"Hello! Hello!" she called, but no one replied. That seemed extraordinary, and she hurried back along the path she had followed. But somewhere, somehow, she lost her way, and no matter which way she turned she was unable to get back to the road. In the meantime, the sun had gotten lower and lower. The ravine had grown dark; the only light was in the sky. The sound of tree branches creaking in the wind grew louder, and the cries of birds or beasts somewhere could also be heard.
What should she do?
She kept walking without slowing down until she came to some higher ground. From there, she thought, the lights of the village might be visible. You can imagine how happy she was when she did see a light burning a way off. Even if it were not the village, someone would be living there who could show her the road to take to the village. She could probably even stay there overnight. They would probably give her some supper. These thoughts came to her because she was already completely worn out, and couldn't possibly walk a step beyond the light. And so she walked along toward the light, thinking of the light as her only source of relief.
"Excuse me!" she said at the entryway. "Please help me. I'm a girl from the village who lost her way on the mountain. I'm completely worn out and can't walk any further. And I'm so hungry I could die. Won't you please let me stay here tonight. I beg you!"
Inside the house a voice said, "I don't know who you are or where you're from, but if that's the situation, please open the door and come in."
"Thank you very much." The girl went in and saw an old woman with white hair sitting by the firepit. The old woman had sparkling eyes, and her mouth spread nearly from one ear to the other. Ordinarily the girl would have fled at the sight of such a creature, but now she was so tired there was nothing she could do. "Please," she said, hanging her head.
The old woman stared at the girl, then asked, "Just what kind of place do you think you've come to?"
"I saw a light in the distance, and so . . ."
"This place is a yamanba's hut. I'm the yamanba. Do you know what a yamanba is? It's a female oni, who eats humans."
When the old woman made this terrible statement, the girl didn't know what to do. Her body wouldn't move, so she said, "Even if this is a yamanba's hut, please let me stay one night."
"You want to stay here?" the old woman said. "I'm an oni and I may eat you."
"That's all right. You can eat me, but please let me stay here."
The yamanba opened her huge mouth and laughed out loud. "What a fix," she said. "You say it's all right to eat you, but I don't want to eat a girl like you."
She opened her huge mouth and laughed again. "Ha ha ha! This is a fix! I've eaten plenty of people before this, but there's never been a human who said it was all right to eat him. It's weird, but when you tell me to eat, I don't feel like eating. Eating you would be a sad thing."
The yamanba thought for a while. "If I send you out into the mountain, you'd just get eaten by a bear or a wolf. You're a problem," she muttered. Then she went to the back of the hut, and brought out a clean straw cape.
"This is called the yamanba's treasure cape. It's my treasure, actually. But I feel sorry for you, and I've made up my mind to give you this treasure cape. This is a very useful treasure-- if you put it on and say three time 'Yamanba's Treasure Cape, Yamanba's Treasure Cape, Yamanba's Treasure Cape, make me a mountain wolf,' it will turn you into a wolf. And it's not just wolves-- you can change into anything. Also, if there's anything you want, just shake it like this and think of what you want. "I want a riceball. Make it three. I want some pickles-- four slices.' And right away it will tumble out underneath. Could there be anything in the world more convenient than this cape? I'll give it to you. Well, go ahead. The wolf I mentioned was just an example. Go on, and become a human old woman."
With these words, the yamanba handed over the treasure cape. Outside, the girl shook the cape and found riceballs and pickles underneath. She ate them eagerly. Then she put the cape on and turned into an old woman. It worked fine. If a bear or wolf came up, she could turn into a hunter, or if an oni came along she could turn into a bird and fly away.
Just as she was thinking that, she heard a number of oni beside the path saying, "There's a human coming-- let's catch it and eat it."
They stepped out and surrounded the girl before she had a chance to turn into a bird and fly into the air. She was really in a pinch, and started to pray, "Namu Amida Butsu."
When he heard that, one of the oni said, "Forget it! This is just an old woman. It's just skin and bones, and not worth eating. Go on, you! Get out!"
And he let her go. She screamed as though terrified, and ran from where the oni were. Before long the sky grew light, and morning came. She came to a village she didn't recognize, and saw a splendid looking gate. It had to be the home of the richest man in the village. The went through the gate and called out.
"I'm just a poor old woman with no place to go. Can't you put me up in some corner of the house?"
The rich man was kind-hearted, and felt sorry for the old woman that the girl had become. He said, "That's too bad. There is an empty room in the servant quarters, so you can stay there and make your living spinning yarn."
During the day, the girl worked steadily spinning yarn. At night she got bored, and she would take off the cape, change back to a girl, and practice handwriting, quietly by herself. However, late one night when the rich man's son was coming back from somewhere, he noticed that a light was on in one room of the servant quarters. Moreover, there was a beautiful girl practicing writing.
She was an appealing girl, more beautiful than any he had ever seen. The next day he told his father he just had to have the girl in the servant quarters for his wife. The rich man found that almost unbelievable.
"You think there's a girl like that in the servant quarters?" he asked. They searched the servant quarters room by room, but there was no girl in sight. However, a servant from the rich man's household did discover a girl practicing her handwriting late at night. The servant believed it was certainly a monster who took the form of an old woman by day and a beautiful girl by night. He told the rich man that she was certainly a monster. The rich man was surprised, and summoned the girl. With everyone together, the evidence was produced, and the girl was pressed to respond. At this point, she didn't have any other choice; the girl told the story of the treasure cape she had received from the yamanba. Then she took off the cape and returned to her form as a beautiful girl. The rich man's sons was happy with that, and asked her to marry into the family.
The girl told them about her own village and home, and asked for them to be found. They were located, and it took less than two days for her to return to her home. Then, less than a month later, this beautiful, appealing girl came to the rich man's house as a new bride. And that's the happy ending.