Kyaw Myint Aye - The Prince and the Snake International Stories

Long ago, in the Suguga Plains, there lived a woodcutter named Bisu. He was a big Japanese man who lived in a hut with his wife and children.

One day, an old monk came to Visu and asked him, "Didn't the woodcutter Daka ever pray?"

Visu replied, “If the monk has a wife and children to support, he will never have time to pray.”

This angered the monk and he began to preach to the woodcutter, using frightening arguments that if the woodcutter died, he would be reborn as a frog, a mouse, or an insect. Not liking this preaching, Visu promised the monk that he would worship him again.

"Work and pray," the priest said, and he returned to the monastery.

Unfortunately, after the monk left, Visu did nothing but pray all day. As a result, the rice crops he had planted withered, and his wife and children also went hungry. Visu's wife, who had never spoken harshly to her husband, now became very angry and started shouting at Visu, showing off the children's emaciated bodies.

"Wake up, Visu, instead of praying with your mouth full of snot, take up your axe and do something that will benefit us all."

Visu was so taken aback by his wife's words that he couldn't think of what to say in reply for a long time. When he did, his words were burning in his poor wife's ears.

"Women and gods should be given priority. It's very rude of you to say that to me."

"I have nothing to do with you anymore."

"Yes," said Visu, and without saying goodbye to his wife, he quickly grabbed his axe and climbed Mount Fuji. Soon, he disappeared into the snow and mist.

Visu was sitting on a mountain and hearing the sound of the wind and the wind blowing. Then suddenly he saw a jackal running into the forest. He thought it was very lucky to see the jackal and forgot about his prayers. He suddenly jumped up and started running forward and backward, hoping to see the creature with the sharp beak again.

He came to a place in the forest and was about to stop following the fox when he saw two young women sitting by a stream. The woodcutter was so intrigued that he stopped doing anything and just sat there watching them. Everything was silent except for the chirping of the birds in the forest and the sound of the flowing stream.

The young women were completely oblivious to Visu. Because they were completely absorbed in playing a strange game that never ended. Visu could not take his eyes off the two beautiful women. He stared at the long dark hair of the young women, their beautiful features in their silk dresses.

He sat there for three hundred years, but it seemed like only a summer afternoon. Then, when a young woman made a mistake while playing, he

"You're going to lose, sweet girl."

"I'm so excited!" he shouted. Immediately, the two young women turned into foxes and ran away.

As Visu tried to follow them, his limbs became very numb, and he was shocked to see that his hair was very long, and his beard was even down to the ground. In addition, the bone of the axe in his hand had rotted and turned into dust.

Visu stood up with great difficulty and slowly walked towards his house. When he reached his house, he saw nothing. At that moment, he saw an old woman and said,

"This is my sister... I'm surprised that my house is gone. I left this afternoon and when I returned in the evening, my house was gone," she said.

The old woman believed what he said and asked him his name. When he told her his name, the old woman was very surprised and said, "How... you are really crazy. A man named Visu is a man from three hundred years ago. He left here one day and never came back."

"Three hundred years, right? Impossible. And what about my wife and children?" asked Visu.

"They are buried here," the old woman replied.

"If what you say is true, then you still have grandchildren. The gods will punish you for neglecting your wife and children by prolonging your miserable life."

Tears streamed down Visu's wrinkled face. Visu said in a trembling voice, "I have lost precious time. I have been praying while my loved ones were hungry and needed my help. Old lady, remember what I said. Pray and work."

We don't know how long Visu lived after returning from his strange adventure, but it is said that his white spirit still haunts Mount Fuji in the moonlight.