LONG, long ago there was a large plain
called Adachigahara in the province of Mutsu in Japan. This place was said to
be haunted by a cannibal goblin who took the form of an old woman…
It was said that after dark the land
was not safe. The goblin only took her captives at night. Stories were told of
how she would eat and destroy innocent men and boys for bothering her in her
secluded cottage near the edge of town. The windows were tattered, the wood was
withering, and weeds surrounded the entire cottage. The stories mentioned that
in one of the rooms lay bones and bloodstains of the Goblin’s victims who had
been there before. Everyone of Adachigahara stayed clear of the area. Anyone
they had ever known to venture near the cottage, had never returned.
One evening, an orphan was traveling
through Adachigahara with no food, no shelter, or no clothes but the rags on
his back. He had been walking all day and just needed a place to rest his feet
for the night. They were blistered and had gone num. He had already passed
through the town, and was making his way through the fields when he saw an old
run-down cottage with a lantern burning inside.
The orphan walked to the gate and up
towards the door. Instead of knocking, for he was afraid the tattered door
would fall down with his touch, he yelled to see if anyone was home.
“What do you want?” responded a voice
that sounded like it came from a frail old woman.
“Oh thank you, someone is home. It
seems my prayers have been answered, for you see I am wandering through the
land and have walked all day. I only wish for a place to rest my head tonight,”
replied the orphan boy.
“Well I can not help you,” said the old
woman sharply.
“No, please ma’am. You must help me or I will have to sleep
outside with the beasts. I can’t take another step; my feet are bloody and
tired from my long journey. Please allow me to at least sleep on the floor. I
promise I will not be a bother,” begged the orphan.
“Fine, you may come in for the night and rest,” replied the
old woman. “I will give you some food and some rags for you feet.”
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| Traveler approaches the Old Woman's cabin, Image source:Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozaki) |
The orphan walked inside and sat down in a rocking chair.
“Thank you ma’am. You do not know how much I appreciate your sympathy and kind
heart.”
The old woman went to the sink and fixed some warm rags for
the poor orphan’s feet and brought him some warm broth to sip on. The orphan
could not believe how blessed he was to have found the old cottage on the edge
of town, even if it did look like something out of a haunted story. As the fire
was burning down, the old woman began to put on her coat and head towards the
door.
“I am going out to get more wood before the fire burns out,”
explained the old woman. “"You must sit where you are and
not move, and, whatever happens, don't go near or look into the inner room. Now
mind what I tell you!"
“I understand,” replied the orphan. After she shut the door
and left the front gate, he began to ponder. He did not understand why the old
woman was so adamant about not opening the door to that room. She seemed like such
a kind old lady. What could she have to hide? His curiosity started to get the
best of him, as he got up out of the chair and walked towards the door of the
back room. He must know what was behind it. Could it be gold? He could rob the
old woman and be rich and an orphan no more. His hand hovered over the handle
as he went to turn it.
He immediately dropped his hand and thought to himself.
“This woman has been so nice to me and offered me shelter, warm rags for my
feet, and food. I must not disobey her wishes.”
The orphan returned to sit in his chair and waited for the
old woman to return. As she opened the door to see the orphan still sitting
there, she almost had a surprised look on her face.
As she went to put the new wood on the fire, and the flames
burst up the old woman thought to herself, “He must not have opened the door
like all the others have before. He would not still be here if he saw the bones
and blood that lay in that room. All the others ran away and tried to escape-
even though they failed. No, this one is different. He obeyed my orders, and
for that his life shall be spared.”
The orphan boy fell asleep in the rocking chair with the
warm rags on his feet as the old woman laid a blanket over him so he would not
get cold during the night.
Author’s Note: The original story, The Goblin of Adachigahara, included an old priest who
came wandering through the town and landed upon the old woman’s house who was
rumored to be a cannibal goblin. The woman warned him not to look in the back
room while she was gone, but the priest let his curiosity get the best of him
and he opened the door to find bones on the floor and blood splashed on the
walls. He immediately ran out of the house, and the old woman saw him fleeing
and knew he must have looked into the room despite her warnings. She chases
after him in her goblin form through the night, until daylight breaks and she
is forced to retreat. I kept the story the same in the beginning but switched
the priest to an orphan boy. I wanted to drastically change the ending to make a
moral of the story that the old woman spares the boy’s life because he obeys
her wishes not to look into the room.
Hey Emily! Great job on the story! You did a great job in the beginning with the rising action by giving a lot of background information. I really liked how you changed the priest to an orphan. I felt more sympathetic for the orphan in the story. I also liked how you changed the ending. It definitely made me feel like the goblin had more reasoning and is more human than we thought.
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