Tales of Saka

      Fairy Tales of Saka:

   Story one: Saka the bride.


    Once upon a time there was a small fishing village. All around the village was forest save for one dirt road that lead to other branching dirt roads to other small villages and one would have to go a few days journey down the mountains to even find the farmer fields and beyond that to the roads of paved stone and so much further to the cities. This village was on a lake atop a mountain, and in the center of this lake was an island with one rocky cave on it. The forests were haunted by strange spirits and beasts, and the island cave home to a horrific ogre. How a village ever came to be there was a mystery even to those who lived there; yet to move away was such a long journey, and one that had to make it past many other horrors that haunted the tiny roads for to be stuck there at night and not behind a blessed village gate was surely an act of suicide. It is for this reason that a great mystery occured, an older couple near the edge of the forest were found to have a baby in their home. The older couple claimed to the heads of the village that the child had come from a traveler who was near death that they had encountered while gathering herbs and mushrooms in the forest; but the traveler had to stay outside the village and surrendered their child for they were cursed by a witch and could not enter any village. This was the first story they told, as the girl child they named Saka grew older, the story changed; to one being the child was found in a basket by a monster's den the nearly dead victim trapped by the monster begging them to care for the child; another simply found by the road without explination. The couple was already old when Saka was a baby and they had trouble keeping their story straight. As Saka grew so did her beauty, now a young woman her hair was long and impossibly dark, her complexian frightening as she was as pale as a corpse and her eyes golden. Her voice could charm the birds. Yet all the young men of the village feared her, they said she was too strong, too willfull, and couldn't cook; in bridal training her meat came out too raw and the berries too sweet. No matter how much she bathed in a few hours she gave off a musky smell.  Other things however frightened them more, such as her being able to pull a metal nail from wood with her fingernails which grew sharp; how she would sometimes walk alone at night and sing down by the lake. Despite all this she was beautiful, and had a melodeous voice; as well she was a fantastic basket weaver, she could make clothing faster than anyone, and had incredible luck finding fruits, berries, nuts, and mushrooms in the forest.

  One day however a frightened youth returned from fishing on the lake. He told the heads of the village that his boat had been grabbed up by a magic wave and serpants, carried to the ogre's island; and there he saw the giant obese creature standing taller than six men. The ogre had said to the youth, "every night i hear her sing, every night i long for her, I can take it no more, i will have the girl who sings at the lake as my bride or else I will destroy your village; tell this to your people."

   The old woman, her husband now dead by two years, who had raised Saka told the heads of the village in private a secret truth, "it is no wander the ogre wants the girl. I have raised her since a baby and seen more than any of you. She is not human, but something else, she grows stronger and wilder with every year that passes. She was forced on us by a woman made of mist who declared we raise her and love her as our own and we would be rewarded greatly. We have seen no reward, my husband now dead; and I fear as she eats more and more that whatever evil she is inside will crave for us one day. So yes, return the demon we brought into the village back to the monsters where it belongs."

   So it was that Saka was made to wear the white garment's of a bride, her protests to marrying the ogre fell on deaf ears and was told she could either marry the ogre or would be banished from the village and left to fend for herself in the wild. Either way she was never returning to their village to bring misfortune upon them. She was carried across the lake on a raft with various other goods as a peace offering to the ogre including a barrel of pickled turnips, a case of salt, a case of sugar, and a bushel of apples. She was left with the ogre, who took the other goods and placed them in his cave beside a massive iron pot.

   "you are frightemed," remarked the ogre, "this is normal, I am not offended, for I am a great big ogre and you are but a tiny helpless human. Now sing for me."

   Saka was forced to sing for hours as the ogre feasted and drank all manner of beer and wine, for the ogre's secret was that the giant pot was indeed an enchanted item that could summon up anything he wanted to eat or even drink. A great treasure he boasted he stole from the palace of the western star beings who lived five mountain ranges and three seas away. As the night wore on however the ogre who stands taller than six men became completly drunk, lost in the sight of his tiny bride; he shouted for her to stop singing and that now it was time to consumate their marriage. Even as he undid his belt and pants Saka protested a simple fact, "Great giant," she said in her lovely voice, "Have you forgotten I am but a tiny human. You stand taller than six men, your penis alone is taller than I; there is no way we could be husband and wife in this manner. I am but a singing bird to you, a pet, not a bride."

  The giant ogre paused, sobering up enough to realize the obvious and grunted. He went to a grand pile of lost treasures and pulled from them an amulet.

  "Here," he said, "this will make you as tall as an ogress. I do not want a pet, I want a bride. Do not protest again."

   Saka defeated took the amulet and put it on, it grew as she grew; however much to the ogre's horror she grew more than twice his size, her body covered in white fur, claws, a fluffy tail, ears of a wolf, and horns of a dragon. In his fear and taking advantage of Saka's surprise he snatched away the amulet returning Saka to her normal size, only now her clothing gone, as it did not grow as she had.

  "I was tricked!" howled the ogre trying to smash Saka with his fists, however she was quick and he was drunk, she ran to the water's edge and in desperation swam. Much to her own surprise she actually managed to swim to the distant shore in a matter of moments. The ogre was still rampaging across the island, throwing this and that treasure, tree, and rock into the water. Saka knew she could not return home, and knew for years besides she may have had to flee the village as she always felt like and was treated like an outsider there. So it was Saka fled into the forest, heading down the mountain's edge.

  The tale of Saka does not end there. For a group of youths in the night had snuck back to the ogre's island hearing Saka's singing the ogre's increasing drunken laughter. For whatever reason they had done so, thinking they may slay the ogre as it lay drunk, rescue Saka, or out of morbid curiosity their story would change for their intentions. However they bore witness to the conversation between Saka and the ogre, and they too fled when she turned into a fur covered giantess with a wolf's tail and dragon horns. As they paddled away they saw Saka swimming in the moon light faster than any human could. The ogre did not destroy their village and the youths told the heads of the village that when the ogre tried to leave the island some strange force held him back. For reasons unknown the ogre was a prisoner on the island and could only influence the waves and beasts on or near its shores. They never needed to comply with the monster's orders to sacrifice anyone to it.

   However Saka never returned, and no one could find any sign of her in the woods near the village. Life returned to normal for three more years until one twilight a great wind battered the village gate as it was closing for the evening, and there from a mist appeared a giant white fox with ten long tails that moved about like the tentacles of an octopus as blue lights and unnatural flames danced about it. The giant spirit beast was accompanied by an entourage of women made of clouds, and soldiers made of metal and lightning. With them carts of goods whose delicious smells filled the village. The giant fox with ten tails spoke, "I am the empress of the world of mists and light, where is my bride?"

  The great spirit beast's eyes looked over all there and spoke again, "Many years ago an attendent left a baby with an older couple to be raised here with the promise of great wealth being brought to the village as payment. That baby was my bride reborn in human form to experience life as a mortal. You will not yet know who you are, not until you eat the food of our world and breath its air or feel my kiss, so says the spell you placed upon yourself. So where among the mortals are you hiding my bride?"

  The old woman who had raised Saka was terrified as the head of the heads of the village spoke out, and told the great spirit beast the story; bringing forth the youths who had snuck back to the ogre's island.

  The treasures and food all vanished, not even the smells lingered, the maidens of cloud and the warriors of metal and lightning were gone just as quickly. The great spirit beast spoke only one thing, "distrustful humans," and lept over the village and to the lake. The ogre's screams could be heard not long after and the great spirit beast last seen floating into the mist, its jaw drenched in blood. The ogre's bones were found littered upon the shore, and its treasures all gone leaving nothing but an empty cave, although the treasures thrown into the lake were said to still be there. The villagers in fear would abandon the village not long after, very few would remain there, a few old and stubborn, such as the old woman who had misheard a spirit being's promise of a reward.

  This tale would spread from village to village as the villagers spread out, for many years this was thought to be the end of the tale; yet; it is not; for many years later when neither the village nor the ogre remained, Saka would be seen again.


   Story 2: The Four Brothers and the Nymph

     Many years after Saka's village was long abandoned and the ogre long dead till both barely remained in the memories of the local villages; the story of Saka had become only another story; although in this day the youngest of the village still alive with children of their own now; so goes the many stories in those mountains filled with monsters. A village further down the mountain by the twisting rivers had stories of a woman haunting the forest. Wearing the skins of deer and even bears she had killed with her own two hands, described as deathly pale, having long black hair, claw like fingernails, and yellow eyes that reflected like those of a beast in the moonlight. She had been seen by hunters eating small animals, grabbing fish from the river.

   In the village by the twisting rivers lived four brothers who were also hunters; these four prided themselves in catching any game and even defending the villagers and travelers by the roads from the monsters of the forests. Tales of this strange woman spread fear, fear she was a werewolf, werebear, or else a witch. However the youngest brother said he had seen her bathing in a spring and she was beautiful, and all had heard her singing to herself. They were certain she was a nymph or some other fairy creature that would lure men to her; how else could she live in those woods of spirits and demons, surviving every winter. These brothers had heard a story from another hunter from a neighboring village that had come from the cities that nymphs become docile and have to obey any man who grabs their hair. The brothers placed a bet on who could force this nymph to become their wife and headed out.

   The woman who was clearly Saka had not aged at all in all these years, living off the land as best she could, losing all track of time as every day blended into the next. The hunters were sneaky and knew every trick to hunt even a predator and the youngest of the four brothers had snuck up behind her so carefully he was able to grab a length of her hair and yanked on it. She screamed, and so did he as he hair slipped from his grasp, his hand cut open and burned as though he had tried to grab a burning knife. The next youngest brother seeing this fired his arrow at Saka, the arrow vanished in the air and appeared again behind him, striking him in the back of the neck killing him. Saka vanished deeper into the woods. They would never see her again. A few months later,  they would learn who it was they had seen as they had traveled further up the mountain to escort a merchant from their village selling winter clothes to the poorer villages up higher in the mountains who mostly traded with rare herbs that only grew so much higher up. In route to a village near an ancient shrine a mist suddenly overtook the three hunters and the merchant's wagon, from which appeared the great fox spirits beast with her ten tails twisting about in the air behind her.

   "I smell my bride, where is the girl called Saka?"

   The merchant knew the story of the abandoned village, for his father had been born there, he only said she has not been seen since the days when his father was but a child.

 "No," said the great spirit beast, "I smell her, from these men, where is the maiden of pale skin, yellow eyes, midnight hair, and voice of the sweetest birds?"

   The three brothers knew instantly who the great spirit beast was speaking of and timidly as he could the younger brother afraid to show his hand was about to tell the great spirit beast where they had seen her. The oldest brother however fearing for the lives of the villagers by the twisting rivers fired an arrow at the great spirit beast, but as with Saka the arrow vanished in the air and struck him in the back of the neck killing him. Now only two brothers remained and they told the great spirit beast where they had seen her.

   "Down the mountain," the great spirit beast said, "further away I did not suspect."

  With that the great spirit beast vanished into the mist, leaving the brothers a story to tell. The youngest brother would in the coming days lose all use of his right hand and it have to be cut off as it was slowly and unnaturally burning from the inside.


  Story 3: The Farmer, the spider, and the fox.


    Taking place much later in time our third tale unfolds, not in the mountains or by a lake, but att a farm. Here there lived a farmer, his wife, their grown daughter, and teenage son; for their daughter was expected to wed a man to take over the farm in the not too distant future to whom she was already betrothed; and the teenage son expected to continue working or else head off into the city to secure work to take care of his parents some day. The farm was mostly fields here and there not to near the house; as well as livestock. Chicken for eggs and meat, cows for milk and meat, sheep for wool and meat, and pigs for only meat. The tale begins as the teenage son returned from the field watching the sheep and checking the blessed wards along the property markers and fence posts to keep out the horrid things in the forests. The horrid things known to turn chicken eggs into monsters, spoil milk, defile sheep and pigs into twisted things unfit to eat with human speach, arms, and eyes. As well the things in the forest were known to harass their horses so they could not work, and tempt people with crooked promises.

  So it was one late day when that teenage son was returning from checking the wars on the property markers and fence posts; he came into the farm and spoke to his father in confidence, "father," he said, "the smell of mother's chicken dinner traveled far into the field; I spoke aloud of not being able to wait to takes her delicious roasted chicken. I fear something horrid over heard me. A sweet woman's voice whose source I could not see came from the shadows of the brush and said to me, (Be not afraid human I mean you no harm; it has been many years, so many I do not know, since last I tasted cooked meat. That smell travels far into the forest every night and I can no longer stand it. So I offer you this, bring a plate of that cooked meat to this propety marker and I will bless your fields, your livestock, and your health.)."

   The father contemplated this a moment and spoke to his son, "Which property marker was this?" to which the son indicated the northern end by the barley field."

   The father contemplated again and spoke to his son, "I know what spoke to you, it was Jara Jara the spider temptress. Past that marker and fifty steps into the woods there is a clearing that spring or fall the forest floor is always covered in leaves or blossoms; hidden beneath there is a giant spider from whose head protrudes a woman's body wearing a fine dress. She speaks sweetly and tempts men to her. No one has ventured there since the days of my late father's uncle who owned this farm before me. Jara Jara must be hungry for human meat. Do not fall for it. When next you check the markers place a plate there covered in dead bugs and say, Oh Jara Jara you are a spider, be content with bugs not men or mortal food."

   So it was the son the next day while out in the field upon bringing the cows did grab a plate and a basket of bugs he had collected that morning and placed the plate on the marker and shouted into the forest, "Oh Jara Jara you are a spider, be content with bugs not men or mortal food!"

  To his astonishment a blue light appeared in the brush and a woman's voice spoke, "My name is not Jara Jara," from the light appeared a strange creature a slender white fox as tall as a a wolf with a black horse like mane, longer legs than a fox should have, and a long tail that flexed about like the body of a snake. The fox like creature spoke again, "My name is Saka. I once wore the shape of a human, and I remember the taste of cooked meat. Human if you bring me a plate of cooked meat I will bless your fields, your live stock, and your health." with that the strange being faded away.

  The boy returned to the house and told his father what had happened. The father thought about it and said he did not know what this creature was but there are many horrid things in the forest that can take on any shape they want; no doubt this one wanted the plate not the food to have something of the family to get put a curse on them. Yet there were things that did bless homes and lands when given offerings, these arrangements had to start somehow. He thought on this and his daughter's betrothal to a man who was to take over the farm and combine his own land with this one to make it more profitable in just a few short years. Land spirits he knew made arrangements that held to whomever lived on the land not to the people who made the bargains regardless of if they know about it. He told his son to take a basket of chicken and secret it away to the marker that night. To call out to this spirit and leave the chicken on the marker but make sure to not leave the basket. If the spirit is horrid thing it won't even be able to touch the chicken atop the blessed marker, if it is a blessed spirit it will have no problem and the deal will be made; but to tell no one else about this.

   However fifty steps in that forest as the farmer said, there was the lair of the spider demon Jara Jara, and she indeed was still there, eating whatever small animals happened her way. But names draw the attention of their owners and she heard the voice of a young man call her name and tell her to eat bugs not men or their food. "A strange taunt by a bored youth no doubt" is what the spider demon likely thought, for not every kid who challenges such things is answered by them for their egos are not as fragile as those of regular people. However when the smell of cooked food came closer than ever before to her domain she was made to take notice and regard the taunt as an insult now. She looked through the trees, through the eyes of every spider in the forest and saw the young man of the farm placing a few pieces of roasted chicken upon a blessed marker that something like her could never touch; a taunt again. However she saw the strange white creature with the black mane take the food from atop the marker.

   The young man saw the same of course, he saw the strange thin giant fox sit up on its haunches and hold the food with dexterous paws like a squirrel. However its hands and body to him strangely resembled a human woman's only stretched and covered in fur. The white fox glowed and said, "I place my blessing upon your field, your livestock, and your health", and vanished into the air.

  The father was overjoyed to hear how it went, overjoyed that the farm would be blessed by a land spirit no matter the one in charge. Now he was thinking if this was to be regularly occurance to make an offering or in what other way would the spirit make its demands known. The following night he sent his son out alone to the edge of the woods to ask the spirit if they would want regular offerings in return for blessing and protecting the land. However when the son went to the edge of the woods and called out, "Spirit, Oh spirit, my father has sent me to ask you if there are any days special to you in which you would require regular offerings?"

   The voice that came back was a woman's yes, but unfamiliar.

  "Farmer's son, grown man that you are, should you not be the one in charge? Offer up to me yourself and you will have it all."

   From the shadows of the brush a woman appeared, fair with short brown hair, wearing a fine garment of silk.

  "who are you?" asked the farmer's son.

  "Why I am a spirit being of these woods. I can bless your land, bless your health, and give all your heart's desires."

   "Are you Saka?" asked the farmer's son directly knowing that spirits must answer truthfully although they can be tricky.

   "You may call me by any name you wish." answered the woman.

   "You are not Saka," said the farmer's son, "you are Jara Jara, the spider."

  "Clever boy," replied the spider looming up, her legs and waist replaced by a giant spider's body, "I thought you easy prey, a foolish human, a boy who fed scraps to a trickster fox filled with empty promises. It was my name you called out with taunts and insults, I am the one known to those who are older."

   "You lured people into your trap to eat them" said the farmer's son showing surprising courage before the giant creature.

  "I did not," said Jara Jara, "I blessed the land, I blessed the livestock, because I blessed the farmer who was here before. Even if that fox that you personally fed could do what it said what would you get out of it? I see through the webs of fate and hear all and see all the spiders do even in that little farm house. You will move away or work this land in only a few short years. You who were born and raised and worked this land, your father's only son, will gain nothing but a life of servitude to your sister's husband. I can give you more, wealth and power, control over your own life. You do not need to decide now, come back here and call my name in the dead of night anytime between now and one year from now; and consider the bargain struck."

   The farmer's son considered this, and in only two nights thinking over the arranged marriage between his sister and the wealthy land owner still going through a required by their society courting phase while the wedding was being planned; and how he stood to inherit nothing from the farm, not even guaranteed a job as his own parents often spoke of him going away to live in the city to work there; he returned to the forest's edge and called out, "Jara Jara, spider of the woods, I have made my decision."

  There was rustling and wind and from the forest quickly appeared the giant form of Jara Jara, even bigger than before, her human side less human with giant red eyes and long sharp fingers.

   "Very well, the bargain struck. This farm will be yours, in one month or less you will know this to be true; and then I will collect my payment."

  Jara Jara vanished into the shadows as unnervingly silent as she had appeared.

  Not long after when next he came courting the betrothed of daughter of the family fell sick and in two days had died; the cause was found by the doctor to be a spider's bite. The daughter in mourning left to live at the home of her now deceased betrothed; as well this threw the family's future prospects into peril. The daughter would stay with the other family and work for them in the city. Instead they would now need to keep the son at home to inherit the farm someday as a change of the will; he had only not been set to do so due to the wealth of the land owners whose son had been betrothed to their daughter. It was out of their concern they gave the daughter a job at their firm in the city.

   The son lay awake one night, a whole year had passed by this point; when a tiny spider crawled onto his nightstand and whispered to him, "Jara Jara wants her payment. She wants your sister?"

   The farmer's son ran into the night to the edge of the field by the norther property marker and shouted, "Jara Jara, spider spirit of the woods. Please come out for your payment."

   The shadows crept and Jara Jara appeared, as giant and fearsome as before, "My spiders see all," she said, "and hear all, you do not have my payment. Bring her back here and bring her to me."

  "Please, Jara Jara," the boy pleaded, "I cannot do this, I would be suspected if I brought her back here. Is there not something else you want?"

  Jara Jara smiled as she knew this was the answer, "once a year till you die you are to bring to me a young man for me to consume. If at anytime you bring me your sister I will no longer ask for any more young men. Fail to bring me anyone and you will not inherit this land for you and everyone who lives upon it will die."

  Jara Jara set a date, the first would have to be within a month, and then from there once a year around the same time, when harvest was to begin so there would be hired hands. The young man didn't know what to do, he could not give up his sister, or risk the lives of himself and his parents. Yet he was expected to somehow secretly bring a young man in a month and then every year to the farm and out past the northern marker to the spider's lair. It was an impossible task and he knew Jara Jara's words meaning, his life, it was his life she had asked for when first he met the spider spirit, even if he managed to get one or two men killed, a hired hand going missing every year would in a few short years ruin their reputation, the people of the local villages would stop coming to help them; the farm would be ruined. His life and his life alone, he had brought this upon himself for dealing with the spider spirit Jara Jara.

  He spoke aloud in the field what he had done and walked to the marker. However in a tree by the field his sight was overtaken by a brilliant glow, the strange white fox like slender creature had returned, the one called Saka, now its body stretched like a snake and wrapping around the trunk and limbs of the tree, its tail as well wrapping about the branches.

  "I have watched you," spokes the spirit beast Saka, "Did I not say I would bless the land, your livestock, and your health? Was this not enough? I watched you bargain with the spider Jara Jara, watched you make a fool of yourself falling for the tricks of something that could not cross the boarder you have made. But now it can and has, to poison and kill a man, it could do no harm till you bargained with it. Now should it wish it could walk over the ward and take you and everyone else. But it is a lazy creature. Wait till the sacrifice is due, walk down the markers till you reach the east field; on that night you will meet a beautiful woman. Do not stare into her eyes, do not stare and long for her breasts, watch your words and hands as well, for that woman will be dangerous to any mortal that lusts for her. You are to nod to her and she will follow you along the markers and to Jara Jara's lair. If you do this and as I instructed your problem will go away, do not worry on that night for your parents will be placed into a sleeping enchantment."

   So it was when the night came that the farmer's son did travel to the east field while his parents were asleep and find in the moonlight a silent woman dressed in a white gown and nothing else, hair down to her ankles and black as pitch, her skin deathly white, trully an unnatural beauty with an air of danger about her as she stood so still. He remembered the spirit beast's words and did not stare into her eyes, he averted his gaze from her full breasts, he did not reach out to her and instead simply nodded to her, she answered by only pointing towards the north field. He walked and she walked behind him. Her foot steps so silent he could hardly hear them, even as they passed the north marker and he walked the fifty steps into the woods coming to the clearing. There he found his feet stuck to the ground and his lips unable to move. As the pale woman stood in the clearing from below emerged Jara Jara in all her giant spider malevolence, "what a tasty sacrifice you have brought"

  The woman did not speak to Jara Jara instead she transformed in a brilliant light to a giant seven tailed fox like creature with a black mane and the horns of a dragon, she gobbled up Jara Jara and turned to the farmer's son, "I am Saka the fox spirit, I do not take the form of a human as I do not care for the lustful gazes of men, had you failed I would have gobbled you up instead. There are no blessings now, do not seek them out, live the life of a mortal man and pray you never meet our like again."

  This tale was written down by the farmer's son in his old age as a final confession of his sins, how much is accurate or misremembered cannot be said.