Reading Notes: Japanese Fairy Tales, Part B

Monkey in a Tree by Anthony

I wonder what age Japanese consider as reaching manhood. It got a little confusing because when they said man I wasn’t sure if they were referring to the young boy or another guy in the story. Slightly confused on who Schippeitaro bit and who was killed… but yay for saving girls.

The monkey is using the crab’s kindness. Karma will get back at him. He attempted to murder the crab for being smarter than him. Friends always have your back. The wasp helped the crab get back at the monkey. The monkey fell dead. He deserved it for treating the crab so terribly.

The kettle changed forms. Actually, the kettle was a creature? A tanuki. The tanuki brought fortune and good luck. The man was humble enough to do the right thing and return it to his seller.

Tanukis are clever little beasts full of magic. He and his fox sidekick used their abilities to trick people into giving them money.

The tanuki pretended to be a woman. Then he revealed his true identity. The tanuki cooked up his wife’s body and let him eat it without him realizing. The man took revenge and killed the tanuki. He fell into the water and held down by a hare. Tag team killing.

Uraschimataro is a cool name. Going to call him Taro for short. Taro sailed every morning. The turtle he saved is now saving him as his boat shattered to pieces. They went to an island. Met a princess that promised youth for a lifetime. He missed home and decided to go back. But everything has changed. 300 years passed. He opened up the box from the princess and shriveled up immediately. He slowly passed away by the shore.


Bibliography: Japanese Fairy Tales (Lang) by Andrew Lang