Juppongatana Fairytales
O my god… why, oh why, do I write these kind of things? Well anyway, this story is based on my favourite fairytale. I think it's a Dutch fairytale and I don't think you'll know it. The original story is called "The Six Servants". I read it again a few days ago and I noticed it resembled some characters of the Juppongatana a little bit. "I got to write a fic about this!" I though. And well… here follows the result…it's very weird! Hope you'll like it!
Shishio And The Six Servants
Once upon a time there was an old witch who was able to get the throne with her magic spells. She wasn't good in ruling the country. She just did what she felt like and no one dared to say something of it. Her servants were so afraid of her, that they always said she was right about everything.
The witch also had a daughter, Yumi, who didn't look at her at all. She was beautiful and the witch hated her for that. She locked Yumi up in a tower and never allowed her to go outside.
"Not one prince will see how pretty you are!"
And poor Yumi couldn't do anything else then hope and wait, till someone would rescue her out of her prison.
What Yumi didn't know was that all kind of rumours went around the world about her beautiful looks. It wasn't remarkable that almost every prince went to the palace of the witch to ask to marry Yumi. But not one of them ever returned to his country… Every time a prince asked the witch permission to marry her daughter, the witch would say the following words…
"So you want to marry my daughter? Well, that's possible. But you have to do something for it. I'll give you three tasks. If you are able to pass them, then you can marry my daughter. If not, your head will be mine!"
And of course the witch would think of the hardest kind of tasks, making every prince lose his head. The witch didn't know the meaning of the word mercy…
But there was one prince who was different then the others. He was burned to crisp and had bandages all over his body. Shishio Makoto. He had always laughed with the weaklings who lost their head, and one day he decided to show everyone he was the strongest and that he, and only he, was able to survive the three tasks of the witch. So he stepped on his horse and travelled to the palace of the witch.
When he was on his way, he travelled trough fields as far as his eyes could see. The weather was nice and Shishio had the feeling nothing could go wrong. But then suddenly his horse stopped in its tracks. A few feet before him was a hill that wasn't there before. What could it be? A pile of sand perhaps? No…
It was a very, very, very fat man who was lying on the ground.
"What the hell?" Shishio asked looking at the man.
The man was able to turn his head to Shishio (in a rather unnatural way) and a stupid grin appeared on his face.
"Ehee… You prince… Ehee… Me your servant…"
Shishio let out a laugh. "You? My servant? What can I do with someone as fat like you?"
"Ehee… Me still hungry…"
Shishio looked at the man surprised. "Wait a second…" He placed his hand under his chin. "Maybe you'll be useful… What's your name?"
"Ehee… Iwanbo…" The fat man replied.
And so Shishio and Iwanbo continued their journey to the castle. And then they saw a man who was pushing his ear against the ground.
"What are you doing?" Shishio asked raising an eyebrow.
"I'm trying to improve my bat skills!"
"… Your bat skills?"
"Yes! I already look like a bat and have the wings of a bat… but now I'm trying to get the ears of a bat."
"Really?" Shishio asked, slightly thinking the man was out of his mind.
"Yes! If I can mean anything to you, I'm Henya." Henya introduced himself.
"Maybe you can…" Shishio said with a nod.
And so Shishio, Iwanbo and Henya travelled further. But not so long later, they stopped again. They saw an enormous pair of feet, followed by very long legs.
"Wow! You're very long!" Shishio yelled at the figure.
"Yes I know…" The figure said. "Can I come with you?"
"Sure! What's your name?"
"Fuji." Came the response.
They were with four people now. Shishio, Iwanbo, Henya and Fuji.
"Who'll be number five?" Shishio wondered.
But he discovered it soon enough. At the other side of the road was a man with a rag before his eyes.
"What's wrong with you?"
The man looked up. "I'm blind. My name is Usui…"
"Usui hu?" Shishio said. "Do you want to come with me?"
Usui raised his shoulders. "Sure, why not. I've got nothing better to do anyway…"
And so they continued their journey with five: Shishio, Iwanbo, Henya, Fuji and Usui. For a very long time there was no one who crossed them on their way. Shishio laughed with Usui because he bumped against a tree. But suddenly Henya pointed at something.
"Look at that!"
Shishio stopped laughing and looked at where Henya was pointing at. It was a boy who was running from the one side of the road to the other.
"What are you doing there?" Shishio asked.
The boy stopped and smiled. "I had too much coffee today! I can't stop running! Running is fun! Look at me run! Wieh!"
"Well… That's uh… weird… But I have the feeling you can be very useful. What's your name?"
"Sojiro!"
"Care to join me?"
"Sure!"
And Shishio, Iwanbo, Henya, Fuji, Usui and Sojiro traveled further. They were almost at the castle of the witch when they saw a man who looked more like a broom then a man because of his weird hair.
"Isn't anyone normal in this story?" Shishio mumbled. "Oh well… Hey you!"
The man looked up. "Oy?"
"Do you want to be my servant?"
"Okay. I'm Chou by the way."
And finally Shishio and his six servants arrived at the castle of the evil witch. He ordered them to wait outside and went into the castle alone. There was the witch, sitting on her golden throne.
"I guess you want to marry my daughter?"
"Indeed." Shishio replied calm.
An evil smirk appeared on the witch's face. She told Shishio about the three tasks, that he could marry Yumi if he succeeded and that he would lose his head if he failed.
"I will not fail. Because I am strong! And those tasks will probably be weak! What is the first task?" Shishio asked.
The witch leaned towards Shishio. "I dropped my diamante ring in the Silver-sea. I want it back. Before twelve this afternoon. Go quickly."
Shishio hurried himself to his six servants. "The first task isn't as easy as I thought it would be… That old woman wants me to get a ring of hers out of the Silver-sea. Has anyone got a plan?"
"I know where the Silver-sea is." Chou said. "But it's far away…"
"That's no problem." Fuji said. "Hop on my shoulders and say which direction I have to go."
Five minutes later they arrived at the Silver-sea and they jumped off Fuji's shoulders.
"I only know how to fly." Henya said to Shishio. "I can't swim or else I would get it for you."
"Ehee… Ring there?..." Iwanbo asked with a stupid grin. He sat down next to the water, opened his mouth and started to drink… drink… and then he looked so fat that everyone thought Iwanbo was going to explode. But the only thing Iwanbo did was laugh like an idiot.
The Silver-sea was as dry as a dessert.
Shishio slapped his own forehead. "Well I'll be darned…"
Fuji bent trough his knees, grabbed the diamante ring of the witch and gave it to Shishio.
"This is great!" Shishio said holding the ring before his nose.
They went back to the castle. The six servants waited outside again and Shishio went to the witch to give her her ring back. The old witch was very surprised. Mumbling she held the ring in her fingers and looked at it with a studying look. Finally she dropped the ring in her pocket.
"That's my ring indeed…"
Shishio grinned.
"But the next task won't be that easy… Follow me."
Shishio followed the witch to a big window and looked outside. He saw a field full of big fat oxen.
"Three hundred oxen." The witch said. "And you'll eat them all. Oh, and I also have three hundred bottles of wine. Those are yours too. And if you don't succeed before eight this evening… you know what will happen with you?"
"I'll lose my head… I know." Shishio walked at the door and turned around. "Can I invite people? It would be a shame to enjoy such a delicious meal alone, would it be not?"
"You can invite one guest, not more then one… Be sure he's hungry. Enjoy your meal!"
The witch let out a very evil laugh, making even Shishio hurry himself out of the castle. He went to his six servants.
"And?" They asked curious.
Shishio patted Iwanbo on his stomach. "You're hungry Iwanbo?"
Iwanbo nodded furiously.
"Follow me then."
An hour later Iwanbo looked around sad. He had eaten all the oxen and drunk up all the wine. And he was still hungry. Shishio went to the witch to tell her he had succeeded the second task.
"Everything is gone?" The witch asked with big eyes.
"Yup!" Shishio said almost smirking his head off. "Go look for yourself if you don't believe me."
The witch waved her hand trough the air. "Ugh I believe you. Oh well, I still have one task for you. You'll have much trouble with it." She laughed and asked Shishio to follow her again. They arrived in the garden of the castle where a big fire was burning.
"If you find someone who can stay in that fire till it's out… Then you've beaten me and you can marry my daughter."
Shishio left the castle again. The witch laughed again. He would lose with this one! She was sure of that…
"Sojiro." Shishio said.
"Yes!" Sojiro asked jumping up.
"If you could keep running at your top speed in fire till it's out… would you survive it?"
"Sure!"
So they all went to the coffee shop to give Sojiro an extra amount of coffee. Sojiro almost jumped his way to the castle and ran around in the fire. The flames didn't hurt him because of his god like speed. The fire went out three hours later.
"Horay! I made it!" Sojiro said still jumping around.
"Yes, yes…" Shishio said looking at the boy. "Now please stop jumping…"
"I can't! Ahahaha!"
The witch looked at Shishio with an open mouth. This was impossible.
"Now I can marry your daughter." Shishio said.
But the witch took a few steps back.
"In your dreams you freaking mummy! If I can't get your head, I'll kill you with a magic spell! I'm a witch for a reason!"
The witch wanted to say her magic spell when suddenly Usui, not knowing where he was going, walked before Shishio and the spell shot back to the witch thanks to Usui's giant turtle shield. The witch exploded with a shriek and everyone stared at Usui.
"What? Did I do something wrong?" Usui asked.
Shishio released Yumi out of her prison, who was very happy to be free at last.
"Now I'll conquer the world!" Shishio yelled while Yumi was holding his arm. "You'll join me Yumi?"
"Of course." She said with a smile.
"We'll join you too!" Chou said and the rest of the group nodded.
"Well let's go then!"
Shishio started to laugh loudly as his servants and Yumi followed him back home to make plans for conquering the world…
The end