Land, in obedience to the Divine behest of the assembled Deities. I pray that my elder sister may illuminate the Land of Heaven, and that it may spontaneously enjoy tranquillity. Moreover, I deliver to my elder sister the children which, with a pure heart, I have produced.' Having done so, he returned downwards."
Then Sosa no wo no Mikoto descended from Heaven and proceeded to the head-waters of the River Hi, in the province (I. 50.) of Idzumo. At this time he heard a sound of weeping at the head-waters of the river, and he therefore went in search of the sound. He found there an old man and an old woman. Between them was set a young girl, whom they were caressing and lamenting over. Sosa no wo no Mikoto asked them, saying:—"Who are ye, and why do ye lament thus?" The answer was:—"I am an Earthly Deity, and my name is Ashi-nadzuchi.[1] My wife's name is Te-nadzuchi.[2] This girl is our daughter, and her name is Kushi-nada-hime.[3] The reason of our weeping is that formerly we had eight children, daughters. But they have been devoured year after year by an eight[4]-forked serpent, and now the time approaches for this girl to be devoured. There is no means of escape for her, and (I. 51.) therefore do we grieve." Sosa no wo no Mikoto said:—"If that is so, wilt thou give me thy daughter?" He replied, and said:—"I will comply with thy behest and give her to thee." Therefore Sosa no wo no Mikoto on the spot changed Kushi-nada-hime into a many-toothed close-comb, which he stuck in the august knot of his hair. Then he made Ashi-nadzuchi and Te-nadzuchi to brew eight-fold sake, to make eight cupboards, in each of them to set a tub filled with sake,[5] and so to
- ↑ Foot-stroke-elder.
- ↑ Hand-stroke-elder. These names refer to the caressing of the young girl by her parents.
- ↑ Kushi-nada-hime. Wondrous Inada-princess.
- ↑ Eight—in Japanese yatsu. This word is here used as a numeral. But in many places in the old Japanese literature it must be taken in what I regard as its primary sense of "many," "several," as in the word yatagarasu—the many-handed crow—which had really only three claws. In Corean the word yörö, which means many, is, I think, the same root that we have in yöl, ten—words which are probably identical with the Japanese yatsu. The Japanese word yorodzu, myriad, belongs to the same group.
- ↑ Sake is an intoxicating liquor brewed from rice.
