5 The Spider’s Thread

１
（1） One day, Buddha was taking a stroll, all alone, around the lotus pond in Heaven.
The lotus flowers blooming on the pond were all pure white like pearls and constantly gave off an indescribably delightful smell from the golden stamens in their centres. It must be morning in Heaven.

（2） Finally, Buddha came to a halt by the edge of the pond and looked down through the gaps between the lotus leaves.
The very bottom of Hell was located directly under this lotus pond in Heaven, so Buddha was able to look down through the crystal-like water as if using goggles and clearly see the River of Three Crossings and the Mountain of Needles.

（3） It was then that Buddha noticed a man named Kandata writhing with the other sinners at the bottom of Hell.
Kandata was a wicked thief who had done many evil deeds, including killing people and setting houses on fire. He did, however, do one good deed in his life.
One time he had come across a small spider crawling along the edge of the road. He had picked up his foot ready to squash the thing, but then suddenly reconsidered. ‘No, no. It may be small, but a life is a life. It would be cruel of me to take that life without reason,’ he had thought, and decided to help the spider instead of killing it.

（4） Buddha remembered all of this as he looked down into Hell.
He decided that since Kandata had done such a good thing he would save him from Hell.
Looking around him, Buddha was lucky enough to find a spider of Heaven spinning a beautiful silver thread atop one of the jade coloured lotus leaves.
Buddha picked up the thread gently in his fingers and fed it straight down between the pearl-white lotuses to the bottom of Hell.

2
（1） Here at the bottom of Hell, Kandata was bobbing and sinking in the Lake of Blood with the other sinners. Occasionally he would notice something standing out in the darkness only to realise that it was the glinting of the ferocious needles of the Mountain of Needles. How hopeless it all felt to him. On top of that, his surroundings were as quiet as a grave, the silence only occasionally broken by the faint sighs of the sinners.
Those who reach the bottom of Hell are already worn out from Hell’s various tortures and no longer have the energy even to cry. And so even the wicked thief Kandata simply wriggled around like a dying frog as he choked in the Lake of Blood.

（2） However, one day, Kandata happened to look up from the Lake of Blood and what should he see but a silver spider’s thread coming down through the silent darkness from the roof far, far above. It was a single, thin, shining thread which appeared as if it was trying to avoid notice as it smoothly came down to rest above his head. Upon seeing this, Kandata could not help but clap his hands in joy.
If he just grabbed this thread and kept climbing, surely he would be able to escape from Hell.
In fact, if he was lucky, he might even be able to reach Heaven! Then he would never again be chased into the Mountain of Needles or drowned in the Lake of Blood.

（3） This thought is what made Kandata quickly and firmly grab the thread with both hands and start desperately dragging himself up and up. Having once been a thief, Kandata was used to climbing ropes.
However, there were thousands of miles of darkness between Hell and Heaven, so it was not an easy climb. Kandata became worn out after climbing for some time and was not able to pull himself even one tug further. There was nothing to be done so he decided to take a rest. Hanging from the thread, he looked down into the depths below.

（4） His efforts climbing must have paid off because the Lake of Blood where he had been not long ago was now lost in the darkness below. The dully glinting Mountain of Needles was beneath him now, too.
At this rate, it might not be so difficult to escape from Hell after all. Kandata wrapped both his hands firmly around the spider’s thread and, for the first time in who knows how many years since coming to Hell, laughed to himself and shouted, ‘I’ve done it! I’ve done it!’
It was then that he realised that an endless line of sinners was climbing up the spider’s thread after him like a line of ants.
Kandata was so surprised and scared at this sight that for some time all he could do was stare with his mouth wide open.
The spider’s thread looked thin enough to break from his weight alone. How could it possibly bear the weight of this many people?
If the thread were to break now then even Kandata, who had climbed so far, would be dropped straight back down into Hell. He could not let that happen.

However, even as he thought this, hundreds and thousands of sinners continued quickly climbing up from the dark Lake of Blood below.
If Kandata did not do something now, the thread would surely break in the middle and he would fall back down.
‘Hey! You sinners!’ Kantada shouted loudly. ‘This spider’s thread is mine! Who said you could all come up? Get down! Get down!’

（5） It was then that the spider’s thread, which until that point had shown no signs of breaking, chose to snap just above where Kandata was hanging.
There was nothing he could do and he fell head first, spinning like a spinning top, back down into the darkness.
All that was left was the thin thread of the spider from Heaven, broken and short now, shining in the moonless sky.

３
（1） Buddha stood still at the edge of the lotus pond in Heaven, watching everything that happened below. Eventually, as Kandata sank like a rock into the Lake of Blood, Buddha began his stroll again with a sad look on his face. Buddha must have felt much pity for Kandata. He had only cared about saving himself, and that selfish and merciless heart of his had doomed him to fall back into Hell.

（2） However, the lotuses of the pond in Heaven knew nothing of this. Their pearl-white flowers swayed around Buddha’s feet as he walked, and they filled the air with the same indescribably delightful scent. It must be nearly noon in Heaven.

5 The Spider’s Thread

Anthology of 7 Japanese Children's Stories
(Japanese-English Bilingual Picture Book)

『日本（にほん）の童話（どうわ）』 全（ぜん）7話（わ） 第（だい）5話（わ） クモの糸（いと） (英語（えいご）) 準拠（じゅんきょ）

作（さく） 芥川（あくたがわ） 龍之介（りゅうのすけ）
絵（え） 吉田（よしだ）　圭一郎（けいいちろう）
翻訳（ほんやく） Ash SPREADBURY
朗読（ろうどく） Peter RILEY

制作（せいさく） NPO法人（ほうじん） 地球（ちきゅう）ことば村（むら）・世界（せかい）言語（げんご）博物（はくぶつ）館（かん）

2021.2.6