Kaguya nodded after listening to the old man's words, then shook her head and said:

"There's such a thing, but I just don't want to. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo”

The old man said, "Listen to me! Although you are the reincarnation of a god or Buddha, you are still a woman. Now, I'm still alive in the world, so I might as well live like this. What would you do if I died? Those five people have been looking for imitations from afar for many years, which shows that they have a deep love for you. They all declare that they want to marry you. You should make up your mind early and make a choice to marry one of them, what do you think? ”

Kaguya replied, "Alas, how vulgar these people are. doesn't understand the other party's heart, and rashly marries him, if he changes his mind later, it will teach people to regret it. No matter how high the other party's status is and how good his appearance is, I will never agree to marry him without understanding his heart. ”

"Well, you have a point," the old man nodded in agreement. Then he asked, "What kind of person do you want to marry?" Those five people seem to be very sincere with you. ”

Kaguya replied, "As for what kind of person it should be, I don't have any special requirements, only a small one. Since any of the five people are very sincere, they can't tell which one is superior and which one is inferior. Then, I hope that whoever can bring me my favorite thing will be the most sincere person, and I will be the wife of this person. Say this to them. ”

"It's a good idea," the old man agreed.

In the evening, all five came. Some of them played flutes, some sang ballads, some chanted waka, some played strings, and some beat with fans. The reason why they did this was nothing more than to lure Kaguya out. The old man came out and addressed them:

"Ladies and gentlemen, you have come to this desolate place of mine for many years, and you really dare not do it! I have passed the age of antiquity, like a candle in the wind, and the day is precarious. Therefore I have said to my girl, that she should consider it carefully, and choose a husband among the five sincere adults. The girl said, 'How can I know how much they love me?' And there is a point in that. She also said, "You five adults, it is difficult to distinguish who is superior and who is inferior. Therefore, whoever of the five of you can bring her her the most favorite thing means that whoever loves her the most will marry her. I thought it was a good idea, and you wouldn't resent me. ”

When the five men heard this, they all said, "This is indeed a good idea." The old man walked in and conveyed the message to Kaguya.

Kaguya said, "Well, you will tell the prince of Shizhu that there is a stone bowl of the Buddha in Tianzhu country, and ask him to go and fetch it for me." ”

"He said to the prince of Chezhi, there is a Penglai Mountain in the East China Sea, and there is a tree on the mountain, the root of the tree is silver, the trunk is gold, and the tree bears the fruit of white jade, and I told him to go and break a branch for me and send it.

"Tell the right minister to fetch me the fire rat fur of Tang Tu. Tell Da Nayan to fetch me the jade that glows with five colors on the dragon's head. As for Ishigami's Nayan, I asked him to fetch a swallow's son Amber and give it to me. ”

The old man was embarrassed and said, "Alas, this is making things difficult for them." None of this is domestic. How can I convey such a difficult thing to them? ”

Seeing that the old man was embarrassed, Kaguya said, "What's so bad about this!" Just go and tell them. ”

The old man went out and conveyed Kaguyahime's words in the same way. When the princes and nobles heard this, they were stunned, and they knew that they were hopeless, and said, "If you raise such a difficult question, it is better to say, 'You are not allowed to wander here.'" "'Everyone went home dejected.

In fact, these five things are necessary for Kaguya to be promoted from a mortal to a god again, well, of course, in this ancient story, Kaguya is not the Kaguya in orthodox mythology.

After those five people went back, they always felt that there was no point in being a human being if they didn't see Kaguya. Among them, the prince of Ishisaku is the most astute. He searched carefully

Think, since the stone bowl is in Tianzhu, it will never be impossible to get it.

But he thought about it again, in that remote Tianzhu place, this is also a unique thing. Even if you have traveled millions of miles, how can you get it?

So one day, he went to Kaguyahime to report, "Today I left for Tianzhu to fetch the stone bowl." After three years, he went to a mountain temple in the ten cities of Yamato, took the soot-blackened bowl in front of Bintoulu, put it in a brocade bag, decorated it with artificial flowers, and took it to the night of the show. Kaguya felt strange, reached into the bowl and found a piece of paper. Expand and take a look. On the paper was written a poem:

"Crossing the sea and the mountains is exhausted,

Take the stone bowl and weep for a long time. “

Kaguya Hime looked to see if there was any light in the bowl, not even a light like fireflies. So he answered him with a poem:

"There's not a glimmer of light,

Probably taken from Ogurayama. “

Kaguya gave him back the bowl. The prince threw the bowl in front of the door and wrote another poem:

"The bowl is self-extinguishing against the beauty of light,

I will throw the bowl today, not the king. “

He gave the poem to Kaguya, but Kaguya didn't reply to it. When the prince saw that she was not listening, he grunted and went home. Although he threw the bowl, his heart did not die, and he hoped that he might have the opportunity to come back to court. In this way, Japan has since called such a brazen act a bowl throw.

And the prince is a far-sighted man. He said that he was going to Tsukushi Country for treatment, so he asked for leave and came to Kaguyahime's house. He said to the servants, "Let me go now to get the jade branches." “

After that, we set off for Kyushu. All his men came to Namba Port to see him off. The prince said to them, "My trip is very secret. So he took no one with him, but only a few personal attendants, and set out.

Everyone thought he had gone to Tsukushi Province. Three days later, the prince's ship returned to Namba Port. He had painstakingly laid it out beforehand. As soon as he arrived, he immediately went to call six people, including Naimaro, who was the first-class craftsman at the time, and found a place where it was difficult to reach the people, and built a house with a strong door, and asked these six people to live in it.

He himself lived there, and donated sixteen manors under his own jurisdiction to the gods and Buddhas, relying on the help of the gods and Buddhas to make jade branches. This jade branch was made exactly as Kaguya asked for. So the prince took the jade branch and secretly came to Namba Port. He himself sat in the boat and sent someone to inform his family, saying, "I'm back today."

He had a look of fatigue on his face after a long journey. Many people came to greet him.

The prince put the jade branch in a long box, covered with rhizome brocade, and carried it ashore. So the world has legends: "The prince of the car has come back with the epiphany." Everyone was amazed.

When Kaguya heard the news, she thought, "Am I going to lose to this prince?" I was depressed in my heart. Soon, I heard someone knocking on the door, and the prince came. He also wears the costume of a water trip. As usual, the old man came out to receive him.

The prince said, "I almost lost my life, and finally obtained this jade branch. Please take it to Kaguya and show it!"

The old man took it in and showed it to Kaguyahime, but saw a poem attached to it:

"After the long march of thousands of miles, I will not break the jade branch and vow not to return."

A jade branch is a jade branch, and a poem is a poem, both of which are true. Kaguya looked at it and was dazed. The old man walked in and said, "Whoa." You instructed the prince to fetch Penglai's jade branch, and he took it exactly as he could. What else is there to say now? The prince was still wearing travel clothes, and he had never been to his own home, so he came here directly. Go out quickly and meet him, and marry him. “

Kaguya was silent, just holding her cheek with one hand, sighing, and meditating.

The prince was a different one, thinking that Kaguya had nothing to say now, so he walked down the corridor unceremoniously. The old man thought that this was also the way it should be, so he said to Kaguyahime, "This jade branch is not available in Japan. Now you can't refuse him. Besides, this prince's appearance is also quite good. “

Kaguya was embarrassed and replied, "I'm really sorry that I didn't listen to my father. I deliberately asked him to pick up something I couldn't get, but I didn't expect him to actually get it, which was beyond my expectations. How about now?"

The old man didn't care about everything, and hurriedly prepared a new house. He said to the prince, "Where does this tree grow? It's so precious and beautiful!"

The prince replied, "Listen to me, I set out by boat from Namba Port in February of the previous year. At first, there was no way to go in which direction the ship should go when it went to the sea. However, I made up my mind that if this wish was not fulfilled, I would not be able to be a human being in the world. So I let my boat drift with the wind.

I thought, if you die, there is no way; As long as you live, you will always find this Penglai Mountain. The ship drifted for a long time, and finally left our country of Japan and drifted away. Sometimes the wind and waves were so strong that the ship seemed to sink to the bottom of the sea. Sometimes the wind blows into the inexplicable land, and some ghosts come out of it, and I am almost killed by them. Sometimes they lose their way and become lost in the sea.

Sometimes, when the food is gone, the grass roots are eaten as food. Sometimes something very scary comes and wants to devour us. Sometimes seashells are used to satisfy hunger and save their lives. Sometimes I get sick and have no one to help me on the journey, so I have to resign myself to fate. And he dwelt in a ship like this, and let it drift for five hundred days. At about midmorning on the 500th day, they suddenly saw a mountain in the distance in the middle of the sea, and everyone was overjoyed. I looked out from the boat and saw that the mountain was floating on the sea, it was big, very high, and it was very beautiful in shape.

Then I thought that this was probably the mountain I was seeking, and I was ecstatic for a moment. However, I always felt that it was a little scary, so I sailed along the perimeter of the mountain and observed it for two or three days. And behold, one day, a woman dressed as a fairy came down from the mountain and used a silver bowl to fetch water. So we landed in the boat and asked the woman: What is the name of this mountain? The woman replied: This is Penglai Mountain.

I heard that and I couldn't stop it. Ask this woman again: What is your name? The woman replied, "My name is Treasure Inlay Glass." So he drifted back into the mountains.

"Let's talk about this mountain, it's so steep that it's impossible to climb. As I walked around the mountain, I saw many strange flowers and flowers that we could not see in this world. Gold and silver glazed water flowed out of the mountains. There are bridges over the river, all of which are made of various beautiful precious jades. The surrounding trees glow brightly. I will break one of them.

This one wasn't really outstanding, but it was exactly what Kaguya had instructed, so I folded it back. When it comes to the scenery of this mountain, it is truly an unparalleled view. I would have liked to stay there longer to enjoy the view. But now that he had obtained this flower, he had no intention of staying for a long time, and hurriedly returned by boat. Fortunately, the way back was a tailwind, and after walking for more than 400 days, I arrived home.

This is a great reward for my wishes. I returned to Namba Port yesterday. My clothes were wet with the tide, and I didn't change them yet, so I came straight here. “

When the old man heard this, he was very moved, sighed repeatedly, and sent him a poem:

"I often go into the wild mountains to take Hsinchu, and I have never experienced this hardship in my life."

When the prince heard this, he said, "My heart of sorrow and bitterness for many years has finally settled down today. So he replied to him with a poem:

"I have been in love with green shirts for many years, and my tears are drying today."

In this way, the prince's plan was successfully completed. But suddenly, six men walked into Kaguya's courtyard. One of them was holding a stick with a note on it with the text of the petition written. He said: "The head of the craftsmen of the craft institute, Hanbu Nei Ma Lu, said: In order to make jade branches, we and the other six people have been exhausted for more than a thousand days, but they have never received a single penny. Please pay immediately for distribution. ”

The old man was taken aback and asked, "What are these craftsmen talking about?" At this time, the prince was embarrassed and speechless. Kaguya heard it and said, "Please show me the text of their petition." But see it written: "The prince and our lowly craftsmen lived in seclusion together, and for more than a thousand days, he ordered us to make exquisite jade branches." At that time, he was favored: on the day of success, he was not only rewarded abundantly, but also awarded the title of official. We think about it, this is what the prince's royal lady Kaguya needs, and we should receive a reward from this place, and I will ask for mercy today. ”

Kaguya Ji read the petition and was frowning, but suddenly laughed, then called the old man in, and said to him: "I thought this was really a jade branch of Penglai, and I was worried, it turned out that this was fake, I would really be happy!" This nasty fake, he will send in. Hurry up and tell him to get out! ”

The old man also nodded yes and said, "It's clearly a fake, you should tell him to get out." ”

Now that Kaguya was in a cheerful mood, she wrote a poem to answer the prince:

"The rhetoric is really shameless, who do you want to deceive by forging jade branches!"

He returned the poem to him along with the forged jade branch.

The old man had a cordial conversation with the prince, but now he was depressed and had to pretend to doze off. The prince wanted to get up and go home, but he felt that it was not the case; Let's sit down as usual, and feel embarrassed. So I had to keep my head down and hide. It wasn't until it got dark that he sneaked out of Kaguyahime's house.

Kaguya summoned the six craftsmen who had just come to petition. She thanked them and gave them a lot of money. The six people were very happy: "Ah, today is a good day!" "Take the money and go home. On the way, he was beaten by the people sent by the prince of the car, and his head was broken and his money was robbed, so he had to flee for his life.

At this point, the prince sighed: "The shame of my life is nothing more than this." Not only could he not get the woman he loved, but he was also ridiculed by the world. So he fled to the mountains alone. His retainers led many people to search for him, but at last there was no trace of him, and he was probably dead.

The prince's mood, not only did he have no shame to see his peers again, but even in front of his retainers, he felt ashamed, so he had to disappear. Since then, the Japanese people have called this kind of behavior "soul refuge". (To be continued.) )