Nezumi's Curse

Summary

The god, the great fox, was beckoned to her shrine by an unusual call- the beck and call of another god was rare, unusual, oft only for the most dire of pleas and calls to aid to not be done in person or not to wait for gatherings of the gods, so regular and predictable in their happenings. Although the call itself was odd, the presence on the lingering winds of its melody was not- the Wolf, long an ally, long a friend, a confidant, lover, and guardian to his cult and hers. 'Hikaru, Hikaru, I have been told of the misdeeds of one of mine on your lands,' Ferventi spoke through her shrine, his words iced by howling wind and snow of his own domain, long away. 'One who such defiles my name in his acts in your shrines.' That such news came from such a distant ally rather than one of her own priests was news to the god, who shed her mortal form and fur bristled under the moon in anger- not to the wolf, but that such had been kept away from her ears. 'It is a great disgrace to hear, my old friend, but your blood runs hot and arrogant these days. For what do I have to believe it was not but a slight, when you drive your fang to any who disrespect you these days?' Such a question did anger Ferventi, but he did yet admit he was to busy to handle the matter himself, else he would, but did not wish to see trails of the badger's unworthy blood across her land in his haste to do so, and left the shrine swiftly under call of his warriors and hunters with a final ask: 'Long have we been allies, and long have we dealt with mortalkind in tandem. At my last aid of you, it was promised to give aid of me, and I ask of it now.' To deal with such a nuisance of a mere mortal was not within the fox's plans- autumn was soon to fall and so her festivities and preparations for the long winter and its lean times but promises given were promises kept, especially to such an esteemed ally. Disrespect to his name was disrespect to her as well for allowing their misdeeds, and such diminishes in either's power could not be afforded at such crucial times of the year. Hikaru threw off her cloak of maple leaves to take the guise of one of her priests- a young woman of bare not yet twenty, beautiful and kind around the eyes, the type of timid that mortal long misunderstood to be fangless. She took the woman's place at her shrine with compensation of the butterfly's wine and the raccoon's rice twice per week upon her door, to keep the priest at home and out of sight. By the twelfth of night, the fox had grown tired and itched under her disguise in mortal hide and was near to shed it like a snake when the man she sought slithered upon her, with teeth barred in lie and promise, the mockery of a smile. 'Become like the gods with me,' He beckoned, with no care to hide the ring of his finger. 'The gods hold many wives with nary a clue of one another, become one of mine, your beauty mine to hold among so many other.' Her fur threatened to bristle from under her guise from his words alone, and the man mistook her silence for something else- men of this sort often did confuse silence with shock and awe, disgust with admiration. His hand came around her wrist when she made move to turn, dismissal on her lips, but he spoke over them instead with deaf ears. 'None have to know.' Hikaru understood now the wolf's displeasure with this one, snatching her hand back with little mind to prevent her nails from becoming claws or hide the divinity behind her eyes as she sneered, painted lips curling over fangs. 'You wish to become godly?' Dumb and blind to the warnings given by her shifting form, he spoke that he already was, already did as gods did, and so the fox shed her disguise fully and with flick of her hand, placed her curse upon him. His body fell, leaving but husk of his clothing, wriggling and writhing as the pieces of him manifested into mice. Confused, terrified, scrambling to put himself back together again as though he would once more become man-shaped, ignoring the god's warning yet again. 'One who knows nothing of the gods, Nezumi, one who shall be made example of, one who angers the divine with his ignorance.' She spoke it into full manifestation, dividing the fool into parts. 'If you wish to be godly, then be godly. If you wish to be divine, then be divine, as one of the smallest among us.' He heeded no warning, instead howling on of what she had done to him, dozens of tiny voices- anger, petulance, greed, envy, wrath and ignorance by the dozen bewailing and bemoaning his condition- 'This isn't what I wanted!' 'No?' Hikaru replied, tossing back one form of him manifest as his belligerence; it held no self preservation and was closer to a manifestation of vengeance for being spurred. 'This was not what you meant by claiming our divinity?' Some, the smarter even she thought did not exist in this man, scattered. Those that didn't fell to her maw, easily captured under her paws, pounces, swift practiced hunting of mortal men shaped so. Across the cities, across the countrysides, up and down the long dead peak and into forest, swamp, mountain and beach she pursued, never yet growing tired of this. Each mouse, part of him, another burst of energy, making the great god cackle with glee as she feasted upon them, still yet so many of them ignorance. Greed. Envy. Manifestations of a man thought in himself to own the land he walked, the women to whom he talked. 'Was what you meant by claiming divinity to harangue my priests? To steal away from my women? To cheat and lie on the very ground of the gods?' But Nezumi had yet no answer- not one truly. Each piece made manifest only scrambling to save itself, becoming easy prey in desperate scramble, nothing more than drops of blood across the island, bits of fur left upon thorns, bones unto her belly, until the last two- huddle among a rotten stump her claws could easily rake him from like the worm he was, which would have been much a more appropriate form. The sorrow of Nezumi wept. The guilt of Nezumi pleaded his wrongs. The fox could have eaten them too easily- pink, bare, new unto the world and so tiny and frail they were, suffocated under his other parts so that she had barely thought them to exist within him. Like all rodent pup blind and deaf. The great fox felt the chill wind coming of autumn at its end, swift, fleeting, crushed underfoot by the long dead of winter on its heels like the final glimmer of sunlight at dusk to be melted behind the inky black. It not was of mercy she left in the tell tale of paws crunching through the growing snow, stained with her deeds.

Historical Basis

The myth is almost certainly an embellished tale of the Curse of the Mouse, a curse well known for its use by Hikaru Vulapin, God of Foxes. The story is very likely to be a conglomerate of multiple other tales and cases of men being cursed by the fox god, especially given the name of the tale's titular unfortunate soul: In all of the oldest texts of the myth, Nezumi's name is written literally as '鼠', as opposed to other characters or spellings. The character '鼠' literally means mouse in Japanese, where the myth originated. As they tale makes a note of Ferventi leaving trails of badger blood behind him, the story was very likely recorded around the time as The Rage of Ferventi, when he sought revenge for the death of his mate, Cryce. Japan being the home of Hikaru, there are numerous tales and confirmed cases in which she has cursed individuals, usually men, throughout history. It is well known her dislike of sexist men and especially those that are overbearing and refuse to leave young women alone, with many stories attesting that behavior will specifically earn her ire.

Spread

The Curse of Nezumi, or Nezumi's curse, likely was its own standalone myth but is most well known for its inclusion in several books that were collections of tales about the pantheon that were printed and distributed in the middle 6,000s. The vast majority of myths, legends, and tales in these books were commonly folk tales and stories that had been passed down through local communities, only being published later on collectively through publishing houses in Tokyo, Hokkaido, and Okinawa primarily for travelers, tourists, and pilgrims to the various temples and shrines across the country. A primary focus was on local gods, such as Hikaru and Sasakia, as well as much older folk stories. The earliest records of the standalone Nezumi story have long since been lost, but the vast majority of later recordings of it often reference them or outright state they were sourced from these older records, with little variation from them until much later on, when the story was adapted into plays, shows, comics, and movies. There also are commonly sold figurines depicting scenes from the tale, often sold at shrines and meant to be given on one's journey to the Red Maple District, the primary worship site of Hikaru, which are often inscribed with small blurbs of the story. Full sets of the figurines with the full story inscribed or painted on them are often dozens of individual figures and known to be worth many thousands, often being made of precious materials such as porcelain, gold or opal inlays, and precious stones. Such sets are often reserved as high value offerings to Hikaru herself, often for festivals or holidays.

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