"Yessir," the acolyte said, but as he was setting out, the priest gave him three charms, and told him that there were fierce monsters like tengu's and yamanba's in the mountains.
"If anything frightening happens, just throw down a charm and say what you want. If you want an ocean, just say 'Come an ocean' and there will be an ocean. And while the frightening thing is trying to figure out how to get across the ocean, you run back here."
"Yessir, I understand," the acolyte said. He took the three charms and started off.
When the acolyte got into the mountains and looked for equinox flowers, they were blooming everywhere. The big, red flowers were blooming everywhere he looked. The acolyte kept looking around, wondering which ones to pick. He walked around trying to choose between that one and this one, and the further he went, the bigger and more beautiful they got. The acolyte finally came to a clump of flowers that were big and stood higher than his head. He was struck by the beauty of these flowers, and walked deeper and deeper into the mountains. Before he knew it, the sun was starting to set.
"This is terrible," he thought. He was frightened and turned back, but now he didn't know which way to go to get home. He rushed along in a panic, turning this way and that, and finally there was no path at all. To top that, the sun was completely set, and it was getting dark. The acolyte felt like crying, but walked along trying to decide whether there was a path or not. Then, up in the forest he saw some kind of light shining behind some trees.
"Ah, that's good! There must be someone living there," the acolyte thought happily, and he decided to go towards the light for help. He found the light shining through the window of a hut in the forest.
"This is welcome, this is welcome! This is thanks to the Buddha!" With that thought in his mind, the acolyte knocked at the door of the hut.
"Good evening. I've lost my way; won't you let me spend the night here?"
A strange voice inside said, "Ohh, ohh," and the door opened. The person standing there was a dreadful yamanba. As soon as she saw the acolyte, the yamanba said, "Well, please come in. So you lost your way? That must be quite a problem for you."
With these words she cheerfully invited him inside. The acolyte knew he was really in trouble now, but there was nothing he could do. He went in as she said, and he ate some supper as she told him to. When he lay down to sleep, the yamanba stretched out right beside him. Apparently she was guarding him. He wanted to escape while she slept, so he pretended to sleep, and made a show of snoring quietly. Sure enough, the yamanba's eyes closed. He thought she had definite plans to eat him during the night, and without making a move, he said, "Yamanba-san, Yamanba-san! I need to go to the toilet."
"Just hold it," she said with a scolding tone.
"I can't hold it!"
The yamanba clicked her tongue helplessly and said, "All right, you can go then. But if you try to escape I won't put up with it!" She tied a rope to the acolyte's waist, and held on to the other end as she lay there on the floor.
Out in the toilet, the acolyte untied the rope and fastened it to the pillar of the toilet. Bowing, he prayed, "Toilet god-sama, Toilet-god-sama! If the yamanba calls to me, please say 'Just a minute-- poot, poot.' I beg you, please help me." Then he climbed out the window and took off as fast as he could run.
The yamanba thought the acolyte was taking a long time in the toilet, and she got more and more irritated. "Hurry up, Kozo," she yelled.
There was a voice from the toilet that said, "Just a minute-- poot, poot." There was no other choice, so the yamanba waited a little longer.
But no matter how long she waited, he didn't return. Three or four times she yelled, "Kozo, Kozo!" but every time the reply from the toilet was "Just a minute-- poot, poot."
Eventually this started to seem strange to her. "I don't care what you're doing, you're taking too much time!" she yelled angrily, and jerked on the rope again and again. And what happened then? The main pillar of the toilet collapsed with a loud noise. That both surprised and angered the yamanba.
"You acolyte!" she cursed. "You've tricked me and escaped!"
She jumped up and chased after the acolyte. He was running for all he was worth, but since he didn't know the way and the yamanba was very fast, she gained on him steadily.
When she was right behind him, the yamauba yelled, "Kozo, Kozo! Wait, Kozo!"
The acolyte knew the time had come. He took out one of the charms the priest had given him, and threw it down. He called out, "Become a river! Become a big river!" and there was a big river there behind him. This was a huge river, and the current was swift and strong.
But being a yamanba, the yamanba wasn't bothered by it in the least, and she splashed her way steadily across. Then she enthusiastically resumed her chase. The acolyte had no time to get away, and she soon was right behind him again.
"Kozo, Kozo! Wait, Kozo," she yelled.
The acolyte took out the second charm and threw it at the yamanba, shouting "Become a mountain! Become a high, high mountain!"
This time there was a mountain there. It was a high mountain, measuring thousands of meters. But this is a yamanba we're talking about. "What's this bump?" she said, and in no time she had climbed to the peak. In no more time she was down the other side.
The acolyte still hadn't gained any ground, and she was right behind him.
"Kozo, Kozo! Wait, Kozo," she yelled again at his back. The acolyte realized this was his last chance. He took out the third and last charm, yelled "Become a fire! Become a huge fire!" and threw it at the yamanba.
Suddenly there was a sea of fire in front of the yamanba. Flames roared up as high as mountains and as wide as the sea. But being a yamanba, she waved the smoke aside and walked across the flames. Needless to say, the acolyte had not managed to escape.
At that moment, however, the acolyte saw that he was right in front of the gate of the temple.
"Oh! Isn't that the temple?" he said without thinking. And it definitely was the temple. Now the acolyte was completely relaxed, and he hurried into the entryway. But since it was night, the door was locked tight. He pounded and pounded, and called for the priest in a loud voice.
"Osho-san, Osho-san! Hurry and open the door! I'm being chased by a yamanba! She's chased me all the way here! Hurry! Hurry!"
From inside the temple he heard the priest's unhurried voice. "All right, all right. I'll open the door. But first I need to take a pee."
The acolyte lost heart completely. "Osho-san! The yamanba is coming through the gate. Please hurry and open the gate! Please open it now!" he called in a loud voice.
The priest inside replied, "Don't be impatient. I'm washing my hands now."
Finally he opened the door and let the acolyte in. But then he was very quick to push the acolyte into the laundry hamper and hoist the hamper up to the roof over the well. As soon as he finished that, he heard the yamanba calling in a loud voice from the entryway.
"Osho! Osho! Didn't an acolyte just run in there?"
"Don't get excited, Yamanba-don," the priest answered. "No acolytes have come here."
"Now, then, he certainly ran into this temple. I saw it with my own eyes!" The two of them said "No, he didn't" and "Yes, he did" back and forth a few times, till the priest said, "If you're so sure, you can come search for him."
"Here I come," the yamanba said, and entered the temple. She searched all around inside the building, but there was no shape nor shadow of the acolyte anywhere.
But finally the yamanba peeked into the well, and she saw the hamper reflected from the surface of the water. She saw it, but she didn't know it was a reflection. "So that's where you've hidden him," she said gleefully, and not taking her eye off the hamper she jumped head first into the well.
When he saw that, the priest quickly put the cover on the well and place a heavy rock on top of it so that the yamanba couldn't get out. Even a yamanba couldn't get out of a well in those circumstances-- she was vanquished by the priest. And that's the happy ending.