before the womb and intertwined with the language there. Ayame was put on a live ring, burning with such bliss that her insides began to swell and burst with a wave of rainbow salt. Waking up, Ayame discovered that her anus was burning, as if a thick tentacle had indeed been in it, so much so that it hurt her to defecate.

Another time, the tentacle suddenly poured into her mouth and turned Ayame inside out, wet womb out, and Ayame writhed, wide open to the whole world, and wind, waves and sun caressed her living meat, opened like a huge sweet wound ...

And in reality, something strange was happening to her. She could suddenly, for no reason to weaken, so much so that her legs did not hold her, and she fell on the sand. At times she was nauseated, and she walked hunched over like a flamingo, or lay face down, eyes closed. Sometimes she fatally wanted some herbs and berries, and she climbed into the undergrowth, scouted there naked, like an animal, found what her instinct was for, and ate, spitting sand ...

- Rafu-sama! I guess I got sick, ”she told her husband once. - I get weak every day. In my stomach it's disgusting, as if lice live there. I guess I'll die soon.

- No, Ayame.

Rafu sat opposite, took her hands and looked into her eyes:

- Not. Do not be afraid, Ayame. You are not sick. You will not die. You just have a child.

***

That day she met the yellow old man again.

- Is your hubby healthy? - the old man shouted to her.

As at that time, he was accompanied by the wind, which pricked his eyes with sand. Ayame did not answer: she was offended by the old man for having deceived her.

In addition, she was not up to him. She tried to realize that soon, very soon, she would become a mother, the same as her mother, and would nurse her child just as her mother nursed Natsuko's younger sister ...

“Why don't you answer, Ayame-fujin?” Or your octopus tore your tongue out?

- Octopus? Gasped Ayame. “How do you know about octopus?” I have not told this dream to anyone.

“Ah, so he appeared to you in a dream? ... I know a lot, Ayame fujin. Much more than your octopus with your boy ...

“But you still don’t know the main thing,” Ayame said proudly.

- Ha ha ha! Why don't I know this? Maybe you will tell me?

- The one that sits in my stomach.

- Well, pray tell, can be ... Gods! O gods of heaven and earth! Are you a belly from him?

- Yes! - Ayame straightened, bulging forward generous, abundant nipples. She lost the habit of people and no longer wore any clothes.

“Great sky! ... And tell me, Ayame-fujin,” the old man’s voice suddenly became insinuating, “tell me, are you worried about your child?”

“I don’t know,” said Ayame, for she really didn’t know.

The question pricked her sleeping part of the heart, and she woke up, huddling more than all the others.

-... Yes. Worried. Highly.

- Do you wish him good?

- Yes. I wish. With all my heart I wish ...

“Then take this talisman,” the old man handed her a yellow terracotta dog with a long tail. - Put it under your futon. He will protect your child.

“Thank you, Sensei,” Ayame said, bowing to the old man. A gull was screaming around them, but Ayame did not pay attention to her.

She had already forgotten how the old man had deceived her: fear for the child, who had arisen from nowhere, was consonant with his words, and she very much wanted to take a talisman. At night, she put it under the futon, as the old man told her.

In the dream, she again came to meet with the octopus, again lay down at the red stones ...

Whether the child’s future pushed her, or her motherly instinct threw her a wake-up alarm, but Ayame managed not only to open her eyes, but also to catch herself and jump like a frog aside when a huge yellow dog flew at her in a jump, aiming in the stomach.

In horror, Ayame rushed from the dog, but she knocked her into the foam of the surf, threw down and opened a huge yellow maw in order to devour the child from her womb.

At that moment, a giant tentacle leapt out of the waves. It shrouded like a lasso around the yellow neck and began to choke it.

The dog wheezed, shaking his head. Tentacles rose from the water, one after another, wrapping around the yellow body like ropes. Having bent a neck, the dog has imitated and bit one of them.Black blood spurted from the tentacle; her drop hit the dog's face, and the dog howled with a terrible howl, from which whirlwinds of sand rose into the air; her paws buckled, she collapsed to the side - and she went all over, with her head and tail into the sand, like a giant ant lion, almost dragging the octopus behind her.

In its place remained a sand pit, immediately filled with sea.

Catching up, Ayame ran, not looking at the light, and ... woke up.

She lay on her futon. Rafu was not around.

What time she lay tensely listening to the night. Then she jumped up and ran out of the hut.

- Rafuuuuuuu! She called, trying to shout down the roar of the storm raging outside the door.

It was so dark that it did not make sense to open my eyes. Several times, Ayame hit heavy waves, dragging dragging along the sand. She decided to return to the hut, but could not find her and roam like a blind kitten, in impenetrable darkness, bumping into stones and a prickly bush. The only guide for her was the sea and the slope of the coast, which she felt barefoot. Deciding to go along it, she went, continually falling from the waves that hit her legs and hips, like heavy ice bags. Her wounded skin was burning, salted by the sea, and Ayame cried from pain and fear.

She walked for a long, long time, until she understood - either she missed the hut, or went the other way. Then Ayame went back, and again went for a long, long time, constantly falling on the stones, until she realized that she had no strength left, and that she would collapse now, and the sea would drag her into the abyss. Gathering all her strength, she crawled away from the waves, lay down and fell into darkness, even more dense than the one that surrounded her.

She woke up from the fact that someone touched her.

“Ayame, beautiful Ayame ...” said an unfamiliar voice.

She opened her eyes and saw a beautiful young man, almost a boy, sitting next to her. He touched her leg and said:

- Beautiful Ayame, do not sleep! You'll freeze.

- Who are you? Ayame asked.

“I am Mamatsu, the younger brother of the great Kamatsu-sama, your husband.”

- Kamatsu-sama? ..

“Your husband is the god of this bay, the bay of Kamatsuhara.” And I - his brother and faithful ally. You already saw me. I tried to warn you against the wiles of Sandy Skukok.

- Sandy юкukoku? ..

“This is the demon of sand, the worst enemy of Kamatsu-sama, whom you know by the name of Rafu.” I was in the guise of a seagull. Remember me?

“No ... that is, yes ...” Ayame said, recalling the fiery edisugusuri and flapping wings over her head.

“Syukoku cannot defeat Kamatsu-sama, but seeks to destroy you and your child.” Kamatsu-sama has been looking for a suitable mother for her heir for a long, long time. He wanted his child to be more beautiful than the sky and the sea. He visited many cities and villages, samurai castles, and even at the court of the seijз itself, he saw young princesses, but you were the prettiest of all those whom he saw. That's why he married you.
_________________________
* Emperor. - approx. auth.

- What about him? He will return? Is he already at home?

- No, Ayame. - Mamatsu sadly shook his head. “He’s hurt by Syukok’s poisonous fangs.” True, his blood burned into Peschaniy's face, and he lurked in the bowels of the shore for many centuries, where the sand exfoliates from chaos; but until the wounds heal, Kamatsu-sama will not be able to assume the image of a man.

“How long will his wounds heal?”

- Long, Ayame. So long that you have time to grow old and die.

- Not! - yelled Ayame. - Not! I want to him!

- It's hard, Ayame. Almost impossible.

- Maybe! I want to him. Me and my child! ..

- No, Ayame. You are the most beautiful of the creations of Amateras *, Her incarnation on earth, and you do not face the great sufferings and injuries. You will give birth to your child, and I will take him to Kamatsu-sama ...

______________________

* Goddess of the rising sun. - approx. auth.

- Not!!! - Ayame even jumped up. - How can you say that?

“But you don't even know what awaits you ...”

- Tell me and I will find out.

- Are you ready for great suffering and injuries?

- Yes. Is ready.

Ayame said this, and only then she became scared.

—... Ready. What to do?

- Well. - Mamatsu sighed sadly.“Then go home, beautiful Ayame.” Your hut is over there. You need to eat, gain strength and fall asleep. In the dream, I will come to you, and you will decide how to be.

He sighed again, sadly.

- See you soon, beautiful Ayame. Let me kiss you. Once I already did it. I prayed to Kamatsu-sama for a long, long time, and he finally allowed me ...

He went up to her and kissed one nipple, another, and then on the lips.

His kisses were not at all like the kisses of Rafu — hot and calling; they were different - quiet, sad, like the song of the orioles before the first snow.

After some time, Ayame, naked, wounded on the stones, wandered along the shore, listening to the tender trail on her nipples and lips. She thought about what she was ready for Rafu, and how much it would hurt.

***

A month later, the fishermen, chilled by the storm, decided to ask for shelter in the hut of Rafa, despite the fact that she enjoyed notoriety: in the area they said that she was chosen by perfume.

Entering inside, they froze, shouting the words of prayers: on the floor, in a pool of blood lay the body of a pregnant girl with chopped off arms and legs. Their astonishment increased when, right in front of their eyes, the girl suddenly had arms and legs. The fishermen rushed in terror, but the storm was so strong that they had to return.

They thought that the girl was dead, but, looking closer, they found that she was fast asleep. Attempts to wake her up were unsuccessful. In the hut they found enough food and wine to wait out the storm. When the bad weather had subsided, they promised to thank the unknown goddess (they had no doubt that it was the goddess).

The fishermen kept their promise: a week later, the hut was altered into a sanctuary, and a monk remained with him. He cared for the body of Magami-no-Suimin, the Sleeping Goddess, and watched her belly grow day by day. He was ready to accept the divine birth, but when it was time for them, a storm broke out that had not yet been seen in Kamatsuhama Bay. The waves approached the hut itself, splashing against the walls. Frightened monk asked the goddess to forgive him and climbed into the mountains to wait out the storm. When he moved away to a safe distance, a giant wave covered the hut and took it to the sea along with the sleeping goddess.

Later, a new shrine was erected at this place with a statue of Magami-no-Suimin carved from wood. Ayame's parents, living in a distant village of Kitayama, did not learn that their daughter had become a goddess, which every year hundreds of pilgrims visit.