THE FISHERMAN'S PRIZE - PART 11

 

THE FISHERMAN’S PRIZE

(PART 11)

 

As it were, Jiense had endured all her hardships, and had remained with the kindly folks for this long, out of gratitude.  Now that the son had returned, she felt assured that her further stay would no longer be warranted, and so since last night she had begun considering her other options and a plausible way of communicating this desire to Ensa.  Naturally she wished to take her leave at the earliest opportunity, and as the sole survivor of her mother's clan, go seek a religious order in order to fulfill her obligation, her purpose for living.

 

That day, the new daughter-in-law did not rise from her bed 'till midday. 

The rest had generously let her sleep however long, understanding her need of it after such a lengthy and tiresome journey.  Ensa and Jiense quietly went about their chores, taking care not to raise any unnecessarily loud sounds that might awaken her.

Yoansu, putting aside his anger of the night before, for the sake of appearances and change of pace, had accompanied his father on his fishing trip.

When Tufan finally woke up, all the chores of the house had been already completed and Ensa and Jiense had gone on to weaving straw mats.  Tufan felt no shame or remorse for having slept so long and smiled condescendingly, hiding her not too flattering inner thoughts of how uncouth these people were. Inwardly she’d then asked, and where is that no good husband of mine? A fine way to start our connubial day with this boorish (ill-bred) lot; I suppose they have forgotten or forsaken the expected, customary conduct/rituals.  Least of which, we were supposed to have risen together, and as husband and wife, come out to bow to his parents, as mark of our esteem. Just as well, I could not feign convincingly, my supposed high regard. They are so petty, so inferior in status!  Ug, Pesky fisherman!

As it were, she’d always snubbed fisherman considering them to be worse than a lazy servant or a street sweeper (vendor).

 Had I known this…But he sure had pulled the wool over my eyes.  She puckered her lips in utter disdain. He better not entertain any notion of leaving me behind. Curse on you Ckarban! I curse the day your honeyed tongue and your filthy hands swayed me into seduction! I should have known better though… For that, I only have myself to blame.  

Fortunately, her dark, contemptuous thoughts had gone unheeded by the kindhearted Ensa, who’d rushed about trying to familiarize Tufan with her new, humble surroundings. 

 

At first Tufan improvising, had put on a grand show of wanting to be useful.  She continued to rise each morning, despite all her efforts, however, at a much later time than the rest, and this always after her claim of uncomfortable sleep.

Orphaned at an early age, Tufan had been brought up by paternal uncle Ckarban and his wife as one of their own. They had two other boys that at an early age had succumbed to illness and died. The sole surviving girl child, meanwhile, five years Tufan’s senior, had always been withdrawn in character, physically heavy-set (fat) and rather plain looking. In contrast, Tufan had very beautiful features, pearly white flawless complexion and a shapely feminine form.  Constant affirmation of her attractive physical attributes (during) in her growing years had made her rather conceited, self-centered and expectant of grander things in life.  She had always envisioned herself as the future spouse of a distinguished man, one that was handsome, rich and powerful, living amidst luxury in stately mansions.  Not even in her wildest imagination or worst nightmare would she have ever conceived of such a terrible turn, of being reduced to living under such impoverished conditions. 

Even though she’d been led to believe, by Yoansu, that this visit was temporary -no more than a month- each passing day seemed to her an increasingly, insufferably prolonged. In her growing resentment, she doubted she would last out the second week, much less a month! What’s more, she’d found the prevalent (overwhelming) stench of raw fish quite unbearable. Using her pregnancy as a particular crutch, she’d complained bitterly and endlessly about her discomforts to Ensa. But no matter what the poor woman did, it always fell short of appeasing Tufan. In the interim Tufan had understood all too well the invisible power, the sway the mother held over her husband and son; hence, Tufan (set out to learn from this and) shamelessly engaged Ensa in manipulating, forcing Yoansu into submission on matters that were important to her. Nor did she stop there. Recognizing Ensa’s partiality to Jiense, Tufan then moved to sway her affections, by showing consideration and kindness to Jiense. Jiense’s appearance from the start- going about the place as she did, in plain clothes, the ones Ensa could spare- had been an eyesore to Tufan; it irritated, rather offended her highly developed fashion sense. 

Jiense is close to my build (dress size) ...  So, why not? Embarking on an idea one day, after a frenzied search through her trousseau, she recovered the least favored, poorest quality dress she could find.  Folding it anew and holding it gingerly as if it was a treasured item, in front of the men Tufan made a special presentation of it to Ensa. Needless to say, ensuing days, she shamelessly reaped the benefits of this supposed generous gesture.

After wearing plain, coarse clothes for so long, Jiense had also been delighted to once more be able to don on her body this ultra feminine dress, even though it fell far short of the quality of the ones her lowest-status’ servants had worn. Of course, Jiense looked absolutely enchanting in it. It was not long, therefore, before Tufan’s success and pleasure (soured and) turned into dismay. 

It came about when she caught sight of her husband's odd behavior: his lingering, unmistakably lustful gazes on Jiense- a most inappropriate look for a supposed relation! (And she should know!)

 Up until then Yoansu had covertly admired Jiense for her beauty despite the loose, coarse garments; now clad in feminine attire, she seemed to him the very vision of loveliness. Unable to mask his inner hankering hence, his unbridled passionate gazes now and then would be glued on Jiense. Periodically the Illicit, profligate thoughts, the wanton desire would make his heart palpitate wildly and his face would flush.

And even when away, Jiense’s glorious countenance still hovered before his mind’s eye, intensifying the yearning in his heart for that eventual intimate union.

The uninhibited passion, the ungovernable signs of lust in her husband, directed so poignantly at Jiense further consternated Tufan. As Tufan held all fishermen, therefore Yoansu and his family in such disdain, she could not rule out an incestuous (liaison) relationship.

Quirks of fate; was she going to be victimized by an incestuous liaison yet again? Only this time the shoe was on the other foot- namely, her husband! But just where would that leave her?

Fueled by resentment, there arose in the privacy of their room therefore, numerous rows between husband and wife. Eventually, some details of these arguments, curses and threats leaked to outside, eroding away the harmony and peace of this humble abode.

Yoansu’s inattentiveness towards Tufan, and in contrast, his obvious affections towards Jiense, had also greatly troubled (consternated) Kaimu. Nevertheless, in absence of any credible proof, as Yoansu had not made any outward immoral moves, he could not be openly reproached. Each time Tufan had acted up, Ensa meanwhile had excused her sins, in one breath. Totally blinded to Yoansu’s failings, deeming the cause to be “a difficulty of pregnancy or homesickness”, Ensa showed great forbearance for Tufan's misbehavior. She urged her son to be more attentive to his wife, to show patience and tolerance for her antics; as well, to give in occasionally to her demands, however unreasonable, to ease this transition period. “Once the baby is born, you'll see the change,” she promised on Tufan's behalf, “things will then be greatly improved between you two.”

Was Ensa really that naive, that oblivious to what was going on with her son? Or was it that prejudiced by mother’s love, she chose to believe in fallacy?

As it were, he could do no wrong in her eyes, nor could she perceive him in any other light, besides the divine one he supposedly dwelled in. This, even after the episode of that odd incident:

In the small hours of the night, Ensa had suddenly been awakened with a strange feeling gripping her heart. Intuition guiding her to the door, she’d then quietly peeked at outside of her room and to her great surprise saw Yoansu standing there motionless before the straw curtain. The makeshift curtain that concealed Jiense’s sleeping quarters! Nonplussed (baffled), she’d watched him slowly raising the curtain up.

Once more Ensa’s heart had palpitated wildly with an inexplicable feeling of dread. She nevertheless could not conceive any notion of impropriety on her son’s part, and so had reasserted: There must be a perfectly good reason, a viable explanation for this. Could it be that my boy has acquired a sleepwalking condition? My poor boy, all this trouble with his wife, must be wearing on his nerves!

Thinking that Kaimu would not be as understanding, she’d but a moment looked away (turned her head) to first reassure herself of her husband’s deep slumber; when she reverted her gaze back on her beloved son, to her relief she saw Yoansu quietly retracing his footsteps back to his room.

But the following night Ensa was again disturbed from her sleep. She was reawakened in the early hours by the barely discernible, light footsteps treading (creeping) across the living room floor that subsequently once more halted before the straw curtain.

Determined to get to the bottom of this, Ensa at once sprang (jumped out of) from her warm bed and quietly darted to outside, barefoot and all, paying no heed to the bone chilling, coarse floorboards. Astonishingly, she saw Yoansu, again in front of the straw curtain, clasping in one hand an oil lamp and poised perfectly still as though lost in deep ponder (thought).

He was inwardly debating how best to proceed with minimal disturbance. 

On the previous night, when he’d rolled up the curtain and observed this breathtaking beauty in abandoned sleep: it had so stirred him, so aroused his wanton passion that, he’d feared he would lose all self-control, act vilely and so risk exposure. The best recourse, therefore, had been to (withdraw quickly) make a hasty retreat.

After some consideration and precautionary measures- such as drugging (slipping the sleeping potion into) her cup earlier this evening, to ensure a satisfactory turn- he’d made his bold advance. Halting before the curtain now he inhaled (withdrew) an impatient deep breath exhaling it slowly. Soon he would be having his way with her as she slept; granted, it would not be as pleasurable or as satisfactory, but it simplified matters.

He certainly didn’t think of it as rape.

No, this was different…It was merely a sweet seduction.  A premature sampling, a compensatory dawn-payment of an impending marital relationship; and later still, when things had played out their course, she would certainly succumb to his passion and willingly surrender herself without least abandon, to his lustful and loving embraces. Was she not of flesh and blood? Why should he, a willing precipitant or recipient, delay the course of nature? In all probability she’d been already drawn to him, he saw the way she coyly, bashfully looked at him. She was demure because his detestable wife Tufan stood in the way.  He was offering her nothing more than a solace. Hmm! Yet he hesitated. No, this would not do. Besides, how can he surrender himself to total abandon and enjoy unbridled passion with such shackles?

Hence, he’d lingered before the straw curtain in an ambiguous feel, torn between wanton desire and that unwanted sentiment of reason that had suddenly crept into his brain to shatter his earlier resolve.

Now, seeing his mother coming towards him, all other concerns brushed aside, he had to think fast of a plausible excuse. But not finding a ready pretext, he improvised (under pseudo solicitousness) solicitously. “Oh, did I wake you? I’m so sorry mom! Feeling somewhat parched, I wanted to get some water!”

“But son,” Ensa drawing nearer still, ejected in a whisper, “The clay urn is no longer kept there.  Don’t you remember? It’s now by the door to enable me easier access from the cistern.”

“Yes of course, how foolish of me.” Yoansu answered hurriedly taking hold of his faculties quickly and walking over to the spot helped him-self to the ladle of water. Refreshing water trickled down from the corners of his mouth, down to his chin and wetted his nightshirt.  He welcomed this cool relief. When he had his fill, he again quietly apologized to his mother for disturbing her, for waking her up needlessly. And after bidding her goodnight, he quickly withdrew into his room.  Once inside, his hands clasped into a tight fist, he leaned the back of his head against the door and heaved an exasperated deep sigh. Phew, that was close! Thank goodness his shrewd wife was still fast asleep!

He sure was parched. Ensa meanwhile carried this thought all the way back to her room.  In fact, she’d been quite relieved to learn that the cause had not been a sleepwalking disorder. Thirst, that’s all it was! But from now on I must remember to leave a small jug of water on his night table. She made a mental note to herself as she reclined her head gently on the pillow. She’d just closed her eyes, when Kaimu, who had his back to her until then, without turning, asked in a grumble.

“What’s he been up to now, in this ungodly hour?”

“Sash, go back to sleep. The poor boy was just thirsty, that’s all.”

“I’ll bet! In a pig’s eye,” Kaimu scoffed under his breath and remained wide-awake for quite some time, his head riddled with grievous, dark concerns.

So, the wild boar was on the prowl!

Yoansu, having come this close to being found out, decided on the temporary postponement of his objective. On the surface everything seemed placidly normal and boringly ordinary; it had to be so, since Kaimu had remained vigilant from then on and watched Yoansu like a hawk! Meanwhile, each subsequent night Yoansu had to drink a convincing measure of the water from the small jug, which his doting mother had unfailingly supplied.

 

(END OF Part 11)

 

(MORE EXCITING EVENTS WILL UNFOLD IN THE NEXT FISHERMAN’S PRIZE POST-    PART 12)