Dojoji

ABBOT: Then we will hold the dedication service today. For certain reasons known best to me, women are not to be admitted to the courtyards where the ceremonies are held. Make sure that everyone understands this.
FIRST SERVANT: Your orders shall be obeyed.


FIRST SERVANT: Stop! You can't go into the courtyard. Women aren't allowed.
DANCER: But I’m not like other women, I’m only a dancer. I live nearby and I am to perform a dance at the dedication of the bell. Please let me see the ceremony.
FIRST SERVANT: A dancer? That’s right, I suppose she doesn’t count as an ordinary woman. [To the Dancer] Very well, I’ll let you into the courtyard on my own, but in return you must dance for me.

FIRST SERVANT: The bell. It fell from the belfry.
ABBOT: What? Our bell? From the belfry?
FIRST SERVANT: Yes, Master.
ABBOT: What caused it?
FIRST SERVANT: I fastened it very carefully, but all the same it fell down. Ah! That reminds me. There was a dancer here a little while ago. She said she lives nearby, and asked me to let her into the courtyard to see the dedication of the bell. Of course I told her that it wasn't allowed, but she said she wasn't an ordinary women, and that she was going to offer a dance. So I let her in. I wonder if she had something to do with this?
ABBOT: You idiot! What a stupid thing to do! I knew this would happen. That is why I forbade you strictly to allow any women in here! You blundering fool!
FIRST SERVANT: Ahhhh. [He bows to the ground.]
ABBOT: I suppose I must go now and take a look.
FIRST SERVANT: Yes, Master. Please hurry. Help! Help! [He exits, still crying for help.]
ABBOT [To the priests]: Priests, come with me. [They stand and go to the bell.] Do you know why I gave the order that no woman was to be permitted to enter the temple during the dedication of the bell?
PRIESTS: No, Master. We have no idea.
ABBOT: Then I will tell you.
PRIESTS: Yes, Tell us the whole story.
ABBOT: Many years ago there lived in this region a man who was the steward of the manor of Manago, and he had an only daughter. In those days too there was a certain yamabushi priest who came here every year from the northern provinces on his way to worship at the shrine of Kumano, and he would always stay with this same steward. The priest never forgot to bring charming little presents for the stewards daughter, and the steward, who doted on the girl, as a joke once told her, "Some day that priest will be your husband, and you will be his wife!" In her childish innocence the girl thought he was speaking the truth, and for months and years she waited.
Time passed and once again the priest came to the landlord's house. Late one night, after everyone else was asleep, the girl went to his bedroom and chided him: " Do you intend to leave me here forever? Claim me soon as your wife."
Amazed to hear these words, the priest turned the girl away with a joking answer. That night he crept out into the darkness and came to this temple, imploring us to hide him. But having nowhere else we could hide him, we lowered the bell and hid him inside. Soon the girl followed, swearing she would never let him go. At that time the River Hitaka was swollen to a furious flood and the girl could not cross over. She ran up and down the bank, wild with rage, until at last her jealous fury turned her into a venomous snake, and he easily swam across the river.
The serpent glided here, to the Temple of Dojoji, and searched here and there until her suspicions were aroused by the lowered bell. Taking the metal loop between her teeth, she coiled herself around the bell in seven coils. Then, breathing smoke and flames, she lashed the bell with her tail. At once the bronze grew hot, boiling hot, and the monk, hidden inside, was roasted alive.