Princess Mononoke

~The Tale of a Demon~

Iron town hustled and bustled with the sound of pounding, pulling, grunting, chattering and life. The big wooden gates closed with a clang as the sun set in the sky. Women gathered around the door of a small hut where the working men gathered for the evening meal.
"There he is!" They giggled.
All their lustful eyes focused on Ashitaka. " Where?" "There in the back!" " Toki was right! He is handsome !" " But he's so young" "That never stopped you before!"
A working man scolded, "Quiet over there! We lost some good men today"
Another man said flirtatiously "Yeah there's lots of gorgeous men in here honey!"
"I've seen cattle that looked better", the women laughed and another spoke to Ashitaka, "Listen stranger, why don't you come over to our place? You don't wanna stay in this stinky old barn!"
Another, older man, scolded "Look woman! We risked our lives to bring you the rice you're all eating tonight so watch your mouth!"
She retorted, "And who made the iron that paid for that rice? Huh? Tell me that. We're pumping those bellows while you pigs are in bed!"
Ashitaka spoke softly, "Actually ladies if it's not too much trouble I would like to see where you work"
"You would!?" They all gasped with glee. " We'll have to work in makeup tonight!" "Lend me your lipstick!" "Don't forget now!" "We'll be waiting for you!"

As the woman skittered off an older man sitting next to Ashitaka grunted through bites of stew, "It's best not to pay then any attention you know. Lady Eboshi spoils them rotten that's why they're like that"
Ashitaka chuckled "Well they say that happy women make a happy village"
At this the men found an immense humor.
"Happy? Ha! Those kind of women working here? Women like that, it's a disgrace, they defile the iron. Lady Eboshi goes around buying the contract of every brothel girl she can find"
"Milady has a kind heart that's all" A small elderly man chirped.
"Yeah, and you've got rice on your chin old man"
A short man with a small tuft or dark hard on the top of his head plopped down next to Ashitaka and began to explain,
"It's true, everything here has turned upside down since she showed up. She's not even afraid of the Gods that woman! You should have seen the way she dealt with Nago. Am I right?"
"Who's Nago"? Ashitaka asked.
"Who's Nago!? The gigantic boar God! He used to rule the whole forest. We couldn't even get near the mountains with him around. Nothing to do but sit around on our backsides for months, just staring at a bunch of angry boars. See, the iron in the sand had all been dug out so then we tried to get at the iron under the mountain. But Nago wouldn't stand for that. The problem was before we could dig for the iron we had to clear away the forest...
and that's what made the boar angry"
                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The forest was covered in a thick film of pitch black darkness. Men worked at clearing the forest by the warmth of a fire. All of a sudden they heard a pounding sound coming right for them. And as if emerging up from underneath the ground the boar God Nago charged through the men. They attempted to fire flaming arrows into his flesh but he was able to shake them from his thick hide with ease. Suddenly an army marched into view led by a woman in a black cloak. She fired a rifle at Nago and he let out a piercing shriek. Something was happening to his body, but he didn't know what, and all he could do was flee in terror.
                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ashitaka sat frozen as he was told this unfortunate tale.
"Young man, what's wrong?"
Ashitaka gripped his arm as it suddenly felt filled with tension.
"Is something hurting your arm?"
"No", he responded quickly, "I was just thinking about this boar God. I was thinking how he must have died full of hatred"