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Speaker 1: Yuki Onna by Lefkadio Herne in a village of Musashi Province.

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They lived two woodcutters, Mosaku and Minokichi. At the time

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of which I am speaking, Mosaku was an old man

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and Minokichi, his apprentice, was a lad of eighteen years.

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Every day they went together to a forest situated about

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five miles from their village. On the way to that forest,

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there is a wide river to cross, and there is

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a ferry boat. Several times a bridge was built where

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the ferry is, but the bridge was each time carried

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away by a flood. No common bridge can resist the

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current there when the river rises. Mosaku and Minokichi were

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on their way home one very cold evening when a

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great snowstorm overtook them. They reached the ferry and they

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found that the boatmen had gone away, leaving his boat

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on the other side of the river. It was no

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day for swimming, and the woodcutters took shelter in the

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ferryman's hut, thinking themselves lucky to find any shelter at all.

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There was no brazier in the hut, nor any place

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in which to make a fire. It was only a

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two mate hut with a single door, but no window.

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Mosaku and Minokichi fastened the door and lay down to rest,

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with their straw raincoats over them. At first they did

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not feel very cold, and they thought that the storm

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would soon be over. The old man almost immediately fell asleep,

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but the boy, Minokichi, lay awake a long time, listening

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to the awful wind and the continual slashing of the

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snow against the door. The river was roaring, and the

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hut swayed and creaked like a junket sea. There was

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a terrible storm, and the air was every moment becoming colder,

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and Minokichi shivered under his raincoat. But at last, in

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spite of the cold, he too fell asleep. He was

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awakened by a showering of snow in his face. The

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hut of the door had been forced open, and by

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the snow light Yuki Akari, he saw a woman in

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the room, a woman all in white. She was bending

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above Mosaku and blowing her breath upon him, and her

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breath was like a bright white smoke. Almost in the

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same moment, she turned to Minokichi and stooped over him.

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He tried to cry out, but found that he could

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not utter any sound. The white woman bent down over him,

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lower and lower, until her face almost touched him, and

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he saw that she was very beautiful, though her eyes

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made him afraid. For a little while she continued to

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look at him. Then she smiled, and she whispered, I

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intended to treat you like the other man, but I

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cannot help feeling some pity for you because you are

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so young. You are a pretty boy, Minokichi, and I

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will not hurt you now, But if you ever tell anybody,

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even your own mother, about what you have seen this night,

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I shall know it, and then I will kill you.

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Remember what I say With these words. She turned from

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him and passed through the doorway. Then he found himself

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able to move, and he sprang up and looked out,

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But the woman was nowhere to be seen, and the

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snow was driving furiously into the hut. Minukichi closed the

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door and secured it by fixing several billets of wood

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against it. He wondered if the wind had blown it open.

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He thought that he might have been only dreaming and

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might have mistaken the gleam of the snow light in

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the doorway for the figure of a white woman. But

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he could not be sure. He called to Mosaku and

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was frightened because the old man did not answer. He

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put out his hand in the dark and touched Mosaku's

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face and found that it was ice. Mosaku was stark

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and dead. By dawn, the storm was over, and when

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the ferryman returned to his station a little after sunrise,

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he found Minukichi lying senseless beside the frozen body of Mosaku.

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Minokichi was promptly cared for and soon came to himself,

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but he remained a long time ill from the effects

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of the cold of that terrible night. He had been

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greatly frightened also by the old man's death, but he

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said nothing about the vision of the woman in white.

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As soon as he got well again, he returned to

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his calling, going alone every morning to the forest and

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coming back at nightfall with his bundles of wood, which

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his mother helped him to sell. One evening in the

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winter of the following year, as he was on his

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way home, he overtook a girl who happened to be

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traveling by the same road. She was a tall, slim girl,

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very good looking, and she answered Minokichi's greeting in a

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voice as pleasant to the ear as the voice of

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a song bird. Then he walked beside her and they

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began to talk. The girl said that her name was

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O Yuki, that she had lately lost both of her parents,

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and that she was going to Yedo, where she happened

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to have some poor relations who might help her to

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find a situation as a servant. Minukichi soon felt charmed

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by this strange girl, and the more that he looked

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at her, the handsomer she appeared to be. He asked

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her whether she was yet betrothed, and she answered laughingly

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that she was free. Then, in her turn, she asked

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Minukichi whether he was married or pledged to marry, and

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he told her that although he had only a widowed

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mother to support, the question of an honorable daughter in

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law had not yet been considered as he was very young.

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After these confidences, they walked on for a long time

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without speaking. But as the proverb declares, kiga areba memo

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kuchi hodo niemo noo wo eyo, when the wish is there,

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the eyes can say as much as the mouth. By

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the time when they reached the village, they had become

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very much pleased with each other, and then Minukichi asked

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o Yuki to rest awhile at his house. After some

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shy hesitation, she went there with him, and his mother

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made her welcome and prepared a warm meal for her.

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O Yuki behaved so nicely that Minukichi's mother took a

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sudden fancy to her and persuaded her to delay her

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journey to Yedo. And the natural end of the matter

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was that Yuki never went to Yedo at all. She

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remained in the house as an honorable daughter in law.

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O Yuki proved a very good daughter in law. When

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Minukichi's mother came to die some five years later, her

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last words were words of affection and praise for the

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wife of her son, and o Yuki bore Minukichi ten children,

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boys and girls, handsome children all of them, and very

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fair of skin. The country folk thought o Yuki a

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wonderful person by nature, different from themselves. Most of the

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peasant women ate early, but o Yuki, even after having

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become the mother of ten children, looked as young and

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fresh as on the day when she had first come

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to the village. One night, after the children had gone

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to sleep, o Yuki was sewing by the light of

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a paper lamp, and Minokichi, watching her, said, to see

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you sewing there with the light on your face makes

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me think of a strange thing that happened when I

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was a lad of eighteen. I then saw somebody as

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beautiful and white as you are now. Indeed, she was

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very like you. Without lifting her eyes from her work,

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o Yuki responded, tell me about her. Where did you

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see her? Then? Minokichi told her about the terrible night

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in the ferryman's hut, and about the white woman that

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had stooped above him, smiling and whispering, and about the

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silent death of old Mosaku. And he said, asleep or awake,

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that was the only time that I saw a bee

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as beautiful as you. Of course, she was not a

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human being, and I was afraid of her, very much afraid.

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But she was so white. Indeed, I have never been

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sure whether it was a dream that I saw or

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the woman of the snow. O Yuki flung down her

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sewing and arose and bowed above Minokiche where he sat,

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and shrieked into his face. It was I, I I Yuki,

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it was. And I told you then that I would

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kill you if you ever said one word about it.

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But for those children asleep there, I would kill you

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this moment. And now you had better take very very

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good care of them, for if ever they have reason

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to complain of you, I will treat you as you deserve.

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Even as she screamed, her voice became thin, like a

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crying of wind. Then she melted into a bright white

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mist that spired to the roof beams and shuddered away

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through the smoke hole. Never again was she seen, And

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of Yuki honor