"So you thought to bewitch me, did you? From the moment you jumped
into the wood, I was on the look-out for you to play me some trick.
I'll soon make you show what you really are;" and as he said this, he
twisted her two hands behind her back, and trod upon her, and tortured
her; but she only wept, and cried--
"Oh! it hurts, it hurts!"
"If this is not enough to make you show your true form, I'll roast you
to death;" and he piled firewood on the hearth, and, tucking up her
dress, scorched her severely.
"Oh! oh! this is more than I can bear;" and with this she expired.
The two old people then came running in from the rear of the house,
and, pushing aside Tokutarô, folded their daughter in their arms, and
put their hands to her mouth to feel whether she still breathed; but
life was extinct, and not the sign of a fox's tail was to be seen
about her. Then they seized Tokutarô by the collar, and cried--
"On pretence that our true daughter was a fox, you have roasted her to
death. Murderer! Here, you there, bring ropes and cords, and secure
this Tokutarô!"
So the servants obeyed, and several of them seized Tokutarô and bound
him to a pillar. Then the master of the house, turning to Tokutarô,
said--
"You have murdered our daughter before our very eyes. I shall report
the matter to the lord of the manor, and you will assuredly pay for
this with your head. Be prepared for the worst."
And as he said this, glaring fiercely at Tokutarô, they carried the
corpse of his daughter into the store-closet. As they were sending to
make the matter known in the village of Maki, and taking other
measures, who should come up but the priest of the temple called
Anrakuji, in the village of Iwahara, with an acolyte and a servant,
who called out in a loud voice from the front door--
"Is all well with the honourable master of this house? I have been to
say prayers to-day in a neighbouring village, and on my way back I
could not pass the door without at least inquiring after your welfare.
If you are at home, I would fain pay my respects to you."
As he spoke thus in a loud voice, he was heard from the back of the
house; and the master got up and went out, and, after the usual
compliments on meeting had been exchanged, said--
"I ought to have the honour of inviting you to step inside this
evening; but really we are all in the greatest trouble, and I must beg
you to excuse my impoliteness."
"Indeed! Pray, what may be the matter?" replied the priest. And when
the master of the house had told the whole story, from beginning to
end, he was thunderstruck, and said--
"Truly, this must be a terrible distress to you." Then the priest
looked on one side, and saw Tokutarô bound, and exclaimed, "Is not
that Tokutarô that I see there?"
"Oh, your reverence," replied Tokutarô, piteously, "it was this, that,
and the other: and I took it into my head that the young lady was a
fox, and so I killed her. But I pray your reverence to intercede for
me, and save my life;" and as he spoke, the tears started from his
eyes.
"To be sure," said the priest, "you may well bewail yourself; however,
if I save your life, will you consent to become my disciple, and enter
the priesthood?"
"Only save my life, and I'll become your disciple with all my heart."
When the priest heard this, he called out the parents, and said to
them--
"It would seem that, though I am but a foolish old priest, my coming
here to-day has been unusually well timed. I have a request to make of
you. Your putting Tokutarô to death won't bring your daughter to life
again. I have heard his story, and there certainly was no malice
prepense on his part to kill your daughter. What he did, he did
thinking to do a service to your family; and it would surely be better
to hush the matter up. He wishes, moreover, to give himself over to
me, and to become my disciple."
"It is as you say," replied the father and mother, speaking together.
"Revenge will not recall our daughter. Please dispel our grief, by
shaving his head and making a priest of him on the spot."
"I'll shave him at once, before your eyes," answered the priest, who
immediately caused the cords which bound Tokutarô to be untied, and,
putting on his priest's scarf, made him join his hands together in a
posture of prayer. Then the reverend man stood up behind him, razor in
hand, and, intoning a hymn, gave two or three strokes of the razor,
which he then handed to his acolyte, who made a clean shave of
Tokutarô's hair. When the latter had finished his obeisance to the
priest, and the ceremony was over, there was a loud burst of laughter;
and at the same moment the day broke, and Tokutarô found himself
alone, in the middle of a large moor. At first, in his surprise, he
thought that it was all a dream, and was much annoyed at having been
tricked by the foxes. He then passed his hand over his head, and found
that he was shaved quite bald. There was nothing for it but to get up,
wrap a handkerchief round his head, and go back to the place where his
friends were assembled.
"Hallo, Tokutarô! so you've come back. Well, how about the foxes?"
"Really, gentlemen," replied he, bowing, "I am quite ashamed to appear
before you."
Then he told them the whole story, and, when he had finished, pulled
off the kerchief, and showed his bald pate.
"What a capital joke!" shouted his listeners, and amid roars of
laughter, claimed the bet of fish, and wine. It was duly paid; but
Tokutarô never allowed his hair to grow again, and renounced the
world, and became a priest under the name of Sainen.
There are a great many stories told of men being shaved by the foxes;
but this story came under the personal observation of Mr. Shôminsai, a
teacher of the city of Yedo, during a holiday trip which he took to
the country where the event occurred; and I[77] have recorded it in
the very selfsame words in which he told it to me.
[Footnote 77: The author of the "Kanzen-Yawa," the book from which the
story is taken.]