SUSA NO AND THE OROCHI.
HEN Susa No was banished for his wild conduct, he wandered homeless through the mountains for a long time. One day while trying to find his way through the thick forests of the country of Idzumo, at a place called Hino Kawa Kami, he heard voices of women crying as if in great trouble. Making his way speedily in the direction of the voices, he soon came to an old man and woman and a young girl, and, inquiring the cause of their weeping and cries of distress, he was told that the deity of the mountain was propitiated by the yearly offering of a human sacrifice, a young maiden, and that it had fallen to the lot of their daughter to be the next victim; also that there was a monster known as "Eight-forked-great-serpent," an eight-headed reptile vomiting flame, that appeared at the shrine during the time of sacrifice every year.
Susa No offered to rescue the maiden, unknown to any one but themselves, if they would give her to him to be his wife. Of course he would have to convey her speedily away, but she must first go through the ordeal of being taken to the place of sacrifice by her parents. The maiden joyfully consented, and was glad to have such a noble looking man as her rescuer and future lord and master.
Susa No secretly procured eight large earthen jars and buried them opposite the shrine, so that they could not be seen during the ceremony. He also obtained a quantity of strong spirit, and hid it in the forest near at hand; then, when all the people had departed before the sun had set, leaving the maiden alone, for they feared the dreadful orochi, Susa No filled the jars with the spirit, and with drawn sword awaited the monster. He then released the maiden, but bade her remain in the shrine to attract the reptile, persuading her to have no fear, as he bore a charmed life.
When the orochi, believing every one to have gone, approached the shrine with horrible noise and dreadful flaming eyes and tongues, the maid was much frightened; but, as Susa No had anticipated, it scented
