It was late in the evening and the moon was out. A mother together with her sick daughter paid a visit to a soothsayer whose name was known throughout the capital. While the way they were dressed gave away the fact that they came from a respectable family, the pallid face of the daughter who was breathing heavily showed that something was horribly wrong.
According to the mother, her daughter had married about three months ago and had been living healthily together with her husband when a bird had strayed into their garden, and as she had tried to feed it, it had pecked her hand causing her to collapse right there.
The soothsayer who had been quietly listening to the mother's story opened his eyes and said: "That is most likely a shikigami someone has sent. Your daughter has been cursed. I do have the power to reverse that curse, but I am not sure whether it is a good idea for me to do so."
Having heard that, the mother clung on to the soothsayer in tears, begging him to turn that curse on the one who had cast it on her daughter. Unable to look at the desperate mother who was rubbing her forehead against the floor at the feet of the silent soothsayer, softly taking her by the hand, the man renowned as the most powerful sorcerer in the capital opened his mouth.
"Listen. A curse can become good or evil depending on what is in the heart of the one who uses it. It is exactly like light and shadow. Shadows will always be born when there is light. When light makes one shadow disappear, it will only create a new shadow. You must never forget that."
Having told the mother so, with the girl in her arms, he started chanting a spell of protection. His chanting lasted all the way until the growing light of the dawn. When it was all bright and you could hear the singing of the birds, the girl's cheeks rapidly recovered their color, and as if her condition last night had only been a dream, with a steady step she and her mother left the soothsayer's mansion after thanking him profusely.
Having returned home, the girl wanted to show her recovery to her husband right away and called his name. However, there was no reply at all. That's strange she thought, and as she stepped out into the garden, what she saw there made her scream out of horror.
In the garden that was bathing in the morning light, there were two corpses lying in a dark-red pool of blood. One was that black bird that had pecked her finger. The other one was her husband whose eyes had been gouged out by that bird's beak and whose heart had apparently been impaled.
For some time after that, there were various rumors about the tragedy that had happened in that good family, but the truth remains uncertain. The only thing certain is that no one has seen that girl since then. Could it really be that the soothsayer was the only one who had foreseen it all?
陰陽座百物語 第拾捌話「陰陽師」
それは或る月夜の晩の事であった。都でも名高い占い師の許を、病を患った若い娘とその母親が訪ねてきた。一目見て良家の者と分かる出で立ちながら、病に喘ぐ娘の青白い顔は徒ならぬ様子を呈していた。
母親の話すところによると、娘は三月程前に祝言を挙げ、婿入りした夫共々健やかに暮らしていた矢先、庭先に迷い込んだ鳥に餌をやろうとして手を突かれ、そのまま倒れてしまったと言うのである。
静かに母親の話を聞いていた占い師はそっと目を開け、こう言った。
「それは恐らく何者かが放った式神であろう。その娘は呪われている。私ならその呪詛を返す事も出来るが、それをして良いものかどうか、思案しておるのじゃ」
それを聞いた母親は泣きながら占い師に取り縋り、どうか娘を呪った相手にその呪いを返してくれと頼み込んだ。何も答えぬままの占い師の足元に額を擦り付け、尚も懇願する母親を見兼ねてか、そっとその手を取り、都一と謳われた妖力を誇るその男は言った。
「良いか？呪いと言うのは、それを使う者の心一つで善にも悪にもなる。正に光と陰の様なものじゃ。陰は光ある所に必ず生まれる。例え一つの陰を光が消し去っても、それは新たな陰を生むに過ぎん。それを忘れるで無いぞ」
占い師はそう告げると娘を抱き抱え、護身の呪文を唱え始めた。その呪文はやがて白々と夜が明け始めるまで止む事は無かった。辺りがすっかり明るくなり、小鳥の声が聞こえ出した頃、娘の顔は見る見る赤みを取り戻し、昨夜の様子が嘘だったかの様にしっかりとした足取りで母親と共に何度も礼を告げながら占い師の屋敷を後にした。
そうして家へと戻った娘は元気になった姿を一刻も早く見せようと夫の名を呼んだ。が、一向に返事が無い。不審に思って庭へと出た娘は、そこで見た物の余りの恐ろしさに思わず悲鳴を上げた。
朝の日差しに包まれた庭先にはいつか自分の指を突いたあの黒い鳥と、その鳥の嘴で目玉を抉られ、心臓を突き刺されたと思われる夫、二つの躯が赤黒い血溜まりの中で横たわっていたのだった。
その後暫くは名家で起こった惨劇についての様々な噂が流れたが、事の真相は定かでは無い。ただその後あの娘の姿を見た者は誰一人として無いと言う。果たしてあの占い師だけは全てを見通していたのであろうか？
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