THE 
 
 
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 upon a time 
 there lived in a for- 
 est, a badger, and a 
 mother fox with one little cub. 
 
 There were no other beasts in 
 the wood, because the hunters 
 had killed them all with bows 
 and arrows, or by setting snares. 
 
The deer, and the wild boar, the 
 hares, the weasles and the stoats, 
 even the bright little squirrels had 
 been shot, or had fallen into 
 traps. At last, only the badger, 
 and the fox, with her young one 
 were left. And they were starv- 
 ing, for they dared not venture 
 from their holes for fear of the 
 traps. 
 
 They did not know what to 
 do, or where to turn for food. 
 At last the badger said, 
 
 “I have thought of a plan. 
 
 V. 
 

 » \ 
 
 - I will pretend to be dead. You 
 
 must change yourself into a man. 
 
 and take me into 
 

 With the money you get for me 
 you must buy food, and bring it 
 into the forest. When I get a 
 chance, I will run away, and come 
 back to you, and we will eat our 
 dinner together. Mind you wait 
 for me, and don’t eat any of it 
 until I come. Next week it will 
 be your turn to be dead, and my 
 turn to sell, do you see?” 
 
 The fox thought this plan would 
 do very well: so, as soon as the 
 badger had lain down, and pre- 
 tended to be dead, she said to 
 her little cub, 
 
 
Be sure not to come out of the 
 hole until I come back. Be very 
 good and quiet, and I will soon 
 bring you some nice dinner.” 
 
 She then 
 changed her- 
 self into 
 a wood- 
 cutter, 
 
(f 
 
 took the badger by the heels, and 
 swung him over her shoulders, and 
 trudged off into the town. There 
 she sold the badger for a fair 
 
price, and with 
 the money 
 bought 
 some fish, 
 some tofu* 
 and some 
 vegetables. 
 
 She then ran 
 back to the forest 
 as fast as she could, changed 
 herself into a fox again, and 
 i crept into her hole to see if 
 little cub was all right. Little 
 
 1 
 
 cub was there, safe enough, but 
 
 made from while beans. 
 
very hungry, and wanted to begin 
 upon the tofu at once. 
 
 no/’ said the mother fox. 
 ^^Fair play’s a jewel. We must 
 wait for the badger.” 
 
badger 
 arrived, 
 quite 
 out 
 
 of breath with running 
 
 so fast. 
 
 hope 
 you haven’t 
 been eating any of 
 the dinner,” he panted. could 
 
 sooner. The man you 
 , brought his wife to 
 and boasted how 
 
(r 
 
 cheap he had bought me. You 
 should have asked twice as much. 
 At last they left me alone, and 
 then I jumped up, and ran away as 
 fast as I could.” 
 
 The badger, the fox and the cub 
 now sat down to dinner, and had 
 a fine feast, the badger taking care 
 to get the best bits for himself. 
 
Some days after, when all the 
 food was finished, and they had 
 begun to get hungry again, the 
 badger said to the fox; 
 
 “Now it’s your turn to die.” 
 So the fox pretended to be dead, 
 and the badger changed himself 
 into a hunter, shouldered the fox, 
 and went off to the town, where he 
 made a good bargain, and sold 
 her for a nice little sum of money. 
 
 You have seen aheady that the 
 badger was greedy and selfish. 
 What do you think he did now? 
 
He wished to have all the money, 
 and all the food it would buy for 
 himself, so, he whispered to the 
 man who h^d bought the fox. 
 
 “That fox is only pretending to 
 be dead; take care he dosn’t run 
 away.” 
 
 “We’ll soon settle that”, said the 
 man : and he knocked the fox on 
 the head with a big stick, and 
 killed her. 
 
 The badger next laid out the 
 money in buying all the nice things 
 he could think of. He carried 
 
 f 
 
them off to the forest, and there 
 eat them all up himself, without 
 giving one bit to the poor little 
 cub, who was all 
 alone, crying 
 
f — 
 
 for its mother, very sad, and very 
 hungry. 
 
 Poor little motherless cub! But 
 being a clever little fox, he soon 
 began to put two and two together, 
 and at last felt quite sure that the 
 badger had, in some way, caused 
 the loss of his mother. 
 
 He made up his mind that 
 he would punish the badger; and, 
 as he was not big enough, or strong 
 enough, to do it by force, he was 
 obliged to try another plan. 
 
 » He did not let the badger see 
 
instead of changing himself at all, 
 the cunning little cub just went 
 and hid himself behind a tree, 
 and watched' to see what would 
 happen. Presently, there came 
 
 
 
ea 
 
 along the bridge, leading into the 
 town, a daimio^ seated in a yiori- 
 mono^ a great crowd of servants 
 
The badger was quite sure that 
 this must be the fox; 
 so, he ran up to the norimono^ 
 put in his head, and cried. 
 
 ‘‘I’ve found you outl 
 
, — ^ 
 
 I’ve won the game I” 
 
 badger 1 A badger! Off with 
 his head,” cried the daimio. 
 
 i/ 
 
So one of the retainers 
 cut off the badger’s head 
 with one blow of 
 his sharp sword. 
 
 The little cub, all the 
 time laughing unseen 
 behind the 
 tree. 
 

 
 
 \ ‘i 
 
 ij-> ‘k * ' ' 
 
 ffhe loban^ha Japanefe |aipy ^ale ^erie^. 
 
 1. Momotaro. 
 
 2. Shitakiri Suzume. 
 
 3. Saru Kani Kassen. 
 
 4. Hanasaki Jiji. 
 
 5. Kachi Kachi Yama. 
 
 6. Nedzumi no Yomeiri. 
 
 7. Kobutori. 
 
 8. Urashima. 
 
 9. Yamata no Orochl. 
 
 10. Matsuyama Kagami. 
 
 11. inaba no Shiro-Usagri. 
 
 12. Kitsune no Tegara. 
 
 Publh>^edby the KOBUMSHA, 2. Minami Saegicho. TOKYO.