The Summary of Hellfire
R. Akutagawa The
Flour of Hell
The lady, who served at the court of his lordship Horikawa, tells the story of the writing of the screens “Flour of Hell.” His lordship was a mighty and magnanimous ruler, therefore all the inhabitants of the capital revered him as a living Buddha. There were even rumors that when once the bulls harnessed to the carriage of his lordship carried and crushed one old man, he only folded his hands and thanked fate, that the bulls of his grace had passed through him. The most famous artist was at that time a deshide – a sullen old man under fifty, looking like a monkey. When his lordship was once presented to a tame monkey, his son-in-law called her a deshide. Once a monkey stole tangerines, and the young gentleman wanted to punish her. Running away from him, the monkey ran up to the fifteen-year-old daughter of the Ishihide, who was in the dressing rooms in the palace of his lordship, clung to her hem and whimpered plaintively.
The terrible things were told about the pictures of the Ishihid: for example, it was said that the women he portrayed soon fell ill, as though they had taken out a soul from them and were dying. It was rumored that witchcraft was involved in his paintings. He loved only his only daughter and his art. When, in return for a successful picture, his lordship Horikawa promised to fulfill the cherished wish of the Ishihide, the artist asked him to let his daughter go home, but he abruptly replied: “You can not.” The narrator believes that his lordship did not let the girl go because she did not expect anything good in her father’s house, and not because of her voluptuousness.
And then at a time when Yoshihide was almost disgraced
While the artist was working on the picture, his daughter became sadder. The inhabitants of the palace wondered what was the cause of her sadness;
In mournful thoughts about the father or in love anguish. Soon came the talk, as if his lordship was seeking her love. One night, when the storyteller was walking along the gallery, the monkey Yoshihide suddenly ran up to her and began to tug at the hem of her skirt. The narrator went to the side where the monkey was dragging her, and opened the door to the room from which voices were heard. A half-dressed daughter Yoshihide jumped out of the room, and in the depths there was a noise of retreating steps. The girl was in tears, but did not mention the name of the one who wanted to dishonor her.
Twenty days after this incident, Yoshihide came to the palace and asked for a reception from his lordship. He complained that he could not finish the picture of the torment of hell. He wanted to portray in the middle of the screen how the carriage is falling from above, and in it, sweeping the black hair, flanked by flames, the elegant court lady wriggles in agony. But the artist can not draw what he has never seen, so Yoshihide asked his lordship to burn a carriage in front of him.
A few days later, his lordship invited the artist to his country villa. About midnight he showed him a carriage with a bound woman inside. Before setting fire to the carriage, his lordship ordered the curtains to be raised so that Yoshihide could see who was in the carriage. There was the artist’s daughter. Yoshihide almost lost his reason. When the carriage caught fire, he wanted to rush to her, but suddenly stopped. He stared at the burning carriage. On his face was written inhuman suffering. His Grace, laughing ominously, also did not take his eyes off the carriage. Everyone who saw the sufferings of a poor girl, the hair stood on end, as if they were actually seeing the torments of hell. Suddenly something black flew from the roof and fell directly into the flaming carriage. It was a monkey. She pressed herself with a plaintive cry to the girl, but soon the monkey, and the girl disappeared into the clubs of black smoke. Yoshihide seemed to be petrified. But if he suffered until then, now his face shone with selfless ecstasy. Everyone looked with admiration at the artist as a newly-born buddha – It was a magnificent sight. Only his lordship was sitting upstairs, in the gallery, with a distorted face and, like a beast, whose throat was parched, gasping for breath, caught air…
There were various rumors about this story. Some believed that his lordship burned the artist’s daughter to avenge his rejection of love. Others, including the narrator, believed that his lordship wanted to teach a wicked artist who, for the sake of his picture, was ready to burn the carriage and kill a man. The narrator with her ears heard this from the lips of his lordship.
Yoshihide did not abandon his intention to paint a picture, on the contrary, it only became established in it. A month later the screen with the picture of the torment of hell was finished. Having presented the screens of his lordship, Yoshihide the next night hanged himself. His body still lies in the ground in the place of their house, but the tombstone has become so covered with moss that no one knows whose grave it is.
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