Gon the Fox and Other Stories

  And to this day, on cloudy evenings when the star of Venus sits all alone in the moist sky, the people down south often look up and say,

  "There's the light from the giant's tower."

  THE END

  When the Thieves Came to Hananoki Village

  by Nankichi Niimi

  Chapter 1

  Long, long ago, a gang of five thieves arrived in Hananoki Village.

  It was the middle of an early summer's day, and all around brand new shoots of skinny bamboo were reaching up into the sky, while the spring cicadas in the pine forest cried out gee - gee - geeee.

  The thieves came from the north, walking along the river. When they came to the entrance to the village they saw children and cows frolicking about in the green fields that were covered in garden sorrel and toothed bur clover. They only needed to take one look at this to know that this was a peaceful village. And that made them very happy, because that meant the people here must have a lot of money and expensive kimonos.

  The river ran through a grove, spinning a waterwheel as it went - thump, thump - before heading deep into the village.

  When they came to the grove, the boss of the gang spoke to the others.

  "Right then, I'll wait here in the shade of these trees. You lot go into the village and come back and tell me what you see. Now don't forget - you're all new to this thieving game, so be careful you don't mess up. If you see a house that looks like there might be a lot of money, look closely to see if there are any windows that might be broken, and find out if they've got a dog. Right Kamaemon?"

  "Yes," replied Kamaemon, who until yesterday traveled around the country casting pots and tea kettles.

  "Right Ebinojo?"

  "Yes," replied Ebinojo, who until yesterday was a traveling locksmith, making locks for storerooms and chests for storing valuables.

  "Right Kakube?"

  "Yes," replied Kakube, a traveling lion dance acrobat from Echigo, who until yesterday was performing handstands and somersaults in the street in exchange for some copper coins.

  "Right Kantaro?"

  "Yes," replied Kantaro, the son of a carpenter from Edo, who until yesterday had been traveling through the provinces researching temple gates and shrines as part of his studies to become a carpenter.

  "Right, off you go. I'm the boss so I'll have a smoke while I wait for you here."

  The apprentice thieves, Kamaemon, pretending to be a pot maker, Ebinojo, pretending to be a locksmith, Kakube, playing a lion dance tune on his flute, and Kantaro, pretending to be a carpenter, made their way into Hananoki Village.

  Once they were gone, the boss sat down on some grass by the edge of the river, and did just as he said he would, making a face like a thief as he puffed away on his pipe. The boss was a genuine thief who'd been lighting fires and stealing for many, many years.

  "Yesterday I'd only ever worked on my own, but look at me now. I'm in charge of a gang of thieves. This is something I could get used to. My students go out and do all the work, and all I have to do is lie here and wait."

  As he had nothing else to do, he sat there boasting to himself like this.

  Eventually the first apprentice, Kamaemon, returned.

  "Boss! Boss!"

  The boss sat bolt upright beside a flowering thistle.

  "Oh, heck, you scared me! Don't be calling out boss in such a loud voice."

  "Oh, I'm very sorry," apologized the freshly apprenticed thief.

  "Tell me, what did you see in the village?" asked the boss.

  "Yes, that's a wonderful village, boss. They've got 'em. They've got 'em, alright."

  "What've they got?"

  "There was this really big house, and they had a huge pot for cooking rice; you could cook rice for forty people in it. That'd be worth a fortune. Also, the bell hanging in the temple is really, really big. If you melted it down you could easily make fifty pots. It's true, I wasn't imagining things, you know. If you think I'm lying, you just wait, I'll make 'em for you."

  "Stop boasting about something so ridiculous," said the boss, scolding his apprentice.

  "It's no good, you're still thinking like a pot maker. What kind of thief goes 'round looking at rice pots and temple bells? And why are you holding that pot? It's got a hole in it."

  "Oh yes, I was passing by a house when I saw this pot had been put out on a hedge to dry. I took a look at it and saw it had a hole in the bottom. Of course I completely forgot that I was a thief now, so I told the lady that I could fix it for 20 mon."

  "What a bonehead! This is because you haven't fully come to terms with the fact you are now a thief," said the boss, instructing his apprentice like a good boss was supposed to.

  "Go back to the village and make sure you have a proper look this time," he ordered.

  Kamaemon headed back into the village, swinging the pot as he went.

  Next to come back was Ebinojo.

  "Boss, this village is no good," said Ebinojo, downcast.

  "Why's that?"

  "The storehouses here don't have anything resembling a decent lock. The one's they use here, even a child could bust them open. If that's all they use then there's no business for me."

  "What is your business?"

  "Huh? ...a ...a… l…lock... smith."

  "You're still no proper thief either," yelled the boss.

  "Ah, sorry boss."

  "Shouldn't this kind of village be perfect for our business? Could there be anything better for us than storehouses with locks that could be busted open by even a child? Bonehead! Go back and take another look."

  "Oh, now I see. This kind of village is perfect for our business," repeated Ebinojo, heading back into the village with renewed enthusiasm.

  The next to come back was young Kakube. He came back playing the flute, so the boss was able to hear him coming from the other side of the grove.

  "How long are you going to keep playing that flute? Don't you know thieves are supposed to be as quiet as possible?" said the boss, scolding his apprentice.

  Kakube quit playing his flute.

  "So what did you see?"

  "After I'd walked some distance along the river I came up to a small house with a garden covered in blooming irises."

  "Uh huh. Then?"

  "Beneath the eaves of the house was an old man. His hair, his eyebrows and his beard were as white as snow."

  "Uh huh. And did this old guy look like the sort who was hiding a pot full of gold coins under his veranda?"

  "The old man was playing a flute made of bamboo. To be honest, it was quite an ordinary looking flute, but the sound it made was truly magnificent. I've never heard such beautiful and mysterious music in all my life. When he saw me listening, the old man smiled at me, and then he played three long tunes for me. To show him my appreciation, I did seven somersaults for him in-a-row."

  "Goodness! Then what?"

  "After I'd told him how much I liked the flute, he told me a place where you can find flute bamboo. Apparently that's where he'd got the bamboo for his flute. So I went to the bamboo grove that he told me about and there were hundreds of flute bamboo plants."

  "There's an old folktale about a man who finds gold inside a bamboo stalk. How about it, were there any gold coins lying on the ground?"

  "After I'd gone quite a bit further down river from there, I came to a small convent. They were holding a festival to pray for a good harvest. The gardens were filled with people, and they were pouring hydrangea tea over a statue of the Buddha that was no bigger than my flute. I poured some over the statue too, and then I drank some of the tea. If I'd only had a cup I would have brought you some too boss."

  "Oh God, what a naive thief you are! When you are in a crowd like that you should be concentrating on picking people's pockets. You silly fool! Go back and look again! And leave that flute here."

  After being scolded by the boss, Kakube placed his flute in the grass and headed back to the village.

  The last to return was Kantaro
.

  "I bet you didn't see much either," said the boss before Kantaro had even spoken.

  "Oh no, there are rich people in that village. There are definitely rich people," replied Kantaro enthusiastically.

  A smile appeared on the boss' face when he heard the word rich.

  "Rich you say?"

  "Rich, yes rich! There was a really magnificent house."

  "Yeah?"

  "The ceiling in the living room was made out of a single piece of Cryptomeria, and after I saw that, I couldn't stop thinking how impressed my father might be if he were to see it."

  "Huh, well that's hardly useful, is it? What are you going to do, make off with the ceiling?"

  Kantaro suddenly remembered he was now an apprentice thief. Embarrassed by his foolishness, Kantaro hung his head down ashamedly, and headed back into the village to take another look.

  "Oh goodness," exclaimed the boss, alone once again. He lay down in the grass on his back.

  "Being the boss of a gang of thieves is not as easy as I thought."

  Chapter 2

  Suddenly he heard cries of -

  "Thief!"

  "Thief!"

  "Over there, get him!"

  - from a large group of children.

  The boss leapt to his feet. Even coming from children, such cries were enough to frighten a thief. He was weighing up whether he should jump into the river and swim to the other side, or race into the woods and hide in there.

  But the children, brandishing rope and toy truncheons, ran off in the opposite direction. They were playing Catch-a-thief.

  "What's this? They are just playing?" muttered the boss as he regained his composure.

  "What kind of game is Catch-a-thief for kids to be playing? Why don't kids play nice games anymore? You have to worry about the future of kids these days," mumbled the boss, despite being a thief himself.

  He was about to lie back down in the grass when from behind, someone called,

  "Excuse me, mister."

  Turning around he saw a smart looking boy of around seven holding the reins of a calf. From the look of his facial features and pale hands and feet, he didn't appear to be a farmer's boy. Maybe some rich kid had been brought here to play by one of his house servants, and had pestered the servant until they gave him the calf to play with. The strangest thing was, on the boy's small white feet, were straw sandals, like the ones used by travelers when they walk great distances.

  "Look after this calf for me please."

  Before the boss had a chance to reply, the boy walked up and handed him the calf's red reins.

  The boss had only managed to mumble a few words before the boy suddenly ran off after the other children. Racing off to join his friends, the boy with the straw sandals never even bothered to look back.

  The boss, who had been half in a daze as he was handed the calf, looked down at it and began to laugh.

  Most calves are a real nuisance to hold onto because they are always leaping about, but this calf was docile, and stood still where it was, innocently blinking its large moist eyes.

  "Hmph, ha ha. Ha ha ha."

  Laughter rose up from his belly, and he laughed and laughed and couldn't stop.

  "Now I've something to brag about to these students of mine. I'll tell 'em, 'while you lot were moping about the village like morons, I've gone and stolen this calf.'"

  "Ha ha haa, Ha ha haa, Hee he he," he laughed. He laughed so much that tears started to flow from his eyes.

  "Huh, that's strange. I'm laughing so much I've started shedding tears."

  But the tears didn't stop; they flowed and flowed and flowed.

  "What's going on here, I'm shedding so many tears, anyone would thing I was crying."

  Exactly. The big boss of this gang of thieves was crying.

  ――――――――――――――

  He was happy. Up until now people had only ever given him cold stares. When he would walk along the street, he'd often hear them say, 'Here comes a strange looking guy,' and they would close their windows and turn down their blinds. Whenever he asked strangers for directions, even people who had just been talking happily, would suddenly turn away as if they'd just remembered some work they had to do. Even carp swimming near the surface of a pond, would flip over with a splash and dive down to the bottom whenever he got close. One time he gave a performing monkey that was sitting on the back of its trainer a persimmon to eat, and it threw it on the ground without even taking a bite. Everybody hated him. Nobody trusted him. But this boy with the straw sandals, gave him, a thief, a calf to look after. The boy thought he was a good human being. And this calf was so quiet, it wasn't repulsed by him at all. In fact it was nestling up to him as if he was its mother. That boy and this calf, they both trusted him. This was a first for him, a thief. It made him so happy to be trusted by someone.

  Right now, his heart was pure. He'd had a pure heart once when he was a child, but that was a long time ago, and he'd been living dishonestly for many many years. It was a strange feeling, like suddenly changing out of your dirty work clothes into your Sunday best.

  ――――――――――――――

  And that's why the tears began flowing from his eyes and wouldn't stop.

  Evening came round. The spring cicadas stopped singing. A white evening mist drifted silently in from the village, spreading out across the grass field. The children were now playing some distance away, and their cries of –

  "Are you ready?"

  "Not yet..."

  - were lost amongst all the other sounds.

  The boss waited for the little boy as if he was waiting for himself to return. He was standing ready to say "Here you go!" and hand back the calf with a smile so the boy would never think he was a thief.

  But the shouts of the children gradually faded in the direction of the village, and then disappeared altogether. The boy in the straw sandals never returned. The moon that was floating above the village began to shine like a craftsman's freshly polished mirror. An owl in the distant woods began to sing two hoots at a time.

  Chapter 3

  The calf started to rub up against the boss' leg as if it were hungry.

  "I can't help ya. I haven't any milk for ya," said the boss as he stroked the calf's spotted back.

  Tears started flowing from his eyes once more.

  Just then all four of his apprentices returned together.

  "Boss, we're back. Looky here, where'd you get this calf?" exclaimed Kamaemon on seeing the calf. "You're no ordinary thief, are you boss? While we were looking around that village, you've gone and pulled off a job of your own."

  "Yeah, that's what I was planning on telling you all, but it's not really true," said the boss, turning away to hide his face that was wet with tears. There's a reason for this."

  "Eh boss, they're not tears.... are they?" asked Ebinojo in a hushed voice.

  "Once these tears start flowing, I can't get 'em to stop," said the boss, wiping at his eyes with his sleeve.

  "Boss, you'll be proud of us," said Kantaro enthusiastically. "This time each of us have gone around that village like proper thieves. Kamaemon discovered five houses with pots made of gold, Ebinojo checked the locks on five storehouses and found each could be opened using a bent nail, I saw five houses I could use my carpentry skills to easily cut through the back wall using this saw, and Kakubei saw five fences that he could either jump over on his own or by wearing his high clogs. Tell us we've done good."

  Without commenting on their efforts, the boss said,

  "I was given this calf to look after. But they haven't come back to get it, so I'm at a loss as to what to do. I'm sorry, but could you guys split up and search for the boy who handed me this calf?"

  "Boss, are you going to give this calf back?" asked Kamaemon, who couldn't understand what was happening.

  "Yes."

  "Do thieves do that kind of thing?"

  "I've got a reason. This is one I have to give back
."

  "Boss, you have to think more like a thief," advised Kantaro.

  Grinning sheepishly, the boss explained the situation to his apprentices. After hearing the boss' explanation, they sympathized with his feelings and promptly set off to look for the young boy.

  "He's a fine looking lad, about seven years old. He's wearing straw sandals, and he's got a shaved head," said the boss as his apprentices spread out to begin the search.

  Unable to sit still any longer, the boss joined the search as well, pulling the calf as he went.

  On a night when the multiflora rose and white deutzia flowers glowed faintly in the moonlight, five adult thieves, pulling a calf behind them, wandered around the village searching for a child.

  He might still be playing hide and seek, they thought, so they looked beneath the shrines by the road where the earthworms were crying, and they looked up in the persimmon tree, and they looked inside the storerooms, and they looked in the shadows of the wonderful smelling mandarin tree. And they asked the villagers.

  But there was no sign of him at all. The farmers lit paper lanterns so that they could take a good look at the calf, but none of them had seen it around here before.

  "Boss, I don't think we are going to find him, even if we search all night. It's time we gave up," said Ebinojo sitting down exhausted on a rock by the side of the road.

  "No, I have to find that boy and give it back to him," insisted the boss.

  "But we've already tried everywhere," said Kamaemon. "The only thing we haven't done is go and ask for help from the village officer, but you wouldn't want to go there, would you boss?"

  (These days, the equivalent of the village officer would be the local policeman.)

  "Hmm," murmured the boss, before thinking quietly to himself.

  He gently patted the head of the calf, before announcing,

  "Right, let's go there," and walked off.

  His apprentices were shocked, but they had no alternative but to follow after him.

  Chapter 4

  After being given directions to the house of the village officer, they were greeted at the door by an elderly man with glasses that hung down the end of his nose, which immediately gave them a sense of relief. If worse comes to worst, they could always push him aside and make a run for it.

  The boss explained the story of the young boy, finishing by saying,

  "So we don't know where he is and we are not sure what to do."