“Snake has no eyes but sings beautifully. Earthworm gives
him his eyes in exchange for snake’s song.”
– The Earthworm’s Song (Japanese Folktale)
Japanese women weaving, c.1890
Legend of the Two Hemp Weavers
Earthworms wear Hemp scarf’s…
That’s just what one ancient Japanese folktale tells us in the Legend of the Two Hemp Weavers…
A tale retold throughout cultures that is thought to have its origins right here in Japan’s hemp tale…
You’ll never look at worms the same again…
Worm saleswoman c.1944
The Legend of the Two Hemp Weavers
There once lived two hemp weavers. One woman was very slow but could weave the finest hemp fabric, while the other woman was very quick while producing coarse hemp cloth of lower quality…
When the market day arrived, the slow woman had not woven enough of her fine cloth to have her own clothes to wear… Having to go to the market naked her husband carried her to market wearing only some white hemp fabric around her neck…
The naked weaver, still confident in her superior fabric, began to mock the dress made of the coarse fabric produced by the fast woman…
The slow weaver in turn, exposed the nakedness of the slow woman, who in shame buried herself in the earth turning into the earthworm…
The Hemp fibers became the worm’s white ring…
Marilyn Monroe with white scarf
Hemp: The Clit Commander
Yup, according to this Japanese folktale, Hemp is responsible for the ‘clit’ of the earthworm…
The ‘clitellum’ of the earthworm is explained below from a article describing the white ring around the earthworm.
“It is called the clitellum and made of fatty cells able to secrete soft, sticky mucous. This is the material used to make the cocoon which shelters the eggs.
Two types of cells are needed to make the eggs. One type is stored in the 18th segment of the worm’s body ‑ counting from the head end. The other type is stored in segments 9, 10 and 11. At the proper time, the clitellum glands give off a sizeable wad of filmy mucous. It circles the worm’s body in a scarf and starts to move forward over the bumpy segments.
At segment 14, the first ripe cells are gathered into the filmy scarf. The other cells are collected as the scarf passes over segments 9, 10 and llo Once inside, the two cell types unite with its precious burden and finally slides right off the end of the worm’s pointed head. The two sides now seal to form a cozy cocoon. It rests on the ground until the youngsters hatch and wriggle off into the world.”
Earthworm showing it’s clitellum collar
The ‘Two Hemp Weavers’ tale is also told with a frog and the earthworm, known as ‘The Earthworm with a Reel around itself’.
Frog and earthworm, who were sisters, tried to weave cloth
for their festival dresses. Frog wove enough cloth, but earthworm could
not finish weaving before the festive day, and she had to go to the
festival with only a thread around her neck. So, now, earthworm has a white line around its neck.
– The Earthworm with a Reel around Itself (Japanese Folktale)
Alphonse Mucha – Paris, 1902
The sun (god or Buddha) decides the food for every creature.
Earthworm is given soil for its food. Earthworm asks what he
should eat after he eats all the soil. The sun tells him to expose
himself to the sun and he will then be formed into soil.
– The Earthworm and Soil (Japanese Folktale)