Pathway to Japanese Literature

Once, thirty tree frogs were joyfully working together.

This was primarily a profession where they would be commissioned by insect friends to gather perilla seeds and poppy seeds to create flower beds, or collect well-shaped stones and moss to build splendid gardens.

We often see such beautifully made gardens here and there.
They are skillfully and adorably made beneath bean plants in fields, at the bases of oak trees in groves, and in the shade of stones where rainwater drips.

Now, the thirty tree frogs were having a splendid time every day.
In the mornings, they would start working when golden sunlight stretched cornstalk shadows 2,600 suns long across the earth, taking brisk gulps of crisp air as they labored. Come evening, they kept at it—singing, laughing, shouting—until sunlight transformed trees and grass into shimmering amber hues.
Particularly after storms became hectic—pleas would pour in from all directions: "Please hurry and lift these planks crushing our garden!" or "Our cedar-moss tree collapsed—send five or six helpers immediately!" leaving them swamped beyond measure.
The busier they grew, the more they felt like proper upstanding citizens, brimming with delight.
"Alright now—pull hard! Ready? Heave-ho! Hey Buchuko—the rope's slack! That's it—pull! Hey hey Bikiko—let go there! Tie that rope for us! All set? One more heave! Yo-heave-ho!" And so it went.

Now one day, after thirty tree frogs had fully completed the park grounds for ants and were joyfully returning to headquarters, as they passed beneath a peach tree, a new shop had appeared there.
And a sign was hung,

“Imported Whiskey: One Cup, 2.5 Rin.” was written there.

Because the tree frogs found it novel, they filed into the shop.
Inside the shop, a dusky gray lord frog had been slumped heavily in his seat, idly flicking his tongue about alone with an air of indolence, but upon seeing their arrival, he boomed out in an impossibly loud voice:

“Welcome, everyone.”
“Esteemed guests.”
“Please rest awhile.”

“What’s this?”
“We’ve heard of something called imported Whisku.”
“What’s it like?”
“Might we try a cup?”

“Ah, imported whiskey?”
“Two and a half rin per cup.”
“Does this suit your honors?”

“Yes, that suits us.”

The Lord Frog poured that strong liquor into cups made from hollowed millet grains and served it.

“Whooee!”
"This is really awful stuff."
“Our stomachs feel like they’re burning.”
“Whooee!”
“Hey everyone, this is some weird stuff.”
"When it goes down the throat, it suddenly burns."
“Ah, we feel great!”
“Could we have another cup, please?”

“Yes, yes. I’ll serve you once I finish this one.”

“Hurry up over here too!”

“Yes, yes. I’ll serve you in the order you called.
Here, this is yours.”

“Oh, thank you! Whooee!
Hff, ooh, this is really tasty stuff.”

“Hurry up over here too!”

“Here, this is yours.”

“Uuui.”

“Hey, give me another cup.”

“Hurry up over here!”

“Another cup quickly.”

“Hey, hey!”
“Please don’t rush me now,” replied Lord Frog. “You’ll make me spill this carefully measured whiskey.” He pushed forward a millet-grain cup. “Here—this one’s yours.”

“Ohh—Whooee! Cough-cough! Whooee—tasty stuff,” croaked a frog between hacks. “Thanks.”

Now through such exchanges, the tree frogs drank refill after refill until their thirst only grew fiercer with each cup—a cruel irony of intoxication.

This endless cycle persisted because Lord Frog’s whiskey supply filled an entire oil drum; even after ten thousand pours into those hollowed millet cups, not a single bu’s worth had diminished from its dark reservoir.

“Hey! Another cup!”

“Just hand it over already.
Move faster.”

“Come on! Serve us now!”

“Yes yes.
This makes your 302nd cup sir - shall I proceed?”

“Enough talk.
Just pour!”

“Yes yes.
As you command.”
“Here.”

“Whooee! Tasty stuff!”

“Hey! Bring mine quicker over here!”

Before long, the tree frogs grew increasingly intoxicated, and here and there, they began snoring squeak-squeak as they fell asleep.

Lord Frog smirked slyly there, hurriedly closed up shop completely, and fastened the lid tightly on the oil can of whiskey.
Then he took out a chainmail armor from the cupboard and properly put it on from head to face to the tips of his feet.

Then he brought a table and chair and settled into his seat properly.
All the tree frogs snored squeak-squeak.
Lord Frog brought one small stool there and placed it opposite his own chair.
Then he brought down an iron rod from the shelf, plopped into his chair, and gave a light tap to the green head of the tree frog at the very front.

“Hey. Wake up.”
“You’re paying the bill. Now move.”

“Squeak-squeak… Gwah! Ouch, that hurts! Who’s there?”
“The one hitting people’s heads...”

“Pay the bill.”

“Oh right!
“How much is the payment?”

“Yours comes to three hundred forty-two cups, totaling eighty-five sen and five rin.”
“Well?”
“Can you pay?”

The tree frogs took out wallets to check but found only three sen and two rin.

“What’s this?”
“You’ve only got three sen and two rin?”
“You’re hopeless.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“I’ll report you to the police.”

“Please forgive me.”
“Please forgive me.”

“No, absolutely not.”
“Pay up now.”

“I don’t have it.”
“Please forgive me.”
“In exchange, I’ll become your retainer.”

“Is that so?”
“Very well.”
“Then you’re my retainer now!”

“Yes, sir.”
“It can’t be helped.”

“Alright, get in here.”

Lord Frog opened the next room’s door, pushed the bewildered tree frog inside, and snapped it shut.
He smirked slyly before settling heavily back into his chair.
Then he took up that iron rod again, tapped the verdigris-green head of the second tree frog with a light clink, and spoke.

“Hey hey. Wake up. Payment, payment!”

“Kee-ee, kee-ee, gwaaah, uuui... Another cup... Give me another cup.”

“What are you dozing about? Wake up. Open your eyes. Payment’s due.”

“Uuui... Aaah! Uuui. What’s this? Why you hitting my head?”

“How long you gonna keep snoozing? Pay the bill. Payment.”

“Oh, right!”
“That’s right.”
“How much does it come to?”

“Yours comes to six hundred cups, totaling one yen and fifty sen.”
“Well? Do you have that much?”

The tree frog turned deathly pale, flipped his wallet inside out to check, but found only one sen and two rin.

“We’ll all contribute as much as we can, so please just accept this amount.”

“Oh? You’ve got one yen and twenty sen?”
“Hah! This is just one sen and two rin!”
“Don’t take me for a fool!”
“Asking me to accept one percent of what’s owed—you’ve got some nerve!”
“In foreign terms, that’s begging for a one-percent settlement!”
“Quit playing dumb!”
“Pay up now.”
“Pay this instant!”

“But I don’t have any!”

“If you don’t have it, become my retainer.”

“It can’t be helped.
In that case, please go ahead and do so.”

“Alright, get over here.”
Lord Frog drove the tree frogs into the next room again.
He tried to plop back into his chair but seemed to think better of it, suddenly striding toward the tree frogs making squeaky snores, where he proceeded to yank out every last one of their wallets and inspect the contents.
Every last wallet held less than three sen.
There was indeed one that was quite swollen, but upon opening it, not a single coin was inside—only a small folded camellia leaf had been placed there.
Lord Frog, rejoicing, grinned widely, took up the rod again, and began banging it repeatedly against the green heads of the tree frogs one after another.
Now, a terrible commotion erupted among them all,

“Ouch! Ouch!”
“Who’s there?” they muttered while waking up, glancing about frantically in every direction. But when they finally realized it was the whiskey shop’s old man—Lord Frog—behind this, they all at once—
“What’s this, old man?”
“Old man.”
“How dare you hit us!” they cried as they lunged at him from all sides. Yet given that Lord Frog possessed thirty frogs’ strength, wore chainmail armor, and all the tree frogs had been weakened by imported whiskey, they were thrown down one after another with heavy thuds.
In the end, Lord Frog bundled eleven tree frogs into a tangled mass and flung them down with a splat.
The tree frogs, thoroughly cowed, trembled and turned deathly pale as they prostrated themselves across the ground.
At that moment, Lord Frog solemnly declared.

“You all drank my whiskey.”
“Not a single payment comes under eighty sen.”
“Yet not one of you has more than five sen.”
“How about that?”
“Does anyone have it?”
“None, I suppose.”
“Yeah.”

The tree frogs could only pant and exchange glances among themselves.

Lord Frog, swelling with self-importance, began again.

“How about that?
“None, I suppose.”
“Do you have it?”
“None, I suppose.”
“Now then, your comrades previously made a promise to become my retainers in place of paying money—two of them did—but how about you all?”
At this moment—as you all know—the two frogs in the room across had only their eyes peeking through the door crack and let out a low “kee.”

The tree frogs exchanged glances.

“It can’t be helped.”
“Shall we agree to that?”
“Let’s make that request.”
“Please, we beg you to do so.”

Well now.
Tree frogs being such obliging creatures promptly became Lord Frog’s retainers.
Thereupon Lord Frog opened the rear door and dragged out the previous two.
Then he solemnly addressed the assembled group.

“Listen up.
This organization shall be called the Kairo Corps.
I am the Kairo Leader.
Starting tomorrow, you’ll all obey my orders. Got it?”

“It can’t be helped,” they all replied.

Then Lord Frog stood up and circled the house once around.
Then the liquor store instantly transformed into the Kairo Leader's main residence.
In other words, what had previously been a square house had now become a hexagonal one.

Now then, the day ended, and the next day arrived.
The golden light of the sun cast the shadow of the peach tree behind them three thousand sun into the distance, and the sky shone a pure blue, but no one came to request work from the Kairo Corps.
At that, Lord Frog gathered everyone and declared.

“Not a soul’s come requesting work."
“Keeping you lot fed’s pointless without jobs.”
“Seems I’ve had to take matters into my own claws.”
“But mark this—when work’s scarce, preparing for busy times becomes vital.”
“Which means gathering materials now.”
“First order—trees.”
“Today you’ll fetch ten fine trees—no, ten’s meager—make it a hundred... Bah! A thousand! Bring exactly a thousand!”
“Fail to collect a thousand—straight to the police!”
“You’ll all get the death penalty!”
“Those fat necks sliced clean off!”
“Though with necks that thick—won’t be clean! More like a ragged chop!”

The tree frogs convulsed their green limbs violently.
And they scurried out as if fleeing, each calculating just over thirty-three and a third trees per frog, desperately searching for good trees; but since they had already scoured the area thoroughly beforehand, no matter how much everyone darted about here and there, by evening they had found only nine trees.
Well now, the tree frogs all turned tearful and paced about in confusion, but matters only grew worse.
Just then, a single ant happened to pass by.
And then, seeing everyone crying so hard under the amber sunset that they turned translucent blue, the ant was startled and inquired.

“Mr. Tree Frogs.”
“Thank you for yesterday.”
“What in the world has happened?”

“Today we must bring a thousand trees to Lord Frog.”
“We’ve only found nine so far.”

The ant, upon hearing this, began to laugh uproariously: "Kek-kek-kek-kek!"
Then it said:
"If he says to bring a thousand trees, you should just take a thousand trees there."
"Look at that moldy tree over there that looks like smoke—if you grab just one handful, doesn't that amount to five hundred trees?"

Realizing this made sense, the tree frogs rejoiced and each took thirty-three and a third of those moldy trees that looked like smoke. They thanked the ant and returned to Kairo Leader.
Then Kairo Leader was in high spirits.

“Hmm, hmm. Good, good.”
“Go on, everyone—drink a cup of imported whiskey each and get some rest.”

At that, everyone drank a cup of imported whiskey in their millet-grain cups, grew dizzily woozy with high-pitched whines, and fell fast asleep.

The next morning, when the sun rose again, Lord Frog declared.

“Hey, everyone. Gather round! Today again, nobody’s come requesting work from anywhere. Listen up—today you’re to go out to various flower fields and gather flower seeds to bring back. Each of you must collect a hundred grains—no, a hundred’s too few. A thousand grains each—no, even a thousand’s too measly on such a long day. Ten thousand grains each should do. Bring back ten thousand grains each. Mark my words—if you don’t return with them, I’ll hand you over to the police right away! The police will chop your heads clean off!”

All the tree frogs, pallid and translucent under the sun, headed toward the flower fields.
However, fortunately, the flower seeds were spilling down like rain, and the bees were buzzing loudly, so the tree frogs all squatted down and gathered them with all their might.
As they gathered, they were saying such things.

“Hey, Bichuko.
“Think you can gather ten thousand grains?”

“Gotta hurry—only got three hundred so far.”

“Earlier, the Leader first said a hundred grains, right?”
“A hundred would’ve been better, right?”

“Yeah.
“Then he said a thousand grains, right?”
“A thousand would’ve been better too, right?”

“Really though.
“Why’d we drink so much whiskey?”

“Been thinkin’ ’bout that too.
“Somehow that first cup and second cup, second and third—each one was strung together with thread or somethin’.
“Been thinkin’ all three hundred fifty cups were linked.”

“Exactly right. Oops, gotta hurry or we’re in big trouble!”

“That’s right.”

In the end, they gathered and gathered and gathered, and by evening had finally collected ten thousand grains each before returning to Kairo Leader.

Then Kairo Leader, the Lord Frog, was delighted and said,
“Hmm. Good. Go on now—everyone drink your cup of Imported Whiskey each and go straight to sleep.”

The tree frogs too, greatly delighted, all drank a cup of Imported Whiskey in millet cups and fell asleep with high-pitched whines.

The next morning, when the tree frogs opened their eyes and looked, another lord frog had come and was having this conversation with Kairo Leader.

“Anyway, we’ve got to push hard with this.”
“Otherwise we’ll just become laughingstocks.”

“Exactly right.”
“How about setting it at ninety yen per head?”

“Hmm. That much should be acceptable, I suppose.”

“That should be fine. Oh, everyone’s awake. Now, what work should I have them do today? I’m really troubled by having no work every day.”

“Yeah. I deeply sympathize with that.”

“Today, I think I’ll have them carry stones. Hey. Everyone! Today each of you must bring ninety monme worth of stones. Hmm, ninety monme might be too little after all.”

“Yeah. Nine hundred kan has a better ring to it.”

“That’s it, that’s it.
“There’s no telling how perfect this is!
“Hey, everyone.
“Today, each of you must bring nine hundred kan worth of stones.
“If you don’t come, I’ll hand you fools over to the police right away!
“Here, even the distinguished judicial officials are present.
“It’s a simple matter to snip off your heads.”

The tree frogs all turned deathly pale and translucent.
And that was only natural.
Nine hundred kan of stones per person—even humans couldn’t manage that.
However, if one were to ask how many monme a tree frog weighed, it would be a mere eight or nine monme at most.
That they should each carry nine hundred kan of stones in a single day—just thinking about it made them dizzy, and they groaned woozily before collapsing in heaps—was truly no wonder at all.

Lord Frog promptly took out that iron rod of his and went around tapping each of the tree frogs on the head. The tree frogs went off to work, feeling as though their surroundings were spinning blue. Even the sun appeared to have formed a triangle and was spinning round and round far away in a corner of the sky.

They arrived at the place where the stones were. And each of them attached ropes to stones weighing about a hundred monme each and began pulling them with chants of "Heave-ho! Pull, heave-ho!" They were working so frantically that sweat prickled all over their bodies until they were utterly spent, and the world seemed to fade almost completely into darkness. Still, by the time the thirty frogs had successfully carried each of their stones to Kairo Leader’s house, it was already noon. Moreover, they were so exhausted and dizzy that they couldn’t even keep their eyes open or stand upright. Ahh—but from now until evening, they still had to carry another eight hundred ninety-nine kan and nine hundred monme of stones, or their necks would meet the blade with a schuppon.

Kairo Leader had been snoring and sleeping inside his house just at this time, but finally woke up and slowly went outside to look.
The tree frogs were sitting on the stones they had carried, sighing, or lying spread-eagle on the ground.
The shadows, with the blue sunlight filtering through them, were beautifully cast on the ground.
The Leader, enraged, hurried into his house to retrieve the iron rod. In that brief interval, the tree frogs who had been awake roused those who were sleeping, so that when the Leader came out again, they were all standing properly.
Kairo Leader declared.

“What’s this?
You dimwits!
Is this all you’ve managed to carry in all this time?
What spineless wretches you are!
I could haul nine hundred kan of stones myself in thirty minutes!”

“We simply can’t do it.
We’re already at death’s door.”

“Bah, you gutless fools!
Get moving!
If this isn’t done by evening, I’ll have you all handed over to the police!
They’ll schuppon your heads clean off! Imbeciles!”

The tree frogs all shouted in desperate frenzy.

“Please send us to the police right away.
Hearing ‘snip-snap, snip-snap’ somehow feels almost amusing.”

Kairo Leader was enraged and began shouting.

“Bah, you fools! You spineless cowards!”

“Bah, Gwaaaaaaah!”
Kairo Leader made a strange face and snapped his mouth shut with a clack.
Yet the “Gwaaaaaaah” sound kept reverberating.
It wasn’t coming from Kairo Leader’s throat at all.
This was the snail’s megaphone voice resounding through the azure sky.
It heralded the king’s new decree.

“Behold, the new royal decree!” At this, both the tree frogs and Lord Frog hurriedly straightened up and stood at attention.
The sound of the snail’s megaphone resounded brightly and clearly throughout.

“The king’s new royal decree.
“The king’s new royal decree.
“Article 1.”
Method for Issuing Commands to Others.
Method for Issuing Commands to Others.
Article 1. When issuing commands to others, divide one’s own body weight by that of those being commanded to find the quotient.
Article 2. Multiply the quotient by the commanded task.
Article 3. Perform that task oneself for two days.
End of articles.
“Those who fail to comply shall be handed over to the Land of Birds.”

Well now, the tree frogs were overjoyed beyond words, and frogs like Chekko—skilled in arithmetic—immediately began mental calculations.
"The weight of us being commanded is ten monme; the Leader who commands weighs one hundred monme. One hundred monme divided by ten monme equals ten.
The task is nine hundred kan; nine hundred kan multiplied by ten equals nine thousand kan."

"Nine thousand kan."
"Hey."
"Everyone."

“Mr. Leader.”
“Now then, Mr. Leader. From now until evening, please haul four thousand five hundred kan of stones.”

“Now then—by royal decree.”
“Please haul them.”

This time, Lord Frog gradually lost his color, became translucent like amber, and began trembling violently.

The tree frogs all surrounded Lord Frog and took him to where the stones were.
And tied a rope to a one-kan stone,

“Now then, all you need to do is haul four thousand five hundred of these by evening,” they said as they hooked the end of the rope onto Kairo Leader’s shoulder.
Kairo Leader finally seemed to steel himself, throwing away the iron rod he had been holding, firmly setting his gaze, and determining the direction to haul the stone—yet he still couldn’t bring himself to actually pull.
There, the tree frogs raised their voices in unison and spurred him on.

“Heave-ho, heave-ho, heave-ho, heave-ho-sho!”

Kairo Leader, swept up by their cheering, stomped his feet firmly about five times and pulled on the rope, but the stone wouldn’t budge an inch.

Lord Frog streamed with stinging sweat, gaped his mouth wide open, and huffed and puffed for breath.
The whole world seemed to spin dizzily around them, everything tinged brown.

“Heave-ho, heave-ho, heave-ho, heave-ho-sho!”

Lord Frog braced his legs about four more times, but in the end, his legs snapped with a crack and bent limply.
The tree frogs couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
But for some reason, they suddenly fell completely silent.
They fell utterly and completely silent.

Everyone, were I to speak of how desolate this moment felt, I could never find the words.
Do you understand, everyone?
This desolation—when they all erupted in mocking laughter together, then abruptly fell utterly silent.

But just at that moment, once again high in the blue sky, the snail’s megaphone voice resounded far and wide.

“His Majesty the King’s new royal decree.
His Majesty the King’s new royal decree.
All living beings, every single one, are kind-hearted and deserving of compassion.
You must never hate them.
End of articles.”

Then the voice moved off again toward the distance, resounding with “His Majesty the King’s new royal decree.”

So the tree frogs all ran over to Lord Frog, giving him water, straightening his bent legs, and patting his back.

Lord Frog shed streaming tears of contrition,

“Ah, everyone, I was wrong.”
“I am no longer your Leader or anything of the sort.”
“I am still just a frog.”
“Starting tomorrow, I will work as a tailor.”

The tree frogs all rejoiced and clapped their hands with a pitter-patter.

From the next day onward, the tree frogs began working cheerfully as they had before.

Everyone.

Everyone. On days after a shower or a windy day—or even on any fine day—don’t you hear such rustling and whispering voices in the fields or behind flower beds?

“Hey. Bekko. Fix that spot up a bit more.”
“Sure thing!”
“Hey, hey. What’s being planted here isn’t sparrow-overcoat—it’s sparrow-gunweed.”
“Exactly.”
“Well, they’re both sparrow-related things, so I just mixed them up by mistake.”
“Ha ha ha!”
“Hey. Bichuko.”
“Hey.”
“Bichuko, fill in that hole there.”
“You ready?”
“Here goes—I’m throwing it!”
“Alright, here it comes!”
“Ah, darn it!”
“Come on, pull it for us!”
“Heave-ho!”