The youth knocked at the door, and presently the keeper of the dog opened it and asked him what he wanted.
“I want to borrow your great hound, Schippeitaro, for the night, and I will pay you well for lending him to me,” said the lad.
“That you will not do,” replied the keeper, “for I will not lend him to you. He is the favorite dog of the Prince of this country, and it would be as much as my life is worth to lend him to any one.”
Then the lad began to bargain with him. First he offered the man a third of all his money if he might have the dog just until morning; then he offered him the half of all his money, and then he offered him all of it.
That was more than the man could withstand. “Very well”, said he, “you may take the dog; but remember it is only for this one night, and you must bring him back the first thing in the morning, and you need never ask to borrow him again for I shall not lend him to you.”
A collar was then put around Schippeitaro’s neck, and a chain fastened to it, and the lad took the chain in his hand and led the great dog back to the village he had just come from.
When he came to the house where he had seen the maiden, they were just about to put her in the chest, for that was always the way the maidens who were to be sacrificed were carried to the temple.
But the youth bade them stay their hands. “Listen to me,” said he, “for I know whereof I speak. I have seen these demons, and I have a plan by which you may rid yourselves of them forever. Instead of the maiden, do you put Schippeitaro into the chest, carry him to the temple and leave him there. I myself will accompany you, and after you have gone, I will stay there and watch. Believe me, no harm shall come from this, but instead it will put an end to your having to offer up sacrifices to the demon.”
At first the people would not listen to him, but afterward they agreed to do as he wished, though they were very much frightened. The great hound was put into the chest, the lid was fastened, and he was carried away and placed in the temple instead of the maiden. After that the men hastened back to the village, but the lad hid himself near by to wait and watch for the demons as he had promised.
After a while it grew dark, and then, toward midnight, a dull red fire shone in the temple, and the lad saw that it was full of demon cats whirling and bounding and singing as they had before, but this time there was with them a great fierce black cat, larger than any of them, and he was the king of them all, and he leaped higher and sang louder than any of them. This time their song was of how a maiden had been brought to them as a sacrifice, and of what a tender morsel she would be. Then they all shouted together: