The Story of Kuzo Anesa - 悠久城風の間　blog語り部のささやき

I woke up.

As usual, I let out my usual morning growl, which is a loud “Grrrr!” Well, that’s what I intended to do, but…

“Haaaah…”

What? Something’s wrong.

I tried to growl again.

“Haaaah…”

That’s what I thought. It’s not my usual “Grrrr!” Something is wrong this morning.

I touched my mouth. Huh? My mouth, which usually stretches from ear to ear, is now a small pursed mouth.

I touched my face. What? My face is smooth and my cheeks are plump. My face is not rough and dry. There are no wrinkles.

Then, what about my hair? My hair, which is usually wiry, messy, wavy, and white, is now moist and supple. Plus, it’s long and black!

Oh, I know. I woke up from hibernation this morning. After a good hibernation, my face and hair, which were normally that of a terrible old hag, were completely rejuvenated and I became a good-looking young lady again.

Yeah, that’s it. Uh-huh.

It’s spring, now. Spring is here. But I’m still drowsy and in a daze.

I walked to the village. Where am I? Where am I? What is this place?

It’s about time to start working.

Knock, knock. I knocked on the door of a house.

“I’m a traveler. Please allow me to stay here for the night.”

The young man who came out of the house didn’t run away when he saw me.

He looks like a nice, quiet young man. Heh, heh, heh, heh.

“My family is poor, so we don’t have any food to give you,” the young man said while looking at me with a glazed expression on his face.

“Please allow me to stay anywhere in your house. I don’t have to eat anything at all.”

Luckily, I was able to enter the house. Then, I fell asleep again.

The following morning, the young man said to me in dismay, “How long are you planning to sleep?”

What? Have I been asleep that long?

“If you are going to sleep more, sleep in the attic.”

Since he told me that I could sleep, I went up to the attic and fell asleep again.

Since I had just come out of hibernation, I was still so sleepy. I felt like I could sleep forever.

Zzzzz, zzzzz. Sleeping peacefully, snoring and gurgling.

I woke up.

Whew, phew.

Good. I’m not howling, grrr. I’m a beautiful young lady now. I remember once oversleeping and turning into an old hag. I was in a panic then because it would be so difficult to complete my job with the face of an old hag.

It’s about time to start working. It’ll be autumn before I know it.

Huh? What’s this? Something smells good. I peeked through the floor of the attic to the dirt floor below.

The young man is cooking rice. I can smell the rice cooking. It smells so good. And what’s more, it’s in such a big rice pot! He said his family was poor, but their iron rice pot is huge.

He began making rice balls. I wondered how many rice balls he would make. The rice balls formed a mountain in a shallow barrel tub. I’m sure he is making some for me, too. That’s good. That’s good.

Wait, what? He’s devouring the rice balls all by himself!

Nom, nom.

“Delicious. Delicious. I feel like I’m finally able to eat something.”

The rice balls look delicious. Why don’t you give some to me, too? Young man, why don’t you share a big rice ball with me? I want some… I want some! As slobber started dripping from my mouth, I pushed my jaw farther and farther forward.

I want some rice balls.

Aaahhhhh… Ka-bam!

My jaw had gone so far forward that I fell out of the attic.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow…”

“What happened?” Nom, nom.

Was he so absorbed in eating the rice balls that he didn’t notice that I had fallen out of the attic?

He kept on eating.

“You said that you were too poor to offer me any food, so how can you be here, eating all these rice balls by yourself?”

“Ah, I love rice balls. They’re so delicious. I’ll eat a whole pile of them.” Nom, nom.

“Can you share some with me?”

“I don’t have any for you.” Nom, nom.

“Look, there are some right there.”

“This is my lunch.” Nom, nom.

“You’re not going to give me any rice balls, are you?” At first, I thought he was a nice young man, but he is such a miser.

“Ah, there’s nothing for you.”

Nom, nom. Nom, nom.

“Young lady, isn’t it time for you to get going?”

Ah, here we are. Taking care not to let my pretty little mouth get too big, I said in a cute voice, “I just fell out of the attic and hurt my feet. I can’t walk.”

“Where is your home?”

“My home is a cavern in the mountains.”

“No matter how long you stay here in my house, there will be no food for you.”

“Then, young man, could you take me to my cavern?” I asked him, keeping my current form of a beautiful young lady.

He agreed to take me to my cavern on his way to work in the mountains.

Yes, that’s it! It’s working.

He bundled up the remaining rice balls on his head. I hopped on his back.

Hey-ho. Up we go! Let’s head out.

Hee-hee-hee. All right, all right. He ate a lot of rice balls. It doesn’t matter that he didn’t give me any rice balls. That’s because his belly is full of rice balls.

Hee-hee-hee-hee. I’m glad. I’m happy. I can hardly wait to go back to my cavern and eat him up.

Wow, he’s such a strong man. He’s fast. He’s so fast. He ran as fast as the wind!

I clung to his back to keep myself from being shaken off.

This promising young man is pretty good. He might be useful. It would be a waste for me to eat him right away. I can use him as my servant for a while.

At that moment, I heard something banging.

Something hit me on the head. What? It’s something soft. Oh, it’s the rice balls, the ones strapped to his head.

Oh-ho. Let me eat some…

I ate rice balls while riding on his back. Nom, nom.

“Ah. Delicious, delicious. Rice balls are delicious, aren’t they?”

Just then, the man stopped abruptly.

“That’s my lunch.”

Since I had eaten some rice balls, my mouth widened a bit and was no longer a small puckered-up mouth. This is bad! He’ll find out my true identity!

I resisted the urge to growl and covered my mouth, saying, “Ouch, ouch. My feet are starting to hurt. I want to go home quickly.”

I was able to say that in a rather cute voice.

“Young man, my feet hurt. Please hurry up.” This time, my voice wasn’t so cute.

When he turned around, my mouth was wide open and I wasn’t a beautiful young lady any longer. So, I covered my face with my hands.

“Young lady, are you crying? Do your feet hurt that much?”

When he asked me that, I quickly pretended to cry. “Waah, waah…” But my cries were not cute.

“Are your feet that sore? Oh, I see some sweet flag growing over there. I’ll go get some for you.”

“What? Did you say sweet flag?”

I hate sweet flag. Their leaves stand straight and sharp, like the blade of a sword. Aren’t they scary?

I shouted out, “Young man, I don’t need sweet flag leaves. I hate sweet flag. More importantly, please take me home as soon as possible.”

“Don’t be silly. Take those sweet flag leaves home with you and steep them in hot water. That will help your feet heal.” As he said that, he went and picked some sweet flag leaves.

Aaargh!

He tied a bunch of sweet flag leaves to me, ignoring my screaming.

“Help me! I’m scared of sweet flag leaves! They’ll cut my back!”

I was screaming, but he didn’t pay any attention to me. He continued running on with me and the sweet flag leaves on his back.

If I continued to scream, my mouth would split open, and I would have the face of a horrid old hag.

Not knowing my worries, he continued to run like the wind.

“Get these sweet flag leaves off of me! Throw them away!”

No matter how many times I pleaded with him, he never listened. He just kept running on and on without a care.

THAT IS IT! I’ve had enough! There’s nothing to do but eat him up right here and now before going back to my cavern. Just as I was about to growl, he stopped dead in his tracks.

It looks like he found something.

“Oh, it’s mugwort.”

He pushed his way into the bushes.

“These are beautiful herbs for rice cakes,” he said as he started picking mugwort, still carrying me on his back.

“Yuck! First sweet flag, and now mugwort? Just stop! Stinky, stinky. They smell terrible!”

I really, really, really hate mugwort.

“They smell terrible! I can’t breathe!”

No matter how much I shouted, it didn’t faze him. He just kept on picking mugwort, saying, “Don’t you make sasadango, rice cakes wrapped in bamboo grass? You can make good sasadango rice cakes with this mugwort.”

“I hate mugwort. Throw it away! Get away from it!”

“What are you talking about? Don’t you eat sasadango rice cakes? Rice balls are good, but sasadango rice cakes are also good.”

“What? What are sasadango rice cakes? Do they taste much better than rice balls?”

“Have you never tried sasadango rice cakes?”

Ah, I think I must have eaten salted mackerel and cows before my hibernation. Come to think of it, it’s probably been hundreds of years since I last ate warm cooked rice. The rice balls the young man made were very delicious. I’ve never eaten what he called sasadango rice cakes. Would they taste better than him, the young man? He also looks tasty, but I wonder if sasadango rice cakes would be more delicious than the young man since he says they’re so good.

“Young man, do you make sasadango rice cakes?”

“No. My mother makes them for me.”

“Oh, so your mother makes sasadango rice cakes. Mugwort herbs are stinky, though.”

“The rice cake herbs smell good if you knead them into rice cakes.”

“Isn’t mugwort bitter?”

“Sasadango rice cakes are not bitter at all. They have sweet red bean paste inside so they’re sweet. They taste really good. You put sweet bean paste into mugwort rice cakes and wrap them with bamboo grass. All the mothers in Echigo are good at making sasadango rice cakes. My mother’s sasadango rice cakes are the best.”

“So you’re saying that mugwort smells nice and makes sasadango rice cakes taste good?”

“Yes, that’s right. That’s right. If my mother kneads mugwort into rice cakes, then the rice cake herbs will taste good.”

“I wonder if that’s true? Are they delicious? What if I try some of your mother’s sasadango rice cakes?”

“My mother’s house is just down the road. Why don’t we drop in?”

“Yes. Let’s, let’s.”

I was getting hungry for his mother’s rice cakes.

“Yeah, I’m going to have some, I’m going to have some. Sasadango!”

“Yeah, me too! I’ll have some with you, young lady.”

Oh, young man, eat a lot, too!

The young man started picking more mugwort again. He tied them over the sweet flag leaves, which were tied to me. I frowned at the smell of mugwort, so my face became more rumpled. My face became quite disfigured, but it was still that of a young lady, anyway, at least half of it.

Since the young man was still carrying me on his back, I decided it would be fine to stop at his mother’s house.

First, I’ll try some sasadango rice cakes. After I taste them, I can still eat the young man.

The young man should be good because he ate delicious rice balls. Hee, hee, hee.

If sasadango rice cakes taste good, the young man, who eats these rice cakes, should surely taste even better.

Hee, hee, hee! Young man, eat a lot of sasadango rice cakes.

“I’m going to have some, I’m going to have some, sasadango!” I chanted while riding on the young man’s back.

“I’m going to have some, I’m going to have some, my mother’s sasadango!” he chanted while running along.

The young man seems to like both rice balls and sasadango rice cakes. Help yourself to a lot of them. Then, young man, you’ll taste better and better.

Hee, hee, hee!

The young man ran through the wind, carrying me, the sweet flag leaves, and the mugwort all together on his back.

It felt so good to run through the wind.

The sweet flag leaves didn’t cut my back. The smell of mugwort wasn’t bothering me any longer.

The young man ran with all his might.

The blowing wind carried away his sweat.

The wind also swept away my drool.

His mother’s house came into view. Hummm.

The End

2022

I visited my ancestors’ graves via remote video this year, too.