Read The Boy Who Drew Cats and Other Japanese Fairy Tales for Free Online Page B

very good company.
    One day: “Are you poor?” says the kettle.
    â€œYes,” says the tinker, “middling poor.”
    â€œWell, I have a happy thought. For a tea-kettle, I am out-of-the-way-really very accomplished.”
    â€œI believe you,” says the tinker.
    â€œMy name is Bumbuku-Chagama; I am the very prince of Badger Tea-Kettles.”
    â€œYour servant, my lord,” says the tinker.
    â€œIf you’ll take my advice,” says the tea-kettle, “you’ll carry me round as a show; I really am out-of-the-way, and it’s my opinion you’d make a mint of money.”
    â€œThat would be hard work for you, my dear Bumbuku,” says the tinker.
    â€œNot at all; let us start forthwith,” says the tea-kettle.
    So they did. The tinker bought hangings for a theater, and he called the show Burrtbuku-Chagama. How the people flocked to see the fun! For the wonderful and most accomplished tea-kettle danced and sang, and walked the tight rope as to the manner born. It played such tricks and had such droll ways that the people laughed till their sides ached. It was a treat to see the tea-kettle bow as gracefully as a lord and thank the people for their patience.
    The people Rocked to see the wonderful tea-kettle dance,
sing, and walk the tight rope.
    The Bumbuku-Chagama was the talk of the country-side, and all the gentry came to see it as well as the commonalty. As for the tinker, he waved a fan and took the money. You may believe that he grew fat and rich. He even went to Court, where the great ladies and the royal princesses made much of the wonderful tea-kettle.
    At last the tinker retired from business, and to him the tea-kettle came with tears in its bright eyes.
    â€œI’m much afraid it’s time to leave you,” it says.
    â€œNow, don’t say that, Bumbuku, dear,” says the tinker. “We’ll be so happy together now we are rich.”
    â€œI’ve come to the end of my time,” says the tea-kettle. “You’ll not see old Bumbuku any more; henceforth I shall be an ordinary kettle, nothing more or less.”
    â€œOh, my dear Bumbuku, what shall I do?” cried the poor tinker in tears.
    â€œI think I should like to be given to the temple of Morinji, as a very sacred treasure,” says the tea-kettle.
    It never spoke or moved again. So the tinker presented it as a very sacred treasure to the temple, and the half of his wealth with it.
    And the tea-kettle was held in wondrous fame for many a long year. Some persons even worshiped it as a saint.

The Matsuyama Mirror
    A LONG, long time ago, there lived in a quiet spot, a young man and his wife. They had one child, a little daughter, whom they both loved with all their hearts. I cannot tell you their names, for they have been long since forgotten, but the name of the place where they lived was Matsuyama, in the province of Echigo.
    It happened once, while the little girl was still a baby, that the father was obliged to go to the great city, the capital of Japan, upon some business. It was too far for the mother and her little baby to go, so he set out alone, after bidding them good-by, and promising to bring them home some pretty present.
    The mother had never been further from home than the next village, and she could not help being a little frightened at the thought of her husband taking such a long journey, and yet she was a little proud too, for he was the first man in all that countryside who had been to the big town where the King and his great lords lived, and where there were so many beautiful and curious things to be seen.
    At last the time came when she might expect her husband back, so she dressed the baby in its best clothes, and herself put on a pretty blue dress which she knew her husband liked.
    You may fancy how glad this good wife was to see him come home safe and sound, and how the little girl clapped her hands, and laughed with delight, when she saw the