The Story of Anesa Who Became a Huge Snake - 悠久城風の間　blog語り部のささやき

Do you like ohagi, a Japanese sweet dumpling of steamed glutinous rice covered with sweet red bean paste? I absolutely love ohagi. I can even eat three or four of them.

You might wonder if it would be alright to eat that much. It’s not a problem. It’s alright to eat as many ohagi as you wish. I’m sure that you would be happy if you could eat as many ohagi as you’d like, whenever you’d like. You don’t have to hold back or pretend not to be interested.

In the old days, people were not even able to simply enjoy ohagi. There was once a sad and almost tearful story. Have you heard it?

The wife of a man threw away ohagi that had gotten moldy because she didn’t let her brother-in-law eat it. When she was on her way to throw out the ohagi, she was sucked into a pond and transformed into a huge snake. She wondered what to do because she had a newborn baby. She was worried about how she could nurse the baby. She asked her husband to sell her eyes, her huge snake eyes, to buy milk. How pitiful it is to think about the love of this mother who would mutilate herself and lose her own eyesight to feed her baby!

Even though she cannot see her baby, would the sound of the temple bell in the morning and the evening comfort this mother who lost her eyes?

The people who read “The Huge Snake’s Eyes” from Niigata’s Folk Tales Vol. 2 shared their comments.

One of them stated, “She was punished by being transformed into a huge snake and losing her eyesight simply because she didn’t give her brother-in-law ohagi. The punishment was too strict, wasn’t it?”

Another commented, “That’s right. Anesa, the wife, blamed herself too much by saying, ‘It was all my fault,’ didn’t she? I wonder what she thinks now?”

Then, I interviewed Anesa, who had transformed into a huge snake in a pond.

I am the huge snake of the pond. I am living quietly at the bottom of the pond. I can hear the temple bell ringing in the morning and the evening. It’s such a pleasant sound. Just hearing that bell makes me happy. I don’t need anything else.

In the past, I used to live in a village. I got married and gave birth to a baby. When my baby was born, I became very hungry.

Being a poor peasant family, we could not usually have a full meal. Since my baby kept crying, I thought that my milk was not enough. But I cannot be the only one to have seconds. The wife of such a poor family must refrain from having seconds.

However, I was looking forward to the next festival day because there’s always a feast on that festive day. On that day, after the autumnal harvest, I made ohagi for the night of the thirteen-day moon. I love ohagi very much. I’m sure there is not a single person in this village who doesn’t like ohagi.

I soaked red beans in water the night before and made sweet red bean paste. I steamed glutinous rice. We were blessed with a good harvest that year. The rice grains were beautiful. The sweet red bean paste and steaming glutinous rice gave off a wonderful fragrance. Oh, yes! I was able to make some really delicious ohagi. Heh, heh, heh!

Offering ohagi to the moon, we had a moon-viewing party. I served ohagi to my aged father-in-law and mother-in-law, as well as to Annyasa, my husband. I myself also enjoyed the ohagi. The moon that night was really beautiful. The thirteen-day moon was a sight to behold.

Later on, my husband’s younger brother, who had been serving as an apprentice to the landlord, returned home. I wanted to serve ohagi to my brother-in-law, so I went to the porch to get the ohagi that we offered to the moon there.

When I saw the ohagi, they started to move out from the bowl. In the light of the thirteen-day moon, a group of ohagi lined up on the porch. What? What? What?

“Hmm? This is strange. Have these ohagi grown legs?”

I went up to the ohagi to take a closer look. The legs, which I thought were the ohagi’s legs, were actually the legs of Fukkero, the frog. (Please refer to “A Jumping Match between a Rabbit and Fukkero” from Niigata’s Folk Tales Vol. 2.)

Fukkero, carrying the ohagi on his back, was hopping along. He was followed by a line of little frogs, which were probably Fukkero’s children. They also had ohagi on their backs.

All the ohagi in the bowl were gone. There was a line of jumping ohagi. Boing, boing! Boing, boing!

“Wait, wait! Where are you going? You’re my family’s ohagi! You’re the ohagi we are going to eat!”

Everyone in the village loves ohagi. I heard that Fukkero, the frog, was no exception. However, these ohagi were for my family! Fukkero, if you love ohagi, why don’t you make some by yourself?

Fukkero and his children just kept hopping along, boing, boing. The ohagi jiggled on their backs.

“Wait, our ohagi!” I chased after them, holding the empty bowl.

Fukkero came to a pond and jumped right in with the ohagi still on his back. Sploosh! The little frogs followed right after him, all with the ohagi on their backs. Sploosh, sploosh, sploosh…

“Wait, those ohagi! Those ohagi are for my family to eat!”

I ran desperately to get our ohagi back from Fukkero and his children. I finally caught up to them. I snatched the ohagi from the last little frog in line and stuffed it in my mouth.

“Gulp. Gah, gah! It’s stuck!”

I was choking because I had tried to eat the ohagi so quickly.

“My… my… thr… throat!”

I writhed around. Cough, cough.

“Help me! It hurts!”

I was struggling so desperately. Cough, cough.

“It’s so painful. I’m dying!” Cough, cough! Gurgh, gurgh…

After a while, I felt relief. I looked around and found myself at the bottom of the pond. I was no longer in pain. But somehow, I had become a huge snake. Looking up to the surface of the pond, I saw Fukkero and his children swimming around. Fukkero has so many children.

“Hey, Fukkero,” I called out to him.

“Hey, Huge Snake. Was the ohagi good? Croak, croak.”

Fukkero seemed to be quite relaxed.

“Fukkero, did you eat the ohagi, too? I asked.

“Yes, I stuffed myself with ohagi for hibernation. My children also ate a lot. Croak, croak.”

I heard a voice in the distance.

“Anesa, Anesa. Where are you?” Annyasa, my husband called out for me.

I poked my head out of the pond. Annyasa was standing at the edge of the pond, holding an empty bowl. He was so surprised to see that I had transformed into a huge snake.

“Anesa, what happened to you?” he said with a tearful face. “I hope you can return to your normal self and nurse the baby.”

“Me, too,” I replied, but no matter how I struggled, I could not take off the skin of the huge snake. I was not able to return to my original form as his wife. I tried to squeeze out some milk but I couldn’t. A huge snake does not have breasts to offer milk.

I said, “I’m not able to produce any milk. Instead, I hope you can buy some milk with these,” and I pulled out my eyeballs and put them into the bowl he was holding.

“Anesa, why did you transform into a huge snake?” he asked me, but I had no idea why as well.

I asked Fukkero why I had been transformed to a huge snake.

“Well, when I jumped into the pond, Mr. Huge Snake, the big boss of the pond, had his mouth wide open. He absolutely loves ohagi. Before I knew it, he had swallowed me up with the ohagi on my back. He swallowed all my little frogs and their ohagi as well. Then you, Anesa, chasing us frogs, were swallowed up last, but you were thrashing so wildly in the huge snake’s belly that he ended up spitting us out. Anesa, that’s when I saw that you had transformed into a huge snake.”

“Well, is that so? Because the huge snake, the big boss of the pond, swallowed me, I transformed into a huge snake?”

Fukkero added, “Anesa, you were transformed into a huge snake to become the new boss of the pond because Mr. Huge Snake, the old boss of the pond was too old.”

“What? I became the huge snake, the big boss of the pond?”

I felt like I was wearing a new, tight-fitting kimono. The skin of the huge snake was so tight that I could not take it off.

My body had become that of a huge snake. I was surprised that I had become a huge snake, the big boss of the pond. Since my body became that of a huge snake, I didn’t have breasts. That’s why I wasn’t able to nurse my baby any more.

I heard that Annysa, my husband, went to the market and sold my huge snake eyes for a lot of money. He bought some milk for our baby with that money. It seems that he donated a bell to a temple with the leftover money.

Since I can’t see, I always stay at the bottom of the pond. When I hear the temple bell in the morning and the evening, I know that my child is growing well. That makes me happy. I don’t feel the urge to eat ohagi any longer.

It is said that since that time, the huge snake at the bottom of the pond continued to pray for the healthy growth of the children of the village. It is said that every child of the village grew up healthily. Anesa’s baby is also said to have grown up healthily and eventually became a monk serving at the village’s temple where he continued to ring the bell in the morning and the evening.

The End

January 2021

In the midst of a cold front

Written by Yoko Tate

Translated and Recited by Masako Hayakawa

Illustrated by Rino Saito

June 2023 recording

日本語版　朗読　楯よう子

「大蛇になったあねさの語り」

2021年2月22日収録

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McsVBz6-ZJ0

ブログ　令和３年睦月　寒波のなかで