The Old Man Who Lost His Wen

Many, many years ago, there lived a kind old man who had a large lump growing on his right cheek. It was as big as a tennis ball and made his face look strange. The lump bothered him greatly, and for many years he spent all his time and money trying to get rid of it. He tried everything he could think of. He visited many doctors far and near, and took all kinds of medicines, both inside and out. But nothing worked. The lump only grew bigger and bigger until it was nearly as large as his face. In despair, he gave up hope of ever losing it and resigned himself to carrying it for the rest of his life.

One day, the firewood in his kitchen ran out. His wife needed some at once, so the old man took his axe and set out for the woods in the hills not far from his home. It was a fine day in early autumn, and the old man enjoyed the fresh air and was in no hurry to get back. The whole afternoon passed quickly while he chopped wood, and he gathered a good pile to take home. When the day began to fade, he turned his face towards home.

He had not gone far down the mountain path when the sky clouded over and rain began to fall heavily. He looked around for shelter, but there was not even a charcoal burner's hut nearby. At last, he spotted a large hole in the hollow trunk of a tree. The hole was near the ground, so he crept in easily and sat down, hoping that it was just a mountain shower and that the weather would soon clear.

But to his disappointment, the rain fell more and more heavily, and finally a severe thunderstorm broke over the mountain. The thunder roared so loudly and the lightning flashed so brightly that the old man could hardly believe he was still alive. He thought he might die of fright. At last, the sky cleared, and the whole countryside glowed in the rays of the setting sun. The old man's spirits lifted as he looked out at the beautiful twilight, and he was about to step out of his hiding place when he heard the sound of approaching footsteps. He thought his friends had come to find him and was delighted at the idea of having company for the walk home. But when he looked out, what was his amazement to see, not his friends, but hundreds of demons coming towards him! The more he looked, the more astonished he became.

Some were as large as giants, others had enormous eyes out of proportion to their bodies, others had absurdly long noses, and some had such wide mouths that they seemed to stretch from ear to ear. All had horns growing on their foreheads. The old man was so surprised that he lost his balance and fell out of the hollow tree. Luckily, the demons did not see him because the tree was in the background, so he picked himself up and crept back inside.

While he sat there, wondering when he could go home, he heard the sounds of cheerful music, and some of the demons began to sing. “What are these creatures doing?” the old man said to himself. “I’ll look out; it sounds amusing.”

When he peeped out, he saw the demon chief sitting with his back against the very tree where the old man was hiding, and all the other demons were sitting around, some drinking and some dancing. Food and wine were spread on the ground, and the demons were clearly having a grand celebration and enjoying themselves immensely. The old man laughed to see their strange antics. “How amusing this is!” he chuckled to himself. “I am quite old, but I have never seen anything so strange in all my life.”

He was so interested and excited watching the demons that he forgot himself and stepped out of the tree to stand and watch. The demon chief was just taking a big cup of sake and watching one of the demons dance. After a while, he said with a bored air, “Your dance is rather monotonous. I’m tired of watching it. Isn’t there anyone among you who can dance better than this fellow?”

Now, the old man had loved dancing all his life and was quite expert at it, and he knew he could do much better than the demon. “Shall I go and dance before these demons and let them see what a human can do? It may be dangerous, for if I don’t please them, they might kill me,” he thought to himself. But his love of dancing soon overcame his fears. In a few minutes, he could contain himself no longer and came out before the whole party of demons and began to dance at once. Realizing that his life might depend on pleasing these strange creatures, he put all his skill and wit into the performance.

The demons were first surprised to see a man so boldly join their fun, and then their surprise turned to admiration. “How strange!” exclaimed the horned chief. “I’ve never seen such a skillful dancer before! He dances wonderfully!”

When the old man finished, the big demon said, “Thank you very much for your amusing dance. Now, do us the honor of drinking a cup of wine with us,” and he handed him his largest cup. The old man thanked him humbly: “I didn’t expect such kindness from your lordship. I fear I’ve only disturbed your pleasant party with my poor dancing.”

“No, no,” answered the big demon. “You must come often and dance for us. Your skill has given us great pleasure.” The old man thanked him again and promised to do so. “Then will you come again tomorrow, old man?” asked the demon. “Certainly, I will,” said the old man. “Then you must leave some pledge of your word with us,” said the demon. “Whatever you like,” said the old man.

“Now, what is the best thing he can leave with us as a pledge?” asked the demon, looking around. One of the demon’s attendants, kneeling behind the chief, said, “The token he leaves must be the most important thing he owns. I see the old man has a lump on his right cheek. Mortal men consider such a lump very lucky. Let my lord take the lump from the old man’s right cheek, and he will surely come tomorrow, if only to get it back.”

“You are very clever,” said the demon chief, giving his horns an approving nod. Then he stretched out a hairy arm and claw-like hand and took the great lump from the old man’s right cheek. Strange to say, it came off as easily as a ripe plum from a tree at the demon’s touch, and then the merry troop of demons suddenly vanished.

The old man was bewildered by all that had happened. For a moment, he hardly knew where he was. When he realized what had occurred, he was delighted to find that the lump that had disfigured him for so many years had been taken away without any pain. He put his hand up to feel if any scar remained, but his right cheek was as smooth as his left.

The sun had long set, and the young moon had risen like a silver crescent in the sky. The old man suddenly realized how late it was and hurried home. He patted his right cheek all the way, as if to make sure of his good fortune.

He was so happy that he couldn’t walk calmly—he ran and danced the whole way home.

He found his wife very anxious, wondering what had kept him so late. He soon told her everything that had happened since he left home that afternoon. She was just as happy as her husband when she saw that the ugly lump had disappeared, for in her youth she had been proud of his good looks, and the growth had been a daily grief to her.

Now, next door to this good old couple lived a wicked and disagreeable old man. He, too, had been troubled for many years with a lump on his left cheek, and he, too, had tried everything to get rid of it, but in vain.

He heard at once, through the servant, of his neighbor’s good luck, so he called that very evening and asked his friend to tell him everything about how he had lost the lump. The good old man told his disagreeable neighbor all that had happened. He described the place where he would find the hollow tree and advised him to be there in the late afternoon, around sunset.

The old neighbor started out the very next afternoon and, after hunting about for some time, came to the hollow tree just as his friend had described. He hid himself and waited for twilight.

Just as he had been told, the band of demons came at that hour and held a feast with dance and song. When this had gone on for some time, the chief of the demons looked around and said, “It is now time for the old man to come as he promised us. Why doesn’t he come?”

When the second old man heard these words, he ran out of his hiding place in the tree and, kneeling before the Oni, said, “I have been waiting for a long time for you to speak!”

“Ah, you are the old man of yesterday,” said the demon chief. “Thank you for coming. You must dance for us soon.” The old man stood up, opened his fan, and began to dance. But he had never learned to dance and knew nothing of the proper gestures and steps. He thought anything would please the demons, so he just hopped about, waving his arms and stamping his feet, imitating any dancing he had ever seen.

The Oni were very dissatisfied with his performance and said among themselves, “How badly he dances today!” Then the demon chief said to him, “Your performance today is quite different from yesterday’s. We don’t wish to see any more of such dancing. We’ll give you back the pledge you left with us. You must go away at once.”

With these words, he took out from a fold of his dress the lump he had taken from the face of the old man who had danced so well the day before and threw it at the right cheek of the old man standing before him. The lump immediately attached itself to his cheek as firmly as if it had grown there always, and all attempts to pull it off were useless. The wicked old man, instead of losing the lump on his left cheek as he had hoped, found to his dismay that he had added another to his right cheek in his attempt to get rid of the first.

He put up one hand and then the other to each side of his face to make sure he wasn’t dreaming a horrible nightmare. No, sure enough, there was now a great lump on the right side of his face as on the left. The demons had all disappeared, and there was nothing for him to do but go home. He was a pitiful sight, for his face, with the two large lumps, one on each side, looked just like a Japanese gourd.