Thursday 23 July 2009

Great show by Jael chan

Jael chan directed another terrific show. No pictures taken as it was a laggy old evening and I was running the dance HUD so did not want to crash. 5 people dancing and many new folks delivering the stories so would have been bad news to crash. My story was last so fingers were well and truly crossed for an hour. Ghiri san was there, long time no see. Some new folks in the audience and some good tips. Started sketching a toro nasagi for the lantern competition, will not be easy! Here's the story I told:

“The man with the sharp nose”.

Long, long ago
there lived a young fisherman in a village.
One day he said to his mother when he went fishing for forty days
at sea with his fellow fisherman in a big boat,
"Mom, set fire on this house on twentieth day from my departure."
"What are you talking about?
I can't do such a crazy thing." said his mother.
"Mom, I have a great idea.
Please do set alight and burn this house."
On the very twentieth day from his departure,
as she was told to by her son,
she set fire to her house and it burnt to ashes.
Meanwhile, out at sea on that evening, he said to his fellows,
moving his nose.
"I smell something burning.
Oh My God!
It is my burning house's smell.
My house is burning."
"It's nonsense.
It is more than 400 kilometres from your house to this boat.
It is absolutely impossible to smell your house burning." said his fellows.
They returned to their village in another twenty days
only to discover the young man's house was burned down twenty days ago.
"What you said was true.
What a wonderful sense of smell you have!" said everyone.
"It's unbelievable.
I'll test him again." said one of his friends
and a few days later he threw a load of charcoal into his well.
At the same time a villager happened to pass by.
"Why are you throwing charcoal away into your well?" asked the villager.
"I'd like to test the famous young man's nose." answered the man.
The villager came across the famous fisherman who had a good nose
on his way home and said to him.
"Young man, now you are so famous in this village for having a sharp nose.
When I passed by a well,
I saw someone throwing charcoal into it
for the purpose of testing your nose."
Soon the young man was called by the very friend of his.
"Young man.
Excuse me, but would you do me a favour?
I know you have a wonderful sense of smell.
The other day a load of charcoal of mine suddenly disappeared.
I searched everywhere, but I couldn't find it.
So would you mind finding charcoal with your sharp nose?"
"Of course, not.
It's a piece of cake." said the young man and went to the well,
pretending to smell.
"I smell charcoal in this well." he said
and the charcoal was found.
"What a wonderful sense of smell he has!" said everyone there in surprise.
He became much more famous for having a sharp nose than before.
Soon the lord became ill.
Doctors tried to cure him of his disease but in vain.
One day the young man had a message from the castle;
"Young man.
We hear you have a sharp nose.
The lord has been ill for a long time.
I hope you'll smell out the cause of his disease with your sharp nose.
If you can, we will give you much reward."
There was no reason to refuse the offer.
Though he was at a loss as what to do,
anyway he made his way to the castle.
When he came to a big pine tree,
he overheard two TENGU
(Japanese long-nosed goblins)
talking with each other.
"Why not play a trick on the man under the tree?"
"No.
We won't.
He is a famous man for a sharp nose and he'll go to the lord.
If we play a trick on him,
we'll be severely punished by the lord.
But I wonder how he can find the key to solve the problem.
The disease results from a frog under a big stone in his garden.
If they remove the frog from under the stone
,the lord will be better.
Who knows it?" they said
and flew away towards the mountains.
On meeting the lord in the castle,
he pretended to smell,
looking toward the garden
until he went to the big stone.
"I smell a frog under this big stone.
The disease results from the frog." he said,
pointing at the stone.
His men removed the stone and found the very frog,
and set it free.
To their surprise,
the lord stood up from his bed.
The young man was given much money and many straw bags of rice.
He was given the name,
'Mr. Good Nose' by the lord.
And that ends my tale for today…

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