Author's notes:

Dear readers, perhaps you are wondering why did I re-write Mononoke Hime in novel-style. Which is the need of writing what has already been written? Well, I did it because I "needed" to so, and I thought this was a good reason itself. Anyhow, I had another reason. English is not my mother language, and I thought that writing this would be a good exercise to practice written english. On the other hand, this means that you'll probably find some style and/or grammar errors in this text. Please, be patient and don't be rude at me :P . I'll accept any comment about style and grammar. Let me know which sentences or words would you change to improve this story.

I've respected the main frame of the story and I'm not going to introduce new relevant characters. Anyway, I've added some scenes that don't appear in the anime film.

I present here the first part of the story, and in the following weeks I'll upload more chapters.

むかし、この国は深い森に
おおわれ、そこには太古から
の神々がすんでいた。

(Mukashi, kono kuni wa fukai mori ni
ooware, soko ni wa taiko kara
no kamigami ga sundeita).

Formerly, this country was covered by deep forests
where gods from the ancient times used to live.

もののけ姫
Princess Mononoke

You young people come close to me and sit to hear my story; a story about how the human beings dared facing the Nature and were almost destroyed, and how they were gifted with a second chance.

The story that I'm about to tell took place long, long time ago. Even though, we have a lot to learn about it.

Pay attention to the story about how the cursed boy from the east, the savage girl of the wolves and the Forest Spirit returned balance to the Nature.

This story begins in eastern Japan with the encounter between…

THE YOUNG MAN FROM THE EAST AND THE DEMON FROM THE WEST.

Sheltered in the mountains there was a peaceful village habited by the last survivors of the Emishi. Five hundred years ago the Emperor of Japan had almost destroyed the tribe and killed the most of the Emishi. The few who survived where pushed to the east of the country. During those centuries, the Emishi had lived at relative peace, cultivating the earth and raising their livestock.

One morning, the people in the village noticed that every single beast was disquiet —both savage and domestic animals. Later, at midday, strange sound could be heard coming from the forest.

Everybody was getting nervous, feeling that something terrible was about to happen. Also Ashitaka, the young prince of the Emishi, felt the danger that was menacing the village. He took his bow and his quiver and went to the stall where his loyal elk Yakul was. Yakul was a red elk, with long and tough horns and a calm look in his eyes. The young Ashitaka hold Yakul's restraints and pulled him in order to take him out of the stall. Ashitaka stepped out of the stall and stopped to glance at the forest for a moment. After that, he jumped over Yakul's back and got ready to reach the watchtower from where the old Jii-san looked after the mountain

—Prince Ashitaka! —someone called. Ashitaka looked at his left and saw some people from the village council approaching to him. The Oracle, an elderly woman, was with them.

—Prince Ashitaka, be careful —the elder priestess said—. The spirits who inhabit the forest are rampaging with rage. Everybody should return to the village.

—I'll do kii-sama. I want to reach the watchtower to see what's going on in the forest. I will take Jii-san with me and tell everybody to come back here. Every man in the village has to be ready to defend the settlement against whatever is in the forest.

—I'm going to alert everybody —one of the men said.

—Prince Ashitaka, our souls are with yours —the Oracle added. And then Ashitaka left the village spurring Yakul's flanks with his heels.

I didn't say it before, but Ashitaka was a great rider and a great archer. He wasn't specially tall, but strong and mighty. His movements were accurate both with the bow and the sword, and his gaze was clear, clever and severe. Even though, he wasn't rude or petty and everybody in the village trusted him. He wore a short blue kimono fastened in his waist using a belt, were a small bag and a sword hanged. He covered his arms with long sleeves that also protected the reverse of his hands. He wore dark white pants and puttees to protect his legs. Ashitaka always walked barefoot around the village, and all the villagers used to do so. As every man in the village, his long and smooth hair was arranged in a "mage" in the top of his head.

He was riding fast, following the trail that climbed the hill towards the watchtower. Then, he saw three people from the village running in the opposite direction. When they got closer, Ashitaka realized that they were three girls from the village. The three of them were dressed almost the same, with short navy blue kimonos, tall hats over their heads, puttees covering their legs and a sword dangling in their belts.

—Ashitaka! Ashitaka! —they called. He stopped Yakul to talk to them.

—The Oracle says to get back to the village.

—Jii-san, too —one of the girls said—. He says there's something wrong in the forest. Some trees have fallen down.

—There are no birds in the forest —another one said.

—And no animals —the third of them added.

—I'll go to him. You get back to the village.

—Yes! —they answered at the same time.

Then, Ashitaka continued riding towards de watchtower, which was already at sight. The tower had been built using three tree trunks secured inwardly and nailed down in the earth, making it a safe structure. When he arrived at the bottom of the watchtower, he easily dismounted Yakul and started climbing the feeble scale to reach the top, where Jii-san was staring at the forest.

Ashitaka had climbed the half of the way. Then he stopped to have a look at the forest. He stared at it, scanning amongst the trees, and he could see something behind the stone wall that separated the cultivating fields from the forest, but he could not identify what there actually was coming. Also Yakul who was waiting at the bottom of the tower felt it. Tempering himself, he climbed the rest of the scale and got were Jii-san sat, silent and amazed.

—Jii-san, what's it?

—It's not human.

—The Oracle has called everybody in —the boy said, looking at the village.

—Look! Over there!

Without thinking twice, Ashitaka took an arrow from the quiver on his back and tensed his bow, pointing in the direction Jii-san indicated. Suddenly, Ashitaka felt a growing shadow which approached to the tower. He repressed a shudder, but felt his hair bristling and his skin covered with goose bumps. Some trees and bushes dried up rapidly. There was no doubt: the evil was near and it was coming towards them. Abruptly, the stone wall broke down and an enormous terrible form appeared amongst the dead vegetation. It was an amorphous being. Reddish mud covered it. That bleeding alike mud seemed to be alive and the creature's gaze was astonishing. Two big red eyes stared at them in rage.

—It's a cursed god! A demon! —Jii-san cried. Ashitaka opened his mouth, but he didn't find words to say. He was almost paralyzed.

The rampaging demon cried out. The mud withdrew for a moment revealing a giant boar, a wrathful giant god. Then, the creature started moving quickly heading the tower. Ashitaka realized Yakul was waiting at the bottom of the tower.

—Yakul! Run!

But the animal was paralyzed in terror. Trying to make Yakul react, he pointed his arrow to where Yakul was. The arrow flew downwards knocking one of the trunks that sustained the structure. Yakul finally reacted and escaped from the danger just when the raging creature struck the base of the watchtower. The mud embraced the trunks and the tower reeled, and then started tumbling. In a fast reaction, Ashitaka gripped the old man and jumped from the tumbling tower, trying to land safe over the top of a tree.

The demon stopped for a moment taking sight of the valley. Down there, at the bottom of the hill, the demon saw the village. It started moving fast towards it. His hatred would destroy everything in his way.

—It's heading the village! It's going to attack it! —Ashitaka said. He jumped from the tree to the ground. He had to avert that terrible being from the village.

—Ashitaka! —Jii-san called from the top of the tree—. Be careful! Don't touch it, or you'll be damned with its curse!

The young prince climbed to reach the place where the destroyed tower had been standing and whistled to call his elk.

—Yakul!

Then, while waiting for his mount, he shortened his bowstring in order to give more power to his arrows. When Yakul arrived, Ashitaka easily jumped over it and followed the demon's path, trying to overtake it. He had to be faster than it. Ashitaka rode as fast as he could ride. The vegetation hit his body and Yakul's, but none of them minded. They finally reached the raging god.

—Quiet your rage, I beg you! —but there was no answer—. Oh forest god who cannot be without name, why do you rampage so? —he insisted—. Please, go away! —but the cursed god continued destroying everything in his path towards the village.

Near there, in a meadow close to the village, the three girls that Ashitaka met when heading the watchtower were still returning to the village. A sound of cracking branches drew their attention. The three of them stopped running and stared at the forest. Suddenly, Ashitaka and Yakul appeared from the forest, and there was a terrible being following them. None of them had ever seen something as terrifying as that. The mud covered creature stopped and watched at them, forgetting Ashitaka and the village. It had found some victims easy to kill to calm his rage with. The girls tried to escape from the beast, but one of them stumbled and fell to the ground, her leg aching.

—Get up! —one of the girls said, courageously drawing out her sword. The third girl tried to help the fallen one to get on her feet.

Ashitaka run over the place the girls were, trying to draw the demon's attention.

—Stop! Calm your rage! Don't destroy our village!

But the monster did no stop. It was about to reach the girls. So, Ashitaka took an arrow and pointed to the monster's eye. The arrow flew and hit the target and the demon cried, stopping its rampage. The reddish mud churned and squirmed around the boar's body.

The two girls standing helped the one who fell and escaped in the village's direction, where some lines of defense had been improved. Ashitaka approached to the demon's body, confiding it had finally calmed its wrath. However, some mud extensions expanded suddenly in all direction. The young courageous Ashitaka tried to escape, but one of those extensions caught his right arm. He didn't realize in that moment, but the squirming mud wrapping his arm was really hot. He tensed his muscles strengthening his arm in order to break the mud's grip. Yakul was running as fast as he could, and finally the extension got broken. Then, Ashitaka took another arrow.

"I should have known this. That thing is a god. One arrow is not enough to kill it", he thought.

His bow tensed and the arrow cut the air at lightning speed, penetrating the boar's body just between its eyes. Expecting that would not be still enough, Ashitaka prepared another arrow. Nevertheless, the mud withdrew. The rage seemed to be calmed. Then, the boar tumbled to one side, in agony.

At some meters from there, Yakul stopped. In that very moment Ashitaka felt the pain of the hurt in his arm. There still were remains of that bloody mud around his arm. The mud was evaporating itself, scorching Ashitaka's skin. He clenched his right fist in pain.

—It's down! —someone cried from the defense lines.

—Prince Ashitaka!

—Ashitaka! —some people called while running towards him. His younger sister, the young girl who had drawn her sword to protect the one that stumbled when escaping from the demon, was the first in running towards the prince.

The pain in the young prince's arm was so grasping that he fell to the ground from Yakul's back. Soon, many villagers crowded around Ashitaka, asking after their prince's wounds.

—Kaya, don't touch it! —Ashitaka said, teeth constricting—. It's not an ordinary wound.

The girl helped him pouring some earth over his arm to alleviate his pain.

—Where's the Oracle? —someone asked. In that moment she appeared in the place. One of the villagers had carried her on his back.

—All of you! Stay back!

—Kii-sama! —the girl said.

—Take this —the old woman ordered, giving the girl a big gourd filled with water—. Pour it over his wounds, slowly...

—Yes —the girl answered, in excitement.

When she did so, some water evaporated at the very contact of Ashitaka's skin. The prince had to tighten his lips to endure the pain. The elder woman got close to the demon's body and joined her hands respectfully in front of her in order to apologize for having killed it.

The boar was still breathing, but there was a growing puddle of blood around it. It was in agony.

—O raging god unknown to us, I bow before you —and she did so. Some people from the village council were also there, kneeling and leaning their heads down—. We will now raise a mound in the very place you have fallen and perform your funeral. Bear us no hate, and be at peace.

What happened next astonished everybody. In a last effort, using its last remains of life, the demon talked with a heavy and terrifying voice:

—You loathsome creatures...you shall know my hatred and suffer my grief... soon...

That last word remained loose in the air. Then, in a matter of seconds, the corpse putrefied. Now there only was an enormous hissing skeleton over a bloody puddle that killed the grass under it. Some villagers had to protect their nose from the disgusting stench that emerged from the corpse.

That evening, everybody in the village was worried about their fate. The attack they had suffered was a bad augury. The Council was assembled, waiting for the answers the Oracle was reading in the stones. The old woman was kneeling in front a cloth where she tossed little stones. At the other side of the cloth sat Ashitaka, who covered his wounded arm with a bandage. At his left were sitting the men from the Council —the oldest and wisest men in the village. All of them were anxious waiting for the Oracle to talk.

—This is really bad —she said at least. Everybody kept silence—. The boar-spirit came from far to the west.

A poison within him goaded him on, rotting his flesh, drawing evil as he ran, making a monster of him. Prince Ashitaka —she called.

—Yes.

—Show your right arm.

And he did so, removing the bandage that covered his arm. Everybody frightened before the reddish stigma that had appeared on their prince's arm. It wrapped his arm from almost the wrist to the elbow.

—Kii-sama! —one of the men said, prompting the Oracle to explain the meaning of the wound.

—Prince Ashitaka, are you steeled to gaze upon your fate?

—Yes. I was resolved from the very moment when I let my arrow fly —he said, seriously.

—The infection will extend in your body, and then you will die.

Ashitaka frowned, but said nothing.

—Can nothing be done? —someone asked.

—He was defending the girls, and the village —another man added.

—Can we but sit and wait? —the youngest of them concluded.

The Oracle talked again:

—You cannot change your fate. Even though, you can rise to meet it. Look —and she tossed a small iron ball over the cloth—. This was inside the boar's body. It was in agony. This shattered his bones, tore at his entrails... What else could have made him that way?

Ashitaka listened to this without saying a word, and showing an even gaze. The old woman continued her explanations:

—Evil has befallen the land of the west. Your fate is to go there and see without the blindfold of hatred. There might be a way to lift the curse.

—Yes —the young Ashitaka said, trying to hide his sadness.

The oldest of the men spoke:

—More than 500 years have gone since the Mikado drove us into this land. Now we hear how his power fades and the fangs of his Shoguns are broken. But the blood of our tribe has become weak. And now, bitter fate... we have to sit and see how the youth who was one day to lead us must cut his hairs and leave the village to never return. Sometimes, I feel that the gods are laughing at us.

Prince Ashitaka approached to the shrine and took out a small pocket knife. Everybody in the room was silent and sad, staring at the floor before them. Only the old Jii-san didn't do so. He kept staring at the stone at the other side of the room, motionless. Ashitaka gripped his "mage" with one hand and cut it with the other. Someone couldn't avoid sobbing while Ashitaka's smooth hair was cut free. Then, the boy left what had been his "mage" over the shrine, put out his knife and bowed. He was now realizing about all the consequences. He was now realizing he would never return to see his family, his village, his motherland. He was now realizing he was dead. After doing so, he turned to the elder woman again.

—The law forbids that we watch as you go. Farewell.

Without saying a word, Ashitaka rose on his feet and walked out of the room. Some people were waiting outside the hut, waiting for news. Someone was about to talk, but said nothing. Everybody was astounded before the sight of Ashitaka, and everybody understood the meaning of what had happened in the Council's hut. Sadness befell over the villagers. All of them turned back heading theirs homes. Some of them had tears in their eyes; another felt terrible shivers shaking their spines downwards. Everybody went home and closed the door, and Ashitaka stood there until everybody had gone. It was his particular farewell to his people.

Then he went to his hut. When he opened the door he found his mother, who knew nothing about the new situation. When she first saw his son she wanted to embrace him, but then she saw he had cut his "mage". She was paralyzed and could not believe what was going on. She cried out loud and get out the hut, running to nowhere. Also this time Ashitaka kept silence. He wanted to hurry up. He packed some personal and useful items and put on a hood over his head, a straw made cloak over his shoulders and a pair of leather shoes on his feet. Finally, he took his bow, his quiver and his sword and went to the stall to get Yakul.

He was about to leave, to leave forever, when someone called him.

—Brother!

—Kaya, you cannot be here!

—I don't care! Remember me by this —she said, offering his crystal dagger. Ashitaka reached and took it.

—But... It's your jeweled dagger! I cannot accept it!

—Keep it with you to guard you —the courageous girl said, almost crying—. I'll think of you. Be sure of that.

Ashitaka took out the fabric mask that covered his face and, smiling at her, he said:

—As will I, Kaya.

And then, Kaya saw his elder brother leaving towards the darkness of the forest. She wanted to run after him, but stopped at the entrance of the village. The only way to follow a dead is dying, too. The time had come for Ashitaka, but not for her. Kaya always kept in mind that last smile his brother showed to her. That smile accompanied her for the rest of her long and productive life, and it was the source of her best wishes when she got married and when she raised her children. But, as master Michael Ende said, "That is another story and should be told another time".

To be continued...

つづく

(tsuzuku)