Kappa by Akutagawa Ryuunosuke, Chapter Six

CHAPTER SIX

In fact, romance among kappa is quite different from romance among humans. The female looks for a male quickly, and upon finding him does not think twice. The most straight-forward female will chase the male. I myself saw a female in mad pursuit. Not only that, but her parents and siblings followed. The male looked miserable. If he were lucky enough to escape, he would still be laid up for two or three months.

I was reading an anthology of Tock's poetry at home one day, when the student Lapp came running in. He collapsed on my bed, panting.

"This is horrible! She'll catch hold of me!"

I dropped the book at once and locked the door. Peering through the keyhole, I could see a short female with a painted face. She loitered outside my door. Lapp slept on my floor for several weeks after that. His beak grew rotten and finally fell off.

Then again, sometimes there is a male who chases a female, but only because she entices him. I once saw a male running after a female who, in the midst of her escape, would occasionally pause deliberately to crawl on all fours. Then when the time was right, she let herself be caught as though worn out. He embraced her and they rolled around for a while. When he finally got up, he had an expression of disappointment or regret -- I can’t describe it exactly.

But that was all right. There was another small male with a female, as said before, performing a sexy run away. Then a bigger male walked by, snorting. When the female saw him, she cried out, “Oh no, please help! He’s trying to kill me!” Of course he grabbed the smaller male and threw him into the middle of traffic. The small one grasped at empty air with his webbed hand a few times, then finally died. By then, the female was grinning with her arms around the neck of the larger male.

The male kappa I was acquainted with had the experience of being chased. Even Bagg, who had a wife and children. He’d even been caught a couple of times. Only the philosopher Magg ( who lived next door to Tock) had never had the misfortunate. This might be because he was quite ugly for a kappa, but also because he stayed at home and rarely went out.

I sometimes went to Magg’s house to chat. He was always in a very dim room, lit only by a lamp with a shade in seven different colors. He read a thick book at a tall desk, and we discussed romance among Kappa.

“Why doesn’t the government crack down on females chasing males?”

“Partly because there are few females among the officials. Females are stronger and more possessive, so if more of them were in charge there would be less chasing than there currently is, But perhaps if there were females in government they would chase even their comrades, the male officials.”

“So your kind of lifestyle is the happiest.”

Magg left his chair, and taking my hands said with a sigh, “you’re not one of us, so you can’t understand. But I also long to be pursued by a terrifying female.”