The ghostly marauder

Press, 23 September 1980, Page 14

The ghostly marauder

Farmers and gardeners in a Japanese village were puzzled about the havoc being caused by the trampling hooves of an unknown marauder. A small, boy solved the mystery, and an artist provided a solution which turned out to be a punishment to suit the crime, so to speak. Early one sunny morning an old gardener stood looking sadly at his broken flowers and shrubs. Several people stopped by to sympathise. They knew how the man felt because the same thing had happened to them. But more serious , than the spoiled gardens in the village was the damage to rice crops in the outlying fields. These country folk depended on rice for their daily food. While they were talking together something happened which drove the mystery of the trampling hooves from their minds, for the time being. The gardener’s wife rushed out . of thf house to tell her husband that their young son was not in his. bed. . .. Greatly alarmed, the old man began to search for the boy. His friendly neighbours helped, and more of the villagers . joined the search as the news spread. At last the lad was found, sound asleep in a nearby field. Thinking their son had been playing a trick on them, the worried parents were angry at first, but their annoyance faded as they listened to his story. While the village slept the boy had been keeping watch, and he. had seen the midnight intruder. ' It was a large black horse which galloped over the fields and gardens, pausing sometimes to nibble some grass or a tasty plant.. That night the men of

the village turned out to watch. About midnight a cloud drifted across the moon, and in the ghostly light a large black horse appeared trotting noiselessly over the grass. Carrying ropes and lanterns the watchers ran out to capture the invader but they had no hope of doing so. The horse wheeled in and out among them. Then it galloped like the wind towards a temple on the outskirts of the village, and vanished. When the men ran into the temple there was no horse to be seen. No living horse, that is. ■ By the light of the lanterns they saw a newlypainted picture of a large black horse, and it was steaming. The onlookers stared ip amazement, not knowing what to do. When the villagers recovered from the shock, they decided that the menace must be destroyed. They rushed to the artist’s house and nearly dragged him from his bed to paint over the weird and frightening “dark horse.” picked up his paint box and hurried to the temple. • He knew he must curb the spirited animal he had created. As he sped along the way he thought out a plan that would satisfy the .excited crowd without ruining the painting, and. this is what he did. < . Instead of painting over the runaway horse, he added a halter and tethering post to the picture. The horse was never at large again, but the gardener’s boy was uneasy ever after. When he looked at the painting on the temple wall, he sometimes fancied he saw a vicious look in the horse’s eye, and had. a feeling that its hooves ■ ' were itching to lash out at its betrayer.