Page:Kwaidan; Stories and Studies of Strange Things - Hearn - 1904.djvu/116

 of the matter. He has taken the body of our aruji; and I do not know where he has put it.”

At this announcement the head of the aruji—distinctly visible in the moonlight—assumed a frightful aspect: its eyes opened monstrously; its hair stood up bristling; and its teeth gnashed. Then a cry burst from its lips; and—weeping tears of rage—it exclaimed:—

"Since my body has been moved, to rejoin it is not possible! Then I must die!. . . And all through the work of that priest! Before I die I will get at that priest!—I will tear him!—I will devour him!. . . . And there he is—behind that tree!—hiding behind that tree! See him!—the fat coward!". ..

In the same moment the head of the aruji, followed by the other four heads, sprang at Kwairyō. But the strong priest had already armed himself by plucking up a young tree; and with that tree he struck the heads as they came,—knocking them from him with tremendous blows. Four of them fled away. But the head of the aruji, though battered again and again, desperately continued to bound at the priest, and at last caught him by the left sleeve of his robe. Kwairyō, however, as quickly gripped the head by its topknot, and repeatedly struck it. It did not release its hold; but it 92