Review - The Aged Mother

The Aged Mother
by Matsuo Bashō
Date: 17th century
Publisher: n/a
Reading level: A
Book type: short story
Pages: 2
Format: e-book
Source: "The Aged Mother"

Also known as The Story of the Aged Mother, this Japanese folktale tells the story of an unkind ruler who issues cruel orders, including one demand that all old folks are to be abandoned and left to die. Basho tells a poignant story about a mother and her son and their love for one another.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

That governor is such a dick. Kill all the old people because he's uncomfortable with the idea of aging? Harsh, dude.

So this youth tries to obey the orders and carries his mother on his back up to the top of a mountain, intending to leave her there (out of sight, out of mind, I guess). But the mother's more worried about her kid getting lost on the way back down, so as they climb, she's snapping off branches and leaving them in little piles so her son has a trail to follow back home. When he sees what his mother has done for him, he realizes he can't just leave her there to die (you would hope he would've realized that sooner, but at least he finally got it), so he takes her home and stuffs her in a closet under the floorboards for the next few months.

Then the governor gets stupid again and demands that his subjects present him with a rope of ashes. Everyone freaks out because nobody knows how to make such a thing... except for the old lady under the floor. She gives her son instructions, he makes a rope of ashes, and the governor is amazed. The kid--perhaps stupidly--can't contain himself and blurts out that his old mother told him how to do it... at which point the governor, who hasn't shown any sort of intelligence or compassion up to that point, realizes that, hey, maybe old people are good for something after all! So he abolishes the law about leaving old people on mountains to die. (Presumably, the old lady got to come out from under the floor... but story doesn't actually say.)

This story very much has the feel of a folktale. I can't say that I really enjoyed it. The translation I read was pretty rough, and the story itself is just... well, kind of cruel. I know there have been despots over the centuries, but this guy's edicts just seemed so arbitrary. Did he follow his own rules and off his own parents? How old was he himself? (In other words, should he have been left out on a mountain himself?) In any case, he was entirely unpleasant... so much so that I question his quick turnaround at the end.

This isn't my favourite short story. It's interesting to read something this old, but I don't know if I'd want to bother reading it again. (If the subject matter weren't so awful, this style of story might almost make a better children's picture book. But I don't know if we want to give little kids the idea that it's okay to abandon granny on the top of a mountain.)

Plot: 3/5
Characters: 2/5
Pace: 3/5
Writing & Editing: 2/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall Rating: 2.43 out of 5 ladybugs