In the Japanese tale, The Maiden with the Wooden Bowl, appearance is a form of protection. In the stories: Nothing is Forever; Deputy Security Guard; and Hawaii, how we look may not be what others assume to be true.
Nothing is Forever Deputy Security Guard Hawaii The Maiden with the Wooden Bowl (Japan)
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I was 14, at a summer camp where the counselors came in many sizes and colors. My favorites were a married couple, a black man and a white woman, who liked to sit on the steps of their tent before dinner, always encouraging me to talk with them. Their tent was close to the one where I lived with seven other girls. I was feeling bad about myself and I knew if they saw me they’d want to talk. I wasn’t in the mood to speak to anyone, not even them, so I quickly walked on a path away from their tent looking for a place to hide.
In the late 60’s, many of the very few Black students at the University of Delaware were football players. Some of us faculty members had written letters to the Board and President urging them to accept and welcome Black students but there seemed to be nothing we could do to change the university’s policy of sending Black student applications to what was then Delaware State College in Dover.
At the end of one spring semester, an outdoor honors ceremony was planned. A stage and roof covering were built and plans made for students, faculty, and alumni to attend. I don’t know how word of a possible protest by Black students reached the president, but some faculty, me among them, were chosen to become deputy security guards to make sure order was kept and safety provided. In 1988, I was in Hawaii attending a PhD seminar: Cross Cultural Community Cooperation. The heart of the seminar was our meeting with a group of veterans who had blockaded an area they maintained was a sacred site and wanted the government to recognize their native Hawaiian ownership. They created an encampment where they’d made a huge garden, established a community kitchen, and developed a program to treat alcohol and drug addiction that was rampant among the vets.
Our group was invited to spend a day in their compound helping in various ways—cooking, working in the garden, serving food, listening to their stories, and how they were cleaning up and rehabilitating the area they said belonged to their people. There once lived an old couple with their young daughter. After her husband died, the widow worried about what might become of her lovely daughter when she was no longer able to take care of her. The mother told her daughter, “The world can be a cruel place to a fair and kind young woman. To protect you, I am placing a wooden bowl on your head. Wear it when you go outside. When I am no longer in this world you must always wear it. The bowl will protect you from harm.” After her mother died, the maiden put the bowl on her head and went to work in the rice fields. Many laughed at the sight of a woman with a bowl on her head; some jeered and made nasty remarks. She remembered her mother’s words and ignored the comments. Some men even tried, with no success, to take the bowl off of her head. A neighboring farmer noticed the diligence with which she worked, paying no attention to those who spoke and acted harshly. He invited her to work in his rice fields where she would be safe from those who chose to harm her. In time, he and his wife grew fond of the young woman and treated her like a daughter. One day, their eldest son returned from the city, tired of the life he’d been living. When he saw the maiden with the bowl on her head he asked his father who she was. “She is a kind young woman who works hard.” The son worked alongside her and the two became friends. He grew to love her and asked her to marry him. Although she loved him, she refused. She was a servant. A woman with a bowl on her head. That night she dreamed her mother visited her, encouraging her to follow her heart, that if she did, all would be well. The next morning, the son asked her again. This time the maiden said yes. On the day of the wedding she tried to take the bowl off of her head but it stayed fast. The son tried, but he too could not remove it, nor could anyone else. The maiden asked if he would like to change his mind about marrying her, a woman with a bowl on her head. He smiled and said, “I love you as you are. Let the wedding proceed.” After the wedding feast, as the maiden took a sip of the ceremonial wine, the bowl fell off her head and crashed to the floor. She heard her mother’s voice, saying, “Yes!” |
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