The Story of Mujina* Nupperan, Who Wished for an Attractive Face - 悠久城風の間　blog語り部のささやき

f:id:yuukyuujyou:20200418192304j:plain

A Pastiche of Niigata’s Folk Tales

The Story of Mujina* Nupperan, Who Wished for an Attractive Face

~ The Tragic Love Story of Mujina Nupperan ~

(*A mujina is a legendary creature resembling a badger or raccoon.)

“Do people generally admire only good-looking women?”

“Do people care only for good-looking people?”

“Are plain-looking people simply ignored?”

“What can I do with my plain face? Can I just get rid of it?”

“My face has not been attractive since I was born, and it’s just getting worse. I wish I could exchange my plain face for a good-looking one.”

“I want to have a beautiful face, too. Then, I will have someone who admires my good-looking face.”

Have you heard such sighs of lament from somewhere?

Where are they from?

From a hole in a wall?

The people who read the story from Niigata’s Folk Tale Vol. 2 entitled “Shippei Taro” unanimously expressed their wonder at this folk tale.

One of them said, “The custom of dedicating a girl as a sacrifice to God sounds dreadful. Will the victim really be eaten alive? It would be unbearable to find a white-feathered arrow sticking out of the wall of my house, singling me out to be a sacrifice.”

Another commented, “You’re alright. You don’t have to worry about it. Only young and pretty girls are targeted. Since Shippei Taro (a dog-like legendary creature) punished the mujina, there haven’t been any more sacrifices.”

One more commented, “But I heard a mujina can transform itself into something or someone else. Are you sure that all the mujina have really vanished? I heard that some of them are still alive, hiding somewhere.”

Then, I visited the source location of these rumors and interviewed Mujina Nupperan.

f:id:yuukyuujyou:20220103114216j:plain

I’m Mujina Nupperan. I once was Danzaburo Mujina’s wife. You may have heard about Danzaburo. No? You never heard of him? Don’t you know Danzaburo, the boss of Sado Island? Danzaburo is the big shot of the Mujina clan. He is the best at transforming himself. He was such an attractive man. I fell in love with him instantly and soon became his wife. I was so busy with our children, who kept coming one after another, nupperan, ran.

One day, I happened to find out that Danzaburo was always having a good time with Osan the fox. Osan was beautiful, talkative, and good at tricking others.

Danzaburo praised Osan, “Osan has become an expert at transforming herself into something else.”

“Really? Do you think she’s really good at transforming herself?”

“Yes, she can beautifully transform herself into something else, even three or four different forms. She’s amazing.”

Danzaburo became enamored with Osan. I became so frustrated. I myself was a good-looking mujina girl and was known to be good at transforming. There’s no way I would lose to that trickster Osan.

“OK. I’m gonna transform myself into Osan the fox. Nupperan, ran… How do I look?”

“Mom, Mom. I want to eat ankoromochi (pounded rice cake wrapped in sweet red bean paste),” said my little mujina, clinging to me.

“What?”

That means I was not able to transform myself into Osan the fox.

Since I have been so busy taking care of my kids, I haven’t had any spare time to transform myself. I’m getting rusty, nupperan, ran.

I tried a transformation after my kids fell asleep. A fox might have been too big for me. Well, let me try a rabbit.

“Here I go, a rabbit, nupperan ran… How about now?”

“Mom, mom. I have to pee.”

My little mujina clung to me. That means I wasn’t able to transform myself into a rabbit either. I thought that maybe I should have transformed myself into a smaller creature.

“Well, why don’t I try a mouse? Nupperan, ran. How do I look?”

“Mom, mom, I want milk.”

A baby mujina clung to me. I failed again. Well, I even couldn’t transform myself into a mouse. How pathetic!

I decided to use the surface of the lake as a mirror. As the surface of the lake rippled, so did my face. My face looked warped and awkward. Nupperan ran. I wish I could become a good-looking woman just like Osan the fox.

From then on, I spent every night trying to transform just my face into a good-looking one. I will transform myself into a good-looking woman, nupperan ran. My nose is too big. I’d better make it smaller. My mouth is too big, too. I should make it smaller, nuppenran, ran.

One day, late at night, Danzaburo returned home after enjoying a night out. “I’m home.”

“Danzaburo, welcome home.” I looked toward Danzaburo.

“Oh, my. Where did you put your face?”

“What?”

“Your face is gone! It’s like a flat board!”

“What?”

I tried to touch my face. I didn’t have a nose or mouth. My face was flat and smooth. My face was gone. I went too far in trying to make my nose and mouth smaller. I made my face vanish, nupperan, ran!

Even the next morning, my face was still flat and smooth, my nose and mouth still gone. They didn’t return.

Danzaburo was totally disgusted with me, so I returned to my hometown in Shinshu Shinano, taking my kids with me, nupperan, ran.

One day, I let my mujina kids play in front of the house. Then, I saw a big pure white dog blazing through the field in front of my house, as swift as the wind. What a handsome and gallant dog he was! How beautiful!

It was Shippei Taro. Shippei Taro raced through my heart as fast as the wind. It was love at first sight. In an instant, I was head over heels for him, nupperan ran. I knew I had to do something about my plain-looking flat face without a nose or a mouth. I needed a good-looking face to meet Shippei Taro.

A village kid happened to be passing by on the road. Even though the kid looked a little too young, I decided to make my face look good by “borrowing” the kid’s face, nupperan, ran.

However, the villagers got so upset about what I did.

“A monster kidnapped a child!”

To my surprise, Shippei Taro started chasing me, even though it was I who wanted to run after him. Shippei Taro mercilessly bit me.

Chomp!

“Ow, nupperan, ran!”

I narrowly escaped with my life. My mujina kids also followed me. We were in the mountains of Echigo.

I was sure that Shippei Taro wanted to rip me to shreds and kill me at that time. I could feel his terrible murderous intent. I still shiver when I think back on what happened. However, I continued longing for him. I couldn’t stop thinking about him, nupperan, ran.

I absolutely need to be a good-looking woman because I fell in love with Shippei Taro. That’s why I wanted to get my hands on a young girl’s face, nupperan, ran.

I stole the face of a beauty of Echigo. When I took her face, her face became flat and featureless. I sold this weeping girl in Kyoto, the capital. I figured she should be able to survive by putting herself on exhibition.

With the girl’s face, I was still in love with Shippei Taro, nupperan ran.

However, my face started to sag as time went by. The girl’s face drooped down. Finally, it fell completely off, leaving me with my old, flat, plain-looking face with no nose or mouth.

Therefore, I had to get a new girl’s face every year before the previous one went bad. I targeted a girl with a good-looking face and had her offer her face on a festival day, nupperan ran. It wasn’t too difficult because I threatened to spread my poop over all the rice paddies if a girl wasn’t offered. Then, the villagers were more than willing to offer their daughters to me.

My poop is so stinky. If it is spread over rice paddies, not even a single blade of grass, much less any rice plants, could ever grow there over many decades, nupperan, ran.

Even girls with flat faces can survive by putting themselves on exhibition. They would be able to enjoy happier and more enjoyable lives by putting their plain-looking faces on exhibition in Kyoto, the capital, rather than getting married in this mountainous area. There’s no need for them to cry so much, nupperan, ran.

How many years have passed since I first met Shippei Taro in the village of Shinshu Shinano? Nupperan, ran. Whenever I replaced my face with a new face, I thought about the first time I saw Shippei Taro and deeply yearned for him. Ran, ran. When my face started to sag, I remembered when Shippei Taro tried to bite me to death and I trembled with fear, nuppe nuppe.

I was especially afraid of festival nights because my face looked the worst on such nights. It was on just such a night in Shinshu Shinano, when I tried to steal a child’s face, that Shippei Taro appeared all of sudden.

Shippei Taro, whom I so much desperately wanted to be with, started biting me with such a dreadful look on his face. Every festival night, I recall that dreadful face of my beloved Shippei Taro.

On a festival night this year, I was going to get a new face. To my disbelief, Shippei Taro suddenly popped out of an unvarnished wooden rice container. Once again, I had to encounter him with my worst face. I was frozen with surprise and horror. No sooner had I screamed than Taro latched onto me with his jaws. I tried to loosen his bite but Taro wouldn’t let me go. I tried to run around to shake him loose. Taro refused to let go and kept his hold on me.

“Taro, I have been in love with you forever, nupperan ran.”

“Grrr, grrrrr!”

Taro simply kept growling. On top of that, he started to bite me even more viciously.

My skin was being torn to shreds.

“Taro, Taro, I fell in love with you…” No matter how desperately I cried out, Taro just wouldn’t let up. Even so, I continued to cry out, “Taro, Taro!”

Shippei Taro was relentless and wouldn’t stop biting me. I ran around to try to escape him, but my skin was torn to pieces and my guts started to fall out.

“Shippei Taro, I… lo… you…”

In the end, I couldn’t speak. Eventually, Shippei Taro seized my heart with his powerful jaws.

“Taro, I didn’t want to fight you.”

I thought it was the end for me.

“Taro… I… wanted… to… meet… you… with a good-looking face, nupperan, ran.”

Tears flowed uncontrollably from my eyes.

“Taro…”

Taro just ignored my pleas and kept his hold on me with his jaws. His sharp fangs were just about to pierce completely through my heart.

At that moment, I left my shredded skin and guts behind, transformed into a mouse, and ran for my life. My mujina kids also transformed their injured bodies into mice and followed me.

When I regained my senses, I found myself in an old woman’s house in the mountains. This is how my kids and I, in the form of mice, came to live in a solitary house in the mountains.

I was so desperate when I was attacked by Shippei Taro. I have no idea how I managed to transform myself into a mouse. Since my mujina kids also transformed themselves into mice, I guess all mujina become little mice if they are about to be killed.

Nevertheless, my face was still flat and featureless even though I became a mouse, nupperan ran.

In the old woman’s house in the mountains, there seemed to be a boom in the number of mice. Watching the mice scurrying in and out of the holes in the wall, the old woman, who had just lost her husband, said laughingly, “Oh my, cute little mice, you are so cheerful and lively.”

The End

Written by Yoko Tate

Under a Cloudy Sky

November 2020

Translated and Recited by Masako Hayakawa

Illustrated by Makiko Lockhart

December 23, 2021 recording

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRMm_Dmzzic

日本語版朗読　楯よう子

パステーシュ第４弾　「ムジナぬっぺらんの語り」

朗読動画収録　2020年11月16日収録

https://www.youtube.com/embed/-Cf_HOqMOYM