The Crab and the Monkey: This story has animals that possess a house and tools just as we
humans do. The crab in this story is said to be a good housewife but I did not
read anything about her being a wife since she had no husband. It made me
wonder what happened to him. The monkey was a greedy and cunning animal that
nearly killed the poor crab. Luckily the crab had a friend who was close by and
helped her get better and get back at the monkey. The plan they came up with
involved a heavy mortar that ended the greedy monkey’s life. In this story,
what goes around comes around.
How the Wicked Tanuki was Punished: In a lot of Japanese folklore, there are certain animals who
have the ability to use magic. In this story the tanuki and the fox both know
how to use magic and could turn into humans. Just like how the sparrow turned
into a young woman in the story of “The Sparrow and the Slit Tongue” that is
mentioned in my Reading Diary A: Japanese Fairy Tales (Lang). The wicked tanuki
and his wife, who is the fox, came up with a brilliant plan that would deceive
humans in order to buy food for them and their son. Their plan worked twice,
but the second time they did it the tanuki told the buyer that the fox was not
quite dead. Soon the fox was killed and there was only the wicked tanuki and
his son the young tanuki. The young tanuki soon figured out what had happened
and challenged his father to a magic shapeshifting contest. The wicked tanuki
turned into a man and stood in the middle of a bridge where he would meet his
son in a disguise. A king soon came by and the wicked tanuki accused the king
of being his son in disguise. This action only ended tanuki’s life as the
king’s guards threw him over into the river where he drowned. The young tanuki
watched and was pleased that his mother was avenged.
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