Week 7 Story: Orochi, the Eight-Headed Serpent

Orochi, the eight-headed serpent, cleaned up his nest after devouring the elder man's ninth daughter. He was filled with overwhelming remorse. He cried out, "When will this end?!" But he knew. 

Since the day the old witch woman had put him under her spell, he was left with the unsettling task of killing and eating ten humans in exchange for his life. Only after the tenth would he regain his freedom and become human again. At first, he struggled with his sentence. He did not want to harm anyone, but he soon realized that he could not stand to be the monster that everyone feared. He decided that he must pay the price to return to his old self, even though it went against everything he believed. 

The elder man and his wife sat at the edge of the river bank and cried. All but one of their daughters had been killed by the creature, and they couldn't bear to lose their only remaining daughter. They were worried that it was only a matter of time before the serpent got to her. They went to the old witch woman to ask for a spell to protect their youngest daughter from any harm. 

She said, "I can help you. At dawn, when the serpent returns, have your daughter meet me at the river bank. Only when in harm's way will my protection spell work." 

The parents objected, but soon realized that it was the only way the witch would help them. 

At dawn, the daughter and the witch met at the river bank. When Orochi emerged, he looked sick with despair. This would be his tenth kill--the one to break the spell--but he was riddled with guilt and pain over the position he had been put in. 

As he got closer, the women could see a spark come to his eyes as he prepared himself for the kill. The witch prepared her spell for just the right moment. 

The serpent narrowed in on his tenth victim and prayed that the curse would finally be broken. 

He struck!

Before the witch could use her spell to save the young girl, she was in the serpent's mouth. The young girl stood in fearful awe as the creature dragged away the witch who was there to protect her. Little did she know that the witch, herself, had created the very creature. 

The serpent returned to his nest in the woods and ate the witch until there was nothing left. He worried that the spell might remain, but he knew the witch was more deserving of death than the young girl.

Suddenly, there was a great flash of light and he was struck down. He woke up much later in a haze. He looked down and saw feet, legs, arms, hands. He was human again. 

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Author's Note: I changed a lot in this story. The original story was told from the perspective of the family, and the serpent was truly a dangerous beast. I wanted to keep the creature, but tell things from his perspective. I made him the product of a spell and tried to give some motivation for why he killed all the daughters. In this story, I wanted people to be empathetic toward his situation. In the original story, the serpent is killed, but here, I created a happier ending for him. 

Bibliography: The Eight-Forked Serpent of Koshi by E. W. Champney and F. Champney (1917)

Image: Slaying the Eight-Forked Serpent by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, Source: Wikimedia Commons