Once upon a time, there was a man who lived in a certain province and district. In his household there was a servant girl, about twelve or thirteen years old.
Next door, a white dog was kept. For some reason, whenever the dog merely caught sight of the girl, it would leap at her like an enemy and try to bite her. The girl, on her side, whenever she saw the dog, would rush at it, intent only on striking it. People who saw this wondered why it was so and thought it very strange.
After some time, the girl fell ill. It may have been some severe epidemic disease, for day by day her illness grew worse. When her master attempted to send the girl outside the house (Note 1), she said:
“If I am sent somewhere where no one is around, that dog will surely come and devour me. Even when I am healthy and people are watching, it still attacks me without hesitation. If I were lying gravely ill in a place where no one is present, it would certainly kill me. Therefore, please put me somewhere that the dog can never find.”
Thinking that this was reasonable, the master prepared the necessary things and secretly sent her to a distant place.
“Every day, once or twice, I will surely send someone to look in on you,”
he said, soothing her, and thus had her leave the house.
The next day the neighbor’s dog remained at home, so they felt relieved, thinking that the dog did not know where she had been sent. However, the following day the dog disappeared.
Growing suspicious, they sent someone to check on the girl. When the messenger arrived, he saw that the dog had gone to the girl and was biting her. And when he looked closely, the girl too was biting the dog; the two had torn into one another and both had died.
When the news reached them, the girl’s master and the dog’s owner hurried to the scene. Seeing what had happened, they were astonished and at the same time felt deep pity for the girl.
Reflecting on the matter, people all wondered at it, saying that the two could hardly have been enemies only in this present life. Thus, the story has been handed down.
[Translation]
Tomohiro Matsumoto / Siro Inuzuka
This text was created by using chatGPT and Gemini to translate a modern Japanese translation into English, and then making some modifications. There may be errors in the English expressions. Please correct any mistakes.
[Explanation]
Tomohiro Matsumoto / Siro Inuzuka
Note 1:
At that time there was a custom of sending the sick away from the household, because illness was regarded as a form of ritual impurity (kegare). Although people had no knowledge that diseases spread through bacteria or viruses, it is thought that such customs, derived from experience, nevertheless functioned to prevent the spread of illness.
[Cooperation]
Shinichi Kusano
●Japanese
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