Love Test

The Love Test is a creepy story from japan about a beautiful young girl who proves to be very frightening for young men who want to date her. It is based on an old Japanese folktale recorded by Lafcadio Hearn in “Of Ghosts and Goblins – Section 6”.

Years ago, in Japan, there was a young girl who lived with her parents in a remote village. She was very attractive, with long black hair, pale white skin and stunning oval eyes. Young Japanese men would come from miles around just to ask her out on a date.

As word of her good looks spread around the area, more and more boys would turn up on her doorstep, professing their love for her and begging to be allowed to take her out for the evening.

However, the problem was that none of the young men lasted more than one date with her. Before the night was over, they were always seen running away, screaming in terror. None of them would ever talk about what had happened and all refused to meet her again.

Before long, the young men stopped coming to visit and her parents began to despair that their daughter would never find a husband. Rumors began to spread around the village. People said there must be something wrong with the beautiful girl. Some people wondered if she had a horrible personality. Others were of the opinion that she had some kind of hideous deformity that was driving away all of the boys.

Her parents were mystified. They couldn’t understand why so many young men were terrified by their daughter? She was always so sweet, gentle, happy and even-tempered. She studied hard in the evenings and never complained when her mother asked her to do chores around the house.

One day, as her father was out in the garden, mowing the lawn, a young man came walking up the garden path.

“What do you want?” the old man asked.

“I’d like to date your daughter,” said the young man.

The father was delighted. “Come right in,” he said, and he happily introduced the young man to his beautiful daughter. The girl seemed very shy and never looked directly at the young man. She spoke softly, her voice barely above a whisper and whenever he spoke to her, she blushed bright red.

Despite this, the young man seemed very taken by her beauty and asked her out on a date. She accepted and accompanied him to the door when he was leaving.

“Not now,” she whispered. “Come back at midnight and be careful not to knock too loud or you’ll wake my parents up.”

The young man was surprised but he came back that night and tapped softly on her bedroom window. Suddenly, the window opened and the girl climbed out.

“Before I go out with you, you have to promise me something,” she whispered.

The young man nodded eagerly.

“I want you to take a love test,” she said. “If you really love me, you will pass the test. Promise me that if you fail the test, you will never tell another living soul about what went on tonight.”

The young man couldn’t imagine what the beautiful young girl had in mind but he agreed to remain silent. With his hand on his heart, he said, “I solemnly swear that I will never breathe a word of it to anyone.”

“OK. Follow me,” said the girl.

“Where are we going,” the young man asked, but the girl didn’t reply.

It was a dark night and the moon was hidden behind a layer of clouds. In Japan, they say that it is on this type of night that ghosts wander the earth. The two young people could hear the ominous sound of dogs howling in the distance. They slipped quietly through the deserted village streets until they came to the woods.

The girl hurried down a dark, overgrown path and the young man had to run to keep up with her. The path was bordered by enormous trees that loomed over them like huge monsters. Eventually, they reached an old cemetery.
The moon emerged from behind the clouds, casting a pale light and the young man could see old gravestones covered with moss and creeping vines.

The girl’s nightdress was billowing in the breeze. She was standing at the edge of a grave that looked quite fresh. As the young man watched, she picked up a rusty old spade and began to dig, flinging clumps of dirt everywhere. Then, she dropped to her knees and swept aside dirt with her hands until she uncovered a coffin.

Imagine his surprise when she lifted the lid, opened the white shroud, and tore an arm off the corpse inside. Then she clamped it between her teeth and took a large bite. She chewed it loudly while staring at him.

“This is the test of love,” she hissed. “If you love me, you will do what I do… You will eat what I eat.”

With that, she ripped the other arm off the corpse and tossed it to the young man. He didn’t hesitate for a moment. He picked up the arm and took a large bite.

Now he was even more surprised! He never thought human flesh could be so delicious! Suddenly he realized that he wasn’t eating a dead body at all. It was all just a prank. It was a candy corpse, made of sugar and rice flour.

The beautiful girl burst out laughing. “You know, of all the boys who came to take me on a date, you’re the only one who didn’t run away. I want to marry a someone who is brave and this proves you are the one. Now, I can fall in love with you.”

The young man didn’t crack a smile. he just stood there in the darkness, by the edge of the grave, staring at her. His eyes were filled with rage and anger.

“Only candy?” he growled. “I thought you just like me.”

With that, he grabbed the shovel and started to dig another grave. When he unearthed a coffin, he broke it open and began devouring the dead body inside.

This time it was the girl who ran away screaming.