Spendor of Okinawa Bonus: A story from the Ryukyu Kingdom (Sunday: 24de23, Merry Christmas!)

The Salt-spewing Mill


A long long time ago, there were two brothers. The older one was rich but outrageously greedy. The younger one was poor but kind-hearted.


One New Year’s Eve, a white-bearded old man came along to the younger brother’s house and asked, “I’m a traveler. Could you please let me stay here just for the night?” The younger brother, seeing how tired the old man looked, replied, “If you don’t mind staying in a shack like this, you’re welcome.” So, seemingly relieved, the old man entered the house.

        

However, the younger brother had nothing to eat in the house. So, he went to his older brother’s house and pleaded, “As you’re my brother, could you please lend me just a little rice, because I have a guest and I’m embarrassed to have nothing to offer him.”

        

But, with his face flushing red, the cold-hearted older brother shouted, “What nonsense! I don’t have a grain of rice or anything else to give away. Get out of here, now!” and chased his younger brother away. So, the younger brother had no choice but to walk home dejectedly, step by step. 


Along the way, he heard a man’s voice calling him from ahead on the dark night road, and getting nearer, found it was the white-bearded old man.The old man said with a smile, “Thank you for your trouble. Your kindness is worth more than the most delicious of food to me.” 


Then the old man picked up a pebble at his foot. He blew his breath on the pebble and, mysteriously, the pebble changed in an instant into a small  mill made of stone. Then he said to the wide-eyed young man, “This mill is a treasure mill. If you turn it to the right, whatsoever you wish for will come out of it. Please accept it as a token of my gratitude.” At the very instant that the old man handed the mill to the young man, he vanished.


So, the younger brother was delighted and took the mill home. As soon as he got home, he tried turning the mill to the right, “Rice, please, out, out, rice, come out!” Sure enough, pure white rice came gushing out. 


Amazed, the younger brother now had plenty of rice, and so shared it  with the impoverished villagers. For that year there had been a bad harvest and the villagers were troubled at having to face their New Year celebrations without any food to enjoy it. Due to the younger brother’s thoughtfulness, the villagers could celebrate a truly happy New Year.


News of the mill spread quickly throughout the village. When the older brother, the greedy one, heard about it, he could not stop craving that mill. So, one night he secretly stole the mill, got in a boat, and went far, far out to sea thinking, “With this, yours truly will become one incredibly rich man!”

        

Once out at sea, the older brother began turning the mill to the right. He ground and ground with a greedy smile on his face and shouted with a laugh, “Gold, come out, hah, hah, hah, enough gold to fill a storehouse. Gold, come on out!”

        

But for some reason, all that came out was bitter white salt. The older brother roared angrily, “Salt? It’s not salt I need. I want gold. Gold, come out!” But no matter how much he shouted and ground, all that came out was salt.


Then, the mill began turning by itself, and nothing the greedy brother did could stop it. So, the boat filled up with salt. Up to his neck in salt, he cried, “Stop, stop, or the boat will sink! Help me, please!” But finally, he and the boat sank together into the sea.

        

They say the sea is salty now because that very same mill is still turning and spewing salt at the bottom of the sea.  

  Note on pronunciation: Okinawan consonants sound much the same as their alphabetical counterparts in English. Vowels follow the sounds of the a,e,i,o,u of Italian or Spanish. Doubling means that the vowel is lengthened, not repeated.

 Story: compiled and written in Japanese by Kyoko Ishikawa. English translation by William A. O’Donnell (odomnail@rocketmail.com), edited by Thomas Marsh.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In the suit over exercise of proxy in the case of the weak seabed at the new Henoko base, judgment to be handed down on 20 December. (4de23)

Image
Splendor of Okinawa: Shrubby Bush Clover, roadside Uruma, 30no23 The seabed at the new base construction site at Henoko in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, is weak and needs reinforcement. So, the Okinawa Defense Bureau requested permission for the necessary design changes, but Governor Denny Tamaki refused. In response, the Government intends to exercise proxy to give itself permission in place of the governor. The Naha Branch of the Fukuoka High Court announced on 29 November that it will hand down its judgment in the lawsuit filed over the case at 2 pm on 20 December. At the trial on 30 October, Governor Denny Tamaki emphasized in the first oral arguments, “We can in no way accept this exercise of proxy, which violates the autonomy and independence of Okinawa.”  He further stressed the will of the prefecture’s people in opposition to the new base construction as the ‘Public will’. In addition, he requested to show that the  path to resolution lay in dialogue. The trial was conclud...
Read more

Governor Denny receives the report on JUNGLIA at the 4 month mark after its opening. (7de25)

Image
Splendor of Okinawa: Temple Tree, Mihama Beach, 1de25 CEO Takeshi Kato of Japan Entertainment (JE), which manages JUNGLIA Okinawa, visited Governor Denny Tamaki at the Prefectural Office on 28 November.  　 The CEO reported on the 4 months since the attraction’s opening. He repeatedly brought up dealing with operational improvements and such based on the voices of visitors to the park.  　 The CEO specifically mentioned the evening concerts in the park’s garden and, starting from December, the free entry of one child with each adult, targeting the prefecture’s people. CEO Kato stated, “We’d like to be contributing to Okinawa’s tourism as well.” Governor Tamaki, alluding to his speech the same day, entitled “Declaration on Sustainable Tourism”, stated, “For the people, employees, and tourists of our prefecture, this is an important win-win format. We’d like to have JE’s cooperation in many, many more initiatives.” Original Japanese article: Ryukyu Shimpo, published Sunday 30 Nov...
Read more

In Okinawa, Candidate Takara takes hold of the Henoko opposition parties as their new face, urging,”Let’s earnestly come to grips with these issues together.” (21jy25).

Image
Splendor of Okinawa: Mexican Petunia, Gushikawa RC Church, 13jy25. In the House of Councilors Election for the Okinawa Election District, independent candidate Sachika Takara (46), endorsed by All Okinawa, which opposes the relocation of the US Military Futenma Airfield in Ginowan to Henoko in Nago, both in Okinawa Prefecture, scored a victory. She defeated the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Party’s new candidate Ryo Okuma (38) in the election campaign.  Candidate Takara pledged before her supporters, “The Henoko problem is something our prefecture’s people have taken into our hearts. We’re going to earnestly come to grips with it together.”  With their eyes on a victory in next year’s gubernatorial election, her victory was a bitter blow to the LDP. Governor Denny Tamaki, who held the job of Candidate Takara’s campaign headquarters chief, stressed, “The will of the people in opposition to the relocation remains unshaken.” In recent mayoral elections, All Okinawa’s fortunes ha...
Read more