secret died with him.




YUKI-ONNA


In a village of Musashi Province (1), there lived two woodcutters: Mosaku
and Minokichi. At the time of which I am speaking, Mosaku was an old man;
and Minokichi, his apprentice, was a lad of eighteen years. Every day they
went together to a forest situated about five miles from their village. On
the way to that forest there is a wide river to cross; and there is a
ferry-boat. Several times a bridge was built where the ferry is; but the
bridge was each time carried away by a flood. No common bridge can resist
the current there when the river rises.



Mosaku and Minokichi were on their way home, one very cold evening, when a
great snowstorm overtook them. They reached the ferry; and they found that
the boatman had gone away, leaving his boat on the other side of the river.
It was no day for swimming; and the woodcutters took shelter in the
ferryman's hut, -- thinking themselves lucky to find any shelter at all.
There was no brazier in the hut, nor any place in which to make a fire: it
was only a two-mat [1] hut, with a single door, but no window. Mosaku and
Minokichi fastened the door, and lay down to rest, with their straw
rain-coats over them. At first they did not feel very cold; and they
thought that the storm would soon be over.