Extra Credit Reading: Schippeitaro

This reading is to help me find a story for my next story in my project. This time I will likely be writing about the Forbidden Forest. After reading through Japanese Fairy Tales, I settled on Schippeitaro. I'm not sure if I'll use this one but it's a contender.

In this story, a boy roams a forest and has to be brave. I really liked this quote that described the first few "trials" he endured:

"The difficulties he met with — huge rocks to be climbed, deep rivers to be crossed, and thorny tracts to be avoided — only served to make his heart beat quicker . . .".

He ended up finding a small chapel and slept there overnight. At midnight, he woke up to cats who were yelling and dancing. The boy watched and eventually heard them say, "Do not tell Schippeitaro! Keep it hidden and secret! Do not tell Schippeitaro!" before they vanished.

In the morning, the boy found a woman in distress and he went over to help her. From a group of men surrounding her, he learned that the Spirit of the Mountain chooses a maiden to eat every year and that she would be the one chosen this year. The boy then asks if anyone knows who Schippeitaro is. They tell him that Schippeitaro is a "great dog that belongs to the overseer of our prince" and that "he lives not far away."

The boy goes to Schippeitaro's owner and asks to keep him overnight. The boy also tells the woman's parents to hide her in a closet, meanwhile he put Schippeitaro in the cask (barrel), where the girl was supposed to be taken by the Mountain Spirit. He hid in the chapel because that's where the barrel would be taken.

The cats showed up again at midnight, this time accompanied by a huge black cat--the Spirit of the Mountain. The huge cat attacked the cask but ended up being attacked by Schippeitaro (the dog), and the boy used a sword to cut the cat's head off.

The story ended with everyone celebrating, and a yearly feast was held to commemorate the boy and the dog.

I really liked how this story was set up. If I continue doing frame tales, I think I will have my MC go into the forest to explore and he ends up at the feast that is held yearly to celebrate the end of the Mountain Spirit's yearly murders. I would definitely change the details to make them resemble the Wizarding World more.

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Image information: Defeat of the Mountain-Spirit from the mythfolklore blog.

Bibliography: Schippeitaro from the Japanese Fairy Tales unit. Story source: The Violet Fairy Book by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1901).