Japanese Folk Tale

Tales about Birds, Beasts, Plants and Trees 285
Kumamoto, Tamana-gun: MK I 1 45, "The gratitude of the snake and
the fox" (Kuchinawa to kitsune no h60n).
HyGga (Miyazaki): HyGga I 79. No title. In Miyazaki there is a child's
story about overhearing the talk of cows. A man heard from behind
an enbankment the secret about the ring in the nose of the
cow. Even now the cow will shake its horns at an embankment.
There is a story like the one in HyGga in Okunan shinp6. Cows
were lying near each other on a hill and talking to each other.
One said, "If man put rings in our noses, we would work obediently."
Kagoshima: Kikai 172, "The kindness of the monkey" (Saru no shinsetsu).
A monkey and a man went fishing at night. The man was
carrying his child. A crab fastened onto the monkey's paw and the
man helped free it. The monkey promptly picked up the child and
carried it into the hills. When an eagle was about to attack the
child, the monkey chased it off. The man accused the monkey of
ingratitude, but it replied that it was afraid the crab would fasten
onto the child. There seems to be some mistake in this story.
Further reference:
Tosakushi. A legend of Shimotakakura-mura, T akakura-mura about
Ch6jaike. Kyusaku Ch6ja overheard talk between cows and horses and
became religious. In order to confirm his Way, he made his lovely
daughter a peddler of bamboo baskets.
Nihon mukashibanashi shu, jo 23. The monkey's gratitude in "Saru
Masamune."
Ashu kiji zatsuwa.
Konjaku monogatari, maki 29, No. 35. After a woman saved a
monkey whose paw was caught by a clam, it took her child away and
protected it repeatedly.
Chosen mintan shu, App. 3. "The great flood and mankind." It says
that the same kind of story appears in Rokudoshu kyo 3, so this may
be a translation. There is a story of using a child as a decoy to catch
an eagle.
307. The Wolf and the Old Man
Iwate: Shiwa 40, "The old man and the wolf" (Jiina to 6kami). While an
old man planted beans in his garden patch on the hillside, he said,
"I plant one bean, it becomes a thousand." A mean wolf sat on a
rock above and said, "He plants one bean, it becomes one bean."
He intended to eat the old man when he took a nap and was waiting
there on the rock. That night the old man and his old woman
made mochi. The next day they smeared it' out on the flat rock.
Then the old man pretended to take a nap. The wolf came out and
sat on the rock again, but his tail stuck fast. They beat him to
death.
This seems to be a broken story about exposing oneself to
danger. It can hardly be called an animal story.