• This is the first time I submit a story in English. I apologize for any mistakes, since I am not a native speaker and havent found myself a beta-reader yet.
    The story in itself, however, is supposed to have a little old fanshioned touch for it is modeled after the translations of old japanese fairy tales and folk stories.

    Hope you enjoy reading it anyway.

    I wrote this as a prompt by a friend, given the keyword 'blood' and my own character, Chômai.



    The red-stained coat



    Long ago, high up in the mountains of Kyōto, a man by the name of Shimatarō traveled the woods when he happened to come upon a young maiden, who seemed to be on her own. Shimatarō was astounded by her rare beauty, for she was as fair as the white cherry blossom, her hair as pale as the full moon and wearing a kimono of a butterfly pattern which seemed almost alive when she moved.

    Shimatarō was sure that this was the daughter of a noble house, but what she was doing alone in the woods he could not fathom. Thus he spoke: "Fair lady, how come you travel these paths alone when surely you could be travling an a palanquin instead?"

    She answered in a frightened voice: "I could, good sir, but I had desired to rest from the long journey and I seem to have strayed to far from my path. I have lost my way in these woods and I do not know where to turn my steps."

    Shimatarō believed her, for she spoke in such a frightened way that he felt a deep pity towards the poor, lost girl, and he decided to offer his help.

    "My Lady, these woods may hold dangers for a beautiful maiden who is on her own. May I offer to accompany you to the next village? Perhaps your palanquin bearers will choose to search for you there, and it will be much more secure and comfortable to rest your weary feet in the small tavern I happen to know there."

    The maiden gratefully accepted his offer, and it took them not long to reach the small village where they found the tavern, as Shimatarō had predicted.

    Whilst they were resting, Shimatarō noticed two men on the other side of the tavern who were looking at the fair maiden with greed in their eyes, but he stayed calm, knowing the men would not risk to cause trouble in the middle of the village.

    The maiden had started to talk to the woman keeping the tavern, asking if two palanquin bearers had happened to come through. The woman nodded her head and told the maiden, that, not long ago, said men had come and asked, if anyone had seen a fair maiden of undeniable beauty. However, since Shimatarō and his companion had not arrived until later, the palanquin bearers had chosen to proceed with their search in the next village and if the maiden would not be found there as well, they would wait for her there.

    "A shame, and a misfortune. But now that we know where they are, we might as well go there, since it is not very far from here.", said Simatarō.

    The maiden agreed and they took their leave not shortly afterwards.

    However, the two men Shimatarō had noticed beforehand followed them withour their noticing.

    When Shimatarō and the maiden had walked about half the length of the road to the next village, the two villains laid an ambush and assaulted them. Shimatarō was quick to dispose of one of the attackers, but in the meantime, the other man had taken hold of the maiden and escaped with her without Shimatarō being able to interfere.

    Not one to give up so easily, Shimatarō rushed to follow them. After some time, he seemed to have lost their trail when suddenly, there sounded a strangled scream that was so terrible, it only could have been a mans dying scream. Following the sound, Shimatarō finally came upon the corpse of the second assailant, his throat ripped open in a gashing wound, the blood flowing freely onto the ground and seeping into the forest floor. What made him gasp in astonishment, however, was the sight he beheld next to the dead body, where a big, white fox stood, blood off a bright red staining the pristine fur.

    Just when he was about to turn his steps and run, the fox spoke, its voice that of the beautiful maiden.

    "Fear not, for I have no intention to harm you. These men, one of those you killed, the other lying here in his own blood, were villains who roamed the woods and villages, assaulting young women and inflicting the most vile acts of violence upon them. Those poor maidens spirits pleaded with the creatures of this forest to put an end to their evil-doings and thus, I have taken it upon myself to avenge their suffering. You have been of a great help and acted kindly towards me, and for that, you shall be rewarded. Go to the village which has been our destination and ask for the palanquin. There, you will find your reward, which my brothers, who acted as the palanquin bearers, will have left behind there for you."

    And with this spoken, the vixen turned and vanished in the woods with a flash of scarlet blood on snow-white fur.

    Shimatarō did as he had been told and traveled onwards. Upon reaching the village, he asked for the palanquin and was promptly taken to where it was. And true to the vixens words, the palanquin was filled with jewels and other such valuable goods. The man who had taken him to the palanquin told him then, that the palanquin bearers had decreed the palanquin to belong to one Shimatarō before they had left.

    Thus, Shimatarō became a wealthy man who lived a long life in prosperity. However, he never forgot the vixens kindness and built a shrine to honour her out of white stone and he had part of it painted in a deep scarlet, and his children and his childrens children still worshipped the shrine for a long time afterwards.