45. The Gigantic Crow and Gods with Tails

1“Then His Augustness the Great-High-Integrating-Deity again commanded and taught, saying: ‘August son of the Heavenly Deity! make no progress hence into the interior. The savage Deities are very numerous. I will now send from Heaven a crow eight feet [long]. So that crow eight feet [long] shall guide thee. Thou must make thy progress following after it as it goes.” So on [His Augustness Kamu-yamato-ihare-biko] making his progress following after the crow eight feet [long] in obedience to the Deity’s instructions, he reached the lower course of the Yeshinu river, where there was a person catching fish in a weir. Then the august child of the Heavenly Deity asked, saying: “Who art thou?” He replied, saying: “I am an Earthly Deity and am called by the name of Nihe-motsu no Ko.” (This is the ancestor of the Cormorant-Keepers of Aha). On [His Augustness Kamu-yamato-ihare-biko] making his progress thence, a person with a tail came out of a well. The well shone. Then [His Augustness] asked: “Who art thou?” He replied, saying: “I am an Earthly Deity, and my name is Wi-hika.” (This is the ancestor of the Headmen of Yeshinu). On his forthwith entering the mountains, His Augustness Kamu-yamato-ihare-biko again met a person with a tail. This person came forth pushing the cliffs apart. Then [His Augustness Kamu-yamato-ihare-biko] asked: “Who art thou?” He replied, saying: “I am an Earthly Deity, and my name is Iha-oshi-waku no Ko. I heard [just] now that the august son of the Heavenly Deity was making his progress. So it is for that that I have come to meet thee.” (This is the ancestor of the Territorial Owners of Yeshinu). Thence [His Augustness Kamu-yamato-ihare-biko] penetrated over on foot to Uda.” So they say: “The Ugachi of Uda.”