The Fifth Night

by Natsume Sōseki

I had a dream like this.

It was an era close to the age of the gods, long, long ago. I was leading an army, but unfortunately, we were defeated and I was captured by the enemy. When I was brought before the enemy general, everyone around him was tall and had long beards. They wore leather belts from which hung sword-like rods. Their bows were made from thick wisteria vines, unlacquered and unpolished, extremely rustic.

The enemy general gripped the middle of his bow with his right hand, thrust it into the grass, and sat on something resembling a sake jar. Looking at his face, his eyebrows were thick and connected above his nose, and it seemed that in those days, people did not shave their hair.

As a prisoner, I could not sit on a chair, so I sat cross-legged on the grass. I wore large straw boots on my feet, which were deep and came up to my knees when I stood. The ends were left partially woven into tassels, which swayed and served as decoration when I walked.

The general stared at my face in the light of the bonfire and asked, "Live or die?" This was a custom of that era; every prisoner was asked this question. If I answered "live," it meant I surrendered. If I said "die," it meant I would not submit. I simply replied, "die." Then, the general threw the bow he had thrust into the grass to the side and began to smoothly draw the rod-like sword from his waist. At that moment, the bonfire, swaying in the wind, blew from the side. I spread my right hand like a maple leaf, turned my palm towards the general, and raised it above my eyes. It was a signal to "wait." The general sheathed his thick sword.

Love existed even in that era. I wished to see the woman I loved one last time before I died. The general said, "I will wait until dawn, until the rooster crows." I had to summon the woman here before the rooster crowed. If the rooster crowed and she did not arrive, I would be killed without seeing her.

The general sat watching the bonfire. I waited for the woman on the grass, wearing large straw boots. The night was gradually deepening.

Occasionally, the sound of the bonfire collapsing echoed. Each time it collapsed, the flames flickered as if approaching the general. Under his pitch-black eyebrows, the general's eyes sparkled. Then, someone came and threw many new branches into the fire. After a while, the fire began to crackle. The sound was brave, as if repelling the darkness.

At that moment, the woman led out a white horse that had been tied to the oak tree in the back. She stroked its mane three times and lightly leaped onto its high back. It was a bare horse, without a saddle or stirrups. When she kicked the horse's belly with her long white legs, the horse galloped off all at once. Someone added more fuel to the bonfire, making the distant sky appear faintly bright. The horse flew through the darkness, aiming for that brightness. It exhaled two pillars of breath like fire from its nostrils, and the woman frequently kicked the horse's belly with her slender legs. The horse flew so fast that the sound of its hooves echoed in the air. The woman's hair trailed like a streamer in the darkness, but she had not yet reached the location of the bonfire.

Then, by the side of the pitch-dark road, a rooster's crow suddenly echoed, "Cock-a-doodle-doo!" The woman tensed up and firmly tightened the reins she held in both hands. The horse stomped its front hooves as if carving them into the hard rock.

"Cock-a-doodle-doo," the rooster crowed again.

The woman exclaimed, "Ah!" and loosened the tightened reins all at once. The horse bent its knees and, along with her, plunged straight forward. Below the rock was a deep abyss.

The hoof prints still remain on the rock. It was Amanozako who mimicked the rooster's crow. As long as these hoof prints are carved into the rock, Amanozako is my enemy.