Japanese Fairy Tale Series 01 #03- Battle of the Monkey and the Crab

Tale Japanese Fairy

Series,

No.

3-

BATTLE OF THE MONKEY AND THE GRAB.

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BATTLE of

The Monkey & The

Crab.

monkey and a crab

once

met

when going round a mountain.

The monkey had picked up

a

persimmon-seed, and the crab had a piece of toasted rice-cake. The

monkey seeing

this,

and wishing

something that could be

to get

turned to good account at once, said:

cake

The up

"Pray, exchange that ricefor

this

persimmon-seed."

crab, without a word, his

cake,

and took the

simmon-seed and planted

it.

gave per-

At

once

it

came a

sprung up, and soon betree so high

look up at

it.

The

one had to

was

tree

full

of persimmons but the crab had

no means of climbing the he asked the monkey

So

tree.

to climb

and get the persimmons

The monkey got up on

up

for him.

a

limb

of the tree and began to eat the

persimmons.

The unripe persim-

mons he threw

at the crab, but

, i

i

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all

the

ripe

and good ones he

The crab under put in his pouch. the tree thus got his shell badly bruised and

luck

only by good

his hole, where he escaped into

with pain lay distressed able to get up. relatives

and not

Now when

the

and household of the

how

matters

stood

crab

heard

they

were surprised and angry,

and declared war and attacked the

a numonkey, who leading forth

merous following bid defiance to the other party.

The

crabs, find-

ing themselves unable to meet and

cope with this force,

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became enraged, hole,

still

more exasperated and

and

retreated

into

their

and held a council of war. Then

came a

rice-mortar, a pounder, a bee,

and an egg, and together they devised *.

a

deep-laid

plot

to

be

avenged.

First, they

requested

that peace

be made with the crabs; and thus of the monthey induced the king hole unattended keys to enter their

and seated him on the hearth.

The monkey not suspecting any

plot, stir

took the

,

or poker, to

up the slumbering

fire,

when

bang! went the egg, which was lying

hidden in the ashes, and

burned the monkey's arm. priced and

Sur-

alarmed he plunged

his

arm

into the pickle-tub in the

kitchen to relieve the pain of the

Then

burn.

the bee which

was

hidden near the tub stung him sharply

already

k *#

in his face

wet with

tears.

'U \

:

\

Without waiting to brush

\

t

!

I

off the bee

he

rushed

and howling for

the

bitterly,

back

door:

but just then some sea-weed entangled his legs and slip.

made him

Then, down came the pound-

er tumbling on

him from a

and the mortar too came

down on him from the pouch,

and broke

and so weakened was unable

^

the

to

rise

him up.

shelf,

rolling

roof of his

back

that

he

Then

out came the crabs in a crowd

and brandishling on high pinchers

their

they pinched

the

monkey

to pieces.