On the top of a precipitous cliff, a man seemingly on the verge of tears was peering down into the forest that spread before his eyes.
"Sigh... What have I done? How could I drop it? I'm done for."
The man was responsible for delivering to the elder of the neighboring village an important item which symbolized the peace between the two villages. He had carelessly dropped that crucial item down the cliff.
"I can't go the neighboring village like this. On the other hand, I just can't go back like nothing has happened."
As if surrounded by an invisible wall, for a while the man stood there with his head between his hands, unable to move. However, as he had accepted the mission on the condition that it may cost him his life, he decided to ignore his own safety and climb down the cliff to search for the item, and so he nervously started down the cliff.
It seemed that climbing down would be easier than he had thought, but the moment he relaxed his guard, to his bad luck, or perhaps one should say as expected, he fell and rolled down the slope like a pebble. Only his sad death cry echoed through the mountains.
A short while passed. It had looked like the man was done for, but miraculously, thanks to a branch that had stopped his fall, he had managed to escape death. Furthermore, he had even managed to collect the peace offering and was crawling up the cliff all in tatters. "Now I can complete my mission," he thought, but his relief lasted only a passing moment as a shadow fell over the crouching man.
"That's a nice little thing you got there. Hand it over."
Misfortunes always come in pairs. The fate of the man and the peace offering he had risked his life to collect were hanging by a thread as three highwaymen suddenly appeared in front of him. The man was so surprised that he could not even utter a word, but as he was already prepared to die, he started desperately swinging about a stick that had been lying next to him.
For a moment the highwaymen seemed to be taken by surprise, but in no time at all they grinned and exchanged glances, and then began to sidle closer to the man. But at that moment! The stick he was swinging about sent flying a small stone that flew in a perfect angle into the grove at the opposite side of the cliff. Right away a swarm of bees flew out accompanied with a vicious buzz.
As if by order, the bees attacked the highwaymen, who ran away in panic with the bees circling around their heads. Dumbfounded by what had happened, but still glad that he had managed to protect the peace offering, the man spurred his bruised body onward and hurried to the neighboring village right away.
However... What happened when the man reverentially unsealed the peace offering in front of the village elder was nothing short of rubbing salt into a wound. The item he had suffered hell to deliver had been damaged inside its container when it fell down the cliff. By now at his wits end, the man frantically shouted: "It is all my fault! Boil me or burn me if that will settle it!"
The village elder calmly replied: "Looking at the shape you are in, anyone could tell that you risked your life to deliver this item. We only wanted to test the trustworthiness of the people in your village. Therefore, please report back to your village that we gladly accept this peace offering."
In no time at all, the man seemed to be on the verge of tears again.
陰陽座百物語 第拾漆話「塗り壁」
切り立った崖の上から今にも泣き出しそうな顔をした男が眼下に広がる森を見下ろしていた。
「あー…大変な事をしちまった。あれを落としちまったらもう御破算だ」
男が隣り合う村同士の和平を取り結ぶ為の重要な品を相手の村の長へ届ける役を担っていた。その肝心の品をうっかりと崖の下に取り落としてしまったのである。
「このまま隣村には行けねぇ… かといってのこのこ帰る訳にもいかねぇ」
丸で目に見えぬ壁に囲まれたかの様に男はその場でじっと頭を抱え、暫く動く事も出来なかった。しかし、元より命懸けで受けた役目、死んだ気になって崖下に降り、和平の品を探す事を決意した男は、恐る恐る斜面を降り始めた。
当然と言おうか、不運にもと言おうか、意外に楽に降りられそうだと油断した次の瞬間、男は崖の斜面を石ころの様に転がり落ちていた。悲しげな断末魔だけが山々に響いた。
暫し時間が経った。男の生存は絶望的に見えたが、何と奇跡的に木の枝に引っ掛かって一命を取り留めた男は目的の和平の品まで回収し、ぼろぼろになって崖から這い上がってきた。「これで役目が果たせる」と安堵したのも束の間、しゃがみ込んだ男の上にふらりと影が落ちた。
「なかなか良さそうな物持ってるじゃねえか。そいつを寄越しな」
弱り目に祟り目とはこの事か。命懸けで回収した和平の品と男の運命は突如現れた三人の追い剥ぎの前に風前の灯であった。余りの事に声も出ない男であったが、一度は捨てる覚悟をした命、こうなったら破れかぶれとばかりに、側に転がっていた棒切れを闇雲に振り回した。
追い剥ぎは一瞬意外そうな顔をしたが直ぐにせせら笑う様に顔を見合わせながら、ゆっくりと男に躙り寄ってきた。すると何と！男が振り回した棒切れに弾き飛ばされた小さな石ころが絶妙な角度で崖とは反対側の林に突っ込んだかと思うと、凶悪な唸り声を上げて蜂の大群が躍り出た。
蜂は丸で命令を受けたかのように追い剥ぎ三人に襲い掛かり、追い剥ぎは頭上を蜂に囲まれた儘 這這の体で逃げ出してしまった。呆気に取られたのは男の方だったが、兎に角大切な和平の品を死守出来た喜びでぼろぼろの体に鞭打ち、直ぐさま隣村へと急いだ。
だがしかし… 隣村の長の前で恭しく和平の品を開封した男の状況こそ正に泣きっ面に蜂と言うべきか。死ぬ思いで届けたその品は崖からの転落の際、入れ物の中で既に破損していたのだった。もう為す術の無い男は「全て自分の責任だ！それで済む事なら煮るなり焼くなりしてくれ」と半狂乱になって叫んだが、隣村の長は静かに言った。
「貴方の姿を見れば、命懸けでこの品を届けようとした事ぐらい分かります。我々は貴方方の村の誠意が見たかった。よって、此度の和平の儀、しかと承ったと御伝えくだされ」
男の顔は見る見るうちにくしゃくしゃになった。
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