Tale 85: The Song of Ghosts (Misty)

(real tale: "Folktales from Japan" episode 25, story 3)

"A landlord that lived in a certain village once had a vexing problem--tenants kept moving out of a certain house." Misty begins. "The other tenants though the house was haunted, but the landlord didn't believe them. Finally, the landlord agreed to stay in the house himself to see what would happen."

"So what was it?" Ash wonders.

"Or who was it?" Brock is equally interested.

"The landlord believed it was a rogue scaring tenants away, and it wasn't long before he fell asleep." Misty continues. "Suddenly, around midnight, he heard a female voice in the darkness, and found a Misdreavus casting what he thought was a spell before it started to cry."

[Maybe it was heartbroken?] Mai speculates on why the Misdreavus is crying.

"Or maybe it missed its family?" Ash guesses.

"The next morning, the landlord traveled to the temple and told the miko what happened." Misty goes on. "The miko replied that the Misdreavus may have been a poet or songstress in life, and something about its poem or song was keeping it in the mortal realm. But when the landlord asked the miko to recite it a poem or sing it a song, the miko replies that all she knew was scripture, and the only songs she knew were hymns. She then asked the landlord to spend another night in the house."

"Pika?" Pikachu asks, shivering a little in fear.

"The next night, the Misdreavus appeared again, and the landlord concluded that the Misdreavus' song was about the power of love, and how music creates love, never mind he didn't have a clue what the Misdreavus was saying." Misty continues. "He then assumed the Misdreavus might have been crying because it couldn't remember the song's last lines."

"Makes sense..." Brock muses.

"The landlord invited one of the town's best known songwriters to try and figure out the song's last lines." Misty explains. "At midnight that night, the two of them watched as the Misdreavus appears again, singing what translated to..." She then sings Take a melody, simple as can be, give it some words and, sweet harmony. Raise your voices! All day long now, love grows strong now, sing a melody of...

"Pi ni?" Happini is interested in the song's last line.

"Well, the songwriter added the last lines of the verse..." Misty assures Happini before singing the last line of the Eight Melodies herself. Love, oh love.

She concludes "The Misdreavus decided to sing the completed song before rising to the heavens, thankful for the songwriter's help."

"Aw..." Brock smiles as he leads the applause.

"Maybe that Misdreavus wanted to finish its magnum opus before it left for heaven..." Melody agrees.