Shank's Mare Page 3

  'What, wash your leggings?' cried Kita.

  He stared at Yaji, but Yaji gave him a warning look, and grumbling to himself Kita rubbed down the leggings.

  'Just bring some tea,' said Kita to the maid.

  The maid ushered them into a room on the ground floor and brought them two cups of tea on a tray.

  'The bath is ready,' she said.

  'I say, did you see that girl's face?' asked Yaji when she had gone out. ' It's worn away in the middle just like a mounting block.'

  'So it is,' replied Kita. 'I say, Yaji.'

  'Look out,' said Yaji. 'She's coming.'

  'Won't you take a bath, father,' said Kita, as the maid came in with sake cups.

  'Halloa, saké?' said Yaji. 'Whenever they see folk from Edo they always make that mistake.'

  'Why do they bring out saké?' asked Kita. 'Will they charge for it in the bill?'

  'Of course they will,' said Yaji.

  Yaji took a towel and went off to the bath, and while he was gone the maid brought in a bottle of sake and a box of comestibles. ' Please have some,' she said.

  'This is a treat,' said Kita. ' Just tell my father to make haste and come.'

  The maid went off to deliver the message, and soon Yaji came in.

  ' Aha! ' he said. ' What's this? Is this to drink? Look here, you'd better go off to the bath at once.'

  ' No, no, I'll go in after we've drunk it,' said Kita.

  ' What a suspicious chap you are,' said Yaji. ' You go on in.'

  Kita accordingly went off to the bath and the landlord came in.

  'Sorry I haven't got anything better to offer you,' said the landlord, 'but please drink hearty.'

  'Really, landlord,' said Yaji, 'I feel ashamed to take advantage of your hospitality.'

  'Not at all,' said the landlord. 'You see it's like this. I've been carrying on a different business up to now and to-day is the first day of my opening an inn. As you are my first guests I thought I would celebrate the occasion. There won't be any charge, so please make yourself at home.'

  'Well, well, I must congratulate you,' said Yaji, 'though it's really too bad that you should go to this expense.'

  'Oh, that's nothing,' said the landlord. 'Call for anything you want. The soup will be ready in a minute.'

  'Please don't take any trouble about us,' said Yaji.

  'That's all right. Take your ease,' said the landlord, and he went off hurriedly as Kita came back from the bath.

  'Father, I have heard all,' cried Kita dramatically. ' Let us be thankful.'

  'Instead of standing there joking,' said Yaji, ' you'd better go and get into the bath again while I drink this sake.'

  'That's what struck me when I was in the bath,' said Kita. 'Halloa, my legs are still covered with mud. Never mind. Let's begin.'

  'I began long ago,' said Yaji, ' but I don't mind starting again.'

  'I'm going to drink out of this,' said Kita. So saying he seized a teacup, filled it and gulped it down.

  'Ah, that's good saké,' he said. ' By the way, what's there to eat? Aha, white,—hope it's not made of shark ;—

  pickled ginger;—prawns. Good country fare. Here, father, these shiso berries will be the best for you. You'd better eat them only.'

  'Nonsense,' said Yaji. ' That's the stuff that everybody leaves. By the way, I wonder when they're going to bring the soup.'

  'Wait a bit,' said Kita. He turned round and peeped into the kitchen through the cracks in the door.

  'It's coming, it's coming,' he cried. ' They're just serving it up. Oh lor! that's to put in front of the shrine. Ah, now it's coming.'

  Kita had just sat himself down again properly when the maid brought in the soup.

  'Shall I fill the sake bottle again?' she asked.

  When she had gone they both eagerly took the lids off the soup bowls.

  'It's red bean soup,' said Kita.' Delicious! I hope it hasn't got any hard beans in it. By the way, where's the sake bottle?'

  'Busy, aren't you?' said Yaji.' She's just taken it away.'

  'Seems as if she was just bringing it back,' said Kita.

  The maid brought in the sake bottle and they both started drinking like old hands at the game, the sake cup passing so frequently from one to another that before long they were both half drunk and had forgotten which was the father and which was the son.

  'Won't you have a little, miss?' said Kita to the maid.

  'I never touch a drop,' said the girl.

  'Don't you really?' said Kita.' Well I never! Never mind. To-night, eh? You and I, eh? Let's plight our troth in a cup, eh, father?'

  'Strikes me this son of mine is getting drunk,' said Yaji.

  'Getting drunk?' said Kita. 'Well, if I am I've still got plenty of spirit. Just look at my old man's face! Ha-ha-ha!'

  While they were making their drunken jokes, the maid, who was very astonished at their talk, drained the cup of sake Kita had given her and handed the cup to Yaji.

  'What?' cried Kita. 'That old beast? Never mind, it's because of me you give it him. I'll have it next, shan't I?'

  He sidled up to the girl as he spoke, but the girl, alarmed at his drunken talk, hastened out of the room.

  'You're a bad man,' said Yaji, 'saying things like that in front of a woman.'

  'What's the harm?' said Kita. 'There's nothing bad about it. That girl was making eyes at me. I don't want to play at being father and son any more.'

  By-and-by the maid brought in the rice, and there was more joking, but I will not bore my readers by putting it all down. Although they did not behave to each other much like father and son the maid thought it was true and would not accept their suggestions. Thus they had to lie with lonely pillows, while the night deepened and the noise in the kitchen subsided, till all that could be heard was the voice of the landlady still scolding. But sleep did not come to them. The bed-clothes were dirty and the divine favour of the thousand-handed Kwannon kept them scratching. Moreover there was a draught from the crack under the door. As the effect of the sake wore off they began to think that although the girl had not come and had used them rather badly, still they had saved some money.

  Then, while they were still suffering all the tortures of their wooden pillows, the dawn bell began to ring. Already in front of the inn they could hear the whinnying of the horses that were being brought for the travellers, and the songs of the carriers as they bore the baggage along.

  In the bamboo,

  Sparrows a few.

  What shall we do?

  What shall we do?

  At last Yaji and Kita got up and had breakfast, making all sorts of jokes which it would be too tedious to repeat, and started off again. From the opposite direction a constant stream of carriers was passing bearing a daimyō's baggage.

  Over Hakoné,

  A twenty mile climb.

  We shall get there,—

  Get there in time.

  'Look at them, Yaji,' said Kita. 'Look how easily they shoulder that heavy baggage. Look how they quiver.'

  'When I see them swinging like that it makes me feel sad,' said Yaji.

  'Why, why?' demanded Kita.

  'It makes me think of my dead wife,' said Yaji.

  'Get out,' said Kita. 'Ha-ha-ha!'

  Just then, from the opposite direction there came along a ballad singer. He had a broken fan in his hand with which he beat time as he chanted.

  'Aha, my prosperous gentlemen,' he chanted, 'condescend in your kindness to give me a copper.'

  'Get out,' said Yaji.

  But the ballad-singer only went on chanting 'Toko-toko-toko yoi toko na!'

  'Look here,' said Kita, 'We haven't got any money, so clear out.'

  'What?' chanted the ballad-singer. 'That can hardly be possible. Gentlemen who travel the roads must have both copper and silver, as well as stick, hat, waterproof and oil paper. The most economical cannot go on one leg. Besides you must have a change of loin-cloths, though you will save something by using the old ones as t
owels.'

  'Here, you chatterer,' said Yaji. 'I'll give you that.' He threw a copper on the road.

  'Halloa,' cried the priest, 'a four-mon piece? Thank you.'

  'Is it a four-mon piece?' said Yaji. 'Oh lor! You must give me three-mon change.'

  'Ha-ha-ha,' laughed the ballad-singer. 'What a disappointment!'

  On the outskirts of Fujisawa they stopped to rest at a humble teahouse.

  'Are those dumplings cold, mother?' asked Kita. 'Just warm 'em up a bit.'

  'Ah, ah!' said the old woman, 'I'll warm 'em up for you.'

  She raked up the fire in the brazier and fanned it till the ashes flew about, while Yaji and Kita knocked the dust off their clothes and enjoyed a whiff of tobacco. As they were doing this, an old man of about sixty, in a straw coat, carrying a bundle on his shoulder, stopped in front of the house.

  'Excuse me,' he said, 'but could you tell me the way to Enoshima?

  'You want to go to Enoshima, eh?' said Yaji. 'Well, if you go straight on you'll come to the Yugyō Temple. In front of that there's a bridge.'

  'Oh yes,' broke in Kita, ' that's right. And just opposite the bridge, I remember, there's a teahouse where the mistress is a fine woman.'

  'That's it,' said Yaji. 'Last year when I went to the hills I stopped there. She comes from Edo.'

  'Ah, that's why she's so smart,' said Kita.

  'But how do I go after I come to the bridge?' asked the traveller.

  'Well, at the end of the bridge you'll see some torii You must go straight past 'em.'

  'If you don't go straight past 'em you'll fall into the rice-fields,' put in Kita.

  'Be quiet,' said Yaji. ' And after you've got right along the road, at the edge of a village, you'll come to a place where there are two teahouses.'

  'That's right,' interrupted Kita. 'They give you awfully bad food there.'

  'It'll be the one on the right you mean,' said Yaji. 'The one on the left's all right. When I went there last year they gave me some perch that were still alive and a bowl of shrimps ready to jump off the dish they were that fresh, and some eggs and vegetables and mushrooms. And then I had . . .'

  'Excuse me,' said the old man. ' I don't want to eat there. How do I go after that?'

  'Well, if you go right along that road at the end you'll come to a stone image of Jizō.'

  'That Jizō is very good to pray to if you're sick,' put in Kita. 'Our Hetanasu got cured there.'

  'Talking about that,' said Yaji, 'that chap Tanekichi of the Kinbakuya in New Street went to Kusatsu, but I don't know whether he got better.'

  'That's the chap that lives in Daifukuchō,' said Kita.

  'Daifukuchō? Where's that?' asked Yaji.

  'You must go straight along my street till you come out in Tozachō,' explained Kita. 'Then you go along Hantorichō and Tanachinchō and cross the Soroban Bridge by the Jidaiyashiki. Then you come to Daifukuchō.'

  'Instead of talking about that I wish you'd show me the way to Enoshima,' said the old man.

  'True, true,' said Yaji. ' Well, from the Jizō you must go straight along Daifukuchō.'

  'Is there a road called that on the way to Enoshima?' asked the old man.

  'No, no, that's in Edo,' said Yaji.

  'I don't want to hear about Edo,' grumbled the old man. 'These folk are making a fool of me,' he muttered. 'I'll go further on and ask again.' Kita burst out laughing as the old man went off grumbling to himself.

  Meanwhile the old woman had brought four or five dumplings on a tray.

  'That dumpling's burnt,' said Yaji, but looking at it more closely he saw that it was a piece of hot cinder that had stuck to it.

  'Here,' he said, passing it to Kita just as it was with the hot cinder on, 'try this one. You like 'em burnt, don't you?'

  'Where, where?' asked Kita, and he stuck it in his mouth. 'Oh, oh! ' he yelled. 'Look what you've done to me. There's a piece of hot cinder stuck to it. Oh, how it burns!'

  'Ha-ha-ha!' laughed Yaji. 'I thought you liked 'em hot. That's why I gave you the one with the hot cinder on. Come, let's go.'

  Kita followed grumbling and spitting after they had paid for the dumplings.

  At Fujisawa they found each side of the road lined with the teahouse girls, who were calling out in chorus, ' Walk in, walk in. Our wine doesn't make you drunk. Try our hard-boiled rice.'

  Then a postboy accosted them. ' Masters,' he said. ' Do you want a lively horse? I'll let you ride cheap. It's quite sound and warranted to kick.'

  'Take a kago,' called a carrier. 'I'll carry you cheap as I'm on my way back.'

  'How much?' asked Kita.

  'Three hundred and fifty coppers,' replied the carrier.

  'Too dear,' said Yaji. 'Why, I'd carry it myself for a hundred and fifty.'

  'All right,' said the carrier. 'We'll make it a hundred and fifty.'

  'You've come down, eh?' said Yaji. 'Very well, just hang my sandals up in front.'

  'But you're not going to ride, are you?' said the carrier. ' You said you'd carry it yourself for a hundred and fifty, so I thought I'd get a hundred and fifty too for carrying the other end."

  'That's a good one,' said Yaji laughing. ' Well, we'll make it two hundred then.'

  'It's very cheap,' said the carrier, ' but we'll take it. What do you say, mate? Please get in.'

  The price having thus been settled Yaji got into the kago and the men started.

  'I say, mate,' said the carrier in front, 'the master's rather hard.'

  'That's because he's strongly made,' said the carrier behind.

  Just then the landlord of one of the teahouses called to the carriers. 'Hi!' he said. 'When you get to Umezawa just call at Sadoya's and tell him that the last wine had too much water in it. Tell him to put a little sake with the next lot he sends. Look out, you've dropped something.'

  'All right,' said the carriers, and started on their way.

  'Do you come from Fujisawa?' asked Yaji. 'The town's got quite pretty. Is Master Tarozaemon, the merchant, in good health?'

  'Master knows everybody,' said the carrier in front. 'Yes, he's quite well.'

  'Is Master Magoshichi still working there?' continued Yaji.

  'Yes, yes,' said the carrier in front. 'Master knows all about everybody.'

  'You fool,' said the carrier behind. ' Of course he does. He's looking in the guidebook as he goes along. Ha-ha-ha!'

  Thus going along they quickly arrived at the ferry of the Banyū River. After crossing the ferry they went on till they came to the village of Shirahata, where there used to be a shrine dedicated to Yoshitsuné, whose head is said to have come flying there.

  Then they passed through Ōiso and reached Shigitatsusawa, where they saw the statue of Saigyō made with a hatchet by Mongaku Shōnin.

  Rubbing his eyes, and yawning through the long spring day, till he nearly wrenched his jaws out of joint, Kitahachi sought something to amuse himself.

  'Oh, how tired I am!' he said. 'I'll tell you what, Yaji, let's amuse ourselves on the way by asking riddles. Will you guess them?'

  'All right,' said Yaji. 'Ask away.'

  'Outside it's white plaster ; inside it's ton-ton. What's that?'

  'Fool,' said Yaji. 'Instead of that old stuff let me ask you something new. You and I travelling together, what are we like? Guess that.'

  'We're like people going to Isé, of course.'

  'Fool. We're like two horses.'

  'Why?'

  'Because we're good-goers,—geegees.'

  'Ha-ha-ha!' laughed Kita. 'Then can you tell me where we come from?'

  'From the house of Yajirobei in Hatchōbōri, Kanda. Is that the answer?'

  'Don't make bad jokes. The answer is two pigs and ten puppies.'

  'How do you make that out?'

  'Because there are two of us and we come from Kwantō.'

  'Ha-ha-ha!' laughed Yaji. 'Here, I'll ask you a difficult one, and if you can't guess it you'll have to pay for some saké.'

  'If I guess it will yo
u pay for the saké?' asked Kita.

  'Of course I will,' said Yaji.

  'That's good.'

  'It's rather long,' said Yaji. 'It's like this. The answer to where we come from is two pigs and ten puppies, which means that there are two of us and that we come from the Kwantō. What's that like?'

  'Ha-ha-ha!' laughed Kita. 'Whoever heard of a riddle like that?'

  'Fool!' said Yaji. 'Of course there's such a riddle. Try and guess it.'

  'How am I to know what it's like?' said Kita.

  'If you don't know I'll tell you,' said Yaji. ' It's like a lover who undoes his girdle and also causes his sweetheart to undo hers.'

  'That's horribly difficult,' said Kita. 'What does it mean?'

  'It means that I'm making you undo (solve) again what's already been solved. Wasn't that a good one? Come on, pay up for the sake.'

  'You wait a bit,' said Kita. 'I must have my revenge. Mine's a little long too, but the point of it is this. The answer to the riddle where we come from is two pigs and ten puppies, the meaning of which is that we are two and come from the Kwantō, which means again that if a lover takes off his girdle and gets his sweetheart to take off hers, it's not only undoing it once but causing others to do it again. What's that like?'

  'Ha-ha-ha!' laughed Yaji. 'That's a tremendously long riddle.'

  'Well, what's the answer?' asked Kita. 'Don't you know? It's a loin-cloth on a towel-horse.'

  'How do you make that out?'

  'Because you undo it when you hang it up, and undo the riddle when you answer it.'

  Thus laughing and joking they soon reached Soga-no-Nagamura and passed the Koyahata Hachiman shrine. Then they came to the River Sakawa.

  After they had crossed the river they met an innkeeper from Odawara who was waiting in the road.

  'Are you gentlemen stopping at Odawara to-night?' he asked.

  'Are you from Odawara?' said Yaji. 'We're stopping at the Koshimidzu or the Shirokoya.'

  'They're both full to-night,' replied the innkeeper. 'I shall be happy to put you up at my inn.'

  'Is it clean?' asked Yaji.

  'Yes,' said the innkeeper. 'It's just been rebuilt.'

  'How many rooms have you got?'

  'There's one room of ten mats and another of eight, and the office is six mats.'

  'How many baths?'

  'There are two superior baths and two inferior, making four altogether.'