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Two Ghosts

(Japanese classical stories)

Translation　ちいさな翻訳屋さん

Japanese　←→　Japanese ＆ English　←→　English

　Once upon a time, there was a samurai named Shinbei who was pale and weak in a town.

　Since he was not good at archery or swordfight, he was called chicken by his fellow samurais.

　By the way, there was a mansion that had been the most expensive in the town

　but it became run-down and rumor had it that it was haunted by ghosts.



　One day, his fellow samurais mocked,

“However strong a samurai is, they say they can’t spend a night there.

　I don’t think you can even go through the gate. Hahaha.”

　Shinbei said,

“If you say so, I’ll stay overnight, no matter what happens.”

　After he had dinner at home, he timidly went to the haunted mansion.

　When he entered the weed-grown backyard, a human soul flew from both the west and east.

“Whoa! There are two human souls!”

　Shinbei wanted to run away but he timidly kept going into the mansion.

　The candle light waved and he heard

“Curses on you.”

　There was a female ghost with the long hair holding a box filled with silver coins.

“The… the ghost!”

　While he was trembling with fear, another male ghost with a key in his hand showed up.

　There must have been a reason for the male and female ghosts appearing together.

　Shinbei daringly asked the reason.

“Both of us used to work at this mansion.

　We wanted to marry but the owner of this mansion didn’t let us,”

said the male ghost.

“Then we took all the money in the mansion and started living in another town,

　but the owner found and killed both of us.

　Our bodies were buried in different places.

　Though we couldn’t forgive and haunted the owner, we still haven’t been able to rest in peace.

　Please call the monk with this money to let us rest in peace.”

“Is that so? I see.”

　When Shinbei accepted their request, the two ghost transformed into human souls and left quietly.

　There was a box filled with silver coins and a key to the box left in the room.



　Next morning, Shinbei told a monk all about what happened at the mansion and he held a memorial service for the two.

　The lord of this country heard this story and said,

“You’re far from chicken and a role model for other samurais. What you did is praiseworthy.”

　So he rewarded Shinbei with the mansion.

The end

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