Week 6 Story: The Black Seamstress

(Adult Female Black Widow taken from Wikimedia Commons) 

Far in the mountains, there existed an isolated, nearly unremarkable village; because of the treacherous cliffs and rivers, exporting goods to trade with other villages was difficult, and the lack of revenue certainly didn’t help with importing new goods or refining tools to make new exports. Despite this, they maintained a small, tightly-knit community.

The one remarkable, haunting thing about this village: rumor of a monster dwelling in a cave past the forests near the village. For this reason, none dared to go into the forest.

One hot summer day, a group of young boys were playing ball near the woodlands beside the village, while one boy sat and read. Eventually, one boy kicked the ball so hard it flew deep into the trees.

“Aww…” one boy exclaimed. “Now how’re we getting it back?”

“Are you crazy?!” His friend shouted. “Who’d be dumb enough to go?”

The two didn’t want to get in trouble, but then one boy had an idea.

“Hey, Hiro,” one boy called out to the boy under the tree. “Can you go get the ball?”

Hiro closed his book and stood up in shock. “No way! What about the monster?”

“What’s the matter? Too chicken?” One boy sneered.

 “It’s ‘cause he’s got no one at home to teach him better!” His friend joined in.

Hiro stomped and steamed. “I’ll show you!”

Hiro dashed off into the forest, carefully searching, until he eventually found the ball! Once he saw it front of a cave, however, his face paled.

Slowly, he squeaked and stepped over to the ball, but before he could pick it up, a gleaming yellow gaze appeared in the cave.

Startled, Hiro made a mad dash through the trees, screaming wildly, so wildly that he did not see a river he tripped into. Hiro frantically splashed, trying to escape, but to no avail. The next moments were a blur. All Hiro felt was a tug and saw the shape of a head before he lost consciousness.

When Hiro awoke, he appeared to be in someone’s house, dressed in an elaborate robe, one of the finest he ever saw. Nonetheless, he was confused and frightened.

A door then opened, and a woman’s head of long, dark hair popped in, carrying fresh tea in her hands.

“Oh, you’re awake. Care for some tea?”

Hiro would have answered, but stopped as the woman walked in, revealing her legs. All eight of them, to be precise, black as night. And upon closer inspection, her fingernails appeared sharp as needles.

Noticing Hiro frozen in fear, the woman immediately knelt to the floor and put on a desperate face.

“Please, don’t be afraid! My name is Ayako, and you’re safe here! I fished you out of the river!”

Ayako showed Hiro his wet clothes drying from across the room as proof.

“I’m…Hiro… If those are my clothes…then…what's this?” Hiro gestured to the robe he wore currently.

Ayako beamed at this. “Oh! I made that! Do you like it?”

Ayako explained that she could not venture into the village; every time she tried, someone would run at the sight of her legs. To fill the gap, she spun and dyed silk robes.

“But enough about me. Tell me about yourself! What are you doing out in the woods all alone? Your parents must be worried.”

Once those words left Ayako’s mouth, tears filled Hiro’s eyes.

“I…don’t have parents. I’m an…orphan…”

Understanding his loneliness, Ayako quickly wrapped her arms carefully around Hiro. “Hiro, I’m sorry… Why don’t you stay with me? That way, neither of us will be lonely!”

Despite her frightful appearance, Hiro felt a motherly aura emanating from the spider-woman. Tearing up with happiness, he buried his head into her embrace.

The two continued to live together, sharing the same table and warm bed, like mother and son.

One day, Hiro suggested to Ayako they could sell he robes to help Ayako get closer to the village folk. Ayako felt uneasy, but placed trust in her friend.

Ayako spun the clothing, and Hiro went into town to sell them, referring to their creator as “The Black Seamstress”. The townsfolk were amazed at the resilient texture, vibrant colors, and intricate patterns that they were eager to meet who crafted them.

At request of the townsfolk, Hiro and Ayako went into town together with their latest fabrics, but the populace went into a hysteric uproar, with shouts of “monster” and “demon” crowding the air.

Suddenly, the raucous ravings sent one merchant’s horse galloping away madly into the rapid river. Acting quickly, Ayako worked her fingers and spun a rope of silk to ensnare the steed. She propped against a tree and pulled with all the strength her legs would allow, but the tree creaked, and it seemed she would be swept away as well.

Ayako’s mind flashed to Hiro, for she thought this to be the end, until the boy in question wrapped his arms around one of Ayako’s legs and pulled. Awestruck by the valiant hearts of the boy and spider-woman, the men of the village lined up behind the two and formed a chain. With a mighty heave, the horse erupted out of the rapids and onto dry land unharmed!

The town sprang into shouting again, but this time they sang praises for Ayako’s courage, and welcomed the eight-legged seamstress with open arms, knowing her to be a kind soul.

Many of the townsfolk apologized to Ayako for their rudeness, and asked if they could export Ayako’s fabrics, knowing that they could help the village, even offering a sizable portion of sales to her in exchange. Ayako accepted wholeheartedly.

Thus, the reputation of The Black Seamstress spread far and wide. In time, Ayako gathered enough money to adopt Hiro, and the two became a proper family. Though the townsfolk did not disclose her true identity out of fear someone else might do her harm, the two were content.

A family not bound by blood, but by silk.

Author's Note

The inspiration for this story stems from The Girl with the Horse’s Head or the Silkworm Goddess. A girl sends a horse to look for her father on the promise that she will marry the horse, but upon fulfilling the request, the horse could not be rewarded due to his status as an animal preventing him from marrying her, upon which he is slain when he lashes out in anger. Eventually, the girl becomes wrapped in the horse's hide, turning into a silk cocoon and being given the duty of overseeing the growth of silkworms.

But when I think "silk," I think "spiders," and so I decided to take the otherness of the horse and the destiny of the girl to become a famous silk-spinner, shift the setting from Chinese to Japanese, and write a story about overcoming differences to pursue true happiness around the jorogumo. The jorogumo is a kind of yokai (Japanese demon) often depicted as taking the form of a spider capable of transforming into a woman, or taking on characteristics of both, such as the torso of woman and the lower half of a spider.

I had an insane amount of fun constructing the principal characters for this story, as I am a big fan of giving demons a pacifistic or human image or element. There wasn't much thought outside of getting a youthful sound for choosing Hiro's name, but I chose Ayako's name to reflect her as a person, with character meanings including "color" and "fabric design." There's so much more I wanted to write with these characters, but alas 500-1000 word limit. Hopefully you enjoy it as much as I did writing it!

As a fun little thing, apparently there exists a variation on a tale where a a lumberjack is drowned by a jorogumo by becoming ensnared in her threads, in which a tree stump is snagged in place. This tale supposedly marks a worship around waterfalls in Sendai where the jorogumo is seen as a goddess protecting people from drowning. I decided to incorporate this into the story, as well as rekindle the significance of the horse as the trigger for achieving success related to silk.

Bibliography

The Girl with the Horse’s Head or the Silkworm Goddess from the Chinese Fairy Tales Unit, taken from R. Wilhelm's The Chinese Fairy Book

Wikipedia research on the Jorogumo