Kappa by Akutagawa Ryuunosuke, Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE

Three summers ago, rucksack on my back, I decided to hike from Kamikouchi hot springs resort up to Mt. Hotaka. As you know, the only way is along the Azusa River. Since I'd climbed the mountain before, as well as Yariga Peak, I set out without a guide in the morning fog. If it didn’t clear up, I would have been blinded to the scenery around me. It seemed to grow thicker. I’d only walked an hour before I thought about returning to the hot springs resort in Kamikouchi. But I thought if I reached a higher altitude, the fog would lift.

It deepened every minute. "If I just climb a bit more!" I thought, and breaking away from the river, started through a bamboo grove.

All I could see was the dense fog, at times broken by a fluttering moth or drooping fir tree branch. Grazing horses and cows appeared and disappeared in a heartbeat. I started to become tired and hungry, and even worse my clothes were heavy with dampness. Finally I gave up, and following the sound of trickling water, felt my way down into the valley.

I sat on a rock to have some food. It took about ten minutes to open a can of corned beef, and make a fire from twigs. In the meantime the fog was steadily clearing, as though proving it had beaten me. Gnawing a piece of bread, I glanced at my watch. Already twenty minutes past one. What shocked me more, however, was the reflection in its crystal of a strange face. I looked over my shoulder, and saw for the first time ever a kappa. Perched on a rock behind me, it had one arm around the white trunk of a birch, the other hand shielding its eyes. It stared back at me with a curious expression.

I was so taken aback, I couldn't move. The kappa also seemed to be astonished, and froze, hand still upraised. Then I jumped up and towards the kappa, who fled in the same instant. Well, I thought it did -- it certainly disappeared. I looked around and through the tall grass, and spotted it a ways off, poised to flee. I couldn't blame it.

What truly surprised me was its color. Before, when it had stood on the rock, it was gray -- now, from head to toe, it was green.

"Damn it," I said, and again leapt for it, and of course it ran away. For over thirty minutes I chased it headlong through the tall grass and over rocks.

The kappa could run quite fast, even more than a monkey. Often, as though in a dream, I thought I'd lost it, or slipped and fell down. But then we ran into a massive chestnut tree, under which an ox with fearful horns and red eyes was grazing. The kappa let out a strange cry and dove for a patch of tall grass.

"I’ve got it, " I said to myself, and jumped after. There was some kind of unseen hole there. My fingers just brushed the smooth shell of the kappa as I fell headlong into profound darkness.

At such a terrible moment, the brain takes refuge in trivial thoughts. I thought of Kappa-bashi, a bridge near the Kamikouchi resort. I'm not sure what happened then -- I glimpsed a brilliant flash like lightning, and blacked out.