Week 9 Story: The Slug

There once was a man named Hugo. Hugo lived in a humble house with his wife, Margot. Hugo and Margot were a very happy couple and had very little to dispute about. That was until one day, a slimy, fat slug crawled out from under the refrigerator and into the middle of the kitchen floor. Hugo and Margot, a fairly young and newly wedded couple, had never encountered a slug before, and neither of them knew what to do. They both screamed at the fat brown squishy body inching its way across the floor leaving a slime trail behind him. Hugo, not knowing what else to do quickly grabbed a bowl off the counter and tip toed over to the intruder. Carefully and with haste he dropped the bowl on top of the slug, trapping him momentarily until they could figure out what to do. Margot ran to the computer and googled "what is a brown squishy slimy insect type thing". The first thing that popped up was an exact replica of the disgusting creature trapped under the bowl. "It's a slug!" she screamed. "It says we should sprinkle salt on it to kill it!". "Oh no," said Hugo. "I used the rest of the salt on my french fries last night." Margot exchange an annoyed look at Hugo before he abruptly said "I'll grab the key's," and made a mad dash to the store.
 

Margot thought it would be a good idea to keep watch of the slug while Hugo went to buy more salt so that it did not cunningly escape.  It seemed like hours before Hugo returned, and when he finally did with salt in hand, Margot was very relieved.  However, they still had the big battle of killing the slug.  Hugo scooped a big cup of salt out of the bag and approached the bowl on the floor. "Okay, on the count of three lift the bowl and I will dump the salt." "One.......Two.......Three!" Margot quickly lifted the bowl and Hugo dumped the salt all over the little guy.  What followed was quite disgusting.  The slug began to squirm and smoke and ooze even more slime than before.  It was like it was melting like the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz! After a few minutes the slug stopped smoking and laid there in a giant gooey puddle.  Hugo and Margot learned two valuable lessons that day- 1.  It's a good idea to get the house sprayed for pests, and 2. always keep a never ending supply of salt nearby just in case. 

The Slug.  Web Source. 

Author's note: My inspiration for this story came from "My Lord Bag of Rice" from the collection of Japanese Fairy Tales written by Yei Theodora Ozaki.  In the story there was great warrior named Hidesto.  Hidesto was given the task by the Dragon King to kill and evil centipede that had been terrorizing his kingdom. This was no feat for the the brave warrior Hidesto, however when he first attacked the centipede, he found that his arrows simply bounced right off the centipede.  He then remembered that human saliva is toxic to centipedes and the next arrow he shot, he first put it into his mouth to coat it in saliva.  This arrow went right through the centipede's brain and killed him.  In return the Dragon King gave Hidesto a bag of rice that never seemed to run empty.  When reading that human saliva was toxic to centipedes, it reminded me of how salt is toxic to slugs and inspired me to write the story of Hugo and Margot.  I wanted the story to be funny and whimsical, and I can imagine a newly wed couple trying to figure out the feats of owning a house together and encountering things like gross, slimy slugs. 

Reading Notes, Japanese Fairy Tales: Part B

The first story in Part B of Japanese Fairy Tales was called "The Goblin of Adachigahara".  In this story a cannibal goblin takes the form of an old woman and tricks travelers into her home where she then eats them.  This happened to a priest and when the old woman went to collect firewood she warned the priest not to look in the back room.  The priest was unable to kill his curiosity and looked in the back room finding a horrible sight.  Skulls, dead bodies, and blood was everywhere.  He knew he was in the cannibal goblins house and that she would surely eat him when she returned.  He gathered his things and ran from the house.  The cannibal goblin chased him all through the night until day broke and she disappeared.  The priest was safe and thanked Buddha.

The priest running from the Cannibal Goblin.  Web Source.  

The next story was called "The Ogre of Rashomon".  This story was about a cannibal ogre that terrorized a Japanese town.  A band of warriors did not believe in such ogre because they had previously killed all the ogres remaining.  However one night the head warrior came face to face with the ogre and cut off his arm.  Knowing how revengeful ogres can be, he secured the arm in a strong box never to show to anyone.  One night, the warrior's childhood nurse came to him and begged to see the arm.  When he finally obliged the nurse grabbed the arm and transformed into the ogre.  However the ogre ran away, in fear of the warrior's strength and never bothered the Japanese town again. 

The last story was called "The Story of Princess Hase".  This story is about a Minister and his wife who are unable to have a child.  They worshiped at Princess Hase's altar in hopes that she would bring them a child.  Finally a child was born and they named her Hase-Hime.  The mother died when Hase-Hime was 5 and told her to grow up and be a good girl so that's what she did.  Hase-Hime's stepmother was an evil woman and Hase-Hime was a very good musician and was called to perform for the emperor.  The Stepmother tried to posion Hase-Hime but instead poisoned her own son and killed him.  More events trasnpired until eventually the wicked stepmother fled and Hase-Hime never had to deal with her again. 

Bibliography: Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki. Web Source. 

Reading Notes, Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozaki): Part A

The first story in this set of Japanese Folk Tales was called "My Lord Bag of Rice".  This story was about a brave warrior named My Lord Bag of Rice, better known as Hidesato.  On one of his adventures he came across the land of the Dragon King.  The Dragon King and his family had been terrorized by the Evil Centipede forever and The Dragon King asked Hidesato if he could kill him.  This was no feat for Hidesato, however when the time came, his arrows would not penetrate the huge centipede and they would simply bounce off.  Then, Hidesato remembered that human saliva kills centipedes.  The next arrow that he shot, he put in his mouth first and sure enough it hit the centipede right in the brain and killed him.  The Dragon King gave Hidesato many gifts including a bag of rice that never ran out. 

Hidesato facing the Evil Centipede. Web Source. 

The next story in the reading was called The Adventures of Kintaro.  This story was about a young boy named Kintaro that lived in the woods with this mother and had incredible strength.  One day, as he was playing wrestling with his friends bear, deer, hare and monkey, a general of the army say his great strength and followed him home.  At home, he told Kintaro and his mother who he was and offered to take Kintaro to the capital to be trained as a great samurai.  He did so, and Kintaro became the Chief of the Four Braves, and built a house for his mother to stay with him in the capital for the rest of her days. 

The last story of this reading was called The Man Who Did Not Wish to Die.  This story was about a man who enjoyed life and never wanted to die.  He prayed to the god Jokfu that he may find the elixr of life, and while he was praying he fell asleep and had a great dream where he was flown to the Land of Perpetual Life by a paper crane.  In the Land of Perpetual Life, noone was happy and they all wished to die because they had lived so long.  Sentaro eventually felt this way too and prayed again to go back home.  While praying the paper crane emerged from his pocket and flew him back towards Japan, however they got caught in a storm and fell into the ocean where a shark almost ate him.  Here Sentaro woke up and a messenger of Jokfu told him what happened and to be content with the life he has. 

Bibliography: Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki. Web Source.