【百物語②】A Wife Who Does not Eat 食わず女房

Once upon a time, there was a man who was a very stringiness (*1). He earned money by selling charcoal (*2), then he bought rice with that money and saved it.

He was always said by acquaintances,

- Why don’t you get married to someone?

However, he replied with lough,

- If anyone who does not eat, I’ll consider marring her.

One night…

Suddenly, a door of the man’s house was knocked by someone.

Someone said,

- Excuse me, I’m a wanderer (*3). Would you take me in your home tonight?

When the man opened the door, there was a very beautiful woman.

He said,

- I don’t care about your stay, but I don’t make any meal for you.

However, the woman replied, smiling,

- It’s okey. I’m the woman who does not eat.

The women kept staying the man’s home after that, and they married. She, true to her word, never eat. The man was very delighted his life except one strange phenomenon. Sometimes, the stock of rice had gone a lot.

The man boasted of his happiness that he could married with his ideal woman to his acquaintances.

   But they warned him one after another,

- Your wife is abnormal. She must be an ogre (*4) or something. You should be careful.

At first, he didn’t care about their warning, but he became anxious about his wife little by little.

   So, one day, he decided to hide and see what did his wife do while his absence.

Then he found the woman eating rice balls with the big mouth which is on the top of her head.

  

 He screamed with fear,

- Who are you? You’re monster!? We must be divorced!

The woman perceived him, smiling eerily, and turned herself into ogre. She attacked the man and captured him in the bucket, and she took him away. 

But on the way, he somehow escaped from the bucket, and hid into the Japanese irises (*5).

- Where …do …you …hide?

She looked for him soon and found him easily. However, she couldn’t get close to him. Apparently. She disliked the flavor of this flower. He decided to attack to her with these flowers, then she run away with crying awfully.

He was relieved, and said,

- From now on, I never get married with the woman who does not eat…

*1) けちな　*2) 炭　*3) 旅人　*4)　鬼　*5) 菖蒲