Hukumusume fairy tale collection > Foreign language >Japanese classical stories

Bunbuku Chagama

(Japanese classical stories)

Translation　ちいさな翻訳屋さん

Japanese　←→　Japanese ＆ English　←→　English

　A long time ago, there lived a poor man who had an old furniture store.



　One day, the man found a raccoon dog which was caught in a trap.

　The man felt sorry for the raccoon dog, so he helped it from the trap.



　In the next morning, the raccoon dog of yesterday came to the man and said,

“Thank you very much for your help yesterday.

　I will tell you a good thing in return.

　The Osho in the nearby village wants to have a teapot. If you bring one to him, he will be pleased.

　I will transform into a teapot and you bring it to him and sell.”

　Then the raccoon dog flipped and transformed into a beautiful golden teapot.



　Soon after the man took the teapot to the Osho,

“Wow, this is beautiful!”

　The Osho very much liked the teapot that the raccoon dog transformed into, and he bought it at a high price.



　Now the Osho who bought a new teapot told to his young priest,

“Go wash this teapot.”

“Yes.”

　Soon after, the young priest went to a river behind the temple and he scrubbed the teapot hard.

　Then the teapot spoke

“Hey, young man. Wash me gently. It hurts my bottom.”

　to the young priest.

“Oh my goodness! The teapot spoke!”

　The surprised young priest told about what had happened to the Osho, but he didn’t believe the young man.

“What a joke. How can the teapot speak?”

“But it’s true.”

“All right. Anyway, boil some water now.”

　As he was told, the young priest put some water in the teapot which the raccoon dog transformed into and put it on a fire.

　Now the raccoon dog got surprised.

“It’s hot! It’s hot! Fire on my bottom!”

　The raccoon dog ran for his life to the mountain.



　At that night, the raccoon dog came to the house of the old furniture shop and said,

“Let’s go to a town together.

　I will do tightrope act, and you gather people.”



　On the next day, the man of the old furniture shop and the raccoon dog went to a town and rent a playhouse.

“Hello people. It is a rare chance to see a raccoon dog walking on a tightrope!”

　and the raccoon dog skillfully walked on the tightrope with drumming on his belly and singing.

　"What's this!! ..."

“Oh, this is unusual. How interesting it is.”

　A tightrope raccoon dog became a sensation and the playhouse was so crowded every day.



　Thanks to the raccoon dog, the man of the old furniture shop became rich afterwards.

The end

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