iling to the nearest shop.

In former times he had been very fond of his little son; but since he
had betrayed his wife he seemed to have changed all in a moment, for he
would not give him as much as a bite, and the poor little fellow would
have starved had he not found some nuts and berries to eat, and he
waited on, always hoping that his mother would come back.

At length some notion of the truth began to dawn on him; but he was
careful to let the old tanuki see nothing, though in his own mind he
turned over plans from morning till night, wondering how best he might
avenge his mother.

One morning, as the little tanuki was sitting with his father, he
remembered, with a start, that his mother had taught him all she knew of
magic, and that he could work spells as well as his father, or perhaps
better. 'I am as good a wizard as you,' he said suddenly, and a cold
chill ran through the tanuki as he heard him, though he laughed, and
pretended to think it a joke. But the little tanaki stuck to his point,
and at last the father proposed they should have a wager.

'Change yourself into any shape you like,' said he, 'and I will
undertake to know you. I will go and wait on the bridge which leads over
the river to the village, and you shall transform yourself into anything
you please, but I will know you through any disguise.' The little tanuki
agreed, and went down the road which his father had pointed out. But
instead of transforming himself into a different shape, he just hid
himself in a corner of the bridge, where he could see without being
seen.

He had not been there long when his father arrived and took up his place
near the middle of the bridge, and soon after the king came by, followed
by a troop of guards and all his court.

'Ah! he thinks that now he has changed himself into a king I shall
not know him,' thought the old tanuki, and as the king passed in his
splendid carriage, borne by his servants, he jumped upon it crying: 'I
have won my wager; you cannot deceive me.' But in reality it was he who
had deceived himself. The soldiers, conceiving that their king was being
attacked, seized the tanuki by the legs and flung him over into the
river, and the water closed over him.

And the little tanoki saw it all, and rejoiced that his mother's death
had been avenged. Then he went back to the forest, and if he has not
found it too lonely, he is probably living there still.

[From Japanische Mahrchen.]

The C