This happened a long time ago. One day, late on a rainy evening, a girl named Yamato was walking home from the field. And her road ran along the village cemetery. Yamato walked and walked, when suddenly she heard a baby crying somewhere. She looked around and saw a child lying on an abandoned grave. She took a closer look and it was not a child at all, but a big black cat.
Before Yamato had time to get scared, a hoarse, scary voice came from the abandoned grave:
- Hey, cat, why are you squealing here?!
The cat stopped meowing and listened. And Yamato hid behind a tree. Standing there, it doesn’t move.
“Well, here’s what,” the hoarse voice continued, “on the first clear evening, before the lanterns are lit in the village, go to the big house with a stone fence.” Sit by the gate and start meowing and being more compassionate. Let them think that the child is crying. And then the baby that was recently born in that house will begin to sneeze. When he sneezes three times, his soul will fly out and he will die.
“So,” the cat purred, “there is no salvation for him if he sneezes three times?”
“No,” answered a hoarse voice. “Although you can expect anything from these people.” Know that when a child starts sneezing and someone says the magic word “kusuke”, our charms will not work. Run away then!
The cat cried again in the voice of a baby, jumped off the grave and disappeared into the darkness.
Yamato stands behind a tree - neither alive nor dead. She felt scared. The girl waited until all the sounds around her died down, quietly got out of her hiding place and ran to the village. “What a strange magic word I learned,” she thinks.
Yamato decided not to say anything to anyone in the village and began to wait for the first clear evening. She really wanted to save the child who had recently been born in a large house with a stone fence.
From morning to evening the girl worked in the field. And then, finally, the first clear evening arrived. As soon as it began to get dark, she approached a house with a stone fence.
“Hey, Yamato, why did you return from the field so early today?” the owner of the house was surprised.
“I heard that your child is not well,” the girl answered, “so I decided to check on him.”
- You are kind, Yamato! “Thank you for your concern,” said the owner, “and our child is really sick.”
The hostess came out and invited Yamato into the house. Meanwhile, it became completely dark outside. The lanterns are about to be lit. The cows mooed in the stalls. And the street is empty - no one can be seen.
Yamato looked behind the stone fence and saw a black cat sneaking along it, the same one that spoke to dark forces in the cemetery on a rainy evening. It gets closer and closer to the house, and its eyes sparkle with an evil blue shine. The cat hisses and bends. “She’s finally come,” Yamato thought with fear.
Meanwhile, the cat came very close, sat down at the gate and meowed pitifully and pitifully.
- Oh, what is this? Look - a cat! And she’s crying just like a baby!” the hostess became alarmed and hugged her child even tighter.
- What a beast! And it's black too! - the owner exclaimed and leaned over the stone fence. - Go away! Shoo! Shoo!
But then the child sneezed.
- Apchhi!
- Kusuke! - Yamato said quickly.
- Apchhi! - the child sneezed again.
- Kusuke! - Yamato said again.
- Apchhi!
- Kusuke!
As soon as she said the magic word for the third time, the black cat stopped meowing, looked angrily at Yamato and rushed away.
- Ha-ha-ha! — the owners laughed. “What strange words are you saying?”
- Ha-ha-ha! — the child suddenly laughed.
- Look, your child has recovered! — Yamato was delighted. “He’s even laughing!”
Now the girl could tell about everything she heard in the cemetery.
“That’s why I came from the field early today,” she finished.
- What terrible things you say! - the owners exclaimed. “We owe the life of our child to you.” Be always a welcome guest in our home!
They began to thank Yamato, treat him and bring him gifts.
Since then, they say, a custom has appeared on the Ryukyu Islands: if a child sneezes, someone will definitely say the magic word “kusuke.”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru