Name ______________________________________________________ Date _____________________ afraid to be seen, emitting a frail, constant light as it came down to just above Kandata’s
o just above Kandata’s head. Seeing
The Spider’s Thread
Akutagawa Ryunosuke
ONE
One day, the Buddha was strolling alone along the edge of a lotus pond in Paradise. The blooming lotus
flowers in the pond were each pure white like jewels, and the place was filled with the indescribably
wondrous fragrance continually emitted from each flower’s golden center. It was just morning in
Paradise.
After a time, the Buddha paused at the edge of the pond and from between the lotus leaves that
covered it saw a glimpse of the state of things below. Now this celestial pond just happened to lie
directly over Hell, and peering through that crystal-clear water was like looking through a magnifying
glass at the River of Death and the Mountain of Needles and such.
The Buddha saw there, in the depths of Hell, a single man writhing along with the other sinners. This
man was named Kandata, and he had been a notorious thief who had performed murder and arson and
other acts of evil. In his past, however, he had performed just one good deed: one day, when walking
through the deep forest, he saw a spider crawling along the road. At first he raised his foot to crush it,
but suddenly he changed his mind and stopped, saying, “No, small though it may be, a spider, too, has
life. It would be a pity to meaninglessly end it,” and so did not kill it.
Looking down upon the captives in Hell the Buddha recalled this kind act that Kandata had performed,
and thought to use his good deed as a way to save him from his fate. Looking aside, there on a jade-
colored lotus leaf he saw a single spider, spinning out a web of silver thread. The Buddha carefully took
the spider’s thread into his hand, and lowered it straight down between the jewel-like white lotuses into
the depths of Hell.
TWO
Kandata was floating and sinking along with the other sinners in the Lake of Blood at the bottom of Hell.
It was pitch black no matter which way he looked, and the occasional glimpse of light that he would see
in the darkness would turn out to be just the glint of the terrible Mountain of Needles. How lonely he
must have felt! All about him was the silence of the grave, the only occasional sound being a faint sigh
from one of the damned. Those who were so evil as to be sent to this place were tired by its various
torments, and left without even the strength to cry out. Even the great thief Kandata could only squirm
like a dying frog as he choked in the Lake of Blood.
But one day, raising up his head and glancing at the sky above the lake, in the empty darkness Kandata
saw a silver spider’s thread being lowered from the ceiling so far, far away. The thread seemed almost
this, Kandata couldn’t help but clap his hands in joy. If he were to cling to this thread and climb up it, he
may be able to climb out of Hell! Perhaps he could even climb all the way to Paradise! Then he would
never be chased up the Mountain of Needles, nor drowned in the Lake of Blood again.
Thinking so, he firmly grasped the spider’s thread with both hands and began to climb the thread, higher
and higher. Having once been a great thief, he was used to tasks such as this. But the distance between
Hell and Paradise is tens of thousands of miles, and so it would seem that no amount of effort would
make this an easy journey. After climbing for some time Kandata tired, and couldn’t climb a bit higher.
Having no other recourse, he hung there from the thread, resting, and while doing so looked down
below.
He saw that he had made a good deal of progress. The Lake of Blood that he had been trapped in was
now hidden in the dark below, and he had even climbed higher than the dimly glowing Mountain of
Needles. If he could keep up this pace, perhaps he could escape from Hell after all. Kandata grasped the
thread with both hands, and laughingly spoke in a voice that he hadn’t used in the many years since he
had come here, “I’ve done it! I’ve done it!”
Looking down, however, what did he see but an endless queue of sinners, intently following him up the
thread like a line of ants! Seeing this, surprise and fear kept Kandata hanging there for a time with mouth
open and eyes blinking like a fool. How could this slender spider’s web, which should break even under
just his weight, support the weight of all these other people? If the thread were to snap, all of his effort
would be wasted and he would fall back into Hell with the others! That just would not do. But even as he
thought these thoughts, hundreds more, thousands more of the damned came crawling up from the
Lake of Blood, forming a line and scurrying up the thread. If he didn’t do something fast, surely the
thread would snap in the middle and he would fall back down.
Kandata shouted out, “Hey! You sinners! This thread is mine! Who said you could climb up it? Get off!
Get off!”
Though the thread had been fine until just then, with these words it snapped with a twang right where
Kandata held it. Poor Kandata fell headfirst through the air, spinning like a top, right down through the
darkness. The severed end of the silver thread hung there, suspended from heaven, shining with its pale
light in that moonless, starless sky.
THREE
The Buddha stood in Paradise at the edge of the lotus pond, silently watching these events. After
Kandata sank like a stone to the bottom of the Lake of Blood, he continued his stroll with a sad face. He
must have been surprised that even after such severe punishment Kandata’s lack of compassion would
lead him right back into Hell.
Yet the lotus blossoms in the lotus ponds of Paradise care nothing about such matters. Their jewel-like
white flowers waved about the feet of the Buddha, and each flower’s golden center continuously filled
the place with their indescribably wondrous fragrance. It was almost noon in Paradise.
Name ______________________________________________________ Date _____________________
The Two Brothers
Note: The Two Brothers is an ancient Egyptian story. The original papyrus is in the British Museum.
There were once two brothers, Anpu was the older, Bata was the younger. Anpu had a wife, and owned
a farm. Bata came to live with Anpu and his wife. Bata worked hard for his brother, plowing the fields,
and harvesting the grain, and doing many other tasks. He was very good at his work. The animals would
even speak to him.
One day Anpu announced that it was time to plow the fields and sow the seeds. And he instructed his
brother to take sacks of seed out to the fields. They spent the next few days plowing and sowing seeds.
Then Anpu sent Bata back for more seeds. At Anpu's house, Bata found Anpu's wife fixing her hair. Bata
said, "Get up and get me some seed, Anpu is waiting."
Anpu's wife replied, "Get the seed yourself. I'm busy with my hair."
Bata found a large basket, and filled it with seed. And, he carried the basket through the house.
Anpu's wife said, "What is the weight of that basket you carry."
Bata replied, "There are three sacks of wheat and two of barley."
She said, "How strong you are, and handsome. Stay with me and let us make love. And Anpu will never
know."
Bata replied in horror, "Anpu is like a father to me, and you are like a mother to me. I won't tell anyone
of the evil words that you have said. And never let me hear them again." He picked up his basket, and
rushed out into the fields.
When Anpu got back home, he realized that something was wrong. No fire had been lit, no food had
been cooked, and his wife was in bed moaning and weeping. Her clothes were torn, and she seemed to
be bruised. Anpu demanded that she tell him what had happened.
She replied, "When your brother came to fetch the seed, he saw me fixing my hair. He tried to make love
to me. And I refused, saying, 'Is not Anpu like a father to you? And am I not like a mother to you?' And he
became angry, and beat me. And he said that he would hurt me more if I told you what had happened.
Oh Anpu, kill him for me, or I will surely die."
Anpu was angry like a leopard. He took a spear, and hid behind the door of the cattle pen, waiting to kill
his brother.
When the sun had gone down, Bata returned with the cattle. The first cow said to Bata, "Your brother
hides with a spear, behind the door. And he plans to kill you. Run away while you can."
Bata would not believe the cow. But the second cow gave him the same warning. Then he saw his
brother's feet behind the door. And he was afraid and ran away. Anpu chased him in great anger. As he
ran, Bata called out to Ra, "O my good lord, who judges between the bad and the good, save me."
And Ra heard Bata's prayer, and caused a river to flow between them. The river was wide and full of
crocodiles. The two brothers stood on opposite banks of the river. Bata shouted to Anpu, "Ra delivers
the wicked to the just. But I must leave you. Why did you try to kill me, without giving me a chance to
explain?" And Bata told his side of the story.
Then Bata took out his knife and cut himself, and he fell to the ground. And Anpu believed him, and was
sick at heart. And he longed to be on the other side of the river, with his brother.
Bata spoke again, "I must go to the valley of cedars, to be healed. And I shall hide my heart in a cedar
tree. And when the cedar tree is cut down, I will be in danger of dying. If your beer turns sour, you will
know that I need your help. Come to the valley of cedars and search for my heart. Put my heart in a bowl
of water. And I will come back to life again.
Anpu promised to obey his brother, and went home. He killed his wife, and threw her body to the dogs.
Bata traveled to the valley of cedars, and rested until his wound had healed. He hunted wild beasts and
built a house for himself. And he hid his heart in the branches of a tree.
One day, the nine gods were walking in the valley. And they saw that Bata was lonely. And Ra ordered
Khnum to make a wife for Bata, on his potter’s wheel. And when the gods breathed life into her, they
saw that she was the most beautiful woman who ever lived. The seven Hathors gathered to declare her
fate, and said that she would die a sudden death.
Bata loved her. And he knew that whoever saw her would desire her. Every day, as he left to hunt wild
animals, he warned her, "Stay in the house, or the sea may try to carry you away. And there is little I
could do to save you."
One day, when Bata had gone out to hunt, his wife grew bored and went out for a walk. And, as she
stood beneath the tree, the sea saw her, and surged up the valley to get her. She tried to flee. But the
tree caught her by the hair. She escaped, leaving a lock of her hair in the tree.
The sea took the lock of hair, and carried it to Egypt, where the Nile took it. And the hair floated to
where the washermen of the King were washing the King's clothes. And the sweet-smelling hair caused
the King's clothes to smell like perfume. And the King complained of this. This happened every day.
One day the overseer of the washermen saw the lock of hair caught in the reeds. He ordered that it be
brought to him. And he smelled its sweet smell.
And he took the lock of hair to the King. And the King's advisers said, "This is a lock of hair from a
daughter of Ra." And the King wanted to make this woman his Queen.
The King sent many messengers to all lands. All returned to say that they had failed to find the woman.
But one returned from the valley of the cedars to say that his companions had been killed by Bata, and
that Bata's wife was the woman that he sought.
The King sent many soldiers to fetch Bata's wife. And with the soldiers, he sent a woman to give jewels to
Bata's wife, and to tell her that the King wanted to make her a queen. Bata's wife told this woman that
Bata's heart was hidden in the tree, and that if the tree were cut down, Bata would die. And the soldiers
cut down the tree. As the tree fell, Bata fell down dead. And the soldiers chopped up the tree and
dispersed the pieces.
At the same moment that Bata died, Anpu's beer began to bubble and turn sour. And he immediately
put on his sandals, and grabbed his spear and his staff, and hastened to the valley of cedars.
There he found his brother dead, and he wept. But he remembered his brother's instruction and
searched for his heart. He searched in vain for three years. And he longed to return to Egypt. At the
beginning of the fourth year, he said to himself, "If I don't find my brother's heart tomorrow, I will go
back home."
The next day, he searched again. And near the end of the day, he found what he thought was a seed. But
it was Bata's dried up heart. And he put it in a bowl of water, and sat down to wait. The heart grew as it
absorbed water. Bata came back to life, but was very weak. Then Anpu held the bowl to Bata's lips, and
he swallowed the remaining water, and then swallowed his own heart. And his strength returned to him.
And the two brothers embraced.
Bata said, "Tomorrow, I will change myself into a sacred bull. And you will ride me back to Egypt. Lead
me before the King. And he will reward you. Then return to your house."
The next day, Bata changed into a bull. And Anpu rode him to Egypt, and led him before the King. The
King rewarded Anpu with gold, and silver, and land, and slaves. And there was rejoicing throughout the
land. And Anpu returned to his house.
Eventually, Bata encountered his wife, who was now the Queen. And he said, "Look upon me, for I am
alive."
She asked, "And who are you?"
He replied, "I am Bata. And it was you who caused the tree to be cut down, so that I would be destroyed.
But I am alive." And she trembled in fear, and left the room.
That evening, the King sat at a feast, with his Queen. And she said to him, "Will you swear by the gods
that you will give me anything that I want?" The King promised that he would. The Queen said, "I desire
to eat the liver of the sacred bull, for he is nothing to you."
The king was upset at her request. But the next day, he commanded that the bull be sacrificed. And the
bull was sacrificed. And its blood splattered on each side the gate of the palace.
That night, two persea trees sprang up next to the palace gate. The King was told of this miracle, and
there was much rejoicing.
One day the King and Queen were standing in the shade of one of the trees. And the tree spoke to the
Queen, "False woman, you are the one who caused the cedar tree to be cut down, and you made the
King slaughter the bull. But, I am Bata, I am still alive." And the Queen was afraid.
Later, when the King and Queen were feasting, the Queen said, "Will you swear by the gods that you will
give me anything that I want?" The King promised that he would. The Queen said, "It is my desire that
those two persea trees be chopped down, to make furniture for me."
The King was troubled by her request. But the next day the King and Queen watched as the trees were
cut down. As the Queen stood watching, a chip of wood flew from one of the trees, and flew into her
mouth, and she swallowed it. And it made the Queen become pregnant.
After many days, the Queen gave birth to a son. The King loved him, and made him heir to the throne.
In time the King died, and rejoined the gods. And his son succeeded him as King.
The new King (who was Bata) summoned his court, and told everyone the story of his life. And he judged
that his wife, who had become his mother, should die for her crimes. And the court agreed. And she was
led away to be killed.
Bata ruled Egypt for thirty years. Then he died. And his brother Anpu then ruled Egypt.
Name ______________________________________________________ Date _____________________
A CRICKET BOY
A long time ago, cricket fighting caught on in the imperial court, with the emperor leading
the fad. A local magistrate in Huayin, who wanted to win the favor of the monarch, tried in every
way to get him the best fighting crickets. He had a strategy for doing so: He managed to get a
cricket that was very good at fighting. He then made his sub ordinates go to the heads of each
village and force them to send in a constant supply of fighting crickets. He would send to the
imperial court the crickets that could beat the one he was keeping.
Theoretically, everything should have worked smoothly. However, as the magistrate was
extremely zealous to please the emperor, he meted out harsh punishment on any village heads
who failed to accomplish their tasks. The village heads in turn shifted the bur den to the poor
villagers, who had to search for the crickets. If they failed to catch them, they had to purchase
them from some -one else, or they had to pay a levy in cash.
The small in sects suddenly became a rare commodity. Speculators hoarded good crickets,
buying them at a bar gain and selling them for an exorbitant price. Many village heads worked
hand in hand with the spec u la tors to make prof its. In so doing, they bankrupted many a
family.
Cheng Ming was one such villager. The head of his village delegated part of his du ties to
him because he found Cheng Ming easy to push around. Cheng Ming did not want to bully his
fellow villagers as the village head did him, so he often had to pay cash out of his own pocket
when he failed to collect any competent crickets. Soon the little proper ties he had were draining
away, and he went into a severe depression. One day, he said to his wife that he wanted to die.
“Death is easy, but what will our son do without you?” asked his wife, glancing at their
only son, sleeping on the kang. “Why can’t we look for the crickets ourselves instead of buying
them? Perhaps we’ll strike some good luck.”
Cheng Ming gave up the idea of suicide and went to search for crickets. Armed with a tiny basket of cop
per wires for catching crickets and a number of small bamboo tubes for holding them, he went about the
tedious task. Each day he got up at dawn and did not return until late in the evening. He searched
beneath brick debris, dike crevices, and in the weeds and bushes. Days went by, and he caught only a
few mediocre crickets that did not measure up to the magistrate’s standards. His worries increased as
the dead line drew closer and closer.
The day for cricket delivery finally came, but Cheng Ming could not produce any good ones. He
was clubbed a hundred times on the buttocks, a form of corporal punishment in the ancient Chinese
judicial system. When he was released the next day, he could barely walk. The wound on his buttocks
con fined him to bed for days and further delayed his search for crickets. He thought of commit ting
suicide again. His wife did not know what to do.
Then they heard about a hunchbacked for tune-teller who was visiting the village. Cheng Ming’s
wife went to see him. The fortune-teller gave her a piece of pa per with a picture on it. It was a pavilion
with a jiashan (rock gar den) behind it. On the bushes by the jiashan sat a fat male cricket. Beside it,
however, lurked a large toad, ready to catch the in sect with its long, elastic tongue. When the wife got
home, she showed the pa per to her husband. Cheng Ming sprang up and jumped to the floor, forget
ting the pain in his but tocks.
“This is the fortune-teller’s hint at the location where I can find a perfect cricket to accomplish my
task!” he ex claimed.
“But we don’t have a pavilion in our village,” his wife re minded him.
“Well, take a closer look and think. Doesn’t the temple on the east side of our village have a rock
gar den? That must be it.” So saying, Cheng Ming limped to the temple with the support of a make shift
crutch. Sure enough, he saw the cricket and the toad squat ting nearby in the rock gar den at the back of
the temple. He caught the big, black male cricket just before the toad got hold of it. Back home, he
carefully placed the cricket in a jar he had pre pared for it and stowed the jar away in a safe place.
“Everything will be over tomorrow,” he gave a sigh of relief and went to tell his best friends in the village
the good news.
Cheng Ming’s nine-year-old son was very curious. Seeing his father was gone, he took the jar and
wanted to have a peek at the cricket. He was re moving the lid carefully, when the big cricket jumped
out and hopped away. Panicked, the boy tried to catch the fleeing cricket with his hands, but in a flurry,
he ac ci den tally squashed the insect when he finally got hold of it.
“Good heavens! What’re you going to say to your father when he comes back?” the mother said
in dis tress and dread. Without a word, the boy went out of the room, tears in his eyes.
Cheng Ming became distraught when he saw the dead cricket. He couldn’t believe that all his
hopes had been dashed in a second. He looked around for his son, vowing to teach the little scoundrel a
good les son. He searched inside and outside the house, only to locate him in a well at the corner of the
court yard. When he fished him out, the boy was already dead. The father’s fury instantly gave way to
sorrow. The grieved parents laid their son on the kang and lamented over his body the en tire night.
As Cheng Ming was dressing his son for burial the next morning, he felt the body still warm.
Immediately he put the boy back on the kang, hoping that he would re vive. Grad u ally the boy came
back to life, but to his parents’ dismay, he was unconscious, as if he were in a trance.
The parents grieved again for the loss of their son. Suddenly they heard a cricket chirping. The
couple traced the sound to a small cricket on the door step. The appearance of the cricket, however,
dashed their hopes, for it was very small. “Well, it’s better than nothing,” Cheng Ming thought. He was
about to catch it, when it jumped nimbly on to a wall, cheeping at him. He tip toed to ward it, but it
showed no sign of fleeing. Instead, when Cheng Ming came a few steps closer, the little cricket jumped
onto his chest.
Though small, the cricket looked smart and energetic. Cheng Ming planned to take it to the village
head. Uncertain of its capabilities, Cheng Ming could not go to sleep. He wanted to put the little cricket
to the test before sending it to the village head.
 
The next morning, Cheng Ming went to a young man from a rich family in his neighborhood,
having heard him boasting about an “invincible” cricket that he wanted to sell for a high price.
When the young man showed his cricket, Cheng Ming hesitated, because his little cricket
seemed no match for this gigantic insect. To fight this monster would be to condemn his dwarf
to death.
“There’s no way my little cricket could survive a confrontation with your big guy,” Cheng
Ming said to the young man, holding his jar tight. The young man goaded and taunted him. At
last, Cheng Ming decided to take a risk. “Well, it won’t hurt to give a try. If the little cricket is a
good-for-nothing, what’s the use of keeping it anyway?” he thought.
When they put the two crickets together in a jar, Cheng Ming’s small in sect seemed
transfixed. No matter how the young man prodded it to fight, it simply would not budge. The
young man burst into a guffaw, to the great embarrassment of Cheng Ming. As the young man
spurred the little cricket on, it suddenly seemed to have run out of patience. With great wrath, it
charged the giant opponent head on. The sudden burst of action stunned both the young man
and Cheng Ming. Before the little creature planted its small but sharp teeth into the neck of the
big cricket, the terrified young man fished the big in sect out of the jar just in time and called off
the con test. The little cricket chirped victoriously, and Cheng Ming felt exceedingly happy and
proud.
Cheng Ming and the young man were commenting on the little cricket’s extraordinary
prowess, when a big rooster rushed over to peck at the little cricket in the jar. The little cricket
hopped out of the jar in time to dodge the attack. The rooster then went for it a second time, but
suddenly began to shake its head violently, screaming in agony. This sudden turn of events
baffled Cheng Ming and the onlookers. When they took a closer look, they could not believe
their eyes: The little cricket was gnawing on the rooster’s bloody comb. The story of a cricket
fighting a rooster soon spread through -out the village and beyond.
The next day, Cheng Ming, along with the village head, sent the cricket to the magistrate
and asked for a test fight with his master cricket, but the magistrate re fused on the ground that
Cheng Ming’s cricket was too small.
“I don’t think you have heard its rooster-fighting story,” Cheng Ming pro claimed with
great pride. “You can’t judge it only by its appearance.”
“Nonsense, how can a cricket fight a rooster?” asked the magistrate. He ordered a big
rooster brought to his office, thinking that Cheng Ming would quit telling his tall tales when his
cricket be -came the bird’s snack. The battle between the little cricket and the rooster ended
with the same result: The rooster sped away in great pain, the little cricket chirping triumphantly
on its heels.
The magistrate was first astonished and then pleased, thinking that he finally had the very
in sect that could win him the emperor’s favor. He had a golden cage manufactured for the little
cricket. Placing it cautiously in the cage, he took it to the emperor.
The emperor pitted the little cricket against all his veteran com bat ant crickets, and it
defeated them one by one. What amused the emperor most was that the little creature could
even dance to the tune of his court mu sic! Extremely pleased with the magic little creature, the
emperor re warded the magistrate liberally and promoted him to a higher position. The
magistrate, now a governor, in turn exempted Cheng Ming from his levies in cash as well as
crickets.
A year later, Cheng Ming’s son came out of his stupor. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, to
the great surprise and joy of his parents. The first words he uttered to his jubilant parents were,
“I’m so tired and hungry.” After a hot meal, he told them, “I dreamed that I had become a
cricket, and I fought a lot of other crickets. It was such fun! You know what? The greatest fun I
had was my fight with a couple of roosters!”