111 lines
7.3 KiB
Plaintext
111 lines
7.3 KiB
Plaintext
THE WMPRESS JOWKA
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Once upon a time... an Empress lived in Japan. She was young, beautiful,
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kindly, and wise, and her name was Jowka. She dreamt of living in peace,
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thinking of the welfare of her people, but in the northern mountains, a
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rebelion broke out led by prince Kokai. He sent a message to the Empress,
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"Jowka, either you must marry me and share the throne, or I will put your
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kingdom to the flame and sword!" Jowka, who hnew the empresses never flinch at
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threats, replied,
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"Kokai, we shall fight!", and sent an army against the rebels. The army was
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strong and well led and it defeated the rebels in more than one battle. But,
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just before the most important battle of all, something terrible and magical
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happened.
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Kokai pleaded with one of the evil gods and it started to rain. The rivers
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grew swollen with water and broke their banks. There were appaling floods which
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took the Imperial army by susprise and swept it away. Every man, from the
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general to the humblest soldier, was drowned. And Kokai the rebel came down
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from the mountains and approached the capital of the Empire. Jowka sent other
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armies against him, but each one met the same fate: swept away in the swirling
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waters that obeyed Kokai's orders. The whole of Japan was terror-striken. Was
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power to be seized by a merciless rebel magician?
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Jowka was lost in thought over this when, one night, she heard a rustle in
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the room where she was saying her prayers. Lifting her eyes, she saw, standing
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in front of her, a man wearing a long tunic and holding a stick. He had long
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white hair and a flowing beard, as soft as silk. The Empress jumped in
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surprise, but the old man said:
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"Have no fear, Jowka, I'm a friend, I'm the God of Fire. I heard your
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prayers, I know how much you are suffering, and I'm here to help. Don't worry!
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I shall join your armies and Kokai's magic will do nothing against me."
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"Tell me, God of Fire, what must I do?" the Empress murmured.
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"You must gather a new army to send against the rebel. I will march at the
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side of your general." And so the Empress ordered the greatest and biggest
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army ever seen in Japan to be mustered, and a huge number of men, horses and
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chariots set out.
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Everyone, including the Imperial and rebel soldiers, knew that the battle
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about to be fought would be final. The two opposing armies slowly drew closer
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on a vast plain, and the general leading the imperial troops murmured:
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"It is unwise to march here. Kokai could easily flood this area!" The God of
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Fire, marching at the general's side in the guise of a bold young officer said:
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"Have no fear, I'm far stronger than water." There were a few skirmishes,
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then Kokai, high on the mountain where he had made his camp, raised his arms
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invoking the help of the elements. The earth shook, there was a fierce gust of
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wind and an immense rush of water swept down the mountainside onto the plain.
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The Imperial soldiers screamed with terror, but the God of Fire simply said:
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"Keep calm! That water will not even lap our feet." And indeed, the huge
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foaming waves that seemed to gallop towards the army, suddenly slowed down when
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they reached the God of Fire, drew back, split with a tremendous roar and were
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swallowed up by the earth.
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"This is the end of Kokai! March on!" ordered the general, and the entire
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army marched on towards the mountain and defeated the enemy. Kokai saw that
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the rebellion was now over, his power had gone and his fortune too had
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disappeared. But rather than surrender to the Empress Jowka, who would have
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forgiven him, he hurled himself, head first, against the mountain and died. But
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the blow was so hard that the mountain, named Shu, cracked and from the crack
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gushed out fire, poisonous fumes and lava, that quickly invaded the plain
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below, burning and suffocating everything on it. A far worse danger now
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threatened the empier of the wise Jowka!
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The Empress remained quite calm. Then she received another terrible piece of
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knews. The crack in the mountain and the disaster that followed, had also
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cracked the pillars that held up the sky, damaging the pathway along which,
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every day, the Sun and the Moon travelled with their chariots, carrying the
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light.
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In a short time, in fact, a dreadful dark shadow fell over all the world.
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People were afraid of the darkness, they wept and despaired. So wise Jowka
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ordered huge bonfires to be kept alight,so that the flames would give them
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comfort, courage and new hope. And she sent word to all her subjects that they
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should collect blue, white, orange and red stones and bring them to the palace.
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When that was done, the Empress ground down the stones, and made a kind of
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paste, something like liquid porcelain, transparent and shiny.
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She pu it in a pot, then with a magic spell summoned a cloud, climbed on
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top of it and made it carry her to the exact spot where the heavenly pillar was
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cracked. There, she repaired the damage using the sdrange coloured paste. As
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she went back to earth, she said to herself, "There! The pillar is mended. The
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chariots of the Sun and the Moon can take to the road again and the light will
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return." Alas! Things didn't quite happen that way! Days went by and the light
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had still not come back. The Sun and the Moon were nowhere to be seen. And the
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people, who had had such high hopes, again began to weep and wail. Everyone
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began to say, "Oh dear! We shall live the rest of our lives in the dark! We
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will go blind, we will die of the cold! Nothing will grow in the fields, and if
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we survive the dark and the cold, we will die of hunger!"
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Once again, the Empress kept calm and was unworried. She called together all
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the wise men of the realm and asked them to find out what had happened. Long
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discussions took place, then a very learned philosopher went before Jowka and
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told her,
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"Your most gracious Highness, I know exactly what has happened! When the
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pillar of heaven cracked the Sun and the Moon shut themselves away in their
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palaces in alarm. And they have never come out again. How can they possibly
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know the pillar has been repaired?"
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"Yes! Yes! That is so!" shorussed the other wise men. The Empress then said,
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"There is only way to tell them. Send a messenger!"
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"A messenger?" they asked. Jowka went on.
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"Yes. Or rather, two! One to gallop to the Sun and the other to the Moon.
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We can't be discourteous, and if we were to warn one before the other, then the
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second one might take offense." All over the empire, a search was made for two
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horsemen brave enough to face such a long journey, and two horses strong enough
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to gallop into the heart of Day and Night. It wasn't easy to find suitable men
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but in the end, two young men came to Jowka, and she told them what had to be
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done...
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The messengers set off. It was a long and fearful journey, from cloud to
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cloud, from heaven to heaven, through winds and storms, brushing past comets
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and shooting stars. But they delivered the Empress's message to the Sun and the
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Moon. The pillar had been repaired, their chariots could return to the heavenly
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pathways. The Sun and the Moon thanked the messengers.
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The next day, the shadows disappeared from the daylight world, and light
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flooded back again, as before. the two messengers knelt before the Empress on
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their return, but Jowka made them rise to their feet, saying:
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"No! Men like you shall always remain on their feet before anyone on earth,
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for you have looked the Sun and the Moon in the face!"
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