The Muddy Road

A True Story About Judging People

Hara Tanzan was a Soto Buddhist monk who lived for most of
the nineteenth century. He was well revered in life and even
before his death, there were many stories retold about him. It’s
hard to distinguish which of them are true and which are not.
This, nevertheless, is the most famous one.

Tanzan was once traveling along a muddy road with his good
friend, the cultivated, but strict Zen master Ekido. It had been
pouring for hours and the rain didn’t seem to be stopping
anytime soon.

As the Zen masters came around a bend, they noticed a

beautiful girl in a silk kimono, visibly shaken by the tempest,
trying unsuccessfully to cross the intersection.

“Let me help you,” said Tanzan straight away and, even before
the girl could say anything back, he carried her over the mud in
his arms.

Hours passed and Tanzan and Ekido reached their final

destination – a faraway lodging temple. As they were preparing
to get some rest, Ekido (who had been quiet all along) couldn’t
hold back himself anymore and reprimanded Tanzan:

“Hara, you know that as a monk you are forbidden to go

anywhere near a female. Especially as beautiful as the one you
helped cross the road before! I’m sorry for lecturing you, but I
just didn’t think appropriate to let it go!”

“I left the girl on the other side of the road,” said Tanzan
calmly. “Are you still carrying her?”
 The Appointment

A sixteen-year old boy worked on his grandfather's horse farm.

One morning he drove a pickup truck into town on an errand.
While he was walking along the main street, he saw Death.
Death beckoned to him.

The boy drove back to the farm as fast as he could and told his
grandfather what had happened. "Give me the truck," he
begged. "I'll go to the city. He'll never find me there."

His grand father gave him the truck, and the boy sped away.
After he left, his grandfather went into town looking for Death.
When he found him, he asked, "Why did you frighten my
grandson that way? He is only sixteen. He is too young to die."

"I am sorry about that," said Death. "I did not mean to beckon
to him. But I was surprised to see him here. You see, I have an
appointment with him this afternoon - in the city."
Appointment in Samarra
Here is a version of a story attributed to W.Somerset Maugham, although I
suspect its origin goes back much further than the 1930's!

Long ago, there lived a merchant in Baghdad. Being low on supplies for his shop, he
sent his servant to the marketplace with a list of things to get. When the servant
reached the marketplace, he saw Death standing in the crowd giving him a menacing
stare.

Terrified, the servant ran back to the shop and exclaimed, "Master, Master! I saw
Death among the people in the marketplace and He gave me a threatening gesture!
He's after me! Please, Master, give me your fastest steed and I will fly off to Samarra
where he will never find me."

Convinced by the look of sheer terror in his servant's face, the merchant gave him his
fastest horse and off the young boy raced to Samarra.

After some contemplation, the merchant became annoyed that he had lost his only
servant and quickly strode to the marketplace where he, too, saw Death standing
among the crowd. His anger outweighing his fear, the merchant walked right up to
Death and asked, "Why did you give my servant a threatening gesture?"

And in a cold, raspy voice, Death replied, "That was not a threatening gesture, that
was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see your servant here in Baghdad.

You see, I have an appointment with him tonight---in Samarra."

 The Barter
WRITTEN BY SIOBHAN ADCOCK
REVIEW BY JO ANN BUTLER

Bridget should be happy. She has a handsome husband and an

adorable year-old daughter, so why can’t she stop thinking
about death? Then the strangeness begins – soft thuds against
the walls of Bridget’s central Texas home and the stink of
moldering earth, and then a white-clad specter of a woman
pulls itself into her daughter’s room to watch them with black,
pitiless eyes. What does the dead woman want?

Born a century earlier, Rebecca Mueller has heard a strange

tale many times: how her mother bartered away an hour of her
life to save her newborn daughter in 1882, only to learn as her
own life fades away that it was her next dawn. Rebecca is told
that an hour of her own life had also been surrendered, but
nobody can say when or how the barter will be consummated.

The four mothers and daughters’ destinies are clearly

intertwined, and Bridget senses that the ghost wants some sort
of offering – a barter. It’s up to Bridget to figure out what the
dead woman wants in Siobhan Adcock’s debut offering, The
Barter.

This is a vividly told supernatural multi-period story, and

Adcock builds the suspense nicely. Love between mother and
daughter is a dominant motif, but both Bridget and Rebecca are
alienated from their husbands. What must be sacrificed, and
who must do it to draw them together? It’s a fascinating
theme, but the characters’ discontent left this reader feeling
the same emotion. You might feel differently, so if you like a
thriller, try The Barter.