Summary
Long time ago, there was a place called swamp of slumber, used by the people to throw animal corpses. Near the swamp lived a farmer called Zoroku; he wasn´t very smart. One day he got a rare disease. There are at least three collections of Hino's stories that were published under the title “Zoroku's Strange Disease” over the years, all of them containing a different mix of stories to accompany the title story. This translation is based on the 1976 edition by Hibari Comics and includes the stories “Underwater”, “The Newborn Rat” and “The 1000 Pound Demon” in addition to “Zoroku's Strange Disease”, obviously. “Zoroku's Strange Disease” has been previously published in English in a collection called “Lullabies from Hell” (Dark Horse Comics, 2006) but I am fairly sure the other stories haven't been translated before.