Happy Thoughts - Sleep Stories for Grownups-Halloween!A Passional Karma-Pt 1

Happy Thoughts – Sleep Story for Grownups –Halloween! A Passional Karma-Pt 1   Thank you for joining us on this episode of the Positive Affirmations And Audio Stories podcast.

We've got a very special Japanese Halloween story today, so why not settle in and have a listen! It was written by Lafcadio Hearn. We're continuing with our Sleep Stories series-and this is part 1 of this traditional story. It’s got a bit of mystery and a bit of chill!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi is to find you over at positive informations and
audio stories. And today we've got part one of our
Halloween special. It's a story, a Japanese story told by
the author left Cardio Herne. It's a thriller, it's a gentle,

(00:32):
scary story, something to put your right to sleep. It's
called a passional karma by Lefcadio Hearne. One of the
never failing attractions of the Tokyo stage is the performance

(00:54):
by the famous Kiki Goo and his company of the
Botan Doro or peone Lantern. This weird play of which
the scenes are laid in the middle of the last century,
is the dramatization of a romance by the novelists and
cho written in collectible Japanese and purely Japanese in local color,

(01:17):
though inspired by a Chinese tale. I want to see
the play and Kikigoo made me familiar with a new
variety of the pleasure of fear. Why not give English
readers the ghostly part of the story, asked a friend
who guides me Betimes through the mazes of Eastern philosophy.

(01:41):
It would serve to explain some popular ideas of the
supernatural which Western people know very little about and I
could help you with the translation. I gladly accepted the suggestion,
and we composed the following summary of the more extraordinary
portion of and chose romance. Here and there we found

(02:04):
it necessary to condense the original narrative, and we tried
to keep close to the text only in the conversational passages,
some of which happened to possess a particular quality of
psychological interest. This is the story of the ghosts in

(02:28):
the Romance of the Peone Lantern. They once lived in
the district of Ushigome in Yedo a hatamoto which is
a kind of samurai called Ijima hezaimon, whose only daughter,

(02:49):
Suyu was as beautiful as her name, which signifies morning dew.
Ijima took a second wife when his daughter was about sixteen, and,
finding that O Suyu could not be happy with her
mother in law, he had a pretty villa built for
the girl at Yanajima as a separate residence, and gave

(03:13):
her an excellent maid servant called O Yune to wait
upon her. Osuyu lived happily enough in her new home
until one day when the family physician, Yamamoto Shijo, paid
her a visit in company with a young samurai named

(03:35):
Hagiwara Shinzaburu, who resided in the Netsu quarter. Jinzaburo was
an unusually handsome lad and very gentle, and the two
young people fell in love with each other at sight.
Even before the brief visit was over, they contrived, unheard

(03:56):
by the old doctor, to pledge themselves to each other
for life, and at parting, Otsuyu whispered to the youth, remember,
if you do not come to see me again, I
shall certainly die. Jin Zaburo never forgot those words, and

(04:19):
he was only too eager to see more of O Suyu.
But etiquette forbade him to make the visit alone. He
was obliged to wait for some other chance to accompany
the doctor, who had promised to take him to the
villa a second time. Unfortunately, the old man did not
keep this promise. He had perceived the sudden affection of Suyu,

(04:44):
and he feared that her father would hold him responsible
for any serious results. Isjima Heizaimon had a reputation for
cutting off heads, and the more She's all thought about
the possible consequences of his introduction of Shinzaburo at the

(05:05):
Iijima villa, the more he became afraid. Therefore, he purposely
astained from calling upon his young friend. Months passed, and Osuyu,
little imagining the true cause of Shinzaburu's neglect, believed that

(05:25):
her love had been scorn. Then she pined away and
died soon afterwards. The faithful servant o yone also died
through grief at philosophery Mistress, and the two were buried
side by side in the cemetery of shim Bansu, in

(05:48):
a temple which still stands in the neighborhood of dango Zaka,
where the famous chrysanthemous shows are yearly held. Shinzaburo knew
nothing of what had happened, but his disappointment and his
anxiety had resulted in a prolonged illness. He was slowly
recovering but still very weak when he unexpectedly received another

(06:13):
visit from Yamamoto shizol. The old man made a number
of plausible excuses for his pyramids neglect. Chinzapulo said to him,
I have been sick ever since the beginning of spring.
Even now I could not eat anything. Was it not
rather unkind of you never to call. I thought that

(06:35):
we were to make another visit together to the house
of lady Ijima, and I wanted to take her some
little present as a return for our kind reception. Of course,
I could not go by myself. Shinzo gravely responded, I
am very sorry to tell you that the young lady

(06:58):
is dead. Dead, repeated Shinzaburo, turning white. Did you say
that she is dead? The doctor remained silent for a moment,
as if collecting himself. Then he resumed in the quick
light tone of a man resolved not to take trouble seriously.

(07:20):
My great mistake was in having introduced you to her,
For it seems that she fell in love with you
at once. I am afraid that you must have set
something to encourage this affection. When you were in that
little room together at all events, I saw how she
felt towards you, and then I it became uneasy, feeling
that her father might come to hear of the matter

(07:44):
and lay the whole blame upon me. So, to be
quite frank with you, I decided that it would be
better not to call upon you, and I purposely stayed
away for a long time, But only a few days ago,
happening to visit Ijima's house.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
I heard to my great surprise that his daughter had died,
and that her servant, Oh you Nae had also died.

Speaker 1 (08:18):
Then, remembering all that had taken place, I knew that
the young lady must have died of love for you. Ah,
you really are a sinful fellow, Yes you were. Isn't
it a sin to have been born so handsome that
the girls die for love of you? Well, we must

(08:39):
lead the dead to the dead. It is no use
to talk further about the matter. All that you can
do now for her is to repeat the Nimbouts, the
prayer for the dead. Good Bye, And the old man
retired hastily, anxious to avoid further converse about the painful
event in which he felt himself to have been unwittingly responsible.

(09:05):
Since Zaburo long remained stupified with grief by the news
of Osuya's death, but as soon as he found himself
able again to think clearly, he inscribed the dead girl's
name upon a mortuary tablet and placed the tablet in
the Buddhist shrine of his home, and set offerings before

(09:26):
it and recited prayers every day thereafter, he presented offerings
and repeated the nambutsu, and the memory of Osuyu was
never absent from his thought. Nothing occurred to change the
monotony of his solitude before the time of the Bone,

(09:49):
the great festival of the Dead, which begins on the
thirteenth day of the seventh month. Then he decorated his
house and prepared everything for the festival, hanging out lanterns
that guide the returning spirits and setting the food of
ghosts on the shelf of souls called the Shorio Dana.

(10:17):
And on the first evening of the Bone, after the sundown,
he kindled a small lamp before the tablet of Osuyu
and lit the lantern. The night was clear, with a
great moon, and windless and very warm. Jin Zaburu sought

(10:38):
the coolness of his verandah. Clad only in a light
summer robe, he sat there, thinking, dreaming, sorrowing, sometimes fanning himself,
sometimes making a little smoke to drive the mosquitoes away.

(10:59):
Everything was caught. It was a lonesome neighborhood, and there
were few passers by. He could hear only the soft
rushing of a neighboring stream and the shrilling of the
night insects. But all at once this stillness was broken

(11:21):
by the sound of women's geita Japanese sandals approaching Karakon Karakon,
and the sound drew nearer and nearer quickly till he
reached the live hedge surrounding the garden. Then, Shinzaburo, feeling curious,

(11:44):
stood on tiptoe so as to look over the hedge,
and he saw two women passing. One, who was carrying
a beautiful lantern decorated with peoni flowers, appeared to be
a servant. The other was a slender girl of about seventeen,
wearing a long sleeved robe embroidered with the designs of

(12:07):
autumn blossoms. Almost at the same instant, both women turned
their faces toward Jinzaburo, and to his utter astonishment, he
recognized also you and her servant, O Yone. They stopped immediately,

(12:27):
and the girl cried out, how strange, how do you
want a samma? Jean Zabudo simultaneously called to the maid,
O yone, Ah, you are O Yone, I remember you
very well. How do you want a samma? Exclaimed O
Yoni in a tone of supreme amazement. Never would I

(12:50):
have believed it possible, Sir, we were tell that you
had died. Oxtrordinary, cried Shinzaburo. Why I was that both
of you were dead? Oh what a hateful story, returned
O Yode, Why repeat such unlucky words? Who told you

(13:11):
please to come in? She has seen Zaburo? Here? We
can talk better. The garden gate is open. So they
entered and exchanged greeting, and when Shinzaburo had made them comfortable,
he said, I trust that you will pardon my discourtesy

(13:35):
in not having called upon you for so long a time.
But Shinzo, the doctor, about a month ago, told me
that you had both died. So it was he who
told you, exclaimed O yone. It was very wicked of

(13:55):
him to say such a thing. Well, it was also
sin So who told us you were dead. I think
that he wanted to deceive you, which is not a
difficult thing to do, because you are so confiding and drestful.
Possibly my mistress betrayed her laking for you in some

(14:16):
words which found their way to her father's ear. And
in that case, oh cooney, the new wife might have
planned to make the doctor tell you that we were
both dead, so as to bring about a separation. Anyhow,
when my mistress heard that you had died, she wanted

(14:39):
to cut off her hair immediately and to become a nun.
But I was able to prevent her from cutting off
her hair, and I persuaded her at last to become
a nun only in her heart. Afterwards, her father wished
her to marry a certain young man, and she refused.

(15:00):
There was a great deal of trouble, chiefly caused by
okuney and we went away from the villa and found
a very small house in Yanaka no Sasaki. There we
are now just barely able to live by doing a
little private work. My mistress has been constantly repeating the

(15:23):
nimbetsu prayers for your sake to day. Think the first
day of the bone, we went to visit the temples,
and we were on our way home and thus late
when this strange meeting happened. Oh how extraordinary, cried Shinzaburo.
Can it be true or is it only a dream? Here,

(15:46):
I too have been constantly reciting the nambutsu before a
tablet with her name upon it. Look, and he showed
them also used tablet in its place upon the shelf
of souls. We are more than grateful for your kind remembrance,

(16:07):
returned Oyone, smiling. Now, as for my mistress, she continued,
turning towards Osuyu, who had all the while remained demure
and silent, half hiding her face with her sleeve. As
for my mistress, she actually says that she would not

(16:29):
mind being disowned by her father for the time of
seven existences, or even being killed by him. For your sake, Come,
will you not allow her to stay here tonight? Shinzaburo
turned pale for joy. He answered, in a voice trembling

(16:52):
with emotion. Please remain, but do not speak loud, because
there is a terroublesome fellow living close by, aninsomi called
Haku Oldo Yusai, who tells people's fortunes by looking at

(17:13):
their faces. He is inclined to be curious, and it
is better that he should not know. The two women
remained that night in the house of the young samurai
and returned to their own home a little before daybreak,
And after that night they came every night for seven nights,

(17:35):
whether the weather was foul or fair, always at the
same hour, and shin Zabuu became more and more attached
to the girl, and the twain were fettered to each
other by that bond of illusion, which is stronger than

(17:56):
the bands of iron. Now there was a man called
Tomosoul who lived in a small cottage adjoining Shinzaburo's residence.
Tomozoul and his wife o MiNet were employed by Shinzaburo

(18:18):
as servants. Both seemed to be devoted to their young master,
and by his help they were able to live in
comparative comfort. One night, at a very late hour, Tomosoul
heard the voice of a woman in his master's apartment,
and this made him uneasy. He feared that Shinzaburo, being

(18:42):
very gentle and affectionate, might be made the deep of
some cunning wanton, in which event the domestics would be
the first to suffer. He therefore resolved to watch, and
on the following night he stole on tipt her das
shine zaboros dwelling and looked through a cheek in one

(19:05):
of the sliding shutters. By the glow of a night
lantern within the sleeping room, he was able to perceive
that his master and a strange woman were talking together.
Under the mosquito net. At first he could not see
the woman distinctly, her back was turned to him. He

(19:28):
only observed that she was very slim, and that she
appeared to be very young, judging by the fashion of
her dress and hair. Putting his ear to the chink,
he could hear the conversation plainly. The woman said, and

(19:50):
if I should be dishomed with my father, would you
then let me come and live with you? Seen Zabudo
answered most as shortly I would nay. I should be
glad of the chance. But there is no reason to
fear that you will ever be disowned by your father,
for you are his only daughter, and he loves you

(20:12):
very much. What I do fear is that some day
we shall be cruelly separated, she responded softly. Never, never
could I even think of accepting any other man from
my husband, even if our secret were to become known

(20:34):
and my father were to kill me for what I
have done. Still, after death itself, I could never cease
to think of you, and I am now quite sure
that you yourself would not be able to live very
long without me. Then, clinging closely to him, with her
lips at his neck, she caressed him, and he returned

(20:58):
her caresses. Tamozov wondered as he listened, because the language
of the woman was not the language of a common woman,
but a language of a lady of rank. Then he determined,
at all hazards to get one glimpse of her face.

(21:23):
And he crept round the house, backwards and forwards, peering
through every crack and chink, And at last he was
able to see. But therewith an icy trembling, seized him,

(21:43):
and the hair of his head stood up, For the
face was the face of a woman long dead, and
the fingers caressing were fingers of naked bone, and of
the body. Below the waist there was not anything. It
melted off into the thinnest trailing shadow, where the eyes

(22:08):
of the lover deluded saw youth and grace and beauty.
There appeared to the eyes of the watcher horror only
and the emptiness of death. Simultaneously, another woman's figure and
a weirder rose up from within the chamber and swiftly
made towards the watcher, as if discerning his presence. Then,

(22:32):
in uttermost terror, he fled to the dwelling of Hawkwald
door Ysai and knocking frantically at the doors, succeeded in
arousing him. And that's the end of part one of

(22:59):
this Hallow special, A Passional Karma. We'll be back again
next week with part two. It gets a bit beater
and a bit wilder. I hope you'll be back because

(23:21):
you'll want to know how the story ends with such
a strange twist that was typical of love Cardio Hearn's writing.
That's it for today. I hope you enjoyed the story,

(23:43):
and we'll be back very soon. Feel free to tell
your friends, your family, tell everybody about the podcast. It's
available on all major podcast platforms and apps. We'll be
having more stories in future to guide you into a
very bestiful sleep. If you want to know more, please

(24:06):
feel free to visit our coffee channel Happy Thoughts. You'll
find the url in the show notes and there you
can find lots of inspiration and we'll be putting some stories,
special stories on the coffee page just for you. That's

(24:27):
all for now, Take care, be well, and see you
next week with part two. The ending portion of A
Passional Karma by Lafcadio Hearn