A Windy Tale

They say that, a long time ago, there was this Yomesan who had a little personal problem. The problem was an excess of intestinal gas. She was well known for her ability to break wind of uncommon size and volume, and with great frequency.

Well, one day she went out the field with her mother-in-law to harvest daikon radishes. A daikon is long and white, and it grows underground, like all radishes. However, they can grow to be quite long and big around; sometimes as long as your arm. Pulling them up out of the ground generally requires a lot of grunting and straining and muscle.

“What a pain in the…” the mother-in-law grunted. “One person…ugh…can’t pull up…ugh…one of the really big ones…ugh…alone!” she said as she tried to haul up an extra large sized daikon.

The daughter-in-law was just barely listening. It seems that she had been hearing a lot of unflattering talk about her special talent, and since that morning, she had been trying to contain herself. So far, she had not let go, not even once, and the strain was beginning to show. Her face was turning green. She just couldn’t stand it any longer.

“Hey Okaasan, I wonder if the daikon would come easier if I were to… well, you know, as I pulled?”

“Well, I’m about ready to try anything at this point.” said the mother-in-law. “Why don’t you try it just once.”

So the daughter-in-law prepared herself, and…
　“Proooot”
　She lets a big one go.

The mother-in-law felt herself being blown up into the air. In her panic, she grabbed onto the leaves of a daikon to keep from blowing away. The daughter-in-law was in good form and it felt so good after having held back all morning that she reared up and cut an even bigger one.
　“Proo..Prooooooooot!”
　“Heeelllpp!” Yelled the mother-in-law as the daikon was ripped from the ground and she was blown
　“Zziiinnngg”
off to the corner of the field where she landed with a
　“Whomp!”
　When she recovered from her shock and realized that she was holding on to a huge daikon, she said, “That worked great! It was kind of fun, too!”

Needless to say, both of the women were rather pleased. The mother-in-law was happy because she didn’t have to wrestle with the daikon. The daughter-in-law was happy because she had finally found a practical use for her unique ability.

They spent the rest of the afternoon clearing that field of those pesky daikon.
　“Prrroooootttt!….Zziiinnngg….Whomp!!”
　“Prrroooootttt!….Zziiinnngg….Whomp!!”

By evening, they had that whole field cleared. They shouldered their loads of and headed for home. As they were walking home, they spotted a flock of ducks flying in their direction from the mountains. “It sure would be nice to eat some ducks.” the mother-in-law muttered to herself.

“Why don’t you stand back a little bit, and I’ll see if I can bring down a couple of them ducks.” said the daughter-in-law as she aimed herself at the on coming flock.
　“PRRRROOOOOOOOOOTTTT!!!!”
　She blasted away with the biggest one ever. The startled flock fell from the sky and crash landed at their feet. The two women gathered up the ducks and went home.

Although the daughter-in-law had found a constructive way to expend her excess natural gas, she was still a little dangerous to have around the house. That night as they were enjoying some duck soup, the daughter-in-law was having trouble controlling herself.
　“Proooooott!”
　The mother-in-law flew up in the air and came down with a crash in the hearth.

　They solved the problem by building a special room onto the house. The daughter-in-law would go there whenever she felt the need to relax and cut loose.