Table des matières
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The Confessions of Arsène Lupin
The Experiences of Loveday Brooke, Lady Detective
The Technique of the Mystery Story
Table des matières
In a Grove Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
The Testimony of a Woodcutter Questioned by a High Police Commissioner
The Testimony of a Traveling Buddhist Priest Questioned by a High Police Commissioner
The Testimony of a Policeman Questioned by a High Police Commissioner
The Testimony of an Old Woman Questioned by a High Police Commissioner
The Repentance of a Woman Who Has Come to Kiyomizu Temple
The Story of the Murdered Man, as Told Through a Medium
In a Grove
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
(Translator: Takashi Kojima)
Published: 1922 Categorie(s): Fiction, Mystery & Detective, Short Stories
The Testimony of a Woodcutter Questioned by a High Police Commissioner
Yes, sir. Certainly, it was I who found the body. This morning, as usual, I went to cut my daily quota of cedars, when I found the body in a grove in a hollow in the mountains. The exact location? About 150 meters off the Yamashina stage road. It's an out-of-the-way grove of bamboo and cedars.
The body was lying flat on its back dressed in a bluish silk kimono and a wrinkled head-dress of the Kyoto style. A single sword-stroke had pierced the breast. The fallen bamboo-blades around it were stained with bloody blossoms. No, the blood was no longer running. The wound had dried up, I believe. And also, a gad-fly was stuck fast there, hardly noticing my footsteps.
You ask me if I saw a sword or any such thing?
No, nothing, sir. I found only a rope at the root of a cedar near by. And … well, in addition to a rope, I found a comb. That was all. Apparently he must have made a battle of it before he was murdered, because the grass and fallen bamboo-blades had been trampled down all around.
"A horse was near by?"
No, sir. It's hard enough for a man to enter, let alone a horse.
The Testimony of a Traveling Buddhist Priest Questioned by a High Police Commissioner
The time? Certainly, it was about noon yesterday, sir. The unfortunate man was on the road from Sekiyama to Yamashina. He was walking toward Sekiyama with a woman accompanying him on horseback, who I have since learned was his wife. A scarf hanging from her head hid her face from view. All I saw was the color of her clothes, a lilac-colored suit. Her horse was a sorrel with a fine mane. The lady's height? Oh, about four feet five inches. Since I am a Buddhist priest, I took little notice about her details. Well, the man was armed with a sword as well as a bow and arrows. And I remember that he carried some twenty odd arrows in his quiver.
Little did I expect that he would meet such a fate. Truly human life is as evanescent as the morning dew or a flash of lightning. My words are inadequate to express my sympathy for him.