"The Wonderful Teakettle.” Japanese fairy tales, Teresa Peirce Williston, Chicago: Rand, McNally & Co, 1904, pp. 9-16.

Tale Summary

There was once an old priest who was happy to have found a beautiful brass tea kettle for very cheap in a little shop. He brought it home and showed it to his three boys, who were unimpressed. The man told them to focus on their studies in another room while he took a nap, but being young boys, they did nothing but roughhouse while there was no supervision. There was a loud noise from the room in which the priest slept, and one of the boys peered through the screen to investigate the source. He watched the teakettle spring into the air and turn into a badger, which began to dance all over the room. The boy was frightened and told the others that he had seen a goblin, but they did not believe him, and when they themselves looked they only saw the kettle. They heard the priest waking up and quickly scrambled to appear busy with their studies. The priest wanted to brew a cup of tea, but as soon as he placed the kettle on the fire it turned back into a very unhappy badger. The priest yelled that there was a goblin, and he and his sons all took sticks and began to beat it, but it had turned back into a kettle and there was no use. Wanting to get rid of the kettle, the priest gave it to a tinker, who saw that it was very nice and only needed some mending. When he had fixed up the kettle, it turned back into a badger and thanked him for his kindness. The tinker offered it some food, and the badger suggested that the man take him to various villages where he would sing and dance on a tightrope. The tinker did this and became rich. He put his beloved tea kettle in a little temple on top of a hill, where it rested and had all the sugar-plums it wanted.