A Japanese Tale (With A smooth, Sweet Voice)

Shibitaro,

There was once a brave Japanese lad who wished to go out into the world and prove his courage in some great adventure.

His father and mother did not say no to this.

Instead,

They gave him their blessing and allowed him to set forth.

For a long time,

He traveled alone,

Crossing streams and passing through villages,

But nowhere did he meet with any adventures.

One evening,

As dusk drew on,

He found himself in a dark forest,

And he did not know which way to turn.

In order to get out of it,

He wandered this way and that,

And always the night grew darker and the way rougher,

And then suddenly between the tree trunks,

He saw a red light shine out,

Sometimes it shone brighter and sometimes dimmer,

But never with a steady shining.

He went toward the light,

And before long he found himself near an old ruined temple.

Within a fire was burning,

And the temple was full of demon cats.

They were leaping and whirling and dancing around the fire,

And as they danced,

They sang.

The song had words,

And they sang them over and over again,

Always the same thing.

At first,

The lad could not make out what the words were,

But after he had listened carefully for a while,

He understood,

And this was what they sang.

Tonight we dance,

Tonight we sing,

Tomorrow the maiden they will bring.

They would sing this over and over and over,

And then suddenly they would cease their bounding and whirling and would stand still and all cry together,

But Shepitaro must not know.

But Shepitaro must not know.

The lad stayed there for a long time,

Watching them,

And the longer he watched,

The more he wondered.

After a while,

The fire burned low,

They bounded less wildly,

And their songs were still.

Then the fire died out,

And soon afterward the lad fell into a deep sleep.

When he awoke the next morning,

He was both cold and stiff,

And as he rubbed his eyes and looked about him,

He thought that all he had seen the night before must have been only a dream,

For the temple lay silent and deserted,

And there were no signs of the demon cats or their revels,

Except a heap of burned-out ashes on the temple floor.

The lad arose from where he lay and went on his way,

Wandering.

Not long after he came to the edge of the forest and saw before him a village.

He entered the village and looked at him,

And everything was in mourning,

And all the people seemed very sad.

In front of one of the principal houses a great crowd had gathered,

And from within came a sound of weeping and lamenting.

The lad joined the crowd and looked in through the door of the house.

There he saw a maiden dressed as though for a festival,

But she was very pale and tears were running down her face.

An old man and an old woman who seemed to be her father and mother sat on each side of her,

Holding her hands,

And they also were weeping with the tears running down their wrinkled faces.

Two men were busy over a great chest bound around with iron,

And with iron hasps,

And every time the old man and woman looked at the chest,

They shuddered and wept more bitterly than ever.

This sight made the youth very curious,

And he turned to a man beside him and asked why the village was all in mourning,

And why the beautiful young girl and her parents were weeping so bitterly.

Are you a stranger in these parts that you ask such questions?

Inquired the man.

I come from beyond the other side of the forest,

From far away,

Replied the youth,

And I know nothing of this village or what has happened here.

Then I will tell you,

Said the man.

Over in the forest,

Yonder,

There dwells a terrible demon.

Every year he requires that a maiden shall be offered up to him as a sacrifice.

Many of our most beautiful maidens have already been sacrificed to him,

And today it is the turn of the one you see,

And she is the fairest of them all.

But why do not your men go into the forest and try to destroy this demon?

Asked the youth.

It would be useless,

For we have been told and know that no mortal arm can prevail against him.

He comes as a cat to the ruined temple over yonder in the forest,

And with him comes a great company of seeming cats.

But they also are demons and are his servants.

When the youth heard this,

He remembered the cats he had seen dancing in the temple the night before and the song they had sung.

And presently he asked,

Who is Shepitaro?

When he asked this,

Those around who heard him began to laugh.

Shepitaro is a great dog that belongs to the prince of this country.

The prince values him highly,

For he is as big as a lion and twice as fierce.

Never before was his like seen for strength and bigness,

Nor ever will be again.

The youth asked where the prince kept the hound,

And as soon as he had learned this,

He set off walking very rapidly in the direction the man pointed out to him.

After a while he came to a house with a walled garden back of it.

In this house lived the man who had charge of Shepitaro,

And the walled garden was for the dog to roam about in.

The youth knocked the door,

And presently the keeper of the dog opened it and asked him what he wanted.

I want to borrow your great hound,

Shepitaro,

For the night,

And I will pay you well for lending him to me,

Said the lad.

That you will not do,

Replied the keeper,

For I will not lend him to you.

He is the favorite dog of the prince of this country,

And it would be as much as my life is worth to lend him to anyone.

Then the lad began to bargain with him.

First he offered the man a third of all his money,

If he might have the dog just until morning.

Then he offered him half of all his money,

And then he offered him all of it that was more than the man could withstand.

Very well,

Said he.

You may take the dog,

But remember,

It is only for this one night,

And you must bring him back the first thing in the morning,

And you need never ask to borrow him again,

For I shall not lend him to you.

A collar was then put around Shepitaro's neck,

And a chain fastened to it,

And the lad took the chain in his hand and led the great dog back to the village he had just come from.

When he came to the house where he had seen the maiden,

They were just about to put her in the chest,

For that was always the way the maidens who were to be sacrificed were carried to the temple,

But the youth bade them stay their hands.

Listen to me,

Said he,

For I know whereof I speak,

I have seen these demons,

And I have a plan by which you may rid yourselves of them forever.

Instead of the maiden,

Do you put Shepitaro into the chest,

Carry him to the temple,

And leave him there?

I myself will accompany you,

And after you have gone,

I will stay there and watch.

Believe me,

No harm shall come from this,

But instead,

It will put an end to your having to offer up sacrifices to the demon.

At first,

The people would not listen to him,

But afterward,

They agreed to do as he wished,

Though they were very much frightened.

The great hound was put into the chest,

The lid was fastened,

And he was carried away and placed in the temple instead of the maiden.

After that,

The man hastened back to the village,

But the lad hid himself nearby to wait and watch for the demons as he had promised.

After a while,

It grew dark,

And then,

Toward midnight,

A dull red fire shone in the temple,

And the lad saw that it was full of demon cats,

Whirling and pounding and singing as they had before.

But this time,

There was with them a great fierce black cat,

Larger than any of them,

And he was the king of them all,

And he leaped higher and sang louder than any of them.

This time,

Their song was of how a maiden had been brought to them as a sacrifice,

And of what a tender morsel she would be.

Then,

They all shouted together,

And Shipitaro does not know,

And Shipitaro does not know.

Nearer and nearer they came to the chest,

Almost they brushed against it as they whirled about it.

Then,

With a cry,

They bounded at it and tore it open.

At once,

Out from the box leaped Shipitaro.

The demons shrieked at the sight of him,

And the great hound rushed at them and tore them.

He seized the king demon by the throat and shook him till the life was quite shaken out of him.

Then,

He flew at the other cats,

And when they tried to escape out through the doors or windows,

The youth stood there with his sword and drove them back.

Many of the demons did Shipitaro destroy that night.

Many of them he scattered over the floor in pieces,

And those who escaped fled so far away that they were never seen in that neighborhood again.

But the youth returned to the house of the parents of the maiden and asked them for her hand in marriage,

For he had loved her from the first moment he had seen her because of her beauty and her gentleness.

Gladly,

Her parents agreed to give her to him,

And the prince himself came to the marriage,

Bringing with him gifts,

Both rich and rare,

For he had heard of the bravery and wit the youth had shown in ridding his people of the demons who had distressed them,

And he brought Shipitaro with him as a welcome guest.

After that,

The youth and his young wife returned to his own home,

And there they lived happily forever after,

Honored and admired by all who knew them.