Disclaimer: I do not own Princess Mononoke or it's characters.
Chapter 2: A Monk
After escaping the fight with the Samurai, Ashitaka entered a small village to get more supplies. Unbeknownst to him, someone was waiting for him. In a small soup vender's stand a short monk named Jigo sat eating a recently purchased soup. His colorful comment, "Are you selling soup or donkey piss", announced the quality of his food. Jigo had a broad face with a big red nose. Looking at the crowd, he saw Ashitaka enter the village. "There he is now." He quickly finished the last of his soup and walked toward Ashitaka on a pair of crude wooden sandals with a peg underneath them, which he wore in an attempt to make him look a little higher.
After Ashitaka scooped rice into his bag from a woman who sold rice, he took out of his pocket a piece of gold that he had brought with him to pay for any necessities on his trip. "Will this be enough?" he asked, dropping the small nugget into the palm of her hand. After seeing what was in her hand, she angrily thrust her hand back towards Ashitaka. "Hey there! What are you trying to pull, this isn't money! Give me back my rice you little thief!" With those words a crowd formed, waiting to see what would happen. At that moment, Jigo walked through the crowd and placed himself in-between a angry merchant and a confused Ashitaka. "Excuse me, but may I examine that?" Jigo said. "Go ahead." said the rice lady.
Jigo took the nugget and squinted his eyes. Then they popped wide open. "My God! But this is a lump of pure gold you silly woman! However if it's money you want I'll pay for the rice and take this nugget off your hands. What do you say? My good people, is there a money changer who can tell us how much this is worth?" Without waiting for a reply, he continued. "No? All right. Now I'm just a monk, but I'd say, three bags of rice at least. That's right, maybe even more!" As the crowd gasped and murmured. Ashitaka walked off. Jigo started after him. "Hey, wait a minuet, where you going?" His progress was stopped as the rice lady grabbed Jigo's hand and pulled him back towards her. "Where are you going, gimmie my gold!"
As Ashitaka rode Yakuul out of the town, Jigo hurriedly ran to catch up with him. As soon as he was next to Ashitaka he stared speaking. "Hey, what's your hurry? You can't just rush off now! We've only just met! We have got your rice and everything's fine. Your a man of few words, I understand. Well, don't you even think of thanking me, it was my pleasure. In fact I should be thanking you, really. You see I was caught in that battle. I saw what you did to those Samurai, you fought like a Demon! Where'd you learn to fight like that?"
As they walked on, he saw Ashitaka turn his head. Behind them were a group of three men with knives and swords. Jigo smiled. "I see you noticed we're being followed. That's what we get for waving that gold nugget around. They'll wait till we're asleep and then they'll slit our throats. What do you say we give them a little demonstration of how fast we can run, huh?" With that Jigo took of at a almost impossibly fast rate for someone of his stature. The would-be thieves stopped and sighed.
At dusk Ashitaka and Jigo made camp in what appeared to be a cave. Over a fire and bowls of rice, Ashitaka told Jigo his story. "So, the Demon monster turned out to be a giant boar." Jigo said. Ashitaka nodded. "I followed its trail Westward, through the mountains, to where the Samurai were attacking those villagers, but then-"
"You lost it." Jigo finished for him. "That's life. See this place here? When I came here last, a few years back, this was a lovely little village." Ashitaka looked around the cave, and he saw what did in fact look like the ruins of some buildings. "But then there must have been a flood, or a landslide, or a fire." Jigo continued. "The only sure thing is that everybody's dead. These days, there are angry ghosts all around us. Dead from wars, sickness, starvation, and nobody cares. So you say your under a curse? Well, so what? So's the whole damned world."
Ashitaka dropped his head. "I was wrong to fight in that village. Two men are dead because of me."
Jigo snorted. "Samurai thugs. You win some you lose some. Here, hand me your bowl. My point is that everybody dies, boy. Some now, some later. From Brothel girl to Emperor. I've heard them say, that the Emperor has promised an an entire hill of gold to anyone who can help him live forever. . . . That's a beautiful bowl. I've only ever seen one other like it. Have you ever heard of the Emishi people? They're said to ride Red Elks. They also use stone arrowheads just like you. Of course they were all wiped out 500 years ago. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone where you're from. Anyway I've got bigger fish to fry."
Ashitaka took the ball of iron that was taken from the Demon boar's body and showed it to Jigo. "Have you ever come across anything like this before? Jigo looked at it. "Never have." Jigo lied.
It came from the giant boar." Ashitaka said. "It was inside him, and I'm sure it was this little ball of iron that killed him." Jigo grunted in agreement. After a moment he said "There's a place high in the mountains far to the West of here." He said. "It's where the Spirit of the Forest dwells and it's a very dangerous place for humans. To enter there is certain death."
Ashitaka leaned forward. "The Spirit of the Forest?" Jigo nodded. "I've been told the beasts there are all giants, just as they were in the dawn of time. . ."
Ashitaka said nothing. They finished their dinner in silence. The next morning, when Ashitaka thought that Jigo was asleep, Ashitaka mounted Yakuul and rode off to the West. After he had disappeared from sight. Jigo opened his eyes and said "See you there my friend." Then he went back to sleep.