. The pink fairy book. ve a little rest, he went on, for rice pounding is verytiring w^ork, and not at all fit for weak women. Theselast words melted the good woman completely, and sheunfastened the bonds that held him. Poor foolish crea-ture ! In one moment the Tanuki had seized her, strippedoff all her clothes, and popped her in the mortar. In afew minutes more she was pounded as fine as the rice; andnot content with that, the Tanuki placed a pot on thehearth and made ready to cook the peasant a dinner fromthe flesh of his own wife ! When everything was complete he looked out of thedoor, and
. The pink fairy book. ve a little rest, he went on, for rice pounding is verytiring w^ork, and not at all fit for weak women. Theselast words melted the good woman completely, and sheunfastened the bonds that held him. Poor foolish crea-ture ! In one moment the Tanuki had seized her, strippedoff all her clothes, and popped her in the mortar. In afew minutes more she was pounded as fine as the rice; andnot content with that, the Tanuki placed a pot on thehearth and made ready to cook the peasant a dinner fromthe flesh of his own wife ! When everything was complete he looked out of thedoor, and saw the old man coming from the forest carry-ing a large bundle of wood. Quick as lightning theTanuki not only put on the w^omans clothes, but, as hewas a magician, assumed her form as well. Then he tookthe wood, kindled the fire, and very soon set a large din-ner before the old man, who was very hungry, and hadforgotten for the moment all about his enemy. But whenthe Tanuki saw that he had eaten his fill and would be. Tat T7\in;iu bugs Trti-: old woman To P>^eLe/\SE Hl^V 36 THE SLAYING OF THE TANUKI thinking about his prisoner, he hastily shook off theclothes behind a door and took his own shape. Then hesaid to the peasant, Your are a nice sort of person toseize animals and to talk of killing them! You arecaught in your own net. It is your own wife that youhave eaten, and if you want to find her bones you haveonly to look under the floor. With these words heturned and made for the forest. The old peasant grew cold with horror as he listened,and seemed frozen to the place where he stood. Whenhe had recovered himself a little, he collected the bonesof his dead wife, buried them in the garden, and sworeover the grave to be avenged on the Tanuki. After every-thing was done he sat himself down in his lonely cottageand wept bitterly, and the bitterest thought of all wasthat he would never be able to forget that he had eatenhis own wife. While he was thus weeping and wailing his
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjecttales, bookyear1897
