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012 - Yuki-Onna - Japanese · Myths and Legends Around the World - Collection 05

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  Speaker 1: Yuki Onna by Lafcadio Herne. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Yuki Ona.
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  Speaker 1: In a village of Musashi Province, there lived two woodcutters,
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  Speaker 1: Mosaku and Minokichi. At the time of which I'm speaking,
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  Speaker 1: Mosaku was an old man, and Minokichi, his apprentice, was
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  Speaker 1: a lad of eighteen years. Every day they went together
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  Speaker 1: to a forest situated about five miles from their village.
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  Speaker 1: On the way to that forest, there is a wide
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  Speaker 1: river to cross, and there is a ferryboat. Several times
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  Speaker 1: a bridge was built where the ferry is, but the
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  Speaker 1: bridge was each time carried away by a flood. No
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  Speaker 1: common bridge can resist the current there when the river rises.
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  Speaker 1: Mosaku and Minokichi were on their way home one very
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  Speaker 1: cold evening when a great snowstorm overtook them. They reached
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  Speaker 1: the ferry and they found that the boatmen had gone away,
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  Speaker 1: leaving his boat on the other side of the river.
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  Speaker 1: It was no day for swimming, and the woodcutters took
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  Speaker 1: shelter in the ferryman's hut, thinking themselves lucky to find
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  Speaker 1: any shelter at all. There was no brazier in the hut,
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  Speaker 1: nor any place in which to make a fire. It
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  Speaker 1: was only a two mat hut with a single door
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  Speaker 1: but no window. Mosaku and Minokichi fastened the door and
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  Speaker 1: lay down to rest, with their straw raincoats over them.
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  Speaker 1: At first they did not feel very cold, and they
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  Speaker 1: thought that the storm would soon be over. The old
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  Speaker 1: man almost immediately fell asleep, but the boy, Minukichi, lay
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  Speaker 1: awake a long time, listening to the awful wind and
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  Speaker 1: the continual slashing of the snow against the door. The
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  Speaker 1: river was roaring, and the hut swayed and creaked like
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  Speaker 1: a junk at sea. It was a terrible storm, and
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  Speaker 1: the air was every moment becoming colder, and Minukichi shivered
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  Speaker 1: under his raincoat. But at last, in spite of the cold,
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  Speaker 1: he too fell asleep. He was awakened by a showering
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  Speaker 1: of snow in his face. The door of the hut
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  Speaker 1: had been forced open, and by the snow light yuki
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  Speaker 1: Akari he saw a woman in the room, a woman
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  Speaker 1: all in white. She was bending above Mosaku and blowing
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  Speaker 1: her breath upon him, and her breath was like a
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  Speaker 1: bright white smoke. Almost in the same moment, she turned
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  Speaker 1: to Minokichi and stooped over him. He tried to cry out,
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  Speaker 1: but found that he could not utter any sound. The
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  Speaker 1: white woman bent down over him, lower and lower, until
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  Speaker 1: her face almost touched him, and he saw that she
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  Speaker 1: was very beautiful, though her eyes made him afraid. For
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  Speaker 1: a little time, she continued to look at him. Then
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  Speaker 1: she smiled, and she whispered, I intended to treat you
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  Speaker 1: like the other man, but I cannot help feeling some
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  Speaker 1: pity for you because you are so young. You are
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  Speaker 1: a pretty boy, Minokichi, and I will not hear you now,
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  Speaker 1: But if you ever tell anybody, even your own mother,
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  Speaker 1: about what you have seen this night, I shall know it,
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  Speaker 1: and then I will kill you. Remember what I say
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  Speaker 1: with these words. She turned from him and passed through
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  Speaker 1: the doorway. Then he found himself able to move, and
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  Speaker 1: he sprang up and looked out, But the woman was
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  Speaker 1: nowhere to be seen, and the snow was driving furiously
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  Speaker 1: into the hut. Minakichi closed the door and secured it
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  Speaker 1: by fixing several billets of wood against it. He wondered
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  Speaker 1: if the wind had blown it open. He thought that
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  Speaker 1: he might have been only dreaming, and might have mistaken
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  Speaker 1: the gleam of the snow light in the doorway for
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  Speaker 1: the figure of a white woman, but he could not
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  Speaker 1: be sure. He called to Masaku and was frightened because
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  Speaker 1: the old man did not answer. He put out his
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  Speaker 1: hand in the dark and touched Masaku's face and found
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  Speaker 1: that it was ice. Masaku was stark and dead. By dawn,
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  Speaker 1: the storm was over, and when the ferryman and returned
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  Speaker 1: to his station a little after sunrise, he found Minokichi
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  Speaker 1: lying senseless beside the frozen body of Musaku. Minokichi was
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  Speaker 1: promptly cared for and soon came to himself, but he
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  Speaker 1: remained a long time ill from the effects of the
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  Speaker 1: cold of that terrible night. He had been greatly frightened
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  Speaker 1: also by the old man's death, but he said nothing
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  Speaker 1: about the vision of the woman in white. As soon
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  Speaker 1: as he got well again, he returned to his calling,
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  Speaker 1: going alone every morning to the forest and coming back
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  Speaker 1: at nightfall with his bundles of wood, which his mother
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  Speaker 1: helped him to sell one evening and the winner of
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  Speaker 1: the following year. As he was on his way home,
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  Speaker 1: he overtook a girl who happened to be traveling by
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  Speaker 1: the same road. She was a tall, slim girl, very
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  Speaker 1: good looking, and she answered Minakichi's greeting in a voice
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  Speaker 1: as pleasant to the ear as the voice of a
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  Speaker 1: song bird. Then he walked beside her and they began
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  Speaker 1: to talk. The girl said that her name was Oyuki,
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  Speaker 1: that she had lately lost both of her parents, and
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  Speaker 1: that she was going to Yeddo, where she happened to
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  Speaker 1: have some poor relations who might help her to find
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  Speaker 1: a situation as a servant. Minokichi soon felt charmed by
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  Speaker 1: this strange girl, and the more they looked at her,
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  Speaker 1: the handsomer she appeared to be. He asked her whether
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  Speaker 1: she was yet betrothed, and she answered laughingly that she
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  Speaker 1: was free. Then, in her turn, she asked Minokichi whether
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  Speaker 1: he was married or pledged to marry, and he told
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  Speaker 1: her that although he had only a widowed mother to support,
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  Speaker 1: the question of an honorable daughter in law had not
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  Speaker 1: yet been considered, as he was very young. After these confidences,
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  Speaker 1: they walked on for a long while without speaking. But
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  Speaker 1: as the proverb declares, kiga aareba memokuchi horo nimono wo yo.
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  Speaker 1: When the wish is there the eyes can say as
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  Speaker 1: much as the mouth. By the time they reached the village,
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  Speaker 1: they had become very much pleased with each other, And
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  Speaker 1: then Minokichi Askeduki to rest awhile at his house. After
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  Speaker 1: some shy hesitation, she went there with him, and his
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  Speaker 1: mother made her welcome and prepared a warm meal for her.
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  Speaker 1: Oyuki behaved so nicely that Minukichi's mother took a sudden
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  Speaker 1: fancy to her and persuaded her to delay her journey
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  Speaker 1: to Yeddo. And the natural end of the matter was
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  Speaker 1: that Yuki never went to Yeddo at all. She remained
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  Speaker 1: in the house as an honorable daughter in law. Oyuki
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  Speaker 1: proved to be a very good daughter in law. When
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  Speaker 1: Minukichi's mother came to die some five years later, her
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  Speaker 1: last words were words of affection and praise for the
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  Speaker 1: wife of her son. And o Yuki bore Minukichi ten children,
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  Speaker 1: boys and girls, handsome children all of them, and very
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  Speaker 1: fair of skin. The country folk thought o Yuki a
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  Speaker 1: wonderful person by nature, different from themselves. Most of the
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  Speaker 1: peasant women age early, but o Yuki, even after having
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  Speaker 1: become the mother of ten children, looked as young and
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  Speaker 1: fresh as on the day when she had first come
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  Speaker 1: to the village. One night, after the children had gone
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  Speaker 1: to sleep, o Yuki was sewing by the light of
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  Speaker 1: a paper lamp, and Minukichi, watching her, said, to see
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  Speaker 1: you sewing there with the light on your face makes
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  Speaker 1: me think of a strange thing that happened when I
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  Speaker 1: was a lad of eighteen. I then saw somebody as
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  Speaker 1: beautiful and white as you are now. Indeed, she was
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  Speaker 1: very like you. Without lifting her eyes from her work,
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  Speaker 1: o Yuki responded, tell me about her. Where did you
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  Speaker 1: see her? Then? Minukichi told her about the terrible night
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  Speaker 1: in the ferryman's hut, and about the white woman that
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  Speaker 1: had stooped above him, smiling and whispering, and about the
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  Speaker 1: silent death of old Musaku. And he said, asleep or awake,
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  Speaker 1: that was the only time that I saw a being
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  Speaker 1: as beautiful as you. Of course, she was not a
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  Speaker 1: human being, and I was afraid of her, very much afraid.
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  Speaker 1: But she was so white. Indeed, I have never been
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  Speaker 1: sure whether it was a dream that I saw or
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  Speaker 1: the woman of the snow. O Yuki flung down her
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  Speaker 1: sewing and arose and bowed above Minukichi where he sat,
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  Speaker 1: and shrieked into his face. It was I ay, ay, Yuki,
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  Speaker 1: it was. And I told you then that I would
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  Speaker 1: kill you if you ever said one word about it.
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  Speaker 1: But for those children asleep there, I would kill you
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  Speaker 1: this moment. And now you had better take very, very
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  Speaker 1: good care of them, for if ever they have reason
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  Speaker 1: to complain of you, I will treat you as you deserve.
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  Speaker 1: Even as she screamed, her voice became thin, like a
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  Speaker 1: crying of wind. Then she melted into a bright white
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  Speaker 1: mist that spired to the roof beams and shuddered away
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  Speaker 1: through the smoke hall. Never again was she seen. End
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  Speaker 1: of Yuki Ona by Lefkadio Hearne, recorded by Colleen mc mahon.