Japanese Folk Tale

Tales about Birds, Beasts, Plants and Trees 301
323. The Rice Field the Monkey and the Pheasant Cultivated
The monkey and the pheasant planted a rice field together. The
pheasant went to it every day, but when he asked the monkey to go
with him, he only made excuses and would not go. When it was time
for the harvest, the monkey went for the first time. He took one
bundle and the pheasant took one. Then the monkey took one more.
The pheasant protested, but the monkey would not listen. The pheasant
went home with only one third. After the monkey ate all his, he went
to the pheasant's home to take what was there. That the chestnut, the
crab, the mortar, and the egg helped the pheasant punish the monkey
makes it like "The battle between the monkey and the crab."
Aomori, Hachinohe: MK II 12 58, "The fox and the pheasant" (Kitsune
to kiji); Tekkiri 267, "The revenge of the pheasant" (Kiji no adauchi).
Iwate: Kunohe 483, 489, "The rabbit and the pheasant" (Usagi to kiji)
and "The monkey, the rabbit, and the pheasant" (Saru to usagi to
kiji). The pheasant came and ate all the millet in the field that he
and the rabbit had cultivated together. The angry rabbit threatened
to put him on twelve sticks and broil him. The pheasant was
rescued and escaped. One feels sorry for this rabbit. In the other
story, the field was made by the monkey, the rabbit, and the
pheasant. The monkey was the villian.
Akita, Senhoku-gun: MK I 10 21, "The monkey and the pheasant" (Saru
to kiji); Ugo 40. The field was cultivated by the monkey and the
pheasant.
Hiraga-gun: MK II 3 30, "The monkey and the pheasant" (Saru to
kiji).
Niigata: Minamikanbara 19, "The rat and the weasel" (Nezumi to itachi).
Nagano: Chiisagata 236, "The monkey and the pheasant" (Saru to kiji).
The monkey and the pheasant went to gather beans. The monkey
ate his as they went along, but the pheasant put his into a sack
and saved them. The monkey tried to get them in the winter, but
the pheasant was protected by an egg, a bee, a crab, cow dung,
and a mortar.
Kagoshima: Koshiki 196, "The monkey and the crab made mochi" (Saru
to tsugani no mochi tsuki).
324. The Rice Field the Rat and the Weasel Cultivated
The rat and the weasel dug up a grassy place on the sandbar
together and planted millet. When it began to grow, the weasel would
go by the rat's home to ask it to weed the patch or to fertilize it.
Whenever he came, the rat would make excuses and the weasel would