Magic Circle, by John William Waterhouse (1886)
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As the warrior Saito headed home from his 3 year long job as a police agent, he pondered something that he heard from reports of his hometown: the cannibal of the Adachigahara province was on the rampage again. There was old folk tale about a cannibalistic goblin of the Adachigahara province, who disguised itself as human. Riako worried for his wife Tokio, who was waiting for him at his home in Adachigahara. He thought it was strange that the day he married his wife that the string of attacks stopped the last time the cannibal goblin was killing.
As the night was beginning to show on
the plain overlooking Adachigahara, Saiko finds his way to his home town. Nothing seems to have been disturbed or ruined, and everything seemed hauntingly quiet. He then makes it further into the forest where his and Tokyo's home is. He remembered that the one thing tha3t both his wife and him always wanted was a little home in the woods all to themselves: secluded enough to get peace and quiet, but not too far from town to be isolated.
As the wind whistles through the branches of the trees, Saito sees that the only light in the dark valley is coming from his home. He rushes up the porch to the door, hoping nothing has happened to Tokio. But just as he reaches for the door, Tokio comes from the shadow of the porch with a smile on her face. She greets him warmly and offers him dinner on the porch. "It's such a lovely night," she says. So they dine on the porch, and Tokio laments how she's missed Saito.
"I think we should head inside where it's warmer." says Saito.
"Oh, that, I haven't finished cleaning the house yet. I would hate for you to see it now. We can sleep in the guest house tonight." Tokio replies assuredly. "That's where I have been for the past few weeks after all."
But as they continue the conversation, Saito smells a distinctive scent coming from inside the house that only a warrior would know: the smell of blood.
Saito takes Tokio from the porch, then he turns toward the closed front door whispering "What is in the house?"
"Like I said, I haven't been there in weeks: I planned to clean it up after getting supplies from town." Tokio repeated, "Our shipments haven't been coming to the house as they usually do."
"Haven't you heard? The cannibal is attacking again. Haven't you noticed that's why the shipments haven't been coming in?!" Saito exclaimed, drawing his sword and leaping towards the door prepared.
"But we have plenty to eat!" Tokio implored to Saito. But Saito didn't hear her, as he was stunned with horror: the entire house was strewn with the bloody remains of the townsfolk. Saito slowly turns back to face Tokio, who, in the wake of pure moonlight, shows her true self: she maintains her womanly beauty, but with the features of a terrible goblin with bat wings, lizard's skin, and the eyes of a cat.
"After I married you Saito, I found peace of mind," said Tokio softly "But when you left for your duties, I could not hold myself back any longer.... All I wanted was a little cottage with you, till we both grew old and died together. And we can still have that if you stay."
Saito raises his sword, but Tokio floats up to his side and whispers in his ear, "Please choose me. Choose happiness. Now choose..."
Author's Note:
This story is a retelling of the Goblin of Adachigahara, which is about a priest who confronts a goblin cannibal disguised as a kind old woman and defeats her. Since the original story was told from a very detached point of view, I wanted to insert an element of personal entanglement to the story to make it more interesting. I thought it would be more enticing if the main character would have the skills and mindset to take down the cannibal goblin, but be conflict about taking the life of his own wife. After all, he could very well live with her as she wanted, or bring justice. And since I didn't know which would be the better ending, I chose to leave it as a cliff-hanger.
Bibliography:
Author: Yei Ozaki; Story: Goblin of Adachigahara; Year of Publication: 1908; Link to story
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This story was very in detail and interesting. I can tell that you really used your imagination, which is great! To improve the flow of the story and to make it easier to read, I would suggest adding some more spacing in between the paragraphs. Also, try to make the entire story the same font. Other than a few easy fixes, the story was great! Good job!
ReplyDeleteI really loved how you wrote this story. It really created great connection between the reader and the narrator/storyteller. I also liked that you used a lot of dialogue. It really kept the story interesting and made the characters more relatable. It gave them more depth. However, I think Mary is right and that a little spacing would be nice. It would break the story up better, but otherwise I definitely enjoyed it.
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