A quest for 米

一

Long ago, there lived a wee lad. He had nothing but his mother and the clothes on his back. He was small, but brave.

"Mom, we are out of rice! I'll go and buy some," he said.

"Don't bother," his mother replied, "There is no more rice in this land; our Goddess, she has grown tired of us and has forsaken us to a slow and hollow death."

"That can't be! She is responsible, she should take cae of her creation or no longer be a called God," he protested, and was quickly resolute, "I'll go reason with her."

His mother did not try to stop him - she knew he was stubborn. All she could send him away with was a prayer and a half torn bracelet said to bring luck and wisdom to the wearer.

He was small and hungry, but brave.

But where do you find the Goddess 米? He did not know, thus he set on foot along the first road he saw.


二

On his way, the boy met a raven, and the raven spoke, "Lost? Running away from home? Or a fugitive? Doesn't matter, I see many like you. Many and none of them ever come to find what brought them on the search: a partner, a home, relief."

"And do any of them ever find the Goddess 米?" asked 男の子 harshly.

The raven, からす, took a moment to ponder. He had met travellers looking for the Goddess before, but all of them much older, much more desperate, and full of greed. None ever managed to find her. He finally answered, "They spoke of the sea. You must swim over the sea to reach where the sun touches it; where you can walk atop the waves and hear the songs of the stars among the voices of our ancestors. But all who have gone before you have drowned. Their guilt and greed make them too heavy and pull them under the waves like stones to their shins. Some even try to build boats and rafts, but it is folly to demand a bolder to be kept afloat by a leaf."

"Fine!" answered the boy sharply as he set off to sea - if that is where he needed to go, that's where he'd go - and he followed the setting sun.


三

When 男の子 finally reached the cold sea, he did not hesitate, took off his geta and leapt straight in. He was a good swimmer. He began to sink; the boy was too afraid, too proud, too angry. He was destined to sink from the day he drew his first breath, he would sink until his last, and there was nothing he could do.

He fell to the depths of the sea, and when he thought he had died, he five fish came across him.

"What are you doing, boy?" asked 口.

"He's drowning!" 鰓 cried out.

"C'mon, boy, this is no place to die." said 口 in encouragement and then commanded, "ひれ, use your fins and help him so he can live." and so ひれ cut the boy's skin over his arms, legs, and neck to give him gills that would grant him breath again.

"Now speak, boy, why are you here?" demanded 口

"I've come to find the Goddess 米 and reason with her - her people are suffering."

"Well you're on the right tracks, boy. She's taken refuge at the sea bed under the resting sun. We can show you the way and you can tell us of the surface."

And as 口 had said, they swam together and exchanged tales of brave heroes and humourous follies among laughs; until they could go together no further.

"This is where the waves part for us, my friend. 男の子, I wish you and your mother well. If you find yourself at sea again, we'll be glad to sail the currents together again, but our 米 is reasonable and will listen to you. Goodbye." said 口.

"Safe travels", said ひれ

"Ciao", said 鰓

"So long", said 尾

魚 stayed silent but bid 男の子 farewall in his heart.


四

男の子 continued forward, following the directions 口 had given him. As he went forth, he came to face three ningyo who upon seeing the boy all proclaimed in the same voice, "What is that? A boy? What is a boy doing at the depths of the sea? He must be lost. Our lady 米 will know what to do with him."

"I am not lost! I seem your Goddess 米. Lead me to her!" he demanded.

"Ah, how wonderful!" they exclaimed together, "Our lady 米 is fond of visitors - but hold your sharp tongue and don't be rude now, boy. Our lady is warm and kind, she will listen to you so you best honor her. Now come along, follow us.


五

And there she was, the Goddess 米.

Without waisting a breath, the boy burst out as soon as he set eyes on the Goddess, "I need your help, you need to help your people!" He continued, "I do not ask it - I demand you help your people and give rice back to our lands so that we can eat and live. It is our birth right to live! My Goddess who has made me, and my mother, and those before me, help us!"

The Goddess 米 heard him and replied, "男の子, don't you know? does your family not sing of me? Of how the life over all my lands above is drawn from my tears of woe? Do you want your Goddess to suffer?"

"I want my mother and I to live!" answered the boy.

"So the end justifies the means, 男の子? Am I not also your mother, my son 男の子? This sorrow you fancy will rot and kill me from the inside."

"Despite being a Goddess you seem to lack any wisdom nor compassion! A single tear of yours could let us flourish for more than 30 moons, yet you are too selfish to even let us see the sunrise tomorrow. While your people have no tears left to choke on, your carelessness has caused your disdain for us has caused your own waters to claim you. I will find another way."

And with fury 男の子 ripped the losely hanging bracelet that his mother had given him from his wrist and threw it onto 米. Unwavering, he turning away from her and began to stamp away, muttering to himself, "Why would you make somethign for which you do not care?"...

The Goddess smiled gently and whispered softly, "I will give life to you and you alone." And as her voice made ripples in the water, her hair reached out to the boy in the distance and dragged him back to her forcefully, and she swallowed him whole.

She began to cry. Her dense tears piled on the seabed - distinct from the waves - and molded into a body. 男の子 yet not 男の子 now lay enterally besides 米, in his new form, doing as she pleased, being who she told him to be, and desiring only what she let him desire.


終劇

男の子 never made an exchange with 口, nor ひれ, nor 鰓, nor 尾, nor 魚 ever again; 男の子 never came across the old silver-feathered からす ever again; and 男の子 never saw his mother ever again.

The village from whence he came wilted quietly and died, and so did the creatures and forest and rivers surrounding it. Their Goddess had surely forsaken them.




I hope new life will find its way to fill the gap left in the earth - a life without guilty.




November 2024

Glossary and Author's notes

Thank you so much for reading my story.

What you just read is the second iteration of a story originally written on the 29th August 2024. The orignal was a scrapbooking project completed in one approximately 9hr sitting using no special resources other than the random scraps I had in my drawer at the time and a special packet of rice.

I really hope the use of Japanese throught the story wasn't too much of a nuisance. I decided to write the story like this as I really didn't want to bother coming up with character names and I remembered how as a kid I'd give character names by translating a random word like 'tear' in Japanese and then think it's super unique and deep. That was funny to me, so I did it again, plus I really wanted to use the kanji for 'rice' I had scrapped. Here is a Glossary to all names used in the story:

It was also fun to learn a few more Japanese words. Apologises if I wrote something incorrectly.

Inspiration for the project, rather what started the whole thing, is the fact that I ran out of rice and thought it would be funny to write a melodramtic tale about a boy who has, like me, tragically ran out of rice. The packet of rice that had just ran out had interesting packaging and one of those transparent windows that lets you see the product. When I saw it i thought it would be cute to put a character behind it, maybe use it as a way to depict a diving suit. This meant that my character had to go underwater, I'm not exactly sure what happened after that but the story kind of wrote itself. Originally 米's tears were just meant to be rice, but then I decided to raise the stakes.

The story doesn't have a happy ending, and that's one thing that I'm really pleased about. I personally enjoy stories without happy endings because they remind me that my own life isn't scripted - anything and everything can go wrong, I'm not promised a happy ever after. To me it's a scary thought, but also a grounding one.