to plunge in the tub of cold water,
when the wasp flew at him and stung his nose. Slipping down, he fell
flat on the floor, when the mortar rolled on him and crushed him to
death. Then the whole party congratulated the crab on their victory.
Grateful for the friendship thus shown, the whole party, crab, mortar and
wasp lived in peace together.

The crab married the daughter of a rich crab that lived over the hill,
and a great feast of persimmons was spread before the bride's relatives
who came to see the ceremony. By-and-by a little crab was born which
became a great pet with the mortar and wasp. With no more apes to plague
them, they lived very happily.

[Illustration: THE EGG, WASP AND MORTAR ATTACK THE MONKEY.]

THE WONDERFUL TEA-KETTLE.

A long time ago there was an old priest who lived in the temple of
Morinji in the province of Hitachi. He cooked his own rice, boiled his
own tea, swept his own floor and lived frugally as an honest priest
should do.

One day he was sitting near the square fire-place in the middle of the
floor. A rope and chain to hold the pot and kettle hung down from the
covered hole in the ceiling which did duty as a chimney. A pair of brass
tongs was stuck in the ashes and the fire blazed merrily. At the side of
the fire-place, on the floor, was a tray filled with tiny tea-cups, a
pewter tea-caddy, a bamboo tea-stirrer, and a little dipper. The priest
having finished sweeping the ashes off the edges of the hearth with a
little whisk of hawk's feathers, was just about to put on the tea when
"suzz," "suzz," sang the tea-kettle spout; and then "pattari"--"pattari"
said the lid, as it flapped up and down, and the kettle swung backwards
and forwards.

"What does this mean?" said the old bonze. "_Naru hodo_," said he, with a
start as the spout of the kettle turned into a badger's nose with its big
whiskers, while from the other side sprouted out a long bushy tail.

"_Yohodo medzurashi_," shouted the priest dropping the tea-caddy and
spilling the green tea all over the matting as four hairy legs appeared
under the kettle, and the strange compound, half badger and half kettle,
jumped off the fire, and began running around the room. To the priest's
horror it leaped on a shelf, puffed out its belly and began to beat a
tune with its fore-paws as if it were a drum. The old bonze's pupils,
hearing the racket rushed in, and after a lively chase, upsetting piles
of books and breaking some of th