Girl Ghost

There lived a poor girl who was madly in love with the son of an aristocrat.

Her parents made every effort to communicate her love to the son but in vain.

The girl was so despaired that she gradually pined away and died with her affection unfulfilled.

Therefore the girl haunted the son, changing herself into a ghost. The son failed in everything he did because of the ghost.

Thus, he failed in a Kakyo (exam for public services) and was unable to get married. He could not but set out on a wandering journey.

One day, as the son was taking a rest at mountain pass, a monk appeared in front of him.

They started to talk to each other and then began to tell about their personal stories. The monk began to tell his story, “I went to a town asking for alms. I stepped into a house and found a young lady who was weaving some cloth. There was no person around the house. So I could not help repressing my desire and I ran up to her. But she never stopped resisting me, so I stabbed her death with a knife in spite of myself. Since then, I have been on a journey like this.”

Having to hear the story, the son flew into furious anger at the monk. He accused the monk saying how brutal he was that he should attack a young lady to satisfy his desire, and killed her because she did not yield to his desire.

The monk showed no sign of regret for what he had done but he took a “so-what attitude, saying, “You did the same thing killing a lady in your love affair!”

At the mountain pass, they quarreled with each other for a while, but the argument changed into a grapple. Then the monk carelessly lost his footing and fell into a deep valley. He died.

The son regretted his sinful act for a while, when he suddenly heard some strange voice, which was clearly a quarrel between women.

In the night, the son had a dream, in which an unfamiliar lady with blood dripping her chest appeared in front of him and said, “I’m the ghost who was killed by the monk. To reward you for resolving to meet my long-grudge, I killed the ghost by which you had been possessed.”

Finally, the son was released from the girl’s ghost.

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