THE BATTLE OF STONE MISSILES—THE MONKEYS’ PANIC
HAVING stayed that night at an inn, Bunkichi hastened on his way along
the Hama-Kaido, or the “shore road.” When he came to a lonely spot in
the road, he saw a man in the distance, scantily clad, apparently making
preparations for hanging himself. On ran Bunkichi and caught hold of the
man, asking him at the same time why he had come to such a pass as to
attempt suicide.
“I am a certain Kichidayu, a native of Sakai in Izumi Province, and a
sailor,” answered the man, while tears stood in his eyes as he spoke. “I
was in charge of a ship of one thousand _koku_,[21] and on my voyage to
Yedo with a cargo of _sake_[22] my boat was wrecked off this coast and
the crew of eighteen, all told, as well as the whole of the cargo, were
lost. Fortunately I was washed up on the coast while I was holding fast
to a piece of board, but having been terribly knocked about, I can
hardly drag myself along. Besides, the loss of the ship, the cargo as
well as the crew, overpowers me with such a sense of disgrace and
wretchedness that I thought I would rather die than go back to my native
town.”
Footnote 21:
Forty thousand gallons.
Footnote 22:
A kind of Japanese liquor.
Bunkichi, while he was listening to the sad account of the wreck,
surveyed the man from head to foot, and perceived many severe bruises,
which—with his honest manner of speaking—seemed to prove the truth of
his words.
[Illustration:
“Giving him a helping hand, Bunkichi led the man along to the next
village”
]
“I quite sympathize with you in your misfortune,” said he, “but, my man,
your dying will not bring back the ship which was wrecked nor the men
who were lost; so I think it would be better for you to keep yourself
alive and atone for your loss by succeeding with your next venture. But
without money you can’t even go to a doctor. So allow me—”
Taking out five pieces of silver and putting them in the hand of the
sailor, he continued, kindly and soothingly, “With these get a doctor at
once, my man.”
The captain, as he looked into Bunkichi’s face with an expression almost
of worship, said: “You are the kindest man I ever came across, in spite
of your apparent youthfulness. As long as I live I shall not forget you,
and some day, perhaps, I may have an opportunity to repay you for your
goodness to me.”
While he said this, tears rushed from his eyes—for he was overcome by a
sense of gratitude and joy.
Bunkichi, having taken off his _haori_,[23] said to the man: “Put this
on, though it is not sufficient to protect you, and come on with me to
my next stopping-place.” Though the seaman was reluctant to accept so
generous an offer, Bunkichi urged him, and, giving him a helping hand,
led the man along to the next village, where they found an inn, into
which they went. There a suit of clothes was purchased for the sailor,
and the lad recounted the story of the wreck to the old woman, the
keeper of the inn, and asked her to send for a doctor, who on arrival
did whatever he could for the poor man.
Footnote 23:
A Japanese upper garment.
Bunkichi, who thought it likely he might be of more service to the
sailor, said, in answer to his question: “I have no house of my own, but
you will find me if you ask for one Bunkichi at the Daikokuya, a cloth
establishment at Kumano. You, being a sailor, are sure to find any
amount of work if you go there; so please look me up. I am in a hurry; I
cannot stop here longer. On my way back from Osaka I shall call upon
you. If you are well before then, you had better go to Kumano and wait
for me there.”
Thus kindly holding out hopes of helping him in the future, he gave the
old woman a sum of money for the nursing of the sailor, and hurried on
his way.
Going on from one hotel to another, and resolving to lose no time,
Bunkichi at last arrived in the city of Osaka. As he had received a
letter of introduction from his master to a certain wholesale merchant
of the city, with whom the Daikokuya had dealings, he went to this
merchant and asked for the articles he had been commissioned to buy. The
head of the house, acquainted with the _wanizame_ affair by the letter,
did everything in his power to assist Bunkichi, and the transaction went
off smoothly and quickly. After he had sent off the fishing-tackle to
Kumano on board a ship, he spent a few days in sight-seeing as well as
in observing the ways in which big merchants carried on their trade.
Having thus spent four or five days here, Bunkichi once more took the
same road home, and on the way inquired at the inn after the captain
whom he had left there. To his great joy, the sailor was well on the way
to recovery; so he gave the man some more money for his further needs,
and hastened on to Kumano-Ura, having promised to meet him again there.
On the day following that on which he had taken leave of the sailor, he
came to the hilly roads near Kumano. This part of the country was noted
then, as it is to-day, for the production of oranges. All over the hills
he saw orange-trees in abundance, and there, strange enough, he heard a
great noise of screaming and chattering. He hastened his steps in the
direction of the noise. Lo, and behold! Hundreds of monkeys,
uncountable, had drawn a circle around three men, whom they were pelting
with a shower of stones. These wretched men, as they were apparently
unable to withstand the stone missiles of the monkeys, had pulled their
over-coats, or _haori_, over their heads and were crouching under an
orange-bush, apparently in despair, for they were doing nothing but
crying for help.
[Illustration:
“Hundreds of monkeys had drawn a circle around three men whom they
were pelting with a shower of stones”
]
As the animals apparently thought it great fun, they kept on showering
stones as quickly as they could pick them up, and it seemed probable
that the three men would have fallen victims to the monkeys but for
Bunkichi. When he saw how things were going, quick as thought he picked
up a lot of pebbles from the wayside and filled both his spacious
sleeves and his front pocket as well. Thus well armed, on he rushed to
the monkey army and pulled out of his pocket the pebbles, one after
another, throwing them at the frisky creatures. The monkeys, as they
screamed and chattered, at once confronted the lad, and, perceiving him
pull out stones from his breast, they tried to do the same. But of
course they had no pockets with stones in them, while Bunkichi threw his
missiles thick and fast. The beasts in their rage began to pull off the
hair from their breasts and throw it from them, while their
monkey-chatter grew louder and louder as their pain increased.
Bunkichi, who could not suppress his laughter, contrived, as it were, to
discharge the missiles from his breast while actually bringing out the
stones from his sleeves. As the monkeys drew closer to him, still
pulling off their hair, the three men were now given time to breathe.
They at once came out from their hiding-place, and, scolding the
monkeys, began to pick up stones to help in their turn their deliverer
in his stand against them.
The youth cried out, as he quickly perceived their action: “No! No!
Don’t _pick up_ stones! If any of you have the instruments for striking
fire, set fire as quickly as you can to the dry grass.” The men did as
they were told, and as the wind fanned the fire the smoke and flames
soon spread over the ground. The army of monkeys, thinking the day was
lost, set up a great chatter and, jumping from tree to tree,
disappeared.
The men now recovered from their fright, and, having put out the fire,
thanked Bunkichi and said: “We are most grateful to you, sir. If you had
not come we should almost to a certainty have been stoned to death by
the monkeys.”
“It was a narrow escape, wasn’t it?” remarked Bunkichi, “but I am
curious to know—did you not throw stones at them first?”
“Yes,” replied the men, with animated expression.
Bunkichi could not help smiling as he thought of how they had acted, and
said: “You know monkeys are foolish animals and try to imitate whatever
others do.”
“You seem to know everything,” said the men, who were much struck by his
wisdom. “But where have you come from?”
“I live at Kumano,” was the reply, “but was brought up at Kada-no-Ura;
so I know about monkeys, as we have plenty of them there.”
Then the leading one of the three, making a polite bow, urged Bunkichi,
saying: “I am the owner of this orange farm, and my home is not far from
here. Please come to my house.”
On the way thither he asked the boy his name and where his home was.
“I am one Bunkichi in the establishment called the Daikokuya, at
Kumano,” was his frank answer.
The host, having well observed the lad’s face, said: “Ah, that’s why I
thought I had seen you somewhere. Then you are that widely famed Mr.
Wanizame-Kozo, the Shark-Boy! The people in this neighborhood owe you a
great debt of gratitude, because all the fruits produced here in this
part, oranges among other things, when they are sent either to Tokio or
to Osaka, must first be sent to Kumano-Ura to be shipped to those
cities. But ever since the appearance of that monster in the harbor, all
the shipping trade had come entirely to a standstill, and we had to send
our fruits to other ports by a roundabout way, which was a great
nuisance to us; whereas, owing to your wisdom and courage, we can now
send our cargo to Kumano as we did before.”
After a pleasant visit of an hour or two, Bunkichi was about to start.
The host stopped him for a minute and brought out a little packet of
money, and, placing it before him, said: “This trifle is only a token of
my gratitude to you. Please take it.” Looking at it from the outside, it
certainly seemed no trifle; but the lad firmly but politely declined to
accept it, saying: “You have no need to thank me.” And he would not take
it, in spite of the host’s earnest entreaty. At last he said: “I don’t
wish to receive any recompense from you; however, I have one favor to
ask if you will grant it me. I am thinking of trading on my own account
before long in various articles, and if I come here some day to buy
oranges, will you deal with me?”
“You make a very modest request,” answered the host with ready assent.
“I will supply you with a cargo as cheaply as possible at any moment you
send me the order, and as to the payment, I shall be in no hurry for it;
you may pay me whenever you like. I can supply you with thirty thousand
boxes of oranges from my own farm; and there are many more farmers in
the neighborhood who will be glad to supply you if I let them know that
you are the Wanizame-Kozo. At least I can assure you I will fill your
order, however large it may be.”
With many thanks, Bunkichi took his leave and was back in the Daikokuya
that evening.
------------------------------------------------------------------------