Zodiac Stories/Pisces
PISCES, THE FISHES.
HEY were two little Japanese, and their names were Cherry-Bloom and Plum-Blossom.
They lived with their father and mother in a pretty little house with white matting on the floors, and long, banner-like pictures on the walls called "kakemonos.", The rooms were partitioned off by sliding panels of wood and paper, and near the ceiling of each was a border of beautifully-carved open-work.
Cherry-Bloom was nine, and Plum-Blossom was seven. They had round, merry faces, with small, bright eyes, running up a little at the corners; and they had been taught always to smile, whatever happened.
The Japanese are a very polite people, and they think it is impolite not to smile; so if Cherry-Bloom's mother had to reprove her for being naughty, Cherry-Bloom smiled all the time; and when a bad little boy nearly drowned Plum-Blossom's white kitten, one day, she ran away to cry, and did not come back till a pitiful little smile struggled through her tears.
Cherry-Bloom wore a sort of wrapper called a "kimono," of pink and gray, with a pink "obi," or sash, round her waist; and Plum-Blossom wore a blue and white kimono, with a blue obi. These sashes were tied in a bow, like a very big butterfly, behind.
The two little girls had no chairs, but sat on their heels on the floor, and ate millet and fish with chop-sticks out of lacquer bowls.
When they went to bed, they put on little gowns of blue cotton, and lay down on soft quilts on the floor, with their small, sleek, black heads on wooden pillows. It sounds uncomfortable to us, but they liked it.
The village where they lived was in a very pretty part of the country. In the spring the hill-sides were covered with a mass of wild fruit blossom, and the path that went down into the valley and up again to the castle of the Dragon was white with fallen petals when the wind blew.
Now the castle of the Dragon was a place that the village children regarded with great curiosity and fear. It was an old half-ruined fort, uninhabited, and popularly believed to be the haunt of a Dragon of a terribly fierce disposition, with ten claws on each foot, (taloned), and teeth of indescribable sharpness, who would eat any one daring to come within a hundred yards of the entrance gates.
Even the grown people believed in this dreadful monster, and no one of them would have been found on the other side of the valley after sunset.
One very aged man always declared that he had seen the Dragon when he was young, and that he had had green and gold scales all over his body; that he breathed fire and smoke, and that he flew by like a streak of lightning. Most persons were sure that they had heard him bellowing on stormy winter nights.
But no one took so much interest in the Dragon as Cherry-Bloom.
She was a very courageous child, and fond of an adventure; and as she looked across the valley at the castle of the Dragon, lying in the sunlight, gray and silent and mysterious, she felt as if some spell were drawing her towards it.
One sweet spring day, when the robins were calling "Good luck!" to each other from the trees, Cherry-Bloom went softly down the path into the valley, and ever a little more slowly, and a little more slowly, up the path on the other side, to the castle of the Dragon.
She had heard that it was unsafe to go nearer than a hundred yards, so she stopped at what she thought must be short of that limit.
There was not a sound but the chirr-irr of insects in the warm air, and the happy call of the birds. She waited; she waited so long that she began to wish that something would happen. But nothing did.
If the Dragon were at home, he was remarkably quiet.
Perhaps he was asleep.
Perhaps he was away.
Emboldened by this idea, she went on a few steps; then a few more, on and on, until she actually reached the big stone gateway. And still nothing happened. In a rash moment she put out a small pink hand and touched the gatepost. And then, terrified at her presumption, she fell flat on her face, with both hands over her eyes.
But the robins kept on calling, and the sun kept on shining; and peeping through her fingers, and seeing no Dragon, she was comforted.
But she did not want to stay any longer, so getting up quickly, she turned and ran, never stopping till she had reached her own home.
"You have been away a long time," said her mother; "do not stay so long when you go to play again."
Cherry-Bloom smiled; but she was even then resolving to make a second trip to the castle of the Dragon.
That night, when their parents were asleep, Plum-Blossom heard her name pronounced in a whisper. She turned over towards her sister.
"What is it?" she said sleepily.
"Open your eyes and listen: to-morrow I go to the castle of the Dragon!"
Plum-Blossom opened, not only her eyes, but her mouth also, and sat up in bed.
"And you will go with me!" her sister proceeded.
"Never!" said Plum-Blossom. "Do I want to be eaten up?"
"That is all nonsense, that eating up!" said Cherry-Bloom scornfully. "I was there myself alone this morning, and was I eaten up? No!"
Plum-Blossom gasped.
"Yes," continued Cherry-Bloom, "I went up to the gate, and touched it, and yet, you see, nothing happened to me!"
Plum-Blossom was speechless. She was overwhelmed by her sister's courage.
"And to-morrow, I am going through the gate,—yes, right into the garden, and then, if nothing happens, on into the castle itself."
"Oh, but think of the Dragon!" Plum-Blossom almost wailed.
Cherry-Bloom leaned nearer and said impressively:
"I don't believe there is any Dragon!"
At this moment their mother spoke from the next room.
"Someone is talking who ought to be asleep," she said. "Do not let me hear any more of it."
So the little girls ceased whispering, but it was a good while before either of them fell asleep.
Plum-Blossom was quite resolved not to go to the Dragon's castle, but at the same time she was afraid that Cherry-Bloom the strong-willed would make her go in spite of herself; and so it proved, for early on the following morning, two little figures, one with a pink obi, and one with a blue, might have been seen going down the path into the valley, and, after an interval of invisibility among the trees, slowly emerging on the opposite slope.
There was the old ruin, looking to Plum-Blossom so fearful in its nearness, that she threw herself down without more ado, and rubbed her little brown nose in the dust.
"O august Dragon! O serene Dragon! do not eat us up!" she moaned through her fingers.
Cherry-Bloom had not prostrated herself.
"Get up!" she said, "there is no Dragon here. It is safe as far as the gateway; have I not proved it?" And she marched on, dragging her reluctant sister with her.
"I will go no farther!" screamed Plum-Blossom, after another ten steps, "I hear the Dragon! "And down she went again, trembling with fright.
"You heard nothing," said Cherry-Bloom calmly, "there is nothing to hear." And she dragged the younger child forward again. But three feet from the gate, Plum-Blossom got her hand free and ran back a yard or so.
"Come!" called her sister imperiously, but Plum-Blossom shook her head.
"Then I will go alone," said Cherry-Bloom, and, put on her mettle, she walked not only up to the gate, but in between the great stone posts, and out of Plum-Blossom's sight.
An utter silence followed, and the little watcher outside began to wonder if she was being eaten up. She felt nearly sure that Cherry-Bloom would have cried out if she had seen the Dragon. Still, the silence was too dreadful to be borne, and her love for her sister overcoming her fears, she ran to the gate, and entered the enchanted place.
Such a curious old garden—ruined pavilions and rare plants run riot, and little dwarf trees that looked a thousand years old.
And there stood Cherry-Bloom unharmed.
Plum-Blossom ran to her and threw both arms around her.
"I am glad that you have found your courage again," said Cherry-Bloom, "and you must keep tight hold of it, for now we are going up into the castle."
"Oh no!" pleaded Plum-Blossom, clinging to her, "Since the august Dragon has spared us, let us go home immediately!"
"Little Faint-Heart," cried her sister, laughing, but patting the black hair of the head on her shoulder gently at the same time, "The Dragon is certainly asleep or away, or he would have eaten us up before now."
As she spoke, she moved towards a flight of steps leading up to the main entrance, and, pulling the protesting Plum-Blossom along, climbed them and stood on the threshold. The door was gone from between the great door-posts, and the children found themselves looking into a roofless court, empty and desolate, grass and weeds sprouting through the cracks in the floor. Opposite them was another open doorway, and crossing the courtyard very cautiously, for now they were in the Dragon's power if there really were a Dragon—and very softly, because (like all well brought-up Japanese) they had put off their small shoes at the outer door,—they approached the entrance.
"Let us go no further!" begged Plum-Blossom in a faint whisper. "Not a step, dearest sister, I entreat! The Dragon may be in there where it is so dark, watching us, ready to snap us up in another moment!"
Cherry-Bloom's pink cheeks turned quite white, and it is more than possible that if she had been alone she would have fled at this juncture; but she felt it a point of honor not to let Plum-Blossom know that she was at all afraid, so she went straight up to the door and looked through.
At first she could see almost nothing. Then she perceived that this room was larger than the first, and just as empty, except for two huge vases of blue-green porcelain in the form of fishes, each standing upright on its tail, upon a heavy stone base, its big mouth so wide open that it could have easily swallowed one of the little girls.
The children's first thought naturally was that they had come upon TWO DRAGONS instead of one, and in an instant they were on their faces, waiting to be devoured. But one minute-two minutes-ten minutes passed, and nothing happened. Then Cherry-Bloom peeped through her fingers to see if the Dragons were sharpening their teeth.
The great green fishes gaped at the ceiling as blankly as ever.
She got up softly, so far as to sit back on her heels, ready to fall on her face again at the least movement of the monsters, but there was not any.
Then she plucked Plum-Blossom by the sleeve.
"Get up," she whispered, "They are only porcelain; there is nothing to be afraid of!"
Plum-Blossom peeped through her fingers in her turn.
"Truly!" she murmured in a moment more. Then the little girls got on their feet, and to make perfectly sure, went up to the fishes, felt of them, and looked down their throats.
"I have an idea!" said Cherry-Bloom. "If we hear the least sound, as if any one were coming, we can jump into one of these fishes and be hidden. Is n't that a good thought?"
"Splendid!" said Plum-Blossom; and then being little girls,—and Japanese little girls in particular,—they began to giggle, because it really did seem such a funny scheme. Only ten minutes before they had been shaking with fear, and now they were shaking with laughter.
They laughed till they cried.
"Suppose we could not get in?" suggested Plum-Blossom with sudden doubt.
"Of course we can get in," replied her sister, "and to prove it we will get in now.
"Oh no, I don't want to!"
"You always don't want to!" said Cherry-Bloom. "Just do as you see me do."
"But suppose we could n't get out again,"—timidly.
"Suppose—suppose! Now look at me!"
Cherry-Bloom mounted on the stone base, and climbing with some difficulty up the big fish's back, put both feet into its wide mouth, and slid down inside.
Plum-Blossom gave a gasp which was almost a sob. Was Cherry-Bloom killed? No; for her round, smiling face appeared in a moment more, framed in the dolphin's mouth.
"Do just what I did," she said in a loud whisper. Plum-Blossom tried to obey, but she was smaller than her sister, and not so active.
She slipped off the shiny back two or three times, and when at last she succeeded in getting her feet into the fish's mouth, she slipped down too quickly, and Cherry-Bloom could hear her muffled sobs from within the vase.
She was about to call out "Have you hurt yourself?" when another sound struck her quick ears,—a sound of feet—of heavy, grown-up feet; and in a moment she had uttered one loud "Hush!" for the benefit of her little sister, and crouched down lower in the body of the china dolphin. And now she made a discovery.
There were two holes in the fish—small, round holes, one on each side, perhaps to indicate gills—and out of these one could peep without being seen.
She put her eye to the right-hand hole, from which she could see the other fish, and made another discovery: there were holes in that one also, and she was sure that Plum-Blossom's eye was looking out of the nearest one. She took her face from the aperture, and put a finger through and wiggled it. Then she put her eye back, very quickly, and saw, as she had expected, Plum-Blossom wiggling her finger!
There was no time for another signal, for now the feet were growing louder, and the Dragon himself might be coming, after all.
Up the steps they came, then there was a pause; and then she could hear them again, crossing the outer court.
The doorway by which they had entered was opposite the fishes, and now they saw, framed in it, a figure almost as startling as the Dragon himself. It was that of a short man, clothed in a striped upper garment of black and yellow, and lower garments which the children took to be white cotton bags. But if the dress of the stranger was so odd as to be disquieting, far more so was another thing they instantly observed,—his hair, which ought to have been black, like the hair of all their acquaintances, was of a bright and blazing red!
Now, it is well-known in Japan, that no one has red hair, but the sake-demons, who live in wild, remote places, and drink more rice-wine than is good for them.
Cherry-Bloom and Plum-Blossom had often heard of these curious beings in the fairy-tales familiar to Japanese children, and had thought of them as harmless, good-natured creatures, not fond of eating little girls; oh, no,—but suddenly to be brought face to face with one a long way from home, was decidedly discomposing; and so they cowered down inside the big fishes, and trembled; not knowing what might happen to them if they were found. That the intruder was a sake-demon, they had no doubt.
The sake-demon looked round the dusky space, and said something to himself in a strange language which the children had never heard before. Then he advanced slowly across the room, towards the fish in which Cherry-Bloom was hidden. He stood so close to it that she could hear his breathing, and she thought he must hear her heart beat. But he did not seem to. He evidently admired the fish, walking around it, and studying it with interest; but to her joy he did not look into its mouth.
Presently, he turned away from the fish, and went up to a door which Cherry-Bloom had meant to examine after a while, if she had not been interrupted, and tried to open it. It seemed very tightly closed; he tugged and pushed till his face grew red. At last it gave way, and a great shaft of light came through the darkness, for the door led into another roofless enclosure like the outer court.
The flying open of the door with a loud noise, startled Plum-Blossom, and she uttered a small scream. It was a very small one, but the stranger heard it. He glanced quickly at the left-hand fish, and then, at one stride, was beside it. The next instant he was gazing down its throat, and the next, he had stretched his hand into its depths!
Cherry-Bloom could bear no more. With a scramble and a flop she was outside her dolphin, and down on the floor, with her hands outstretched in supplication.
"O! most honorable Sake-Demon! O Benevolent One!" she wailed, "do not hurt my sister!"
Plum-Blossom now screamed at the top of her voice; and the sake-demon looked petrified with amazement.
"Well, if ever any one saw the like!" he said in English, adding in Japanese,—"Do not be afraid, my children, I will not hurt you."
He repeated this in a still more reassuring tone, and Cherry-Bloom, always quick to recover her courage, now peeped at him between her two fingers to make sure if he really meant what he said.
He saw this and smiled at it.
"Get up, little sister," he said gently; "Of what are you so much afraid?"
Cherry-Bloom sat back on her heels, and looked at the fish from which she knew Plum-Blossom's eye was watching, but said nothing.
"Is it because I am a stranger?"
Still silence.
"Oh, come now, what is it?" he continued, "I had no idea I was so appalling a person!"
Cherry-Bloom gave a gasp, but her politeness rose to the occasion; she must answer.
"The honorable dress of the August One is not what we are accustomed to seeing," she stammered.
The August One looked down at himself.
"A striped blazer and white ducks—I suppose it does strike the native mind as odd," he said to himself in English.
Cherry-Bloom was afraid that she had offended him, and threw herself at his feet afresh.
"The clothes of the Serene Sake-Demon are all-magnificent!" she said, "They dazzle my miserable eyes!"
The young man burst into a fit of laughter.
"What in the world do you take me for?" he asked as soon as he could speak.
"Did you call me a sake-demon?"
Cherry-Bloom knocked on the ground with her already dust-begrimed forehead in assent.
"What for?"
"Because no one has red hair like that of the August One, except he is a sake-demon: the August One is aware of this."
Whereupon the stranger laughed so loud that the children were more sure than ever that he was used to living on sake, which is apt to make people noisy.
He soon recovered himself, however, and trying to speak gravely, said—
"Know, O maiden! that I am not a sake-demon, but only a man so unfortunate as to have been born with red hair."
"The words of the Illustrious rejoice us," said Cherry-Bloom with exquisite politeness.—"Have we now the gracious permission of the Illustrious to depart?"
"Oh, no—please don't go yet!" cried the young man. For he was an artist, and it had struck him that Cherry-Bloom would make a charming sketch in her pink-and-gray kimono, if only he could coax her to pose for him.
"You have not told me yet why you and your sister are hiding in these monster dolphins. Do you live in them? Are you water-sprites?" A Japanese, old or young, is quick to take a joke, and Cherry-Bloom smiled at the suggestion. She only shook her head, however; it was as well not to tell everything. The young man had enough tact not to repeat a question which it was evident his little new acquaintance preferred not to answer. So he tried another method.
"Let us go out into the garden," he said affably; "your sister must be tired of staying in the vase; I will help her out."
Suiting the action to the word, he advanced towards the fish from whose mouth Plum-Blossom's face was now timidly peeping, but she instantly disappeared, and he saw that her fears were by no means allayed. Cherry-Bloom ran up to the fish, and whispered through the hole at some length, and then Plum-Blossom's face appeared again, and before the artist could renew his offer of help, she had placed her hands in her sister's, and was out on the floor beside her.
"Well, if you two are n't the prettiest little Jap dollies! I 'd like to stand you up on a shelf!" he said to himself in English.
"Come!" he added in Japanese, "let us go out into the air; it is dark and hot in here."
The children followed him in silence, walking hand-in-hand, and softly gathering up their small shoes as they passed through the outer doorway. The young man turned to them as they stood on the steps above him.
"Now," he said persuasively, "you are not afraid of me, are you? I don't look so very terrible, do I?"
The little girls smiled.
"I thought not! And now I want you to do me a kindness, my little sisters. I want you to stand on the step there, just where you are, and let me make a picture of you. Will you?"
Cherry-Bloom smiled at Plum-Blossom, and Plum-Blossom smiled at her. They looked perfectly pleasant and obliging.
"Good little sisters!" said the artist approvingly. "I will go and get my drawing materials; wait."
Poor, unsuspecting artist! He did not know those two bright little Japanese! So he was surprised when, returning a few minutes later with his easel unstrapped, his sketching-block uncovered, and his pencils and brushes in hand, he found not a trace of his models!
He stepped quickly back into the ruin to see if they had gone indoors again; he ran to the big fishes and looked down their wide mouths, which seemed to be laughing in his bewildered face.
Then he went back to the garden, and looked down the little path winding away under the wild fruit-trees, and there, just disappearing in a cloud of white branches, he saw a streak of pink and a streak of blue,—the last of Cherry-Bloom and Plum-Blossom, as they fled away to their home on the other side of the valley.