Musashi - Eiji Yoshikawa [217]
“It should be my turn to ride today.”
“Children don’t need to ride.”
“But I want to try riding a horse. Can’t I? Please.”
“Well, maybe, but only for today.”
“I saw a horse tied up at the teahouse. We could hire it.”
“No, it’s still too early in the day.”
“Then you didn’t mean it when you said I could ride!”
“I did, but you’re not even tired yet. It’d be a waste of money to rent a horse.”
“You know perfectly well I never get tired. I wouldn’t get tired if we walked a hundred days and a thousand miles. If I have to wait till I’m worn out, I’ll never get to ride a horse. Come on, Otsū, let’s rent the horse now, while there aren’t any people ahead of us. It’d be a lot safer than when the road is crowded. Please!”
Seeing that if they kept this up, they would lose the time they had gained by making an early start, Otsū gave in, and Jōtarō, sensing rather than waiting for her nod of approval, raced back to the teahouse.
Although there actually were four teahouses in the vicinity, as the name Yonkenjaya indicated, they were located at various places on the slopes of mounts Fudesute and Kutsukake. The one they had passed was the only one in sight.
Running up to the proprietor and stopping suddenly, Jōtarō shouted, “Hey, there, I want a horse! Get one out for me.”
The old man was taking down the shutters, and the boy’s lusty cry jarred him into wakefulness. With a sour expression, he grumbled, “What’s all this! Do you have to yell so loud?”
“I need a horse. Please get one ready right away. How much is it to Minakuchi? If it’s not too much, I may even take it all the way to Kusatsu.”
“Whose little boy are you anyway?”
“I’m the son of my mother and my father,” replied Jōtarō impudently. “I thought you might be the unruly offspring of the storm god.”
“You’re the storm god, aren’t you? You look mad as a thunderbolt.” “Brat!”
“Just bring me the horse.”
“I daresay you think that horse is for hire. Well, it isn’t. So I fear I shall not have the honor of lending it to your lordship.”
Matching the man’s tone of voice, Jōtarō said, “Then, sir, shall I not have the pleasure of renting it?”
“Sassy, aren’t you?” cried the man, taking a piece of lighted kindling from the fire under his oven and throwing it at the boy. The flaming stick missed Jōtarō, but struck the ancient horse tied under the eaves. With an air-splitting whinny, she reared, striking her back against a beam.
“You bastard!” screamed the proprietor. He leapt out of the shop sputtering curses and ran up to the animal.
As he untied the rope and led the horse around to the side yard, Jōtarō started in again. “Please lend her to me.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t have a groom to send with her.”
Now at Jōtarō’s side, Otsū suggested that if there was no groom, she could pay the fee in advance and send the horse back from Minakuchi with a traveler coming this way. Her appealing manner softened the old man, and he decided he could trust her. Handing her the rope, he said, “In that case, you can take her to Minakuchi, or even to Kusatsu if you want. All I ask is that you send her back.”
As they started away, Jōtarō, in high dudgeon, exclaimed, “How do you like
that! He treated me like an ass, and then as soon as he saw a pretty face … ” “You’d better be careful what you say about the old man. His horse is listening. She may get angry and throw you.”
“Do you think this feeble-jointed old nag can get the best of me?” “You don’t know how to ride, do you?”
“Of course I know how to ride.”
“What are you doing, then, trying to climb up from behind?”
“Well, help me up!”
“You’re a nuisance!” She put her hands under his armpits and lifted him onto the animal.
Jōtarō looked majestically around at the world beneath him. “Please walk ahead, Otsū,” he said.
“You’re not sitting right.”
“Don’t worry. I’m fine.”
“All right, but you’re going to be sorry.” Taking the rope in one hand, Otsū
waved