A poor widow once lived in a little cottage with a garden in front. She had two children, one called Kikyo and the other Kagome and they were the sweetest and best children in the world, always diligent and always cheerful; but Kikyo was quieter and more gentle than Kagome. Kagome loved to run about the fields and meadows, and to pick flowers and catch butterflies; but Kikyo sat at home with her mother and helped her in the household, or read aloud to her when there was no work to do.
The two children loved each other so dearly that they always walked about hand in hand whenever they went out together, and when Kikyo said, "We will never desert each other," Kagome answered: "No, not as long as we live"; and the mother added: "Whatever one gets she shall share with the other." They often roamed about in the woods gathering berries and no beast offered to hurt them. On the contrary, they came up to them in the most confiding manner; the little hare would eat a cabbage leaf from their hands, the deer grazed beside them, the stag would bound past them merrily, and the birds remained on the branches and sang to them with all their might.
No evil ever befell them; if they tarried late in the wood and night overtook them, they lay down together on the moss and slept till morning, and their mother knew they were quite safe, and never felt anxious about them. Once, when they had slept all night in the wood and had been wakened by the morning sun, they perceived a beautiful child in a shining white robe sitting close to their resting-place. The figure got up, looked at them kindly, but said nothing, and vanished into the wood. And when they looked round about them they became aware that they had slept quite close to a precipice, over which they would certainly have fallen had they gone on a few steps further in the darkness. And when they told their mother of their adventure, she said what they had seen must have been the spirit that guards good children.
Kikyo and Kagome kept their mother's cottage so beautifully clean and neat that it was a pleasure to go into it. In summer Kagome looked after the house, and every morning before her mother awoke she placed a bunch of flowers before the bed. In winter Kikyo lit the fire and put on the kettle, which was made of brass, but so beautifully polished that it shone like gold. In the evening when the snowflakes fell their mother said: "Kikyo, go and close the shutters," and they drew round the fire, while the mother put on her spectacles and read aloud from a big book and the two girls listened and sat. Beside them on the ground lay their cat Buyo. and behind them perched a little black crow with its head tucked under its wings.
One evening as they sat thus cosily together someone knocked at the door as though he desired admittance. The mother said: "Kagome, open the door quickly; it must be some traveler seeking shelter." Kagome hastened to unbar the door, and thought she saw a poor man standing in the darkness outside; but it was no such thing, only a large white dog who poked his head through the door. Kagome screamed aloud and sprang back in terror, the cat began to hiss, the crow flapped its wings, and Kikyo ran and hid behind her mother's chair. But the dog began to speak and said: "Don't be afraid: I won't hurt you. I am half frozen, and only wish to warm myself a little."
"My poor dog," said the mother, "lie down by the fire, only take care you don't burn your fur." Then she called out: "Kikyo and Kagome, come out; the dog will do you no harm; he is a good, honest creature." So they both came out of their hiding-places, and gradually the cat and crow drew near too, and they all forgot their fear. The dog asked the children to beat the snow out of his fur, and they fetched a brush and scrubbed him till he was dry. Then the beast stretched himself in front of the fire, and growled quite happily and comfortably. The children soon grew quite at their ease with him, and led their helpless guest a fearful life. They tugged his fur with their hands, put their small feet on his back, and rolled him about here and there, or took a hazel wand and beat him with it; and if he growled they only laughed. The dog submitted to everything with the best possible good- nature, only when they went too far he cried: "Oh! children, spare my life! Sweet Kikyo and lovely Kagome, don't beat your lover so harshly."
When it was time to retire for the night, and the others went to bed, the mother said to the dog: "You can lie there on the hearth, it will be shelter for you from the cold and wet." As soon as day dawned the children led him out, and he trotted over the snow into the wood. From this time on the dog came every evening at the same hour, and lay down by the hearth and let the children play what pranks they liked with him; and they got so accustomed to him that the door was never shut till their white friend had made his appearance.
When spring came, and all outside was green, the dog said one morning to Kagome : "Now I must go away, and not return again the whole summer." "Where are you going to, dear dog?" asked Kagome. "I must go to the wood and hunt for the wicked little Jaken. In winter, when the earth is frozen hard, he is obliged to remain underground in his caves, for he can't work his way through the snow ; but now, when the sun has thawed the ice and warmed the ground, he comes to spy the land and steal what he can; what once falls into his hands and into his cave is not easily brought back to light." Kagome was quite sad over their friend's departure, and when she unbarred the door for him, the dog, stepping out, caught a piece of his fur in the door- knocker, and Kagome thought she caught sight of red cloth beneath it, but she couldn't be certain of it; and the dog ran hastily away, and soon disappeared behind the trees.
A short time after this the mother sent the children into the wood to collect firewood. They came in their wanderings upon a big tree which lay felled on the ground, and on the trunk among the long grass they noticed something jumping up and down, but what it was they couldn't distinguish. When they approached nearer they perceived a little green man with a wizened face dressed in a brown kimono. One of the sleeves of the kimono was jammed into a cleft of the tree, and the little man sprang about like a dog on a chain, and didn't seem to know what he was to do. He glared at the girls with his beady black eyes, and screamed out: "What are you standing there for? Can't you come and help me?"
"What were you doing, little man?" asked Kagome. "You stupid, inquisitive goose!" replied the man; "I wanted to split the tree, in order to get little chips of wood for my kitchen fire; those thick logs that serve to make fires for coarse, greedy people like yourselves quite burn up all the little food I need. I had successfully driven in the wedge, and all was going well, but the cursed wood was so slippery that it suddenly sprang out, and the tree closed up so rapidly that I had no time to take my sleeve out, so here I am stuck fast, and I can't get away; and you silly, smooth-faced, milk-and- water girls just stand and laugh! Ugh! what wretches you are!"
The children did all in their power, but they couldn't get the sleeve out; it was wedged in far too firmly. "I will run and fetch somebody," said Kagome. "Crazy blockheads!" snapped the man; "what's the good of calling anyone else? You're already two too many for me. Does nothing better occur to you than that?" "Don't be so impatient," said Kikyo, "I'll see you get help," and taking her scissors out of her pocket she cut off the end of his sleeve. As soon as the man felt himself free he seized a glowing pink jewel which was hidden among the roots of the tree, and muttered aloud: "Curse these rude wretches, cutting off a piece of my splendid kimono!" With these words he disappeared without as much as looking at the children again.
Shortly after this Kikyo and Kagome went out to get a dish of fish. As they approached the stream they saw something which looked like an enormous grasshopper springing toward the water as if it were going to jump in. They ran forward and recognized their friend the little green man. "Where are you going to?" asked Kagome; "you're surely not going to jump into the water?"
"I'm not such a fool," screamed the man. "Don't you see that cursed fish is trying to drag me in?" The little man had been sitting on the bank fishing, when unfortunately the wind had entangled his sleeve in the line; and when immediately afterward a big fish bit, the feeble little creature had no strength to pull it out; the fish had the upper fin, and dragged the man toward him. He clung on with all his might to every rush and blade of grass, but it didn't help him much; he had to follow every movement of the fish, and was in great danger of being drawn into the water. The girls came up just at the right moment, held him firm, and did all they could to disentangle his sleeve from the line; but in vain, sleeve and line were in a hopeless muddle. Nothing remained but to produce the scissors and cut the sleeve, by which a small part of it was sacrificed.
When the man perceived what they were about he yelled at them: "Do you call that manners, you toad- stools! to destroy a fellow's clothes? It wasn't enough that you shortened my sleeve before, but you must now needs cut off more of it. I wish you'd been in Edo first." Then he fetched a rusted sword that lay among the rushes, and without saying another word he dragged it away and disappeared behind a stone.
It happened that soon after this the mother sent the two girls to the town to buy needles, thread, cloth, and cord. Their road led over a heath where huge boulders of rock lay scattered here and there. While trudging along they saw a big bird hovering in the air, circling slowly above them, but always descending lower, till at last it settled on a rock not far from them. Immediately afterward they heard a sharp, piercing cry. They ran forward, and saw with horror that the eagle had pounced on their friend the little green man, and was about to carry him off. The tender-hearted children seized hold of the little man, and struggled so long with the bird that at last he let go his prey.
When the man had recovered from the first shock he screamed in his screeching voice: "Couldn't you have treated me more carefully? You have torn what remained of my once-splendid kimono all to shreds, useless, awkward hussies that you are!" Then he took a necklace made of claws and black beads and vanished under the rocks into his cave. The girls were accustomed to his ingratitude, and went on their way and did their business in town. On their way home, as they were again passing the heath, they surprised the man who sat fiddling with the jewel, necklace, and sword on an open space, for he had thought no one would pass by at so late an hour. The evening sun shone on the items, and they glanced and gleamed so beautifully that the children stood still and gazed on them.
"What are you standing there gaping for?" screamed the man, and his green face became scarlet with rage. He was about to go on with these angry words when a sudden growl was heard, and a large white dog trotted out of the wood. The man jumped up in great fright, but he hadn't time to reach his place of retreat, for the dog was already close to him. Then he cried in terror: "Dear dog-sama, spare me! I'll give you all my treasure. Look at these powerful magic items lying there. Spare my life! what pleasure would you get from a poor feeble little fellow like me? You won't feel me between your teeth. There, lay hold of these two wicked girls, they will be a tender morsel for you, as fat as young quails; eat them up, for heaven's sake." But the dog, paying no attention to his words, gave the evil little creature one blow with his paw, and he never moved again.
The girls had run away, but the dog called after them: "Kagome and Kikyo, don't be afraid; wait, and I'll come with you." Then they recognized his voice and stood still, and when the dog was quite close to them his skin suddenly fell off, and a beautiful young man stood beside them, all dressed in red. "I am a great lord's son" he said, "and have been cursed by that little demon Jaken, who had stolen three precious items from me, to roam about the woods as a white dog till his death should set me free. Now he has got his well-merited punishment."
Kagome married him and Kikyo his brother. The old mother lived for many years with her children and their husbands in the great castle, in the courtyard of which was a dry well which now brimmed with water. And while there were occasional battles with demons and spirits, most of their lives were lived peacefully and prosperously.