The Love of a Silver Fox: Folk Tales from Seki CIty

by Darvin Babiuk

  ***THE END***

  THE PRINCESS OF STANDING-DOOR ROCK

  By Shigeo Funato

  Once upon a time, in a small village surrounded by mountains near Seki, lived a kind, gentle-natured girl named Omiyo. Both Omiyo's mother and father had died when she was young, leaving her to be raised by an elderly grandfather. One day, when she was ten, when she was called to the village headman's house.

  "Omiyo," he told her. "Your grandfather's too old for you to live with anymore. He can't work and he's a burden to his loved ones. You'll come and work for me from today. Work hard and I'll pay the tax on his land."

  "I understand," said Omiyo, bowing her head deeply. "From now on I'm in your care. Please take good care of me."

  From the day she moved in to the headman's house, Omiyo had to work harder than a ten-year-old ever had to before. There were lots of difficult jobs like taking care of the horses, cutting hay for them to eat, and drawing and heating the water for the daily bath. Cutting the hay had to be done before breakfast, on the slopes of a mountain far away from the headman's house and there were lots of horses, so she needed lots of hay. Then, once she was finished cutting the feed for them to eat, she had to go down to the river and wash and comb the brambles out of their hides. At first, she didn't know how to handle horses at all, so it was really troubling work.

  But of all her jobs, drawing the water for the bath was the worst. Balancing two buckets on a long pole over her shoulders, she had to walk all the way down to the river, fill them with water, and then carry them back up to the house, time and time again until the baths were full. The pole was hard and rubbed the skin raw on her shoulders, swelling them red and making it difficult to sleep for days on end. There were nights when Omiyo didn't think she could make it, and she often cried in her hard, mean bed. She often thought about going back home. But, just when she thought she couldn't take it anymore, she would stop and remember the promise she made her grandfather the day she left.

  "I'm sorry, Omiyo," he had said, tears falling through the cracks on his face as he spoke. "If only I were a little healthier. But I'm not. I'm old. I can't take care of you anymore. I wish you didn't have to go. The headman is a hard master to work for. He works his men hard. I know now it seems like nothing but bad times, but you've got to promise me that no matter how hard it gets you won't give up. You have to keep going. You have to. Do it for me."

  "Don't worry, Grandpa," Omiyo had said back, clutching the old man's grizzled hand. ""I'll be okay. No matter how hard it gets, I won't quit. It's you we should be worried about now.

  You're not so healthy anymore."

  A month passed and, with great difficulty, Omiyo was just able to get used to her job. Just when that happened, the headman called her in and gave her one more.

  "Omiyo," he ordered, handing her a piece of paper. "Every day from now on after you eat, you have to go into Seki and buy some rice wine for my meal. There's a map written on this paper that tells you what liquor shop. Tell him I'll pay him once a month and not before."

  Omiyo took the map that was handed to her from the headman and followed it to the liquor store. The way was almost all mountain roads, six kilometers in all, and she had to cross two big mountain passes. From that day on, Omiyo walked down the gloomy mountain roads to the liquor store on the map. No matter what the weather -- rain, wind, or snow -- she trudged down the dark, winding roads by herself to get her master's rice wine. It was late by the time she had finished all her other jobs and dark by the time she got back home.

  For five years, Omiyo put up with this, not once complaining and working as hard as she could for the headman. Winter, spring, summer, and fall; day in and day out, she followed the winding mountain road, carrying the sake flask to fetch rice wine for her master. One fall afternoon, on the way to the sake shop just like always, she stopped to admire the bright colours of the maple trees reflected colourfully in the maple-stained waters of Nakaike pond. The scenery was so beautiful, she decided to stop for a bit by the pond. She sat there staring into the water absent-mindedly when suddenly a strange breeze began to blow across the pond. She shivered, but not from the cold. You see, when she turned around to look at the maple trees, none of their leaves were rustling in the wind. When she looked back there was a young man standing there that hadn't been there before. She stared at him and he spoke.

  "You're Omiyo, aren't you?"

  "Yes, I am. But how do you know my name?"

  "I live around here. All the village people have heard of you, someone so young but works so hard."

  Omiyo just stared. She didn't know what to say. Why would anyone have heard of her? He was wearing a kimono and had thick, dark eyebrows and clear, lively eyes, so he looked like he must be one of the villagers.

  "Come on," the young man said, beckoning her to follow him. "I was waiting for you to come by today. I want to show you a spring of rice wine that comes out of the ground."

  "A spring made up of rice wine?" Omiyo said, surprised. "This I have to see."

  "I know you don't believe me, but there's really one there. And it's good sake, too. Come on. I'll show you the way. How about it?"

  Omiyo still didn't believe what the young man said, but she followed him away from the pond and down a thin, narrow valley the water was gurgling down to a big rock, where a sweet fragrance was coming from. She bent down to look closer and there was a small spring bubbling out from under the rock.

  "Look," said the young boy, pointing to the spring triumphantly. "A spring made of rice wine. Just like I said. Delicious sake, too. Why don't you drink some and see? All your fatigue will fall away at once."

  The young man scooped some of it up in his hands and Omiyo bent to drink. It really was sake! And not just sake, but good sake, too! She couldn't say how but even after drinking just that little bit her entire body felt light and easy for a change.

  "My master will certainly be surprised at rice wine as good as this," she said, flashing him a smile. The two of them spent the rest of the afternoon lounging around the spring, watching the maple trees and exchanging interesting talk. Then, when it started to get dark and time for Omiyo to return home, he took the sake flask from her and headed back up the narrow valley together to Nakaike pond.

  "Omiyo," he said, surprising her with the seriousness of his voice. They'd reached the pond now and she knew he wasn't going to go any further. "The sake in that pond is a secret. You can't tell anyone. No matter what people say, you can't tell them. If you do, something bad will happen. If you say even one thing about it, you'll turn into a pillar of stone."

  "I understand," she said, making a solemn vow that she would keep it secret and hurrying back to her master's house.

  "What kind of sake is this?" the headman wanted to know as soon as he drank some. "I can feel it go right through me, straight through to my core."

  "I glad you like it," Omiyo said. "That makes me happy. I heard that if you drink it, the fatigue goes right out of your body."

  "It sure does. Just one cup and I feel refreshed down to my core. Omiyo, you bring me this rice wine tomorrow, too," said the headman, drinking the rest of sake and very pleased.

  The next day, Omiyo took the sake flask at the same time she did every day and climbed up the mountain pass to where she had met the young man yesterday. When she got there, he was waiting for her again. He took the sake flask from her and together they walked down the narrow valley from Nakaike pond to the magic spring. While they were walking he told Omiyo stories about a wonderful city and things that happened in countries far away that she had never heard of before.

  "This is a story about a long, long time ago when I passing along the foot of Yoro falls and came across a child who loved its parents very much," he said. "We got to know each other quite well and he invited me to down to see the waterfall with him. The scenery around it was very beautiful, just like here. Once we got there, he reached down to draw up some water for his sick father only to find that it was sake instead.
The gods must surely be smiling on the boy, I thought. What do you think, Omiyo?"

  Maybe," was all Omiyo could think to say, but inside she wondered if it was really the gods who were smiling on them.

  She had a strange feeling about what was happening here, so she began to tell the young man about her own life. She told him all about how first her mother and then her father died in the

  epidemic that swept through town and how at the time of their funeral at the Buddhist temple the headman had paid for all the funeral arrangements and the meal and the lacquer bowls to feed her grieving relatives.

  "Then he made a deal with my grandpa. No matter how long passed, he wouldn't ask for any of the money he lent him, only collect the interest. But I had to go work for him to pay for it."

  "I see," said the young man. "Is that how it happened? Even so, you have to work awfully hard. I really admire you." Suddenly, he changed the subject. "You know, Omiyo, if you rubbed this rice wine into your face every day, I'm sure it would make you even more beautiful."

  Omiyo took some of the sake from him and began to apply it to her face. "You know, I don't even know your name."

  "That's right, you don't. It's Shinsuke," he introduced himself. "I'm sixteen. Nice to meet you," he said, and bowed formally.

  "Honourable Shinsuke? That's a good name, isn't it? I'm fifteen. Can I call you Shinsuke from now on?" she asked a little bashfully and Shinsuke nodded and smiled sweetly. Their two smiling faces resembled the colour of sunsets and maple trees shining brightly. From then on, day after day, the two of them met at the top of the mountain pass and spent the afternoon enjoyably chatting and walking down to the sake spring together to get rice wine for Omiyo's master. The long hill up the mountain road didn't seem so bad to Omiyo anymore and she longed for the hour when it was time to go and buy her master's rice wine. He had been drinking the sake every day now for quite some time and the colour in his face was getting better and better. There was even an extra bounce in his step, like he was getting younger and younger. Omiyo saw this and one day she decided to ask Shinsuke something she'd been thinking about a long time.

  "Shinsuke," she said. "I'd like to give some of this rice wine to my grandfather to drink. Then maybe he'll get healthy again. Do you think that would be alright?"

  "Alright? Of course it's alright. Anything that will make him healthy and strong is good. The sake in this spring is yours, not mine. I gave it to you. You don't have to ask me permission for anything. Just promise you'll never tell anyone where you got it from. I'll tell you what. Starting tomorrow, I'll take this sake flask myself and deliver it to him for you."

  Little by little, Omiyo came to become completely charmed by the kind-hearted Shinsuke. Before she knew it, a month had passed and they met every day.

  "Omiyo," her master said calling her one night. "I want you to tell me where you've been getting this rice wine from. I think I told you I'd go once a month and pay the shop owner for his sake, but today when I went there he said he hadn't sold you any sake this month so he didn't need any money. Tell me where you've been getting that sake from."

  "Actually . . . " began Omiyo, about to tell him the truth, until suddenly she remembered Shinsuke's confused voice when he made her promise never to tell anyone where the sake came from and clammed up.

  "Omiyo!" scolded the headman. "Recently you've become quite a beauty, but I'm sure you've been hiding things from me. You’ve been drinking sake, haven't you?"

  Omiyo didn't know what to say, so he went on.

  "You still don't have anything to say? Okay. If you can't tell me honestly what's going on, you'll work in the fields from tomorrow. I'll send someone else to buy the sake. It's decided."

  With those words, he took the one enjoyable thing in Omiyo's life away from her. The next day, after lunch, instead of going to buy her master's rice wine, Omiyo was sent to work in the fields. But all she could think about was poor Shinsuke waiting for her by the mountain pass so her work didn't get anywhere. She couldn't bear to be parted from her beloved Shinsuke for even a day.

  The headman, for his part, sent his servant to find where Omiyo had been buying the ”sake• from. But no matter where he looked, he couldn't find the place. Then and there, he decided that he would get Omiyo to tell him where she was getting the rice wine from, but no matter what he tried Omiyo kept her mouth shut.

  Before long, a strange rumour reached the headman's ears. Somehow or other, Omiyo's grandfather, who didn't have any money to begin with, was managing to drink sake night after night and he was getting healthier and healthier. He took five of his servants with him and went to see if the rumours were true for himself. It was true. Omiyo's grandfather was not only drinking sake and getting stronger and stronger, he had begun to work in the fields himself. They demanded to know where he was getting the sake from but all he could say was that he didn't know. Even when they began to push and bully him, he kept to his story. Before long, they could see he was getting weak and might even die so they hurriedly left.

  Soon, word of what was happening reached Omiyo working in the fields and she wanted to run home, but she was there together with the other servants. Soon, all of them knew what was going on. But since they all rented their fields from the headman and had to depend on him for help, no one was willing to look at Omiyo's point of view and help her. Omiyo become so upset she became silent as a stone. Just when she was like that, she got even worse news. Her grandfather had died. When she heard that, Omiyo didn't cry. There was nothing left to tie her to this world anymore, so she decided to tell the headman everything.

  That night, the headman called her to his house and told her again that he must be told clearly where the sake was coming from.

  "Tonight is your last chance to tell me where that rice wine is coming from," he told her. "It seems that your grandfather had the ill-fortune to pass away. Tell me now, or you won't be allowed to go to his funeral."

  "Honourable Sir," said Omiyo, bowing her head and holding back the tears. "I decided that I better tell you, too." Then she went on and told him all about where the Shinsuke, his magic sake spring, and the rest.

  "Is that right? Is that right?" chuckled the headman, suddenly in a good humour. "You've told me everything and I understand it well. Tomorrow, you'll work as hard as you can again in the fields."

  That night, Omiyo got permission from the headman to go back to her grandfather's house and meet with her dead grandfather, where she gave him a funeral by herself. No one else came.

  The next morning, the headman gathered all his servants and left for the spring with a wagon and a big barrel to take the sake home. Following Omiyo's directions, they climbed up the narrow valley flowing into Nakaike pond in search of the spring. The pulled the heavy cart up the steep, narrow valley until they came to a place they couldn't pass. The road was blocked by a big pillar of stone.

  "Right," ordered the headman, rubbing his hands together in glee. "Everyone start looking for the spring." But no matter where they looked, the magic spring was nowhere to be found. They spent the rest of all of that day looking around Nakaike pond for the sake, but they couldn't even find plain old water coming out of the ground.

  "Why would sake come out of the ground in a strange place like this?"

  "There's not even any smell."

  "Omiyo must have been lying all along," they said.

  It was dark by the time the headman, hot with anger, got back to his house.

  "Omiyo!" he called out angrily. "Where's Omiyo? Bring her to me. Call her here now!" They looked and looked, even sending someone to her grandfather's house, but she was nowhere to be found. Under the pale light of the winter moon, she had decided to go and meet Shinsuke one last time.

  "Shin-su-uuke! Shin-su-uuke!" she called out while walking along the Ohno river and up towards the mountain pass. Halfway up the mountain, she could see a huge white pillar of rock standing like a door shining in the light of the moon where none had been before. This is where
Shinsuke used to wait for me all the time, Omiyo thought.

  "Shinsuke!" she called out again sadly. "Where are you?"

  "Omiyo! Omiyo!" came his voice from inside the rock. It's me. Shinsuke. I'm inside this rock. You broke your promise. You told about the spring. I asked you not to. My punishment is to be locked inside this rock forever. I have something to tell you. I'm not a boy at all. I'm the water fairy that lived in Nakaike pond. You were such a gentle, hard-working girl that I got to like you. I was going to ask you to be my wife."

  "I'm sorry!" cried Omiyo, kneeling with her hands put together in prayer. "You have to forgive me. I loved you from my heart, too. I want to be together. Isn't there some way I can go into the rock with you?"

  Instantly, her body was sucked into the rock and she disappeared completely from sight, the sun filtering down through the cedar trees onto the big rock. From that day on, the villagers called the rock where Shinsuke and Omiyo became bound together the "Standing Door Rock" and Omiyo "Standing Door Princess."