood-dripping head of a baby. At first glance he was frightened, but when he looked at her carefully, he saw not a demon nor a snake but a girl wearing a demon's mask and eating a doll made
of mochi.
What he had taken for blood was merely rouge. He thought that he could eat it himself.

So he said: "Young lady, please give me one of its legs." So saying he slid open the door and stretched out his hands.

When the girl heard this, she replied: "You have said just what I wanted to hear. Until now, many and many a young man has come here to be my husband. But at the sight of me they became frightened and fled. No one had courage enough to stay. You are the man to be my husband."

She took off the mask and the white garment and revealed herself as a surprisingly beautiful lady. The
choja
was much pleased. He invited all his relatives, acquaintances, and even servants to a great feast, on which occasion he announced the marriage of his daughter to the young man.

In due time a child was born to them. And their offspring prospered.

THE THIEF WHO TOOK THE MONEYBOX

This tale is a Japanese adaptation of a fiction which has traveled around the world, Type 1525 and Motif K301, "The Master Thief." A vast list of its appearances (but without mention of Japan) can be found in J. Bolte and G. Polivka,
Anmerkungen zu den Kinder u. Hausmarchen der Briider Grimm
(vol. III, Leipzig, 1918), "Der Meisterdieb," pp. 379-406. Ikeda, however, lists seventeen versions from Japan. I collected a long text from a Polish immigrant in northern Michigan (printed in
Western Folklore,
VIII, 1949, pp. 39-47), which includes almost all the elements in the brief version below.

Text from
Shimabara Hanto Mukashi-banashi Shu,
pp. 116-17.

Note:
Hifuki-dake,
a hollow length of bamboo used for blowing afire.

O
NCE UPON A TIME
there was a
choja.
He had many boxes containing a thousand gold pieces each. Every night he slept with one box under his pillow. Often thieves tried to steal it, but no one could steal the box, because the door was kept locked and the other entrances were carefully guarded. There were two or three gates or entrances, but it was not easy to enter the house. The rich man gave notice that if there was anyone who could steal that box without being detected he would give it to him.

So some boastful thieves tried, but they were detected and caught before they got into the house. One day a man came to the
choja
and said that he would come to steal the box that night. The
choja
replied that if he could enter that room he would give him the box he was sleeping on. And the man went out.

All the people at the
choja's
house guarded the house more carefully than ever before. But the thief prepared three bowls of rice, one bundle of straw, twenty or thirty millet cakes, and string and fruit, and a wooden pillow. At midnight he came to the
choja's
house.

When he entered the first gate there came toward him an ox with his horns lowered. The thief threw him the bundle of straw, and the ox began to eat it. Then the thief passed through the second gate. Three huge dogs as big as calves came out barking, and he gave them three rice balls. Then the dogs began to eat. So he was able to enter the house without difficulty.

In the big room several menservants were sleeping. The thief stealthily tied their hair together. In the next room there were maidservants sleeping. He put the millet cakes up their buttocks. Then he went to the kitchen and put his flute into the
hifuki-dake.

When the servants woke up, there was a great confusion. "Who's pulling my hair? Don't do that!" A maidservant said: "What's up my buttocks?" Another maid said: "There's something up my buttocks also." In the midst of this confusion the thief easily slipped into the
choja's
room.

The
choja
heard the noise and raised his head. That gave the thief a chance to exchange his wooden pillow for the
choja's
moneybox.

By this time the servants realized that the thief had gotten into the house, and they tried to start the fire by blowing it with the
hifukidahe.
But when they blew on it, the flute that the thief had hidden inside made a strange noise. In the confusion the thief was able to escape.

He lived very comfortably the rest of his life.

PART SEVEN

KNAVES

FROM INDIA to America tales are told of simple countrymen who make fools of themselves when they come to town, but develop into rustic rogues and outfox their sophisticated tormentors. These stock characters enjoy considerable popularity in Japan and are reported in more than a dozen prefectures under varying names. In Oita-ken the jester is known as Kichigo or Kichiemon, while in neighboring Miyazaki-ken he is called Kitchomu. People in Oita-ken say that he was the son of a village headman and that his descendants are fuel dealers in Tokyo. The famous sculptor Jitsuzo Kinako thought himself connected with Kichiemon's family. Still, there is no firm proof of the existence of Kitchomu or his sundry aliases, and similar sayings and escapades are attributed to each knave. Kunio Yanagita organized a Kitchomu Society in the 1920's to preserve and study the legends of Kichiemon. A newspaperman in Tokyo, Sempo Nakata, collected one hundred Kitchomu
banashi
from the society and through the columns of his newspaper, since many former residents of Oita-ken had moved to Tokyo. This was thought to be about two-thirds of the total number of stories in the cycle. Subsequently he discovered a number of the same jests in jokebooks of the Tokugawa period (1600-1867). The fact is that witty rogues and villages of fools belong to a common body of Indo-European humorous stories. These take the form of legends when they fasten onto a likely scapegoat in a given community, whether up in the Himalayas or off on the Emerald Isle.

THE ORIGIN OF FOOLISH SAJIYA TALES

This tradition is related to that of "The Heike Refugees" (see pp. 160-61). Ikeda refers (p. 269, n. 1) to several villages of fools
—
Sajiya, Noma, Akiyama.

Text from Hajime Veda,
Impaku Mintan,
I (March, 1936), p. 142. Collected in Saji-mura, Yazu-gun, Tottori-ken.

L
ONG, LONG AGO
the Heike, who were defeated by the Genji, fled to the Sanin district. The Genji warriors pursued them hotly. The refugees of Heike went into the mountains to hide themselves "from the Genji warriors. So some of them took refuge in lonely places in the mountain, such" as Sajiya.

The Genji searched hard and long for the refugees of Heike. When refugees were discovered, they would be put to death. Therefore, to fool their enemies, the refugees in Sajiya created foolish tales, which have been handed down to the present time. By that means they propagated the idea that only foolish people dwelt in Sajiya, and thus they caused the Genji pursuers to abandon their inquiry concerning the people of Sajiya. In the village of Sajiya are many remains that are said to be tombs of the Heike. The majority of the present inhabitants call themselves the descendants of the refugees of Heike.

THE CROW AND THE PHEASANT

The deceptive bargain based on "Literal payment of debt (not real)," Motif K236, is found here.

Text from
Impaku Mintan,
1 (May, 1936), p. 193. Told by Choka Nakaya of Saji-mura.

O
NE DAY
a man from Sajiya went shopping in Yogase. As he walked along the street, people mocked at him, saying: "The foolish man of Sajiya has come." The man from Sajiya grew very angry and determined to get revenge. He instructed a hunter to catch him one pheasant and many crows. The next morning the man from Sajiya put the crows in a bag and, carrying the bag on his shoulder and tying the pheasant to a stick, went once more to Yogase. As he walked along the street calling out: "Birds, birds, birds," people whispered to each other: "The foolish man of Sajiya has come again." Then a gentleman came by. He looked at the man from Sajiya and asked him: "How much are your birds?" "Well, they are ten sen apiece." The gentleman was pleased. "I want three birds," he said and paid thirty sen.

So the man from Sajiya took three crows out of his bag and said: "Thank you very much." And the gentleman was surprised. "They are crows!" But the man from Sajiya retorted: "You said you wanted birds." The gentleman was embarrassed and sneaked away.

KICHIGO ASCENDS TO THE SKY

The collector writes: "Tales of Kichigo which are heard from all people in the neighborhood of Nakatsu-shi in Oita-ken and Shikujo-gun in Fukuoka-ken are perhaps similar to the humorous tales in other places." The present story falls within the section K1700 in the Motif-Index, "Deception Through Shame." Text from Shinichi Umebayashi, "Kichigo Banashi," in
Tabi to Densetsu,
VI (September,

O
NCE KICHIGO BOUGHT
a swampy piece of land at a cheap price. But he could not make use of it. He wanted to make some money by treading down the land. He put up a sign announcing: "Kichigo is going to ascend to the sky at such and such a time on such and such a day, for the reason that he does not want to live in this world any more."

On the appointed day many people in the neighborhood gathered together to see Kichigo's ascent to the sky. The place took on the atmosphere of a festival. Some of the people set up stores and began selling sweets. Kichigo came out and gave greetings to all the people, and then he began to climb up the steps of a ladder which he had prepared. As his figure grew smaller and smaller, the people cried out: "It's dangerous! It's dangerous!"

When Kichigo heard this, he came down step by step and said: "You are so kind to warn me that it is dangerous that I will not ascend to the sky today. I will do it some other day." And he went back to his home.

The people knew that they had been tricked again and they all went away complaining about Kichigo. But as the swampy land had been trodden on by so many people, it turned into good land. So Kichigo made money from it.