reading notes: japanese fairy tales part B

Tanooki mario

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This was a story of a hero who left home. He went out seeking adventure and one night stumbled upon a group of cats chanting. they were saying do not tell schippetero. the hero went into town to find a girl who was to be sacrificed to these cats. he asked about schippetero, who he found out was the prince's dog. He got the dog and hid him inside the box that would be given to the cats. when the time came, the dog jumped out and so did the hero, and they killed the mountain spirit cat king and some of his henchmen.

a crab found some rice outside of her home. a monkey offered he a fruit seed for half of the rice. she said yes and grew a tree from the seed. the monkey came back and took all the fruit and did not give any to the crab, so she tricked him into dropping some for her, and he got mad and beat her half to death. her friends came and saved her and then devised a plan to get back at him.

a man and a tanuki had a rivalry. The man captured the tanuki and was going to have his wife cook him. the tanuki tricked the wife into freeing him and then killed her and cooked her into a dish. he put on her clothes and took on her form, and then fed the man a meal made out of his wife. He told the man when he transformed and theman was overcome with guilt and anger. the man and a hare whom he was friends with devised a plan and got back at the tanuki.


Story source: The Pink Fairy Book by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1897).