Japanese Folk Tale

Cleverness at Work 165
161. The Eighth Leg of the Octopus
Once upon a time an octopus appeared right in front of an old
woman who was doing her laundry at the beach. Although it did not
tell her to cut a leg off, it stuck a big one out toward her. She cut it
off promptly and took it home happy to eat it. When she was doing her
wash again the next day, the same octopus came out and let her cut
off another leg. This went on for seven days. On the eighth day, the
old woman set out intending to be sure to get the head, too. The octopus
stuck out its last leg and waited. When the old woman started to
cut it off, the octopus suddenly danced up to her and wound its remaining
leg around her neck and dragged her to the bottom of the sea.
Nagasaki, Minami takaku-gun
This is in the form of a fable, but it probably was originally a
ghost story.
Yamanashi, Nishiyatsushiro-gun: Kai 257, "The octopus and the fisherman"
(Tako to ryoshi). He cut off three legs and was drawn in
when he tried to get the fourth.
That this story is told in a mountain village is strange.
Aichi, Chita-gun: Aichi 9, "Orinjima." Told as a legend from Orin
Island.
The old woman's name was Orin. She was pulled in on the
eighth day.
Mie, Shima-gun: Nihon zenkoku 38, "The octopus and the monkey"
(Tako to saru). The monkey ate six legs first. The octopus deceived
him and said he would give him the other two, but it pulled
the monkey into the sea with them.
Fukuoka, Itojima-gun: Chikuzen 40.*
Nagasaki, Minamitakaku-gun: Shimabara 26, "The eighth leg of the
octopus" (Tako no ashi no hachihonme). Example. Goto 238, "The
revenge for his father" (Oya no adauchi). The form is changed.
Further reference:
Kosho bungaku 11. Folk beliefs in Kawachi. If someone gets
whooping cough, seven legs of the octopus are drawn on paper and
pasted onto the earthen stove. When the sickness is over, the eighth
leg is drawn and the picture is floated downstream in a river where
the current is good.
Kwansai kobanashi. The tale is preserved. A cat ate seven legs of
an octopus under a bridge. There is a play on words: don't eat the
hand.
Suo Oshima. At Jinpeiiwa offshore from Niimiya, Nishikata-mura,
they say it was an old man, while at Fusaki, Hijoi-mura they say it
was an old woman. But in both versions only two legs were cut off and
not eight before they were pulled in.