“That doesn’t make sense either. How can a seventeen-year-old carry a burden for thirty-some-odd years?”
The tanuki pretends not to hear this.
“There are a lot of things in this world that can’t be explained easily. At any rate, I disowned him long ago. He’s dead to me. Hey, what’s that? I smell something burning. Do you smell it?”
“No.”
“No?” Since the tanuki is always eating noisome things, he has little confidence in own nose. He tilts his head, a puzzled look on his face. “Is it just me? Hey, now it sounds like wood burning. Crackle-crackle, burn-burn. You hear that?”
“What do you expect? This is Crackle-Burn Mountain.”
“Don’t give me that. You just said it was called Click-Clack Mountain.”
“That’s right. The same mountain can have different names, depending on the location. On the slope of Mount Fuji is a big bump called Little Fuji, and Omuro Mountain and Mount Nagao are almost like parts of Fuji too. Didn’t you know that?”
“No, I did not. I’ve been here on this mountain for thirty-some-odd— I mean, according to my brother, they’ve always just called this the Mountain in Back. Phew! It’s getting awfully warm. This is a weird day. What’s next? An earthquake? Wow, it’s hot. Whoa! Hey! Ow, ow, ow! Damn! Help! The firewood’s burning! Owwwww!”
The next day, the tanuki is in his hole moaning and groaning.
“Oh, the pain! Is this the end? I must be the unluckiest man who ever lived. Just because I was born a bit better-looking than most, the women are afraid to approach me. A dapper and sophisticated man is at a real disadvantage, I tell you. They probably take me for a woman-hat
er. Hell, I’m no saint. I like women. But they all seem to think I’m some sort of high-minded idealist and never try to seduce me. It’s enough to make me run in circles, tearing my hair out and screaming. I love women! Ouch! These burns are no joke. Sting like hell. Just when I thought I’d escaped the tanuki stew fate, my luck runs out on Burncrackle Mountain or whatever it was. Stupid mountain. The firewood bursts into flames while it’s still on your back. Horrible place. Thirty-some-odd—” he starts to say, then looks around, as if to make sure no one is listening. “Hell, what’ve I got to hide? I’m thirty-seven this year. Ahem. What of it? In three more years I’ll be forty. I know that. It’s only natural, the natural course of nature, any—ouch!—body can see that. From the time I was born thirty-seven years ago I’ve lived and played on the Mountain in Back, but I’ve never had a weird experience like that before. Click-Clack Mountain, Crackle-Burn Mountain—even the names are strange. Something mysterious about it all.”
He racks his brain for answers, beating his own head with his fists, and only stops pummeling himself when he hears the voice of a medicine peddler outside.
“Wizard’s Gold Ointment! Get your Wizard’s Gold Ointment! Is anyone suffering from burns, cuts, or a swarthy complexion?”
More than burns, it’s the last-named affliction that catches the tanuki’s attention.
“Hey, Wizard’s Gold!”
“Who calls, and how may I help you?”
“Over here. In the hole. It really works on the complexion?”
“Within a single day, sir.”
“Woo-hoo!” He crawls out of the hole, clambers to his feet, and freezes. “Hey! You’re the rabbit!”
“I am indeed a rabbit, sir, but I’m a male rabbit and a medicine peddler. Yes, for thirty-some-odd years I’ve traveled this region, peddling medicine.”
“Phew,” the tanuki sighs and tilts his head. “You sure look like that other rabbit, though. Thirty-some-odd years, eh? Well, let’s not talk about the passage of time. So boring! I mean, enough is enough. And there you have it.” Having wrapped up this incoherent digression, he jumps to the point. “Say, how about giving me a taste of that medicine? Truth is, I’ve got a little condition, you see, and—”
“My! Those are terrible burns you’ve got there, sir. They must be treated. If not, you’ll surely die.”
“Well, I’m just about ready to die, I’ll tell you. And I don’t care about the damn burns. The truth is, well, right now, I was thinking more about, you know, my skin color, because—”
“I beg your pardon, sir? This a matter of life and death! The most severe burns are on your back, I see. How in the world did this happen?”
“Well, I’ll tell you,” the tanuki says with a grimace. “Just because I walked down some hill with the fancy name of Crackle-Burn Mountain, all these crazy things started happening. I was as surprised as anybody.”
The rabbit snickers in spite of herself. The tanuki can’t see the joke but laughs along anyway.
“Ah, ha, ha, ha! Crazy, crazy things, I tell you. Let me give you some advice, pal. Don’t go near that mountain. First you’re on Click-Clack Mountain, and then it becomes Crackle-Burn Mountain, and that’s where it goes bad. Terrible things happen. You’re best off just stopping at Click-Clack. Stray on to Crackle-Burn, and—well, you see what can happen. Ow! You listening? Let this be a warning to you. You’re still a young fellow, I see, but that’s no reason to laugh at your seniors—I mean, not that I’m old, but—let’s just say you need to respect what your more experienced pals tell you. Ow.”
“Thank you, sir, I’ll be careful. And to express my gratitude for your kind advice, I won’t charge you for the medicine. Please allow me to put some on those burns on your back. It’s a good thing I happened along. You might well have died from these burns. Maybe it’s a sort of divine guidance that brought me here. We must have some kind of connection, you and I.”
“Maybe so,” the tanuki says huskily. “Well, as long as it’s free, slap it on. I’m flat broke these days. I’ll tell you, fall in love with a woman and you end up spending a lot of cash. Put a drop of that medicine on my hand too, would you?”