Page 22 - Растения Сахалинской области в легендах и мифах

cold and scared on the Ainu land. Every day she went to the hill to see

the blue volcanoes of Esso. She cried, and the leader brought her to the
dugout.
Many years have passed. Hanako was yearning, losing weight, and
only her eyes grew larger, as if they wanted to see their homeland better.
Hanako asked to go home, the nispa was afraid of her words and did
not even want to think that he could live without her. And Hanako ran

away. On a black night, when the taiga was terribly noisy on the hills,
she lulled the niche, threw the boat and sailed alone to the Eso Islands.
She was noticed in the morning: a black dot was jumping on the waves
far in the strait. But the storm had already swayed so badly that there
was no daredevil to catch up with the Japanese woman. Soon the black
dot disappeared in the waves. Nispa decided: Hanako died. Not fearing
kamuya, he ordered the mistress of the house to burn inau.
A few days later, a captive Ainu sailed from Hokkaido on this boat. He

brought Nasendus a gift — the bright red seeds of some plant. Hanako
asked to put them on the hill in memory of herself. Nispa planted the
seeds. In the spring, tender trees broke through the ground. The Ainu
were surprised — they had never seen such plants on Kunashir. Their
leaves were round, two palms wide, soft below, with a reddish fluff,
on top — shiny green, as if always wet. Often, the nispa went to the

wonderful trees, looked at the Esso Islands, and hatred for the Japanese,
who drove the Ainu from the land of their ancestors, was extinguished
in his soul. Maybe the nispa was getting old.
Several years passed, and the sad old leader saw huge white flowers
on young trees. They swayed among the shiny leaves, as if floating on
water, and the wind carried a thick, joyful and languishing aroma. The
delicate petals reminded the nispa of Hanako’s white face, the bending
trunk — of her body, and the leaves — of the tender palms of a Japanese

woman. He plucked the largest flower and took it to his dugout. In the
morning the Ainu found Nasendus dead. He died after inhaling the
heady, sleepy scent of the flower. The warriors decided that Hanako
took him for herself, taking revenge for her longing in a foreign land.
They put the largest terry kamui-inau — a noble ancestor — on the
grave of Nasendus, next — a smaller inau, for Japanese Hanako. And

the southern, feminine plant still blooms in the forests of Kunashir. In
Japan it is called mokuren: «moku» is for «tree», «ren» is for «lotus».
«Lotus on the tree».

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