Wuppo's Cave

Peering into the relative darkness of Wuppo’s cave from the bright daylight outside would make it immediately hard to see anything, even a 10-foot-tall ogre. But upon entering, Yasuke would see that the relatively small (yet still ogre-sized) crack that was the mouth of the cave opened up into a larger cavern. The cave would be big enough for an entire human family to dwell in comfortably, but for Wuppo it would seem small; tall enough for him to stand in in most places, and just enough room for him to lay down along the wall amongst the randomly placed piles of rocks, pots, and other trinkets. Wuppo himself was sitting next to a small smoldering fire pit, poking the glowing embers with a stick, which occasionally produced flames to lick up into the air.

“Pumfkins!” the ogre announced himself loudly in his deep booming voice, perhaps too a little too loudly given that the pair were in a cave.

Upon seeing Yasuke, Wuppo got to his feet and waved the human in.

“You’z come! You’z sit! Wuppo make ready for pumfkins!” he said, pointing to the floor of the cave next to the small (ogre-sized) fire pit. “‘Ere!”, he added as he put the stick he was using to poke the fire down, “Dis good stick! Stick what good for pokin’ da burny bits. You’z poke wiff stick an’ tell Wuppo I’z no good stick! You like stick! You see dem burny bits. Dem for pokin’!”

With the purpose of the stick well explained, Wuppo turned and bent to take the lid off of a large pot. He then replaced the lid, and went to the next large pot, obviously looking for something.

“Wuppo has da tea,” he said as he lifted another pot lid, “-but we’z not has da tea. Dem f’ree fussen Wuppo step, dem long step. It take dis many!” he replaced the lid on the pot, and turned to show Yasuke ten fingers. “We’z start Wuppo step affer Wuppo make ready for pumfkin.”

It seemed as though Yasuke would be spared the ogre’s fascination with the ritual of tea-drinking, but only because he seemed eager to leave for their pumpkin hunt.

Wuppo nodded at Yasuke’s last question. “We’z take steps soon!” he confirmed.

Wuppo opened another pot, one of the larger ones; heavy, black and made of metal. “Dish!” he exclaimed, “Dis what Wuppo make ready!” The ogre grabbed up the large pot, and hugged it close to his chest with one arm as he let the pot’s heavy lid fall to the ground with a clank that echoed through the whole cave.

“Dis Wuppo sneaky. You’z say, ‘Dem pumfkin see us, we’z need da sneaky’, so Wuppo, him make da secret sneaky. You see!"

Wuppo hurriedly dipped his free hand into to the pot, his large mitt scooping up a giant glob of something.. purple? Immediately the ogre began smearing what would appear to be a thick purple goo on all of his exposed skin. He rubbed the paste onto his face and neck, working down to his chest where some of the ‘sneaky’ had dripped in globs. The pot looked to be full of blue and red berry skins, bits of leaves, sticks, and probably dirt as well, all mashed into a purple paste that Wuppo was now sloppily applying to his skin. He put the pot down near Yasuke before taking up another large handful of the thick, turbid mixture.

“Dis Wuppo secret for sneaky!” he said as he slathered more of it on his arms and stomach, not quite covering all of his skin. “You’z sees purfle Wuppo before? No! Das ‘cause purfle Wuppo sneaky Wuppo. Dem pumfkins not sees purfle Wuppo before, an’ dem not sees us now! Dem pumfkin smart, be we’z smarta!”

Wuppo beamed with a big toothy smile, obviously happy to share his secret of sneakiness with Yasuke. It appeared as the ogre believed the purple goo made him invisible to pumpkins, and who knows what else.

“Wuppo make ready more den need ‘cause I’z know you come wiff Wuppo to pumfkin! You’z put on da sneaky, an’ we’z go now.”

It now looked like Wuppo expected Yasuke to slather himself in the sneaky as well, obviously with the intention to make the man invisible to the pumpkins – and whatever else Wuppo thought the paste did. If Yasuke was worried about expediency, the quickest way to leave was to be invisible to pumfkins.

The ogre, now almost entirely covered in purple splatters, looked on at Yasuke as he demonstrated what he professed to be a new, superior form of sneaky; ‘super sneaky’. Wuppo’s look of curiosity became marred with dubiousness as Yasuke pulled a black cloak around himself.

“Wuppo see dat sneaky. Das sneaky dem use at bottom of Wuppo mountain! Dem use sneaky in market, where dem trades da shiny. Das market sneaky, dis Wuppo sneaky! Pumfkin not see purfle Wuppo.” Wuppo pursed his lips out and squinted for a moment, perhaps thinking.

“Ere!” he said as he bent to pick up the large, heavy metal pot still partially full of purple gloop. “You’z put da sneaky on you’z face, an’ on you’z hand, an’ on you’z foot. Den dem pumfkin not see you if dem see da market sneaky! Pumfkin be ca’fuse. Dem say ‘Daz da market sneaky, but dems no one in da market sneaky! Demz got no face, an’ no’z feets!’ Den Wuppo grab dem when dey ca’fuse!”

Unimpressed with the ‘market sneaky’, Wuppo now offered something of a compromise (if such a thing was possible with an ogre). Yasuke would only have to cover the parts of him in the goo that his cloak did not, and Wuppo would swoop in and capture the pumpkins - who would undoubtedly be frozen with confusion upon seeing Yasuke. In solving the problem of the sneaky, Wuppo had also formulated their plan of attack.

Wuppo nodded happily to himself, doing nothing to hide how pleased he was with himself for thinking up such a cunning plan so quickly.

The sun was just beginning to rise as Wuppo approached his cave. He’d been ‘out and about’ since just before first light, and the sun had just begun to peek through the trees to cast its rays on the ogre’s early morning activities. In one hand, he carried the great iron cauldron he used as his cooking pot and in the other, a rock the size of a pumpkin. Water from the nearby stream sloshed around inside the pot as Wuppo put it down next to a stack of dried tree branches. The pot was easily large enough to have required two men to carry while it was full of water, but of course the ogre carried it to his cave as if were an empty pail.

Once the pot was in its place on the ground, Wuppo carried his rock to the entrance of his cave. There, in one neat row, sat six other very similar rocks. Wuppo bent down to put the seventh rock with them, completing the row. He took a step back, and scratched his chin. He remembered the words of the Wise Otta, telling him to expect a visitor in a week’s time. Wuppo, unsure of exactly how long a week was, had held up his fingers so that Kojuro could tell him how many times the sun would come up when a week had elapsed. Since then, Wuppo had done the same thing every morning for seven mornings – get a rock, and place it next to his cave. Wuppo held out his hands in front of him, exactly as he had with his friend Kojuro. He extended all five fingers on his right and, and two fingers on his left. It took him a moment, but without too much trouble Wuppo was able to assign one rock on the ground to each of the seven fingers he was holding up. There was exactly one rock for every sunrise since he’d talked to Kojuro, and exactly one finger for every rock. Today was the day. A week had passed. It was a simple yet elegant solution for the problem of Wuppo not being able to count, or read a calendar.

There was much to do, and Wuppo set about the task of starting a fire to warm the water for tea. Wuppo’s normal tea was a brew of sticks, flowers, grasses, and leaves that he gathered almost at random from around his cave, but he wouldn’t be making it today. The ogre had a special stash of tea Kojuro had given him, which Wuppo saved for special occasions – and a visitor was just about the only special occasion Wuppo could think of.

The pair of visitors would find the journey to Wuppo’s cave to be easy at first, but as the paths began to snake up the mountainside, the woods would become much thicker and the path much narrower. Shortly before the time Nakatani and her companion made it to where they would dismount, they would be on a tiny sliver of a path – overgrown and seldom traveled save for the cave’s ogre inhabitant. One might imagine that there must be just enough room for Wuppo to walk between the trees that flanked either side of the way up the mountainside.

Wuppo himself knew Nakatani and her companion were nearing his cave a short while before he could actually see them; the product of having a great sense of hearing and even better sense of smell. As Nakatani looked into the cave she would find it to be sparsely furnished, with only a few possessions and bits of furniture. There was a ramshackle shelf on the far wall that held a few porcelain teapots, all of which were cracked or chipped in some way, but nevertheless given pride of place in Wuppo’s home. Along with the pots were a beaten and battered wooden box with a rock sitting on top of its closed lid, a small fire pit, and a large flat rock sitting in the approximate center of the cave. Nakatani would have no way of knowing that the large flat rock was a new addition, being brought in just that morning to serve as a makeshift table.

With all of Wuppo’s belongings about, the woman would no doubt note the absence of one crucial thing – Wuppo. That is, until she said he name.

“I’z Wuppo!” he called, almost instinctively as he approached out of the tree line to her right. The ogre’s booming voice echoed slightly in the cave, even though he was just entering the clearing outside of his domicile. Wuppo held a large green bundle of what appeared to be reeds as he moved towards Nakatani. “Da Wize Otta! Him say Wuppo have visit, an’ here you’z come.. visit for Wuppo. Wuppo make nice fing for sit! You see. You come sit!”

Wuppo never stopped moving as he talked, and moved passed Nakatani to beckon her into the cave. He put the bundle of reeds down on the stone floor next to the giant flat rock, and pushed the top of the bundle with his finger. The bundle of reeds was revealed to actually be a crudely woven mat as it unrolled, making a place for Nakatani to sit. The freshly picked and woven reed mat likely wouldn’t be the most comfortable thing in the world, but they were certainly better than the hard, stone floor, covered with dirt.

“Dis!” he announced. “Dis nice for sit!” Nakatani might have been sent to dress Wuppo’s wounded right arm, but the ogre obviously took the visit to be a great opportunity for a social call.

If Wuppo had stopped to think about it, which he obviously didn’t, he might have thought to ask Nakatani why she was so uncomfortable and afraid. The ogre was very familiar with the type of guarded behavior Naka was exhibiting, as most people he came in contact with were far from completely at ease around him. It had simply become normal to him over time, and the asking of why didn’t seem to enter Wuppo’s head – at least not at that moment. What his mind did latch on to, however, was the woven mat he’d made. Nakatani seemed to like it, Wuppo thought.

“I’z make nice fing for sit!” Wuppo confirmed again to the now sitting woman and her silent partner still at the cave entrance. “Da Wize Otta, him say.. Wuppo, dem come dis many-“ Wuppo quickly held up the same number of fingers he had before, five on his right and two on his left, “Dark go dis many, an daze come to Wuppo cave! Wuppo know you come, an’ Wuppo make nice fing!” It appeared that Nakatani’s question about the origin of his weaving skills would go entirely unanswered. Instead, Wuppo moved to the decrepit, poorly constructed wooden box against the wall of his cave; one of the few pieces of furniture in his home. The box looked like it at some point might have been a reasonably study wooden crate, but since then had been thrown down a mountain and its pieces reassembled by an ogre and a lid added. The lid was held down by a rock sitting on top of the box.

“Dis Wuppo box! Wuppo keep nice fings for cave in box.” He bent down, and moved the rock that rested on top of the box’s lid. He gave a glance back at Nakatani to ensure she wasn’t peeking into his box of nice things. “Dis rock! Box not open wiff rock, an’ Wuppo only one dat move rock!” Wuppo tried to explain his box’s security system as he dug through the contents. Of course, the box wouldn’t open with the rock sitting on it, and Wuppo was the only one that ever moved the rock. As far as Wuppo could tell, this made the box a secure place to keep his cave valuables.

After only a few seconds, the ogre would produce a cloth bag, tied on top with a bit of twine. Being sure to replace the rock on his box, he turned back to Nakatani with the bag in his hand. “From da Wize Otta!” he announced, showing her the bag in his hand. “Wize Otta - him know Wuppo like da tea, an’ gives Wuppo da nice tea. You like da tea? Wuppo make da nice tea.”

Instead of asking why Naka was uncomfortable, Wuppo seemed to be rushing to show her how alike they were. He would do this with one of his favorite things; tea.