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[Transcriber's Note:
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used, it indicates that the vowel it surrounds is a long vowel with a
macron (dash) above it.]
AINO FOLK-TALES.
BY
BASIL HALL CHAMBERLAIN.
WITH INTRODUCTION
BY
EDWARD B. TYLOR, D.C.L., F.R.S.
Privately Printed
FOR
THE FOLK-LORE SOCIETY.
1888.
XXII.
List of Officers of the Society.
1887-1888.
PRESIDENT.
THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF STRAFFORD.
VICE-PRESIDENTS.
ANDREW LANG, M.A.
W. R. S. RALSTON, M.A.
EDWARD B. TYLOR, LL.D., F.R.S.
DIRECTOR.
G. L. GOMME, F.S.A., 1, Beverley Villas, Barnes Common, S.W.
COUNCIL.
A. MACHADO Y ALVAREZ.
THE EARL BEAUCHAMP, F.S.A.
EDWARD BRABROOK, F.S.A.
DR. D. G. BRINTON
JAMES BRITTEN, F.L.S.
LOYS BRUEYRE.
MISS C. S. BURNE.
EDWARD CLODD.
PROFESSOR D. COMPARETTI.
G. L. GOMME, F.S.A.
A. GRANGER HUTT, F.S.A.
SIR JOHN LUBBOCK, Bt., F.R.S.
SIR HENRY MAINE, K.C.S.I.
REV. DR. RICHARD MORRIS.
ALFRED NUTT.
EDWARD PEACOCK, F.S.A.
Z. D. PEDROSO.
PROFESSOR A. H. SAYCE, M.A.
CAPTAIN R. C. TEMPLE.
HENRY B. WHEATLEY, F.S.A.
AUDITORS.
G. L. APPERSON.
JOHN TOLHURST, F.S.A.
LOCAL SECRETARIES.
IRELAND: G. H. KINAHAN, R.I.A.
SOUTH SCOTLAND: WILLIAM GEORGE BLACK.
NORTH SCOTLAND: REV. WALTER GREGOR.
INDIA: CAPTAIN R. C. TEMPLE.
CHINA: J. STEWART LOCKHART.
HONORARY SECRETARIES.
A. GRANGER HUTT, F.S.A., 8, Oxford Road, Kilburn, N.W.
J. J. FOSTER, 36, Alma Square, St. John's Wood, N.W.
INTRODUCTION.
Twelve hundred years ago a Chinese historian stated that "on the eastern
frontier of the land of Japan there is a barrier of great mountains,
beyond which is the land of the Hairy Men." These were the Aino, so
named from the word in their own language signifying "man." Over most of
the country of these rude and helpless indigenes the Japanese have long
since spread, only a dwindling remnant of them still inhabiting the
island of Yezo. Since the early days when a couple of them were sent as
curiosities to the Emperor of China their uncouth looks and habits have
made them objects of interest to more civilised nations. Many European
writers have described them, but hardly any with such opportunities as
Mr. Basil Hall Chamberlain, Professor of Philology at the T[=o]ky[=o]
University, who has taken down from the Ainos the present collection of
their tales, and prefaced it with an account of their ways and state of
mind. It would hardly be for me to offer information on a subject so
excellently handled, but the request of the Editor of the _Folk-Lore
Journal_ that I would write an Introduction enables me to draw attention
to the views put forward by Professor Chamberlain in another
publication,[A] which, being printed in Japan, may be overlooked by many
English folk-lore students, even of those interested in the curious Aino
problem.
As is well known, the hairiness of the Ainos marks them sharply off from
the smooth-faced Japanese. No one can look at photographs of Ainos
without admitting that the often-repeated comparison of them to bearded
Russian peasants is much to the purpose. The likeness is much
strengthened by the bold quasi-European features of the Ainos
contrasting extremely with the Japanese type of face. Of course all
this has suggested a theory of the Ainos belonging to the Aryan race;
and, although the idea comes to nothing when examined strictly, its
existence is an acknowledgment of the special Aino race-type. Mention
must also be made of an anatomical peculiarity of the Aino skeleton,
consisting of a remarkable flattening of the arm-and leg-bones. On the
whole it is evident that the Ainos are an ancient race in this part of
Asia, and so far isolated that anthropology has not yet the means of
settling their physical connection with other Asiatic tribes. Professor
Chamberlain's careful examination of the Aino language leads him to a
similar result. It is made not only from his own knowledge, but with the
advantage of working with the Rev. John Batchelor, who has lived as a
missionary among the Ainos for years, and written the Grammar printed as
a part of these Aino Studies. In structure the resemblances which the
Aino presents to Japanese are outweighed by the differences; and, though
it may ultimately prove to fall into a north-east Asiatic group of
languages, this is so far from being made out that it is safest for the
present to treat both race and language as isolated. Inasmuch as the
little civilisation now possessed by the Ainos has in great measure been
learnt from the Japanese, it is natural that their modern language
should have picked up numbers of Japanese words, from the name of kamui
which they give to their gods, down to the rice-beer or sake in which
they seek continual drunkenness, now their main source of enjoyment. One
purpose which their language serves is to prove how widely they once
spread over the country now Japan, where place-names alone remain to
indicate a former Aino population. Some of these are unmistakeably Aino,
as Yamashiro, which must have meant "land of chestnut trees," and
Shikyu, "place of rushes." Others, if interpreted as Japanese, have a
far-fetched sense, as, for instance, the villages of Mennai and Tonami,
which, if treated as Japanese, would signify "inside permission" and
"hares in a row"; whereas, if taken to be originally Aino they may bear
the reasonable sense of "bad stream" and "stream from the lake." The
inference from records and local names, worked out with great care by
Professor Chamberlain, is "that the Ainos were truly the predecessors of
the Japanese all over the Archipelago. The dawn of history shows them
to us living far to the south and west of their present haunts; and ever
since then, century by century, we see them retreating eastwards and
northwards, as steadily as the American Indian has retreated westwards
under the pressure of the colonists from Europe."
As with their language, so with their folk-lore, which largely shows
itself adopted from the Japanese. In the present collection the stories
of the Salmon-king (xxxiv.), the Island of Women (xxxiii.), and others,
are based on episodes of Japanese tales, sometimes belonging to
world-wide cycles of myth, as in the theme of the mortal who eats the
deadly food of Hades (xxxv.), which has its typical example in the story
of Persephone. On reading the short but curious tale (xvi.), How it was
settled who should rule the World, one sees at once that the cunning
Fox-god has come in from the well-known fox mythology of Japan; and as
to the very clever mythic episode of looking for the sunrise in the
west, I find, on inquiry of a Japanese gentleman living in Oxford, Mr.
Tsneta Mori, that this belongs to the tale of the Wager of the
Phoenix, known to all Japanese children, and in which the Phoenix is
plainly derived from China. On the other hand, there is much genuine
Aino matter in the present collection. For instance, we learn from
Professor Chamberlain's above-mentioned treatise why it is that Panaumbe
("on the lower course of the river") does the clever things, while
Penaumbe ("on the upper course of the river") is the stupid imitator who
comes to grief. It is simply the expression of the dislike and contempt
of the coast Ainos, who tell the stories, for the hill Ainos further up
the rivers. It is needless to mention here the many touches of Aino
ideas, morals, and customs, which their stories disclose, for it is in
noticing these that much of the interest consists which the reader will
feel in perusing them. Their most important characteristic indeed is
insisted on by Professor Chamberlain, in remarks of which the value must
not be overlooked. Of all the difficulties felt by the student of
folk-lore the greatest is that of judging how far those who tell and
listen really believe their childish wonder-tales of talking beasts and
the like, or how far they make and take them as conscious fun. We
ourselves are at the latter sceptical end, and many peoples we can
examine are in a halfway state, not altogether disbelieving that big
stones may once have been giants, or that it is a proper incident in a
hero's career to be swallowed by a monster and get out again, but at the
same time admitting that after all these may be only old wives' tales.
Even savage tribes under contact with civilised men are mostly in this
intermediate state, and thus Professor Chamberlain's statement as to the
place of folk-lore in the Aino mind, made, as it has been, under his
personal scrutiny, is a document of real consequence. He satisfied
himself that his Ainos were not making believe, like Europeans with
nursery tales, but that the explanatory myths of natural phenomena are
to them theorems of physical science, and the wonder-tales are told
under the impression that they really happened. Those who maintain the
serious value of folk-lore, as embodying early but quite real stages of
philosophy among mankind, will be grateful for this collection, in spite
of its repulsive features, as furnishing the clearest evidence that the
basis of their argument is not only theoretical but actual.
Edward B. Tylor.
[A] _The Language, Mythology, and Geographical Nomenclature of Japan,
viewed in the light of Aino Studies._ By Basil Hall Chamberlain.
Including an _Ainu Grammar_ by John Batchelor. (Memoirs of the
Literature College, Imperial University of Japan, No. 1.) T[=o]ky[=o]:
1887.
AINO FOLK-LORE.
By Basil Hall Chamberlain.
_Prefatory Remarks._
I visited the island of Yezo for the third time in the summer of 1886,
in order to study the Aino language, with a view to elucidate by its
means the obscure problem of the geographical nomenclature of Japan.
But, as is apt to happen on such occasions, the chief object of my visit
soon ceased to be the only object. He who would learn a language must
try to lisp in it, and more especially must he try to induce the natives
to chatter in it in his presence. Now in Yezo, subjects of discourse are
few. The Ainos stand too low in the scale of humanity to have any notion
of the civilised art of "making conversation." When, therefore, the
fishing and the weather are exhausted, the European sojourner in one of
their dreary, filthy seaside hamlets will find himself,--at least I
found myself,--sadly at a loss for any further means of setting his
native companions' tongues in motion. It is then that fairy-tales come
to the rescue. The Ainos would not suggest the idea themselves. To
suggest ideas is not their habit. But they are delighted to follow it
when suggested. Simply to repeat something which they have known by
heart ever since the days of their childhood is not such an effort to
their easily-tired brains as is the keeping up of a conversation with
one who speaks their language imperfectly. Their tongues are at once
loosened.
In my own case, I found myself, after a short time, listening to the
stories for their own sake,--not merely as linguistic exercises; and I
ventured to include a few of them in the "Memoir on the Ainos" which was
published a few months ago by the Imperial University of Japan. Some
remarks in a review of this "Memoir," contained in _Nature_ of the 12th
May, 1887, have encouraged me to believe that anthropologists and
comparative mythologists may be interested in having laid before them
something more than mere samples of the mental products of a people
which is interesting for three reasons,--interesting because its domain
once extended over the entire Japanese archipelago, interesting because
absolutely nothing certain is known as to its origin and affinities,
interesting because it is, so to speak, almost at its last gasp. I have,
therefore, now collected and classified all the tales that were
communicated to me by Ainos, in Aino, during my last stay in the island,
and more latterly in T[=o]ky[=o], when, by the kind assistance of the
President of the University, Mr. H. Watanabe, an exceptionally
intelligent Aino was procured from the North, and spent a month in my
house. These tales form the paper which I now have the honour to offer
for the acceptance of your learned Society.
It would, no doubt, be possible to treat the subject of Aino folk-lore
in great detail. The gloss might easily be made longer than the text.
Each story might be analysed according to the method proposed by the
Folk-Lore Society; a "survey of incidents" might be appended to each, as
in Messrs. Steel and Temple's charming "Wide-Awake Stories," from the
Punjab and Cashmere. More interesting to the anthropologist than such
mechanical dissection of each tale considered as an independent entity
would be the attempt to unravel the affinities of these Aino tales. How
many of them, what parts of them, are original? How many of them are
borrowed, and whence?
To carry out such an investigation with that completeness which would
alone give it serious value, would necessitate a greater expenditure of
time than my duties will allow of, perhaps also a fund of multifarious
knowledge which I do not possess. I would, therefore, merely suggest in
passing that the probabilities of the case are in favour of the Ainos
having borrowed from their only clever neighbours, the Japanese. (The
advent of the Russians is so recent that they need hardly be counted in
this connection.) The reasons for attributing to the Japanese, rather
than to the Ainos, the prior possession (which, by the way, by no means
implies the invention) of the tales common to both races, are partly
general, partly special. Thus it is _a priori_ likely that the stupid
and barbarous will be taught by the clever and educated, not the clever
and educated by the stupid and barbarous. On the other hand, as I have
elsewhere demonstrated, a comparative study of the languages of the two
peoples shows clearly that this _a priori_ view is fully borne out so
far as far as the linguistic domain is concerned. The same remark
applies to social customs. Even in religion, the most conservative of
all institutions, especially among barbarians, the Ainos have suffered
Japanese influence to intrude itself. It is Japanese rice-beer, under
its Japanese name of _sake_, which they offer in libations to their
gods. Their very word for "prayer" seems to be archaic Japanese. A
mediæval Japanese hero, Yoshitsune, is generally allowed to be held in
religious reverence by them. The idea of earthquakes being caused by the
wriggling of a gigantic fish under the earth is shared by the Ainos with
the Japanese and with several other races.
At the same time, the general tenour and tendency of the tales and
traditions of the Ainos wear a widely different aspect from that which
characterises the folk-lore of Japan. The Ainos, in their humble way,
are addicted to moralising and to speculating on the origin of things. A
perusal of the following tales will show that a surprisingly large
number of them are attempts to explain some natural phenomenon, or to
exemplify some simple precept. In fact they are science,--physical
science and moral science,--at a very early stage. The explanations
given in these tales completely satisfy the adult Aino mind of the
present day. The Aino fairy-tales are not, as ours are, survivals from
an earlier stage of thought. They spring out of the present state of
thought. Even if not invented of recent years they fit in with the
present Aino view of things,--so much so, that an Aino who recounts one
of his stories does so under the impression that he is narrating an
actual event. He does not "make believe" like the European nurse, even
like the European child, who has always, in some nook or corner of his
mind, a presentiment of the scepticism of his later years.
So far as I can judge, that "disease of language" which we call
metaphor, and which is held by some great authorities to have been the
chief factor in the fabrication of Aryan myth, has no place in Aino
fairy-land; neither have the phenomena of the weather attracted more
attention than other things. But I speak subject to correction. Perhaps
it is not wise to invite controversy on such a point unless one is well
armed for the fight.
Failing an elaborate analysis of the Aino fairy-tales, and a discussion
of their origin and affinities, what I venture to offer for your
Society's acceptance is the simple text of the tales themselves,
rendered into English. Nine of them have already been printed in the
Aino "Memoir" already referred to. One has been printed (but not quite
in its genuine form, which decency was supposed to forbid) at the end of
Mr. Batchelor's grammar included in the same "Memoir." All the others
are now given to the world for the first time, never having yet appeared
in any language, not even in Japanese.
I would draw special attention to the character of the translation, as
being an absolutely literal one in the case of all those stories which I
originally wrote down in Aino from the dictation of native informants.
As time pressed, however, I sometimes had the story told me more
rapidly, and wrote it down afterwards in English only, but never more
than a few hours afterwards. In such cases, though every detail is
preserved, the rendering is of course not actually literal. This, and
the fact that there were several informants, will account for the
difference of style between the various stories. I have appended to each
story either the words "translated literally," or the words "written
down from memory," together with the date and the name of the informant,
in order that those who use the collection may know exactly what it is
that they are handling. In all such matters, absolute accuracy, absolute
literalness, wherever attainable, is surely the one thing necessary. Not
all the charm of diction, not all the ingenious theories in the world,
can for a moment be set in the balance against rigid exactness, even if
some of the concomitants of rigid exactness are such as to spoil the
subject for popular treatment. The truth, the stark naked truth, the
truth without so much as a loin-cloth on, should surely be the
investigator's sole aim when, having discovered a new set of facts, he
undertakes to present them to the consideration of the scientific world.
Of course Aino tales, like other tales, may also be treated from a
literary point of view. Some of the tales of the present collection,
prettily illustrated with pictures by Japanese artists, and altered,
expurgated, and arranged _virginibus puerisque_, are at the present
moment being prepared by Messrs. Ticknor & Co., of Boston, who thought
with me that such a venture might please our little ones both in England
and in the United States. But such things have no scientific value. They
are not meant to have any. They are mere juvenile literature, whose
English dressing-up has as little relation to the barbarous original as
the Paris fashions have to the anatomy of the human frame.
The present paper, on the contrary, is intended for the sole perusal of
the anthropologist and ethnologist, who would be deprived of one of the
best means of judging of the state of the Aino mind if the hideous
indecencies of the original were omitted, or its occasional ineptitude
furbished up. Aino mothers, lulling their babies to sleep, as they rock
them in the cradle hung over the kitchen fire, use words, touch on
subjects which we never mention; and that precisely is a noteworthy
characteristic. The innocent savage is not found in Aino-land, if indeed
he is to be found anywhere. The Aino's imagination is as prurient as
that of any Zola, and far more outspoken. Pray, therefore, put the blame
on him, if much of the language of the present collection is such as it
is not usual to see in print. Aino stories and Aino conversation are the
intellectual counterpart of the dirt, the lice, and the skin-diseases
which cover Aino bodies.
For the four-fold classification of the stories, no importance is
claimed. It was necessary to arrange them somehow; and the division into
"Tales Accounting for the Origin of Phenomena," "Moral Tales," "Tales of
the Panaumbe and Penaumbe Cycle," and "Miscellaneous Tales," suggested
itself as a convenient working arrangement. The "Scraps of Folk-Lore,"
which have been added at the end, may perhaps be considered out of
place in a collection of tales. But I thought it better to err on the
side of inclusion than on that of exclusion. For it may be presumed that
the object of any such investigation is rather to gain as minute an
acquaintance as possible with the mental products of the people studied,
than scrupulously to conform to any system.
There must be a large number of Aino fairy-tales besides those here
given, as the chief tellers of stories, in Aino-land as in Europe, are
the women, and I had mine from men only, the Aino women being much too
shy of male foreigners for it to be possible to have much conversation
with them. Even of the tales I myself heard, several were lost through
the destruction of certain papers,--among others at least three of the
Panaumbe and Penaumbe Cycle, which I do not trust myself to reconstruct
from memory at this distance of time. Many precious hours were likewise
wasted, and much material rendered useless, by the national vice of
drunkenness. A whole month at Hakodate was spoilt in this way, and
nothing obtained from an Aino named Tomtare, who had been procured for
me by the kindness of H. E. the Governor of Hakodate. One can have
intercourse with men who smell badly, and who suffer, as almost all
Ainos do, from lice and from a variety of disgusting skin-diseases. It
is a mere question of endurance and of disinfectants. But it is
impossible to obtain information from a drunkard. A third reason for the
comparatively small number of tales which it is possible to collect
during a limited period of intercourse is the frequency of repetitions.
No doubt such repetitions have a confirmatory value, especially when the
repetition is of the nature of a variant. Still, one would willingly
spare them for the sake of new tales.
The Aino names appended to the stories are those of the men by whom they
were told to me, viz. Penri, the aged chief of Piratori; Ishanashte of
Shumunkot; Kannariki of Poropet (Jap. Horobetsu); and Kuteashguru of
Sapporo. Tomtare of Y[=u]rap does not appear for the reason mentioned
above, which spoilt all his usefulness. The only mythological names
which appear are Okikurumi, whom the Ainos regard as having been their
civilizer in very ancient times, his sister-wife Turesh, or Tureshi[hi]
and his henchman Samayunguru. The "divine symbols," of which such
constant mention is made in the tales, are the inao or whittled sticks
frequently described in books of travels.
Basil Hall Chamberlain.
Miyanoshita, Japan,
20th July, 1887.
I.--TALES ACCOUNTING FOR THE ORIGIN OF PHENOMENA.
i.--_The Rat and the Owl._[B]
An owl had put by for next day the remains of something dainty which he
had to eat. But a rat stole it, whereupon the owl was very angry, and
went off to the rat's house, and threatened to kill him. But the rat
apologised, saying: "I will give you this gimlet and tell you how you
can obtain from it pleasure far greater than the pleasure of eating the
food which I was so rude as to eat up. Look here! you must stick the
gimlet with the sharp point upwards in the ground at the foot of this
tree; then go to the top of the tree yourself, and slide down the
trunk."
Then the rat went away, and the owl did as the rat had instructed him.
But, sliding down on to the sharp gimlet, his anus was transfixed, and
he suffered great pain, and, in his grief and rage, went off to kill the
rat. But again the rat met him with apologies, and, as a peace-offering,
gave him a cap for his head.
These events account for the thick cap of erect feathers which the owl
wears to this day, and also for the enmity between the owl and the
rat.--(Written down from memory. Told by Ishanashte, 25th November,
1886.)
[B] The Aino name here used (_ahunrashambe_) denotes a horned species.
ii.--_The Loves of the Thunder-Gods._
Two young thunder-gods, sons of the chief thunder-god, fell violently in
love with the same Aino woman. Said one of them to the other, in a
joking way: "I will become a flea, so as to be able to hop into her
bosom." Said the other: "I will become a louse, so as to be able to stay
always in her bosom."
"Are those your wishes?" cried their father, the chief thunder-god. "You
shall be taken at your word"; and forthwith the one of them who had said
he would become a flea was turned into a flea, while he who said he
would become a louse was turned into a louse. Hence all the fleas and
lice that exist at the present day.
This accounts for the fact that, whenever there is a thunder-storm,
fleas jump out of all sorts of places where there were none to be seen
before.--(Written down from memory. Told by Ishanashte, 27th November,
1886.)
iii.--_Why Dogs cannot speak._
Formerly dogs could speak. Now they cannot. The reason is that a dog,
belonging to a certain man a long time ago, inveigled his master into
the forest under the pretext of showing him game, and there caused him
to be devoured by a bear. Then the dog went home to his master's widow,
and lied to her, saying: "My master has been killed by a bear. But when
he was dying he commanded me to tell you to marry me in his stead." The
widow knew that the dog was lying. But he kept on urging her to marry
him. So at last, in her grief and rage, she threw a handful of dust into
his open mouth. This made him unable to speak any more, and therefore no
dogs can speak even to this very day.--(Written down from memory. Told
by Ishanashte, 29th November, 1886.)
iv.--_Why the Cock cannot fly._
When the Creator had finished creating the world, and had returned to
the sky, he sent down the cock to see whether the world was good or not,
with orders to come back at once. But the world was so beautiful, that
the cock, unable to tear himself away, kept lingering on from day to
day. At last, after a long time, he was on his way flying back up to the
sky. But God, angry with him for his disobedience, stretched forth his
hand, and beat him down to earth, saying: "You are not wanted in the sky
any more."
That is why, to this very day, the cock cannot fly high.--(Written down
from memory. Told by Penri, 18th July, 1886.)
v.--_The Origin of the Hare._
Suddenly there was a large house on the top of a mountain, wherein were
six people beautifully arrayed, but constantly quarrelling. Whence they
came was unknown. Thereupon Okikurumi came and said: "Oh! you bad hares!
you wicked hares! who does not know your origin? The children in the sky
were pelting each other with snowballs, and the snowballs fell into the
world of men. As it would be a pity to waste anything that falls from
the sky, the snowballs were turned into hares, and those hares are you.
You, who dwell in this world, which belongs to me, should not quarrel.
What is it that you are making such a noise about?"
With these words, Okikurumi seized a fire-brand, and beat each of the
six with it in turn. Thereupon all the hares ran away. This is the
origin of the hare[-god]; and for this reason the body of the hare is
white because made of snow, while its ears--which are the place where it
was charred by the fire-brand,--are black.--(Translated literally. Told
by Penri, 10th July, 1886.)
vi.--_The Position of the Private Parts._
At the beginning of the world it had been the Creator's intention to
place both men's and women's genitals on their foreheads so that they
might be able to procreate children easily. But the otter made a mistake
in conveying the message to that effect; and that is how the genitals
come to be in the inconvenient place they are now in.--(Written down
from memory. Told by Ishanashte, 11th July, 1886.)
vii.--_The Reason for there being no Fixed Time for Human Beings to
copulate._
Anciently the Creator summoned all the birds and beasts, the gods and
devils together, in order to instruct them on the subject of copulation.
So the birds and all the others of every sort assembled, and learnt from
the Creator when to copulate, and when to give birth to their young.
Then the Creator said to the horse: "Oh! thou divine ancestor of horses!
It will be well for thee to copulate one spring, and to give birth to
thy young in the spring of the following year; and thou mayest eat any
of the grass that may grow in any land." At these words, the horse was
delighted, and forthwith trotted out. But, as he rose, he kicked God in
the forehead. So God was very angry, and pressed his hand to his head,
so much did it hurt him.
Meanwhile, the ancestor of men came in, and asked saying: "How about me?
When shall I copulate?" To which God, being still angry, replied:
"Whenever you like!" For this reason, that race of creatures which is
called man copulate at all times.--(Translated literally. Told by
Ishanashte, 12th July, 1886).
viii.--_The Owl and the Tortoise._
The tortoise[-god] in the sea and the owl[-god] on land were very
intimate. The tortoise spoke thus: "Your child is a boy. My child is a
girl. So it will be good for us to unite them in marriage. If I send
into the river the fish that there are in the sea your son and my
daughter, being both of them enabled to eat fish, will possess the
world." Thus spoke the tortoise. The owl was greatly obliged. For this
reason, the child of the tortoise and the child of the owl became
husband and wife. For this reason, the owl, without the least
hesitation, eats every fish that comes into the river.--(Translated
literally. Told by Penri, 15th July, 1886.)
ix.--_How a Man got the better of two Foxes._
A man went into the mountains to get bark to make rope with, and found a
hole. To this hole there came a fox, who spoke as follows, though he was
a fox, in human language: "I know of something from which great profit
may be derived. Let us go to the place to-morrow!" To which the fox
inside the hole replied as follows: "What profitable thing do you
allude to? After hearing about it, I will go with you if it sounds
likely to be profitable; and if not, not." The fox outside spoke thus:
"The profitable thing to be done is this. I will come here to-morrow
about the time of the mid-day meal. You must be waiting for me then, and
we will go off together. If you take the shape of a horse, and we go off
together, I taking the shape of a man and riding on your back, we can go
down to the shore, where dwell human beings possessed of plenty of food
and all sorts of other things. As there is sure to be among the people
some one who wants a horse, I will sell you to him who thus wants a
horse. I can then buy a quantity of precious things and of food. Then I
shall run away; and you, having the appearance of a horse, will be led
out to eat grass, and be tied up somewhere on the hillside. Then, if I
come and help you to escape, and we divide the food and the precious
things equally between us, it will be profitable for both of us." Thus
spoke the fox outside the hole; and the fox inside the hole was very
glad, and said: "Come and fetch me early to-morrow, and we will go off
together."
The man was hidden in the shade of the tree, and had been listening.
Then the fox who had been standing outside went away, and the man, too,
went home for the night. But he came back next day to the mouth of the
hole, and spoke thus, imitating the voice of the fox whom he had heard
speaking outside the hole the day before: "Here I am. Come out at once!
If you will turn into a horse, we will go down to the shore." The fox
came out. It was a big fox. The man said: "I have come already turned
into a man. If you turn into a horse, it will not matter even if we are
seen by other people." The fox shook itself, and became a large chestnut
[_lit._ red] horse. Then the two went off together, and came to a very
rich village, plentifully provided with everything. The man said: "I
will sell this horse to anybody who wants one." As the horse was a very
fine one, every one wanted to buy it. So the man bartered it for a
quantity of food and precious things, and then went away.
Now the horse was such a peculiarly fine one that its new owner did not
like to leave it out-of-doors, but always kept it in the house. He shut
the door, and he shut the window, and cut grass to feed it with. But
though he fed it, it could not (being really a fox) eat grass at all.
All it wanted to eat was fish. After about four days it was like to die.
At last it made its escape through the window and ran home; and,
arriving at the place where the other fox lived, wanted to kill it. But
it discovered that the trick had been played, not by its companion fox,
but by the man. So both the foxes were very angry, and consulted about
going to find the man and kill him.
But though the two foxes had decided thus, the man came and made humble
excuses, saying: "I came the other day, because I had overheard you two
foxes plotting; and then I cheated you. For this I humbly beg your
pardon. Even if you do kill me, it will do no good. So henceforward I
will brew rice-beer for you, and set up the divine symbols for you, and
worship you,--worship you for ever. In this way you will derive greater
profit than you would derive from killing me. Fish, too, whenever I make
a good catch, I will offer to you as an act of worship. This being so,
the creatures called men shall worship you for ever."
The foxes, hearing this, said: "That is capital, we think. That will do
very well." Thus spake the foxes. Thus does it come about that all men,
both Japanese and Aino, worship the fox. So it is said.--(Translated
literally. Told by Ishanashte, 15th July, 1886.)
x.--_The Man who Married the Bear-Goddess._
There was a very populous village. It was a village having both plenty
of fish and plenty of venison. It was a place lacking no kind of food.
Nevertheless, once upon a time, a famine set in. There was no food, no
venison, no fish, nothing to eat at all; there was a famine. So in that
populous village all the people died.
Now the village chief was a man who had two children, a boy and a girl.
After a time, only those two children remained alive. Now the girl was
the older of the two, and the boy was the younger. The girl spoke thus:
"As for me, it does not matter even if I do die, since I am a girl. But
you, being a boy, can, if you like, take up our father's inheritance. So
you should take these things with you, use them to buy food with, eat
it, and live." So spoke the girl, and took out a bag made of cloth, and
gave it to him.
Then the boy went out on to the sand, and walked along the sea-shore.
When he had walked on the sand for a long time, he saw a pretty little
house a short way inland. Near it was lying the carcase of a large
whale. The boy went to the house, and after a time entered it. On
looking around, he saw a man of divine appearance. The man's wife, too,
looked like a goddess, and was dressed altogether in black raiment. The
man was dressed altogether in speckled raiment. The boy went in, and
stood by the door. The man said to him: "Welcome to you, whencesoever
you may have come." Afterwards a lot of the whale's flesh was boiled,
and the boy was feasted on it. But the woman never looked towards him.
Then the boy went out and fetched his parcel, which he had left outside.
He brought in the bag made of cloth which had been given to him by his
sister, and opened its mouth. On taking out and looking at the things
inside it, they were found to be very precious treasures. "I will give
you these treasures in payment for the food," said the boy, and gave
them to that divine-looking man-of-the-house. The god, having looked at
them, said: "They are very beautiful treasures." He said again: "You
need not have paid me for the food. But I will take these treasures of
yours, carry them to my [other] house, and bring you my own treasures in
exchange for them. As for this whale's flesh, you can eat as much of it
as you like, without payment." Having said this, he went off with the
lad's treasures.
Then the lad and the woman remained together. After a time the woman
turned to the lad, and said: "You lad! listen to me when I speak. I am
the bear-goddess. This husband of mine is the dragon-god. There is no
one so jealous as he is. Therefore did I not look towards you, because I
knew that he would be jealous if I looked towards you. Those treasures
of yours are treasures which even the gods do not possess. It is because
he is delighted to get them that he has taken them with him to
counterfeit them and bring you mock treasures. So when he shall have
brought those treasures and shall display them, you must speak thus: 'We
need not exchange treasures. I wish to buy the woman!' If you speak
thus, he will go angrily away, because he is such a jealous man. Then
afterwards we can marry each other, which will be very pleasant. That is
how you must speak." That was what the woman said.
Then, after a certain time, the man of divine appearance came back
grinning. He came bringing two sets of treasures, the treasures which
were treasures and his own other treasures. The god spoke thus: "You,
lad! As I have brought the treasures which are your treasures, it will
be well to exchange them for my treasures." The boy spoke thus: "Though
I should like to have treasures also, I want your wife even more than I
want the treasures; so please give me your wife instead of the
treasures." Thus spoke the lad.
He had no sooner uttered the words than he was stunned by a clap of
thunder above the house. On looking around him, the house was gone, and
only he and the goddess were left together. He came to his senses. The
treasures were there also. Then the woman spoke thus: "What has happened
is that my dragon-husband has gone away in a rage, and has therefore
made this noise, because you and I wish to be together. Now we can live
together." Thus spoke the goddess. Afterwards they lived together. This
is why the bear is a creature half like a human being.--(Translated
literally. Told by Ishanashte, 9th November, 1886.)
xi.--_The two Foxes, the Mole, and the Crows._
Two brother foxes consulted together thus: "It would be fun for us to go
down among men, and assume human shape." So they made treasures and they
made garments out of the leaves of various trees, and they made various
things to eat and cakes out of the gum which comes out of trees. But the
mole[-god] saw them making all these preparations. So the mole made a
place like a human village, and placed himself in it under the disguise
of a very old man. The foxes came to that village; they came to the very
old man's house. And the mole himself made beautiful treasures and made
garments out of various herbs and leaves of trees; and, taking
mulberries and grapes from the tops of the trees, he made good food. On
the arrival of the foxes, the mole invited all the crows in the place
and all sorts of birds. He gave them human shape, and placed them as
owners in the houses of the village. Then the mole, as chief of the
village, was a very old man.
Then the foxes came, having assumed the shape of men. They thought the
place was a human village. The old chief bought all the things which the
foxes had brought on their backs, all their treasures and all their
food. Then the old man displayed to them his own beautiful treasures.
The old man displayed all his beautiful things, his garments. The foxes
were much pleased. Then the old man spoke thus: "Oh you strangers! as
there is a dance in my village, it will be well for you to see it." Then
all the people in the village danced all sorts of dances. But at last,
owing to their being birds, they began to fly upwards, notwithstanding
their human shape. The foxes saw this, and were much amused. The foxes
ate both of the mulberries and of the grapes. They tasted very good. It
was great fun, too, to see the dancing. Afterwards they went home.
The foxes, thought thus: "What is nicer even than treasures is the
delicious food which human beings have. As we do not know what it is,
let us go again and buy some more of it." So they again made treasures
out of herbs. Then they again went down to that village. The mole was in
a golden house--a large house. He was alone in it, having sent all the
crows and the rest away. As the foxes entered the house and looked about
them, they saw a very venerable god. The god spoke thus: "Oh! you foxes;
because you had assumed human shape, you made all sorts of counterfeit
treasures. I saw all that you did. It is by me, and because of this,
that you are brought here. You think this is a human village; but it is
the village of me, your master the mole. It seems you constantly do all
sorts of bad things. If you do so, it is very wrong; so do not assume
human shape any more. If you will cease to assume human shape, you may
henceforth eat your fill of these mulberries and grapes. You and your
companions the crows may eat together of the mulberries and of all
fruits at the top of the trees, which the crows cause to drop down. This
will be much more profitable for you than to assume human shape." Thus
spoke the mole.
Owing to this, the foxes left off assuming human shape, and, from that
time forward, ate as they pleased of the mulberries and the grapes. When
the crows let any drop, they went underneath the trees and ate them.
They became very friendly together.--(Translated literally. Told by
Ishanashte, 11th November, 1886.)
xii.--_The Stolen Charm._
A very rich man kept a puppy and a fox-cub. Besides these he possessed a
tiny silver model of a ship,--a charm given to him by some god, what god
I know not. One day this charm was stolen, and could nowhere be found.
The rich man was so violently grieved at this, that he lay down and
refused all food, and was like to die. Meanwhile the puppy and the
fox-cub played about in his room. But when they saw, after some time,
that the man was really going to die, the fox-cub said to the puppy: "If
our master dies, we shall die of hunger too; so we had better search for
the charm." So they consulted as to the best way to search for it; and
at last the fox-cub was struck by the idea that the ogre who lived at
the top of the large mountain that stands at the end of the world might
have stolen the charm and put it into his box. The fox-cub seemed to see
that this had really happened. So the two little animals determined to
go and rescue the charm from the ogre. But they knew that they could not
accomplish this alone, and resolved to add the rat[-god] to their
number. So they invited the rat, and the three went off, dancing
merrily.
Now the ogre was always looking steadily in the direction of the sick
rich man, hoping that he would die. So he did not notice the approach of
the fox-cub, the dog, and the rat. So when they reached the ogre's
house, the rat, with the help of the fox-cub, scooped out a passage
under and into the house, by which all three made their way in. They
then decided that it must be left to the rat to get hold of the charm by
nibbling a hole in the box in which it was kept. Meanwhile the fox-cub
assumed the shape of a little boy, and the puppy that of a little
girl,--two beautiful little creatures who danced and went through all
sorts of antics, much to the amusement of the ogre. The ogre was,
however, suspicious as to how they had come into the house, and whence
they had come, for the doors were not open. So he determined just to
divert himself awhile by watching their frolics, and then to kill them.
Meanwhile the rat had nibbled a hole in the box. Then getting into it,
he rescued the charm, and went out again through the passage in the
ground. The little boy and girl disappeared too; how, the ogre could not
tell. He made to pursue them through the door, when he saw them fleeing.
But on second thoughts he came to the conclusion that, having once been
taken in by a fox, there was no use in further endeavours. So he did not
follow the three animals as they fled away.
They returned to the village; the puppy and the fox-cub to their
master's house, the rat to its own place. The puppy and the fox-cub took
home with them the charm, and placed it by their master's pillow,
playing about near him, and pulling his clothes a little with their
teeth. At length he lifted his head and saw the charm. Then he
worshipped it with great joy and gratitude. Afterwards the fox-cub and
the puppy caused him to see in a dream how the charm had been recovered
through the rat's assistance. So he worshipped the rat also.
For this reason the Ainos do not think so very badly of the rat after
all. The fox, too, though often pursued by dogs, will sometimes make
friends with them; and even when a dog is pursuing a fox, it will not
bite the latter if it turns its face towards the pursuer.--(Written down
from memory. Told by Ishanashte, 21st November, 1886.)
xiii.--_The Fox, the Otter, and the Monkey._
In very ancient days, at the beginning of the world, there were a fox,
an otter, and a monkey, all three of whom lived on the most intimate
terms of friendship.
One day the fox spoke to the other two as follows: "What do you say to
our going off somewhere, and stealing food and treasures from the
Japanese?" His two companions having consented, they all went together
to a distant place, and stole a bag of beans, a bag of salt, and a mat
from the house of a very rich man. When they had come home with their
plunder, the fox said: "Otter! you had better take the salt, for it will
be useful to you in salting the fish which you catch in the water when
you go fishing. Monkey! do you take the mat; it will be very useful for
you to make your children dance upon. As for myself, I will take the bag
of beans."
After this, all three retired to their respective houses; and a little
later the otter went to the river to fish. But, as he took his bag of
salt with him when he made the plunge, all the salt was melted in a
moment, to his great disappointment. The monkey was equally unlucky;
for, having taken his mat and spread it on the top of a tree, and made
his children dance there, the children fell, and were dashed to pieces
on the ground below.
The monkey and the otter, enraged by the misfortunes which the fox's
wiles had brought upon them, now joined together in order to fight the
fox. So the latter took a lot of beans out of his bag, chewed them to a
pulp, smeared all his body with the paste, and lay down pretending to be
very ill. And when the otter and the monkey came and made to kill him,
he said: "See to what a pitiful plight I am reduced! As a punishment for
having deceived you, my whole body is now covered with boils, and I am
on the point of death. There is no need for you to kill me. Go away! I
am dying fast enough." The monkey looked, and saw that the fox seemed to
be speaking the truth. So he went testily away, across the sea to Japan.
That is the reason why there are no monkeys in the land of the
Ainos.--(Written down from memory. Told by Ishanashte, 11th July, 1886.)
xiv.--_The Fox and the Tiger._--(No. I.)
Said the tiger to the fox: "Let us run a race from the top of the world
to the bottom of the world, and he who wins it shall be lord of the
world!" The fox agreed, and off the tiger bounded, but without noticing
that the fox had caught hold of his tail so as to get pulled along by
him. Just as the tiger was about to reach the other end, he suddenly
whisked round, in order to jeer at the fox, whom he believed to be far
behind. But this motion exactly threw the fox safely on to the far end,
so that he was able to call out to the astonished tiger: "Here I am.
What are you so long about?"
For this reason there are no tigers in Aino-land.
(No. II.)
Said the tiger to the fox: "You are said to be the craftiest of all
creatures. Let us now enter into rivalry, and see which of us can roar
the loudest; for to him shall belong the chieftainship of the world."
The fox consented, and the two stood up alongside of each other. But as
it was for the tiger to roar first, he remained standing up, and did not
notice how the fox scraped a hole with his paws to hide his head in, so
that his ears might not be stunned by the tiger's roaring.
Well, the tiger roared a roar which he thought must be heard from the
top of the world to the bottom of the world, and must certainly stun the
fox. But the fox, as soon as he knew the tiger's roar to be at an end,
jumped up out of the hole where he had been hiding his ears, and said:
"Why! I hardly heard you. You can surely roar louder than that. You had
better try again."