Delighted at this discovery , he was about to hasten to the village when he heard a woman 's voice weeping and lamenting , and calling on the men to take pity on her and help her . The sound of her distress made him forget he was hungry , and he strode into the hut to find out for himself what was wrong . But the men whom he asked only shook their heads and told him it was not a matter in which he could give any help , for all this sorrow was caused by the Spirit of the Mountain , to whom every year they were bound to furnish a maiden for him to eat . ` To-morrow night , ' said they , ` the horrible creature will come for his dinner , and the cries you have heard were uttered by the girl before you , upon whom the lot has fallen . ' And when the young man asked if the girl was carried off straight from her home , they answered no , but that a large cask was set in the forest chapel , and into this she was fastened . As he listened to this story , the young man was filled with a great longing to rescue the maiden from her dreadful fate . The mention of the chapel set him thinking of the scene of the previous night , and he went over all the details again in his mind . ` Who is Schippeitaro ? ' he suddenly asked ; ` can any of you tell me ? ' ` Schippeitaro is the great dog that belongs to the overseer of our prince , ' said they ; ` and he lives not far away . ' And they began to laugh at the question , which seemed to them so odd and useless . The young man did not laugh with them , but instead left the hut and went straight to the owner of the dog , whom he begged to lend him the animal just for one night . Schippeitaro 's master was not at all willing to give him in charge to a man of whom he knew nothing , but in the end he consented , and the youth led the dog away , promising faithfully to return him next day to his master . He next hurried to the hut where the maiden lived , and entreated her parents to shut her up safely in a closet , after which he took Schippeitaro to the cask , and fastened him into it . In the evening he knew that the cask would be placed in the chapel , so he hid himself there and waited . At midnight , when the full moon appeared above the top of the mountain , the cats again filled the chapel and shrieked and yelled and danced as before . But this time they had in their midst a huge black cat who seemed to be their king , and whom the young man guessed to be the Spirit of the Mountain . The monster looked eagerly about him , and his eyes sparkled with joy when he saw the cask . He bounded high into the air with delight and uttered cries of pleasure ; then he drew near and undid the bolts . But instead of fastening his teeth in the neck of a beautiful maiden , Schippeitaro 's teeth were fastened in HIM , and the youth ran up and cut off his head with his sword .
The other cats were so astonished at the turn things had taken that they forgot to run away , and the young man and Schippeitaro between them killed several more XXXXX they thought of escaping .
In above as before from if of over that to