Chapter 17 in the jungle

in the jungle Akutagawa Ryunosuke The testimony of a woodcutter when interrogated by the constable Yes, that body was found by me.Today, I went to the back mountain to cut cedar trees according to my daily habit, and suddenly saw that corpse lying on the grass behind the mountain.That place is about a mile away from Shanke Dalu, where bamboo bushes and small cedar trees grow everywhere, a place that is rarely visited by people. The corpse was wearing a light blue silk coat and an old-fashioned city hat. It was lying on its back on the ground. It seemed that it was more than one knife wound on its chest. The bamboo leaves next to the corpse were all stained red with blood, no, blood. The bleeding had stopped, the wound was dry, and a horsefly just happened to land on the wound and did not hear my footsteps.

I didn't find the murder knife, no, I didn't find anything, only a rope hanging from the nearby cedar tree.Next to the corpse are these two things.However, the grass and fallen leaves on the ground were trampled in a mess, there must have been a fierce fight before he was killed.What?horse?Without horses, horses cannot enter that place, and the mountain road where horses can walk is separated by a bush. Testimony of a monk during interrogation by the inspector This man, now a corpse, I did meet yesterday.It was yesterday... probably at noon, on the road from Guanshan to Shanke. He was walking with a woman riding a horse. The woman lowered her head. I couldn't see her face clearly. I only saw her wearing clothes with a flower pattern , the horse is brown, with two long manes hanging over its face, and the horse is about four inches high.I'm a monk, so I don't know much about it.The man—no, he carried a waist knife, and a bow and arrow. There was a black lacquered quiver with about twenty arrows stuck in it.I still remember this very clearly.

① The height of the horse body in ancient Japan is based on the ancient Japanese chi four chi, and its remainder is only mentioned. I never dreamed that this person would become what he is now, just like the morning dew in life.Ouch, there is nothing more to say, so sad! Captor's testimony during interrogation by the patrolling officer I caught this man, and he was indeed Tajomaru, a well-known bandit.When I caught him, he fell off his horse and was whimpering in pain on the Kuritaguchi stone bridge.What is the time? It looked like it was changed at the beginning of last night.At that time, he was wearing this blue and black silk shirt, with an unsheathed knife, which is what he saw now, and a bow and arrow.Right, this is the weapon that the deceased carried during his lifetime—then, the murderer must be this Tajomaru.A bow covered in cowhide, a black lacquered quiver, and seventeen eagle-haired arrows—they must belong to the dead man.Yes, and the horse, a brown horse with two manes on its face.He fell off his horse, which is also karma.The horse was tied with a long bridle in front of the stone bridge, and was gnawing the green grass by the roadside.

This guy named Tajomaru is well-known among the robbers in the capital.Last autumn, he killed a female pilgrim and a little girl on the mountain behind the Bintoulu Buddha in Bird Temple.It is not known where the woman on the horse went after he killed this time.Please forgive me for talking too much. Testimony of an old woman when interrogated by a police officer Yes, the man who was killed was my daughter's husband.However, he was not from Jingli, he was a samurai of the Wakasa Kingdom, his name was Takehiro Kanazawa, he was twenty-six years old, with a gentle temperament, unfortunately he had such an evil death.

Daughter, my daughter's name is Masa, she is nineteen years old, she is a strong woman with a masculine spirit, and there is no other man except Take Hiroshi.Her face is slightly dark, with a mole at the corner of her left eye, and a small oval face. Wu Hong went to Wakasa with my daughter yesterday, and such a disaster happened unexpectedly.My son-in-law is gone, but my daughter's whereabouts are unknown, which makes me very worried.I beg you to see my wife, even if all the grass and trees on the mountain have been cut down, I still have to find out the whereabouts of my daughter.The most abominable thing is this bandit named Tajo Maru. He not only killed my son-in-law, but also killed my daughter...

Tajo Maru's Confession I killed this man, but I didn't kill the woman, and I don't know where she went.Wait a minute, no matter what punishment you impose, I still don't know what I don't know.I've been caught, I have nothing to hide. It was after noon yesterday that I met a couple.It was windy at that time, and the silk ribbon on the brim of the hat was blown up by the wind, and I saw the woman's face--after seeing it for a while, I couldn't see it anymore. Probably because of this, I felt that the woman was like a Guanyin, and immediately moved. If you think about it, you must get this woman, even if you want to kill the man, you will do it.

Killing a person is commonplace for me, and it is not as big a deal as you think.But I kill people with knives, you don’t kill people with knives, you use your power, money, or whatever tongue, you can kill people with a single sentence, without bloodshed of course, and people are still alive—but this is also killing people.If you want to talk about crimes, it is hard to say whether you are the most guilty or I am the most guilty (sarcastically laughing). But there is nothing wrong with getting a woman without killing a man.No, that's what I thought at the time, try not to kill as much as possible, and definitely get the woman.But on that Shanke Road, of course you can't do it.In this way, I tried to find a way to take the couple to the mountain nest.

The matter was not difficult. I became their traveling companion and told them that many ancient mirrors and swords were dug out from an ancient tomb on the mountain over there. I have secretly buried them in the grass behind the mountain. If you want, I can sell it to you at a low price for any amount you want—the man was a little tempted after hearing my words.In the future—how, it is scary to be greedy.Half an hour later, the couple and I drove the horse up the mountain road. We walked to the front of the grass, and I said that the treasure is buried there, let's go and have a look together.The man became greedy and agreed, so he asked the woman to wait on the horse, because the horse couldn't get in the grass.I originally planned to leave the woman alone and lead the man into the grass.

At the beginning of the grass, there were some small bamboos, and after walking about a few tens of feet, there were some fir trees—this was really a good place for me to do it.As soon as the man heard what I said, he looked at the place where there were cedar trees and ran quickly.There are few bamboo bushes here, and there are a few cedar trees in front-I went there and knocked him to the ground immediately by surprise.He was carrying a knife and seemed to be quite skilled in martial arts, but he couldn't withstand my sudden attack, so I tied him to a cedar tree after all.Rope, we are robbers, we have to climb walls and roofs at any time, so we always carry the rope with us.Of course, in order to prevent him from yelling, I grabbed a handful of bamboo leaves from the ground and stuffed them into his mouth, so I wouldn't be afraid of him.

I tidied up the man, and then ran to the woman, saying that the man suddenly had a sudden illness and told her to go see him.This move was really successful, the woman took off the hat on her head, asked me to hold hands, and walked into the chaotic grass. Once there, she saw the man tied to a tree——immediately pulled out a knife from her bosom.I have never seen such a fierce woman. At that time, if someone was caught off guard, the knife would be stabbed in the stomach, and there would be no way to escape. She must have been stabbed a few times by her, or at least injured, but I am Tajomaru. Before she could draw the knife herself, she knocked her small knife to the ground.No matter how strong a woman is, she can't do anything without a guy in her hand.In the end, he finally got his wish, and obediently got the woman without killing the man.

Don't kill the man, yes, I didn't intend to kill him, but when I left the crying woman lying on the ground and ran out of the grass, the woman dragged my arm like crazy, crying intermittently : "If you die or my husband dies, one of the two must die. I can't be insulted like this in front of two men. It's more painful than my death. Of the two, I will be the one who survived. ’—that’s what she was, panting.That's when I made up my mind to kill the man (gloomily excited). When I say this, you must think that I am crueler than you.But, that's because you didn't see the fire from her eyes at that time. When I saw those eyes, I felt that even if I would be killed by thunder, I must take this woman as my wife and make her my wife. A wife—that was my only wish at the time.This is not the nasty pornography that you think. If I had thought of nothing but pornography at that time, I would have kicked her over and ran away, and that man would not have used his blood to stain my knife red up.But when I stared at the woman's face in the dark grass, I already expected that if I didn't kill the man, I wouldn't be able to leave there. If I wanted to kill someone, I would kill him in a dignified way. I untied the rope on his body and asked him to fight with me (the rope that fell on the fir tree was forgotten to take away at that time).The man's face was flushed, he pulled out his waist knife, and without saying a word, he rushed towards me furiously - the result of this fierce fight, of course, needless to say.We fought twenty-three rounds before I pierced his chest.The twenty-third round, please don't forget that I still admire him secretly until now, he is the only one in the world who can win twenty rounds against me (laughs happily). I killed the man and looked back at the woman, somehow—she was gone.I don't know where she fled to. I searched everywhere in the cedar forest, but I couldn't see her on the ground with fallen bamboo leaves. When I listened carefully, I could only hear the man's dying gasp. Probably when we started the operation, she had already escaped to find someone to call for help. ——I thought, now I have to save my life, I grabbed the knife and bow and arrow in my hand, and immediately ran back to the mountain road when I came back.There, the horse the woman was riding just now was grazing quietly.There is no need to say more about the future.I only threw away the bloody knife when I entered the city - this is my confession, anyway, sooner or later my head will be hung on a weed tree, so please sentence me to death (with a proud attitude). Confession of a woman who came to Kiyomizu Temple ——When the man in the blue and black silk shirt raped me, he turned around and laughed at my husband who was tied to the tree.Of course my husband was very embarrassed and twisted his body vigorously, but the rope on his body became tighter and tighter.I stood up, ran and rolled to my husband, no, before I got close to him, he kicked me to the ground.At this time, I saw an indescribable light in my husband's eyes, and I didn't know what to say—I still can't help trembling when I think of this look.Although the husband didn't speak, but from this look, he has conveyed what he wanted to say in his heart.It's not anger, it's not sadness, it's just contempt for me.What a cruel look, it hit me harder than kicking me. I couldn't help screaming, and passed out all of a sudden. When I woke up, the man in the blue and black silk shirt was gone, and my husband was still tied to the cedar tree.With great difficulty, I stood up from the ground covered with bamboo leaves and looked at my husband's face.His eyes remained the same, unchanged at all, cold and contemptuous.Shame, sadness, anger—I don't know how to describe my feelings at that time, I stumbled to my husband's side. "Master, it has come to pass, and I can no longer live with you. I am determined to die, but--but you must die, you have seen my disgrace, and I cannot leave you alone in the world." It took me a lot of effort to say these words, but my husband still looked at me contemptuously.I suppressed the excitement in my heart and went to find my husband's waist knife. The knife had been taken away by the robbers, and the bow and arrow were no longer on the grass.Fortunately, there was a small knife at my feet, so I picked it up and said to my husband: "I want your life now, and I will die with you immediately!" My husband moved his lips when he heard my words. His mouth was stuffed with fallen leaves and he couldn't make a sound, but I immediately understood what he meant.He was still very contemptuous of me and said "Kill!"As if in a dream, I stabbed him into the chest of his light blue silk shirt. At that time, I passed out again. When I woke up again, my husband was still tied to the tree and had passed away. The sunset light leaked in through the bamboo leaves and shone on his pale face. I suppressed crying and untied the corpse. rope.In the future... In the future, I don't have the courage to say it anymore. In short, I don't have the strength to commit suicide.I wanted to stab myself in the throat with a knife, I wanted to throw myself into the swamp below the mountain, I tried all kinds of ways to die, but I couldn't die.I'm too cowardly, what else can I say (lonely laugh).For a useless person like me, I don’t know if Guanyin Bodhisattva will have mercy on me. I have lost my body to robbers, and I don’t know what I will do...I... (suddenly burst into tears.) Through the mouth of the witch, the words of the ghost of the dead — After the robber raped my wife, he sat there to comfort her.I couldn't open my mouth, and my body was tied to the tree again. I pointed my eyes at my wife again and again.I want to tell her, don't believe what the robber says, everything he says is a lie. —but my wife sat silently on the fallen leaves, looked down at her knees, and listened intently.My heart was full of envy, and my body was on fire.But the robber still said in a flattering way: "You have lost your virginity. If you can no longer reconcile with your husband, you might as well be my wife if you go with him. I will treat you well, and I will work properly!" This bold man The robber finally said such a thing. The wife listened and raised her face blankly. I have never seen my wife so beautiful.But this beautiful wife, in my presence, guess how she answered the robber?I have now arrived in another world, but when I think of my wife answering the robber's words at that time, I still feel as uncomfortable as burning all over my body.That's what my wife actually said: "Then go anywhere with you!" (Long silence.) My wife's sin is not only this, if only this, I would not be in such pain in the black hell now.But when my wife dreamed of being supported by the robbers to leave the grass and go outside, she suddenly changed her face, pointed at me who was tied to the tree and said, "Kill this man. He is alive, so I can't be with you." She yelled frantically: "Kill this man!"—these words were like a storm, and today I seem to be able to hear them from a distance in this dark hell.A person's mouth can actually say such vicious words, can a person's ears actually hear such vicious words once? ——(Suddenly, a mocking laugh is made.) Hearing this, even the robber turned pale with fright. "Kill him!" cried the wife, grabbing the robber's arm.The robber looked at my wife blankly, and neither said to kill nor refused to kill—at this moment, he kicked my wife to the fallen leaves (laughing again).The robber put his hands on his chest, looked at me and said, "What's the matter with this woman, do you want to die? Do you want to live? Nod your head! Will you kill me?"——I listened to what the robber said, and I am willing to forgive him all his sins ( Another long silence). When I didn't give a clear answer to the robber, my wife suddenly yelled and ran to the depths of the grass. The robber chased after her, but he didn't seem to hold her back. I watched the scene like a phantom. After my wife fled, the robber took a big knife, a bow and arrow, and cut the rope that bound me. "Now, it depends on my fate!"——When the robber disappeared in the grass, I remember hearing him say this to himself.Afterwards, there was silence all around.No, I hear people crying.While untying the rope myself, I listened to the crying sound. It turned out that I was crying myself (the third long silence). After some difficulty, I stood up from under the cedar tree with my tired body.In front of me was a small knife dropped by my wife. I picked it up and stabbed it into my chest.A stream of blood spewed out of my mouth, I didn't feel any pain at all, I just felt a coldness in my heart.There was even more silence around.In the sky above the grass behind the mountain, there is not even a flying bird, only a faint sunlight leaking from the end of the bamboo tree. .I just fell to the ground and was buried in silence. At this time, I seemed to hear light footsteps, walking towards me, the surroundings were already dark, and I couldn't see who it was——whose hand pulled out the knife from my chest, and at the same time, another burst of blood gushed out of my mouth. Blood flowed, and thus I fell into darkness. Made in December 1921 Translated by Lou Shiyi March 1976