He came out from among the trees and across the yard of his home,
dragging his feet like a man who has walked a long way. He started speaking as soon as he put down his tools. "Wife, I have been thinking about our marriage and--it hurts me to
say it, you understand--but it was too sudden. No--don't interrupt,"
he said, though his wife had shown no sign of breaking in. "I'm very
sorry, but I feel that we're simply not suited to each other." "All right, husband, I'll leave," she answered in quite an ordinary
voice, "even if it makes me unhappy. Could you do only one thing for me
before I go? Nothing much--I'd like you to make me a tub--as a kind of
souvenir. A very large one. For bathing in." "The simplest thing in the world," said Goro, glad to get off so
easily. "I have one ready, it happens. The very one I was sitting
against when you came out of the forest. A very sound tub, one of my
best." "It has a lid, I hope," she said. "All of my tubs have lids," said Goro. "Well-fitting lids. Water stays
warm in _my_ tubs, even without a fire, once that lid is on. Come,
I'll show it to you." He led her out to the tub. "See? There's the lid, right up against it," he said, thumping the tub
with his fist. "Feel that wood! Isn't it a beauty?" She looked into the tub and agreed that it was getting harder and
harder to find real quality in tubs. "Too bad there's that large hole
in it," she said. "Hole?" said Goro. "Hole? A hole in one of my tubs? Impossible ...
where's that hole!" He put his hands on the edge to raise himself and peered over. "There. Bottom right," she said. "Can't you see it?" "Oh, the bottom ..." said Goro, leaning further over the edge. "It's
too dark to--"

She seized Goro's trousers in a firm grip and heaved.

" --see," he finished, at the bottom of the tub. He was still wondering
how he had gotten down there when the lid came down, bang, and it grew
very dark. He felt the tub sail up, come to rest on something and begin
to move forward with an up and down rocking movement. It did not take Goro long, in his bucket-shaped night, to realize that
the yamam'ba, having no further reason to pretend a feminine weakness
she probably despised anyway, had placed the tub on her head and was on
her way home. To the mountain. "Excuse me," he called out. "Where are we going?" "To dinner," came his former wife's voice through the wood. It grated
unpleasantly. He decided to ask no more questions. Deep into the woods went the yamam'ba, cutting through thicket and
underbrush, the tub jouncing easily on her head, up and up into the
mountains. Tireless on her long, rangy legs, she travelled along
dead, forgotten roads lined with gnarled ugly trees. Goro heard their
branches, bump-crack-bump, against his self-made prison. A thin edge
of lesser darkness began to show at the top. He hoped it was the first
time the lid had slipped on a tub made by Goro; this sort of thing
could ruin years of reputation. But it might mean a way out of the tub. The opening grew wider. Looking up, he was able to see a few stars. Did
he imagine it, or was the tub slowing down? He hoped he was not going
to be eaten immediately. The tub stopped and settled. Something rough, twisted, and snakelike appeared in the opening. It did
not move. Nothing moved. He put out his hand--it was a branch. He gave the branch a delicate jiggle; it felt solid. The yamam'ba, he
guessed, must have tired and sat down to rest against a tree. Very
cautiously he lifted himself by the branch, trying to move neither the
lid nor the tub which must still be resting on the monster's head. He heard a faint snore. Top or forward mouth, he wondered. He pulled
himself to his feet, trying not to breathe and at last stood with his
head out of the tub. The branch was thick, and the next branch, right
above, looked dependable. Healthy wood; he appreciated that. Then came
a few feet of bark--that would be hard climbing--but above that, four
or five branches, almost a ladder. Further, it was too dark to see. He tensed, took a deep breath, then gave a push and sent the heavy lid
crashing down on the sleeping yamam'ba. Up she leaped, and the tub
went flying, but Goro was already climbing from branch to branch. In a
nearby tree some monkeys woke up and watched Goro's footwork with shame
and envy. From the ground the yamam'ba stared up at him. It was a rare chance to
see just what a yamam'ba really wore for a face, and he decided it was
not very attractive. Down below, the monster was letting down her horrible hair in a
businesslike manner. "Dinner will be early," she said with a ghastly, girlish laugh. "I was
getting quite hungry." She started up the tree, the top mouth opening and closing. There were
teeth in it. "We yamam'ba are very good with trees," she said, climbing steadily. "Don't climb any higher. It will only make you tired and sweaty and
bitter to the taste. Say prayers instead and become calm and delicious." "I hope I burn your tongue if you have one in there," said Goro, a
little beside himself. "And try not to be such a chatterbox. You're
making my head buzz." He _did_ hear a distinct buzzing, a small roaring right by his
head where he was holding on to a thin branch. He tried to move his
hand away from the sound. Something small sat down on his thumb and set
it on fire. "Ya-yowch!" he said, loudly. "Tee-hee-hee!" went the yamam'ba, coming up with an intimate rustling
of leaves. Goro sucked his thumb which had swollen surprisingly and stared at the
ball-like thing hanging only an arm's length away. The buzzing came
from it. Very carefully he reached out to see if he would be able to
grab it instantly. He thought the size would be about right. A hard, scaly hand with claws came groping through the branches. He
moved his foot out of the way and waited for the head. It appeared, the
top mouth gaping. "Tee-hee-hee," said the yamam'ba, using both mouths. "Tee-hee-hee yourself," said Goro. "Have a goody." And into the top of
her head he dropped the buzzing ball. "Whatever it was, it had a bad taste and your blood will wash it away,"
said the yamam'ba but just then the hornets woke up, highly irritated
from lack of sleep. They flew 'round and 'round inside the yamam'ba. A few of them tickled. Most of them stung. And all of them together worked a havoc in the
delicate equipment that makes up the yamam'ba interior. The yamam'ba made a noise like a frying and a noise like a boiling,
and a noise like nameless things running through the night with their
ears on fire. She tumbled from the tree, into the tub waiting below
and bounced about inside it making unpleasant sounds too numerous to
mention. *       *       *       *       *

Goro followed, but more slowly. He arrived in time to see the tub
skipping and hopping at the edge of the road which at that point
was quite narrow. It teetered for a moment and then sailed out in a
gracious curve, trailing its uproar behind it. Goro kneeled and peered
down. It was very dark.