Legends of Japan (8 page)

19. The bell thieves

L
ONG, LONG AGO
, in the province of Settsu (now
Hyogo Prefecture), there was an old Buddhist temple called Koya-dera.

One day an old priest about eighty years of age visited this temple. He had a cane in one hand and a big straw hat in the other. It was near sunset.

"Otanomi mosu
(Hello there)," he cried at the doorway. But no response came from within the house. The priest therefore went round to the side door and called out again. Then a voice called, "Who is it?" and a priest came out. He seemed to be the chief priest of the temple.

"I am from a western province and on my way to the capital. A long journey has made me so tired that I cannot walk farther today. As I am too old to sleep under the open sky, please give me shelter for the night," the itinerant priest implored.

"I am very sorry for you, but we have no vacant rooms tonight. How about seeking a lodging at other places?" the temple priest suggested. Then, the old priest asked permission to stay in the belfry and offered bell-ringing service in return. The chief priest was pleased to accept his offer and conducted hiM to the bell tower.

For two days from that night, the bell was rung by the aged priest. On the third day, however, for unknown reasons there was no toll of the bell. So one of the temple priests visited the tower to see what was the matter with the lodger. As he opened the door, he was surprised to see the old priest lying on the floor. He was dead.

"The lodger is dead!" he cried.

The abbot, much surprised, immediately came with his followers to the belfry. They consulted about how to dispose of his body. After a long discussion they decided to ask the villagers to bury the body in the village cemetery. But the villagers declined their request because they said they could not profane their tutelary deity by touching the dead body before celebrating the coming feast. Their refusal greatly embarrassed the priests.

The next day there was a loud voice "Tanomo!" at the entrance of the temple. The chief priest came out and found a couple of young samurai in traveling outfits standing at the doorway. They asked if he had seen an old priest who had traveled near the temple. The chief priest therefore gave them a full account of the dead priest and said that the whole temple was at a loss how to dispose of his body.

"Dead!"

The young samurai were greatly surprised at the account and collapsed on the spot. So the chief priest asked who they were.

"The dead priest is our father. He was disposed to ramble and frequently disappeared from our home. Recently he left home again and so we were looking for him. As he is now dead, we wish to hold a funeral for him."

When the young men saw their father's body, they wept bitterly over it. They said they would come again at night to carry the body to the cemetery. So the chief priest was very pleased to have them claim the body.

About eight o'clock in the evening, the stillness of the temple compound was suddenly broken by a noisy crowd of men who came to carry the body from the belfry. As the priests had nothing to do with the body, they remained in the house and listened to the noises outdoors. Before long, the crowd seemed to have carried the body into the pine forest behind the temple, for the priests heard their prayers accompanied by drum and bell coming from there. They conducted the noisy ceremony all the night through.

As day broke, the noises were no longer heard and the crowd seemed to have gone away. In those days it was the custom for people to stay away for a month from the house where a person had died, so the temple priests would not visit the belfry during the mourning period.

After a month had passed, one of the priests came to the tower. He opened the door and was astonished to see...

"Oh, the bell's gone!"

He found nothing but a straw mat left on the floor. Since the tower had been closed for a long time, the air was damp and the room was full of cobwebs. He ran back to report the incident to the abbot.

"Nonsense! Who could carry away the bell? It is too heavy to be moved," cried the chief priest. Thereupon all the priests came to the belfry and found the bell gone. They were amazed at the extraordinary strength of the thief.

"Who could carry it away?"

"Say, I suspect the mourners. They must have taken it."

"I see. But, what were they doing in the forest? Let us go to see the place."

The priests immediately went to the forest. Many trees had been cut down and apparently burned to melt down the bell, for the priests found pieces of melted metal scattered on the ground. They all admired the thieves' trick.

"The old priest pretended to be dead all day. I don't think any other thief could do it so well."

"No one else could pretend to weep so bitterly as the young men. They made us shed tears of sympathy."

"They were very clever indeed, in making noises overnight to divert our attention from their destruction of the bell."

"Anyway, they were good strategists."

The Koya-dera thus lost its treasure bell for good and all.

20. The monkey's gratitude

L
ONG, LONG AGO
, in a fishing hamlet in Kyushu,
there lived an honest fisherman with his wife and their baby.

One day, when the tide was out, his wife with the baby on her back went out with her neighbors to gather shells. As the weather was very fine, many persons were gathering shells on the beach.

The fisherman's wife put her baby on a huge rock, asked a neighbor's boy to look after it, and set to work. As she was gathering shells, she found a monkey playing on the beach. The animal apparently had come from a nearby mountain.

"Look! There is a monkey over there. I wonder what he is doing. Let us go and see," she said. They went together to see the monkey, but, strangely, the animal would not run away. At their approaching steps, the monkey looked about restlessly but still remained there. It appeared that he was unable to set himself free from something.

"What is the matter with him? It is very strange that he does not run away."

As they came to the monkey, they found his hand caught in a big closed shell.

"Ha, ha! It seems that as he tried to pull the flesh out of the open shell, it closed on his hand."

The monkey was desperately struggling to pull out his hand, while the shell tried to bury itself deeper into the sand. It was a very interesting sight indeed. One of the neighbors suddenly picked up a big stone and tried to kill him with it. She hated the monkey because he frequently damaged the farms. The fisherman's wife, however, took pity on the animal and asked the neighbor to spare his life.

Meanwhile, the tide began to rise and violent waves came dashing ashore. The monkey had great trouble battling with the shell, rolling about on the beach and splashing the water about him. The other shell-gatherers had already stopped their work and gone home.

The kind-hearted wife forced open the shell and freed the monkey's hand. She also pitied the shell. Instead of picking it up, she softly buried it in the wet sand.

"I warn you, monkey, not to destroy the farms any more," said the wife. The monkey appeared to have understood what she had said. next instant, however, he suddenly jumped onto the huge rock and, picking up her baby, ran away with it toward the mountain.

The woman was astonished at the animal's act and angrily cried that the animal had returned evil for good. She did not lose a second in chasing it in order to take back her baby. Her neighbors also ran after the monkey, saying that it did her no good to spare his life.

The monkey, with the baby in his arms, ran so fast that the mother could not catch up with him. She called out for the immediate return of her baby. But the monkey still kept running and finally climbed a tall tree. The mother and her neighbors soon arrived at the foot of the tree. The monkey was sitting on a branch, so the people could do nothing but look up at him. One of the neighbors went back to tell the incident to the baby's father.

In the meantime, the monkey, with the baby in his right arm, began to sway the branch with his left hand. The baby was surprised at his violent act and began crying. At this dangerous sight, the mother felt as if her heart were breaking.

Just then, a big eagle came swooping down from the top of the mountain beyond. The people feared that the bird would snatch the baby from the monkey and eat it. The baby's mother closed her eyes and earnestly prayed to Buddha for his help.

As the eagle swooped down upon the monkey, the monkey suddenly released his left hand which had pulled the branch hard, as if to draw a bow to the full. The branch sprang back with strong force, striking the head of the eagle. The big bird was instantly killed and dropped headfirst to the ground. Then the monkey pulled the branch again. As another eagle came swooping down the wise monkey again counterattacked it, knocking it down instantly. The people anxiously watched this peculiar battle. In a short while, five eagles were successively struck down to the ground.

It seems that as the monkey struggled with the shell on the beach, he had noticed the eagles watching for an opportunity to snatch away the baby on the rock. So, after he was released from the shell, he protected the baby from the eagles' attacks in return for the woman's kindness.

The danger gone, the monkey quickly came down from the tree and gently placed the baby on the ground, then went up again. The people could now understand the monkey's motivation. The baby's father soon came and was given a complete account of what had happened. After this the villagers happily went home together.

It is said that the fisherman later obtained much money by selling the beautiful wings of the dead eagles to a rich man in town.

21. The lost dinner

I
N THE NORTHWESTERN
part of Kyoto, there rise in a line three hills named Narabi-ga-Oka, or Triple Hills. Their tops are covered with pine trees. At some distance from the foot of the hills stands Ninna-ji Temple, one of the famous temples of the Shingon sect of Buddhism.

About these hills an interesting tale is still told. Many a hundred years ago a page was serving at the temple. He was so cute that some priests planned one day to take him out to the hills on a picnic and play a trick on him.

Before starting for the picnic, they fixed some dinner, which they put in a picnic box and secretly buried at a certain spot on one of the hills.

"Say, dear boy. You are serving us very well every day. Now and then you need some recreation. It's a very fine day so we are planning to go to Narabi-ga-Oka for some fun. How about coming with us?" they said to the little one.

The boy accepted their offer at once. They all went out together after obtaining permission from the chief priest.

They walked around on the hills, enjoying the nice view and the fresh air of the fine autumn weather, and came to the spot where the priests had previously buried the picnic dinner box.

"Oh, I'm tired. Let's rest here," said one of them, and the others, as planned, agreed to his idea. Another one said, "I'm hungry. If any one of you have the magic power to dig up a dinner by simply chanting a prayer, I'd appreciate it."

"All right. I'll try. You just watch," said the third one instantly, and began to recite something loudly, rubbing the beads of his rosary, as if to chant a prayer to Buddha.

Several minutes later, he finished his sham prayer and said with an air of importance, "During my prayer, I received a divine revelation. I was told to dig here to find a dinner for us."

At this, the other priests started digging up the spot to take out their previously buried dinner box. The innocent page watched what they did with curiosity and doubt.

Contrary to their expectation, however, they did not find the box there. They wondered if they might have dug in the wrong spot, so they, with many pains, dug here and there all over the place. But they could not find anything that resembled the box at all.

Quite exhausted with hard labor, they sat down on the ground, struck dumb with the unexpected turn of events. With the coming of darkness, they made their way back to the temple, quite downcast by the failure of their trick and the loss of their dinner. It is said that someone who had seen them put the dinner box into the ground mischievously took it away during their absence.