Week 2 Story: If Lost, Return to Susanoo
The small Japanese fishing boat bobbed like a cork on the choppy water. The sea anchor the sailors had dropped was barely keeping the boat from being flung out to the open sea by the mounting winds. Meanwhile their nets hung, empty, down in the salty abyss. No fish.
The sky was a gray slate, unbroken by the undulation of clouds or bright spots of sunshine. No rain fell, but the humidity was building, and the air seemed to hum like a single high note drawn out on a violin, waiting for something to snap. One of the sailors wiped the sweat beading on his forehead.“We’ve got to go back - there’s no point to staying any longer.” His partner looked up from the rope he was coiling, and exhaustion settled over his face.
“Help me pull the nets up.”
The boat lurched suddenly, almost knocking both men off their feet. The ropes for the net on the far side of the boat were stretched taught and straining with the weight of whatever had entangled them below. “Finally!” one of the sailors cried, and they scrambled over to the net and began the awkward but familiar process of hoisting it to the surface. Hand over hand the men brought the net ever-nearer until finally it tumbled onto the deck. The large, severed head of a monstrous creature rolled out from the net - its large, red eyes grotesquely open like gaping sores, its white tongue dangling limply like a flag of surrender.
The sailors leapt back like the stench from the rotting head had punched them in the stomach. They had heard legends of Orochi - the great sea monster who had devoured eight of the god’s daughters that lived in the hillside. A monster sentient and cruel, and so strong that even deity was powerless against it. They had heard of his red eyes, his terrible fangs, and his eight heads. There was no way to make sense of what they saw before them: one of the eight, severed, lifeless.
“Who could possibly have done this?” one of them asked.
“Do we just take it back? We could probably sell it,” the other said, and began to untangle the net from the head. He paused suddenly and held up in his hand a curious object: a large, wide-toothed comb. It dripped salt water on the deck.
“Let me see,” his partner said, and took it in his hand. It was heavier than he expected, and smoother than any piece of woodwork he had ever seen. It was so dark that it seemed to suck in the light from the air directly around it. “What is it?” he asked and ran his thumb down the comb's spine.
Suddenly the tension in the air snapped. Thunder shook the boat and the comb flew from the sailor’s hands. When he opened his eyes, the sun had broken through the clouds, and a young woman lay huddled on the deck, wrapped in black robes. Her face was pale, and her eyes, though frantic, were filled with relief. “Who are you?” he cried, and she began to speak.
“My name is Kushinada-hime,” she began. “You have saved my life. I have drifted like that, entangled in the monster’s head, unable to move or swim or scream, for two days. I could not help but feel that I had met the same fate as my sisters in the end - I was gone, because of Orochi. Gone, but I could not die. I had no need to breathe or eat or sleep. But I could see and feel the ocean all around me. And I began to despair. Susanoo, the brother of the Sun God, made a deal with my father that if he slew the monster, I would be his bride. He turned me into a comb and kept me in his hair to observe the battle free from harm. But carelessly he let me slip from his head and when the tide began to tug the monster’s heads out to sea, he had yet to notice my absence. ”
The sailors were stunned into silence, and she continued: “I don’t want to return to my father’s house or be wed to Susanoo. If you take me to the next town, I promise you will be repaid.” With that, she fell silent. The sailors, frightened by her appearance and knowing her to be divine herself, rowed her to the shore.
The sky was a gray slate, unbroken by the undulation of clouds or bright spots of sunshine. No rain fell, but the humidity was building, and the air seemed to hum like a single high note drawn out on a violin, waiting for something to snap. One of the sailors wiped the sweat beading on his forehead.“We’ve got to go back - there’s no point to staying any longer.” His partner looked up from the rope he was coiling, and exhaustion settled over his face.
“Help me pull the nets up.”
The boat lurched suddenly, almost knocking both men off their feet. The ropes for the net on the far side of the boat were stretched taught and straining with the weight of whatever had entangled them below. “Finally!” one of the sailors cried, and they scrambled over to the net and began the awkward but familiar process of hoisting it to the surface. Hand over hand the men brought the net ever-nearer until finally it tumbled onto the deck. The large, severed head of a monstrous creature rolled out from the net - its large, red eyes grotesquely open like gaping sores, its white tongue dangling limply like a flag of surrender.
The sailors leapt back like the stench from the rotting head had punched them in the stomach. They had heard legends of Orochi - the great sea monster who had devoured eight of the god’s daughters that lived in the hillside. A monster sentient and cruel, and so strong that even deity was powerless against it. They had heard of his red eyes, his terrible fangs, and his eight heads. There was no way to make sense of what they saw before them: one of the eight, severed, lifeless.
“Who could possibly have done this?” one of them asked.
“Do we just take it back? We could probably sell it,” the other said, and began to untangle the net from the head. He paused suddenly and held up in his hand a curious object: a large, wide-toothed comb. It dripped salt water on the deck.
“Let me see,” his partner said, and took it in his hand. It was heavier than he expected, and smoother than any piece of woodwork he had ever seen. It was so dark that it seemed to suck in the light from the air directly around it. “What is it?” he asked and ran his thumb down the comb's spine.
Suddenly the tension in the air snapped. Thunder shook the boat and the comb flew from the sailor’s hands. When he opened his eyes, the sun had broken through the clouds, and a young woman lay huddled on the deck, wrapped in black robes. Her face was pale, and her eyes, though frantic, were filled with relief. “Who are you?” he cried, and she began to speak.
“My name is Kushinada-hime,” she began. “You have saved my life. I have drifted like that, entangled in the monster’s head, unable to move or swim or scream, for two days. I could not help but feel that I had met the same fate as my sisters in the end - I was gone, because of Orochi. Gone, but I could not die. I had no need to breathe or eat or sleep. But I could see and feel the ocean all around me. And I began to despair. Susanoo, the brother of the Sun God, made a deal with my father that if he slew the monster, I would be his bride. He turned me into a comb and kept me in his hair to observe the battle free from harm. But carelessly he let me slip from his head and when the tide began to tug the monster’s heads out to sea, he had yet to notice my absence. ”
The sailors were stunned into silence, and she continued: “I don’t want to return to my father’s house or be wed to Susanoo. If you take me to the next town, I promise you will be repaid.” With that, she fell silent. The sailors, frightened by her appearance and knowing her to be divine herself, rowed her to the shore.
She embarked, throwing her cloak over her head, and disappeared into the mist.
The sailors never saw her again, but every day after that always brought home nets full of fish, and they always believed that the young goddess had caused fortune to smile on them.
Author's Note:
Author's Note:
I enjoyed the story of Susanoo and Orochi but I decided to retell the story from a different perspective and give it a different ending. What if Susanoo had dropped the comb? In my story, the lost comb/princess ends up in the hands of two ordinary sailors who help the princess achieve her own path. While Susanoo is divine and a the typical "hero" type, in my story the sailors are the true heroes, as they save the princess in the course of their typical work day. I also let the princess go off on her own at the end of the story. Who knows what happens to her, but it could be the beginning of a whole new myth.
Bibliography:
Bibliography:
"Heavenly Beings: Susanoo and Orochi." https://sites.google.com/view/mythfolkloreanthology/the-divine?authuser=0
Image Information:
Image Information:
The Great Wave off Kanagawa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_art#/media/File:Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa2.jpg
Hi Rachel, I hope you are doing well. I really enjoyed your telling of this myth. It was actually the first time that I have heard of it so you have inspired me to go to the original and to see what you changed and how you managed the different perspective. You used very descriptive words that really helped me paint a mental image of the scene you were depicting! Thank you for writing your version.
ReplyDeleteHi, I think you did a terrific job with this story. You were very eloquent with your words and the story was very engaging. I like the changes you made to characters creating a new path for the entirety of the story. I enjoyed the typical everyday sailors becoming the heros as well as the way in which you allowed the princess to be set free at the end giving readers a chance to think on what is to happen to her.
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