Japanese Fairy Tales Series No. 15

8/14/2019 Japanese Fairy Tales Series No. 15

1/22

hury 1 ale Series"*-* * , ^ _


2/22

Published by T, 17 Kami Negishi, Tokyo,


3/22

MY LORD BAG-O'-RICe.

ONCE upon a time there was abrave warrior, called My LordBag-o'-Bice, who spent all his timein waging war against the King'senemies.One day, when he had sallied

forth to seek adventures, he cameto an immensely long bridge, span-ning a river just at the place whereit flowed out of a fine lake. Whenhe set foot on this bridge, he sawthat a Serpent twenty feet long waslying there basking in the sun, insuch a way that he could not cross


4/22

the bridge without treading on it.Most men would have taken to

their heels at so frightful a sight,But My Lord Bag-o'-Kice was notto be daunted. He simply walkedright ahead, squash, scrunch, over


5/22

the Serpent's body.Instantly the Serpent turned into

a tiny Dwarf, who, humbly bowingthe knee, and knocking the planksof the bridge three times with hishead in token of respect, said : "MyLord ! you are a man, you are ! For


6/22

fmany a weary day have I lain here,waiting for one who should avengeme on my enemy. But all who sawme were cowards, and ran away.You will avenge


7/22

me, will you not ? I live at the bot-tom of this lake, and my enemy is aCentipede who dwells at the top ofyonder mountain. Come along withme, I beseech you. If you help menot, I am undone."The Warrior was delighted at

having found such an adventure asthis. He willingly followed theDwarf to his summer-house beneaththe waters of the lake. It was allcuriously built of coral and metalsprays in the shape of sea-weed andother water-plants, with fresh-watercrabs as big as men, and water-monkeys, and newts, and tadpolesas


8/22

m&&sm%


9/22

=^\

iff

1 > , - < \,-i >W

they had rested awhile,dinner was brought inon trays shaped like theleaves of waterlilies.The dishes were water-


10/22

cress leaves,-not real ones, but muchmore beautiful than real ones; forthey were of water-green porcelainwith a shimmer of gold; and thechopsticks were of beautiful petrifiedwood like black ivory. As for thewine in the cups, it looked likewater; but, as it tasted all right,what did its looks signify?

Well, there they were, feastingand singing; and the Dwarf hadjust pledged the Warrior in agoblet of hot steaming wine,when thud ! thud ! thud ! likethe tramp of an army, the fear-fill monster of whom the Dwarfhad spoken was heard approach-


11/22

ing. It sounded as if a continentwere in motion; and on eitherside there seemed to be a rowof a thousand men with lanterns.But the Warrior was able to


12/22

nearer, that all this fuss was madeby a single creature, an enormousCentipede over a mile long; andthat what had seemed like men

with lanterns on either

side of it,were in reality its

own feet, of which it had exactlyone thousand on each side of itsbody, all of them glistening andglinting with the sticky poison that


13/22

oozed out of evey pore.There was no time to be lost.The Centipede was already half-waydown the mountain. So the War-rior snatched up his bow, a bowso big and heavy that it wouldhave taken five ordinary men topull it,_fitted^an arrow intothe bow-notch,and let fly.


14/22

He was not one ever to misshis aim. The arrow struck rightin the middle of the monster'sforehead. But alas! it reboundedas if that forehead had been madeof brass.A second time did the Warriortake his bow and shoot, A secondtime did the arrow strike and


15/22


16/22

him (for there had been but threein his quiver). This time again thearrow hit the Centipede right inthe middle of its forehead. Butinstead of rebounding, it went rightin and came out again at the backof the creature's head, so that theCentipede fell down dead, shakingthe whole country-side like an earth-quake, and the poisonous light onits two thousand feet darkening toa dull glare like that of the twilightof a stormy day.Then the Warrior found himself

wafted back to his own castle; andround him stood a row of presents,on each of which were inscribed


17/22

I

the words "From your gratefulDwarf." One of these presentswas a large bronze bell, whichthe Warrior, who was areligious man as wellas a brave one, hungup in the temple


18/22

that contained the tombs of hisancestors. The second was a sword,which enabled him ever afterto gain the victory over all his

enemies. The thirdwas a suit

of armour which no arrow couldpenetrate. The fourth was a roll ofsilk, which never grew smaller,though he cut off large pieces


19/22

from time to time to make himselfa new court dress.The fifth was a bag of rice,

which, though he took from it


20/22

after day for meals for himself, hisfamily and his trusty retainers, nevergot exhausted as long as he lived.And it was from this fifth and last

present that he took his name and


21/22

title of "My Lord Bag-o'-Rice;"for all the people thought thatthere was nothing strange in thewhole world than this wonderfulbag, which made its owner sucha rich and happy man.

if


22/22

Documents

Japanese Fairy Tales Series No. 15