Once upon a time, there lived an old couple in a small village.

One day, when the old man went to his field, a naughty raccoon dog was eating a potato he had grown.

"Hey, you rascal,"

The old man shouted as he caught and bound the raccoon dog, and brought it home.

When he got home, he hung the raccoon dog from the ceiling of his house, and said to his old wife,

"Look, my dear,
　I caught this naughty raccoon dog
　in the field. We should leave it
　as it is for a while for punishment."

Then he went back to the field.

Seeing the old man leave, the raccoon dog said to the old woman.

"Dear ma'am,
　the rope is hurting me so bad.
　Will you please loosen it a little bit?"

"Oh, you poor thing, let me loosen
　the rope only a little,"

She said as she kindly loosened the rope.

As she loosened the rope, the raccoon dog took advantage and quickly untied the rope.

He then beat the old woman.

"You're stupid,
　I'll give tit for tat,"

shouted the raccoon dog, hitting the old woman many times, and ran away.

The poor old woman, seriously wounded, had to stay in bed, and her good friend rabbit came to see her.

After hearing what had happened to the old woman, the rabbit got mad and said,

"What a mean raccoon dog!
　I will make him pay for that."

The rabbit went to see the raccoon dog and said,

"Hi, Raccoon Dog, I saw a lot of
　good mushrooms in the mountain.
　Do you want to go pick them and
　make a good dinner together?"

"Hmm, sounds delicious.
　OK, let's go,"

The raccoon dog replied.

"Good. I'll carry a pot, so you carry
　firewood on your back, will you?"

said the rabbit.

Thus, the raccoon dog and the rabbit started climbing the mountain.

After walking for a while, the rabbit hit flint stones by the bundle of firewood behind the raccoon dog.

Click, click.

"Ha? Did you hear that click, click
　sound? What's that?"

The raccoon dog asked.

"Ah, that. You hear that sound because this is Click-click Mountain,"

answered the rabbit.

Soon, the firewood caught fire and burst into flames, making furious sounds.

"Aha! What's that hoo-hoo sound?"

asked the raccoon dog.

"You hear that sound because
　this is Hoo-hoo Mountain,"

answered the rabbit.

In a few seconds, the fire touched the raccoon dog's back.

"Aw, aw, it's hot!"

The raccoon dog said as he was burned badly.  

Soon after that, the rabbit visited the raccoon dog at his house.

"Hi, Raccoon Dog, did you recover
　from the burn?"
The rabbit asked.

"Almost, though it still hurts a little,"
answered the raccoon dog.

"Well then would you like to go out
　to the sea with me?
　We can catch a lot of fish there,"
said the rabbit.

"Sounds mighty good. OK, let's go,"
said the raccoon dog.

The raccoon dog and the rabbit decided to make a boat each for fishing.

"Hey, Raccoon Dog,
　I'm going to make a wooden boat,
　but I think you should make one
　with mud because it's easier,"

The rabbit suggested.

So, the raccoon dog made his boat with mud.

When their boats were completed, they went out to sea right away.

They threw a fish net from each boat and caught a lot of fish.

They were very happy.

But then, the raccoon dog's mud boat started to melt and eventually to sink.

"Oh no, help!
　My boat is sinking!"
The raccoon dog cried.

"That's the punishment you get for
　what you did to my friend the old
　lady,"
The rabbit said.

"I'm sorry, so sorry.
　I'll never behave bad again,
　so help me, please,"

Since the raccoon dog apologized so sincerely, the rabbit helped the raccoon dog from the water.

Then he took the raccoon dog to the old couple's house.

"I'm sorry. I did a terrible thing to
　you. Please forgive me,"

The raccoon made a hearty apology to the couple, and they all lived happily together from then on.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　The end

produced by
International Digital EHON Association
presented by
International Digital EHON Association  written by
Satoru Mabuchi
illustrated by
Hiroshi Makino
translated by
Motoko Yamamoto