The Project Gutenberg EBook of Battle of the Monkey & the Crab, by Anonymous

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Title: Battle of the Monkey & the Crab

Author: Anonymous

Illustrator: Sensei Eitaku

Translator: David Thompson

Release Date: April 8, 2008 [EBook #25021]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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JAPANESE FAIRY TALE SERIES. No. 3

BATTLE OF THE MONKEY & THE CRAB

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

~Griffith, Farran & Co.,
London.

Kobunsha
Tokyo~

~All Rights Reserved.~

BATTLE OF THE MONKEY & THE CRAB.

[Illustration]

A monkey and a crab once met when going round a mountain.

[Illustration]

The monkey had picked up a persimmon-seed, and the crab had a piece
of toasted rice-cake. The monkey seeing this, and wishing to get
something that could be turned to good account at once, said:
"Pray, exchange that rice-cake for this persimmon-seed." The crab,
without a word, gave up his cake, and took the persimmon-seed and
planted it. At once it sprung up, and soon became a tree so high
one had to look up at it. The tree was full of persimmons but the
crab had no means of climbing the tree. So he asked the monkey to
climb up and get the persimmons for him. The monkey got up on a
limb of the tree and began to eat the persimmons. The unripe
persimmons he threw at the crab, but all the ripe and good ones
he put in his pouch. The crab under the tree thus got his shell
badly bruised and only by good luck escaped into his hole, where he
lay distressed with pain and not able to get up. Now when the
relatives and household of the crab heard how matters stood they
were surprised and angry, and declared war and attacked the
monkey, who leading forth a numerous following bid defiance to the
other party. The crabs, finding themselves unable to meet and
cope with this force, became still more exasperated and enraged,
and retreated into thei