Thursday, October 3, 2019

Reading Notes: Japanese Mythology Part B

One day Yamato begins to grow weary of his princess's devotion. He has no more battles to fight and is unsure if she needs him. Because of this he begins to yearn for the mysterious siren. He wanders to the Isle of Enoshima to try and find her.

He follows a haunting melody to get there. Eventually the melody leads him down the side of a jagged cliff. At the bottom he finds a grotto that glowed with an emerald light. He can still hear the haunting voice, and he begins to see shadows of celestial girls on the wall so he swims to the mouth of the cave. However, he begins to hesitate because he has been warned about grottoes before. They are often a trap that unsuspecting victims get lured into. He gives it some thought, and then he hears the voice again so he decides to keep following it.

Once he reaches the cave he comes across a monstrous dragon. Yamato was afraid of nothing so he pushed on past the dragon. As he ventures further in he comes to a grand entrance. The floor of the entrance was covered with gold sand and white pebbles.The gate of the entrance was made with diamond and encrusted with jade.

He enters and he encounters the siren he has been searching for. She is playing a melody on her lute. She tells Yamato that she is Benten, the Goddess of deathless love. There are lesser siren there swimming around and singing that haunting song. Yamato has come all this way to ask the siren for her love so he does. The siren says he can have her love, but it is not going to be easy. She tells him that if he wants love he has to defy death. She tells him he has sail to Horaizon and get the golden apple of immortal youth.

Image result for golden apple

Bibliography:
Romance of Old Japan by E. W. Champney and F. Champney (1917).

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