d
knees with their faces in the dust, and acknowledged Peach-Prince as
their master, and swore they would ever henceforth be his slaves. Then
Peach-Prince, with a wave of his fan bade them rise up and carry the
treasures to the largest ship they had, and to point the prow to the
land. This done, Momotaro and his company got on board, and the onis
bowed farewell.

A stiff breeze sprang up and sent the ship plowing through the waters,
and bent out the great white sail like a bow. On the prow was a long
black tassel like the mane of a horse, that at every lurch dipped in the
waves, and as it rose flung off the spray.

The old couple becoming anxious after their Peach-Darling, had traveled
down to the sea shore, and arrived just as the treasure ship hove in
sight. Oh how beautiful it looked with its branches of red coral, and
shining heaps of gold and silver, and the invisible coat and hat, the
dazzling sheen of the jewels of the ebbing and the flowing tide, the
glistening pearls, and piles of agate and crystal.

[Illustration: THE ONI SUBMITTING TO PEACH PRINCE.]

Momotaro came home laden with riches enough to keep the old couple in
comfort all their lives, and he himself lived in great state. He knighted
the monkey, the dog and the pheasant, and made them his body-guard. Then
he married a beautiful princess and lived happily till he died.

THE FOX AND THE BADGER.

There is a certain mountainous district in Shikoku in which a skillful
hunter had trapped or shot so many foxes and badgers that only a few were
left. These were an old grey badger and a female fox with one cub. Though
hard pressed by hunger, neither dared to touch a loose piece of food,
lest a trap might be hidden under it. Indeed they scarcely stirred out of
their holes except at night, lest the hunter's arrow should strike them.
At last the two animals held a council together to decide what to do,
whether to emigrate or to attempt to outwit their enemy. They thought a
long while, when finally the badger having hit upon a good plan, cried
out:

"I have it. Do you transform yourself into a man. I'll pretend to be
dead. Then you can bind me up and sell me in the town. With the money
paid you can buy some food. Then I'll get loose and come back. The next
week I'll sell you and you can escape."

"Ha! ha! ha! _yoroshiu_, _yoroshiu_," (good, good,) cried both together.
"It's a capital plan," said Mrs. Fox.

So the Fox changed herself into a human