Tag Archives: folktale

Folktale: Tale of Two Tengu

Date of Performance: 04/01/2025

Nationality: Japanese

Primary Language: English

Residence: Manila, Philippines

My informant, who is half-Japanese, recounts to me a folktale from a children’s book his parents would read to him as a child. The story revolves around two Tengu, Japanese supernatural creatures who resemble demons, their most notable feature being their long noses, which can extend and retract at will. The tale begins as one Tengu, sitting atop a mountain far from civilization, extends his nose to extreme lengths until it reaches a farming village. The people of the village don’t know what it is, but the daughter of the village’s head uses his nose to hang her expensive laundry, leaving several kimonos on it. When the Tengu retracts his nose, he discovers them, and is overjoyed at his good luck – he is then met with jealousy from his friend, another Tengu, who, watching his success, extends his own nose to the village. Instead of expensive clothes, however, when he does so, he gets nothing but bruises and welts, as the children of the town have used his nose as a plaything, climbing, hitting, and toying with it. He retracts his nose, and much to his dismay, has received nothing for his jealousy but bad fortune.

My informant tells this story with a humorous tone – this was his favorite story growing up – and explains its message as “pretty simple”, probably created as a cautionary tale against the pitfalls of envy. He says it aligns with similar Japanese folktales that preach humility, that portray characters who, out of greed, try to replicate the good fortunes of others at their own expense.

My interpretation of this story is quite similar – I think it reflects the cultural and social values prioritized by a community oriented society like Japan. Mirroring its traditionally Buddhist, antimaterialist cultural history, the emphasis on admonishing qualities such as greed and envy make sense. Interestingly, after researching the story further, I found it to be quite unique – it can be traced back exclusively to one storybook (likely the one my informant was shown as a child), the author of which claims the tale has been passed down in their family. Like my informant, the author is part-Japanese, and as some note the Tengu’s description in the story as having unusual, foreign qualities, and so I believe it is likely to have been corrupted from another older tale into something more reflective of the author’s personal background and heritage.

Selling Fragrant Farts Folktale

Language: English

There once were two brothers who lived together on a farm in a village. The older brother was lazy and always forced his younger brother to do all the farm work for him. Day after day, he tended to the farm, sowing the seeds and tilling the earth. One day, he saw a small bird with a broken leg on the ground. He carefully nursed it back to health, taking great care of the bird. When its leg was all better, the bird flew off, returning with a single peanut. The younger brother, not sure what to do with it, ate the peanut. After a moment, his stomach began to hurt and he farted, releasing the most fragrant and beautiful smell into their house.

At this time, the older brother returned home with a guest. The guest was amazed and in awe of how wonderful their house smelled, and asked the younger brother why the house smelled so good. The younger brother simply replied, “I farted.” The guest was amazed, asking

if the younger brother would be willing to fart in his house too, even offering money to him to do so. The younger brother agreed, and over time, word of his magnificent smelling farts spread

throughout the village, eventually reaching the richest family in their village. The rich man invited the younger brother to fart his sweet-smelling fart in his house, rewarding him with a small fortune.

The older brother became jealous of his younger brother’s newfound fame and wealth, and asked his brother how he began to fart his good-smelling farts. The younger brother recounted how he helped take care of the bird with the broken leg, and how it returned with the peanut that he ate to have his fragrant farts. The older brother went out to the field, catching a bird and breaking its leg. Then, he nursed it back to health, caring for it until it had recovered. The bird also flew off, returning to the older brother with a peanut. The older brother quickly ate the peanut and ran over to the rich man’s house, yelling that he too can fart wonderful smelling farts just like his younger brother. The rich man let him into his house and the older brother quickly released the pressure in his stomach. The worst smell in the world wafted through the house as the older brother pooped his pants in front of the rich man. Embarrassed, the older brother ran out of the village, never to be seen again.

Context

The informant told me about a story he had heard from his grandmother, who in turn had heard about it from her grandparents. Neither of us could find out the exact origin of folktale, as what scare online sources we could find attributed it to either Taiwan or China. But it still remains a longstanding part of the informant’s family history, evidenced by its generational persistence.

Both the informant and I agree on the story’s humor and absurdity being a core reason why the story has stuck around for so long. It’s very premise earworms itself into your head, and you can’t help but want to pass it around to other people. Despite the silliness of it, it conveys a deep and integral moral of how earnest work and kindness begets good fortune. Most likely this reflects a larger social value that parents seek to pass down to their children, and the humorous nature of the tale ensures that the intended audience remembers it.

Kachi Kachi Yama Folktale

Language: English

Text Transcription

“The basic story is there’s this tanuki racoon that causes trouble for this old couple, and one day the tanuki gets caught by the old man in his fields, and he ties the raccoon up and hangs him upside down in his house.

Then, while the old man is gone one day and the wife is cooking, the raccoon begs the wife to set him free and that he’ll help her (which she does). In the version I read as a kid, he obviously tricks her and (maybe) hits her. I think the most that happens is that the wife lays on the ground injured, but in the original, she’s killed. Also in the original, the raccoon transforms into the wife, cooks the wife, and serves the old man a soup with his wife’s flesh

So in my kids version the old man gets angry because the tanuki hit his wife and fled, but in the original I guess it’s way more violent since she’s killed and fed to him.

And so the old man begs this other animal, the rabbit (who’s a good friend) to get revenge/avenge his wife, and the Wikipedia article just vaguely lists that the rabbit pretended to befriend the tanuki but tortured him like by dropping a bee’s nest on him, “treating” it with “medicine” that actually burned the injury. Then (and this is where the title comes from) while the tanuki is carrying a pile of sticks on his back, setting fire on that pile of sticks but brushing off the sound of the burning by saying they’re nearing “kachi kachi yama” which is why they can hear burning, until it’s too late and it burns him.

In the version I read as a kid, I think the burning incident happens first, and then the rabbit “treats” the burn with the “medicine,” so there’s no other torture that i can recall like the bee’s nest.

And then the last part of the story is that the rabbit and the tanuki have a boat race (I can’t remember the reason). In the original, the rabbit carved his boat out of a tree while the tanuki made a boat out of mud (which would dissolve).

In my version, I think the rabbit built both boats, and I can’t recall if one was wood and the other was mud, but I think the rabbit tricks the tanuki into being like “oh this boat is too heavy,” or maybe instead he calls one sturdier? Either way he hints at one being worse or better and the tanuki takes whichever is better, but then the boat starts to fall apart in the race.

In the original, in the end, the tanuki dies from drowning (and I think in some version the rabbit strikes him to ensure he drowns), but in my version, the rabbit makes him swear to stop his deeds and then pulls him out, and the ending instead is that the tanuki befriends the rabbit and the couple for real this time.”

Context

This is a Japanese folktale the informant heard growing up. As a child, she heard the watered-down version of the story, where the wife is not killed by the tanuki and in the end they all learn to coexist. Later on, she learned that the original story is much darker, ending in not one but two deaths.

It isn’t unsurprising to see a story censored for a younger audience. We’ve seen it in western fairy tales too: Cinderella’s stepsisters get to keep their feet intact in Disney’s take on the story. But I think it’s interesting to note how this watered down completely changes, even reverses, the moral of the story. In the children’s version, the moral is a lesson in forgiveness and learning your lesson. In the original, it’s more akin to “what goes around comes around.” The old man doesn’t forgive the tanuki for its role in his wife’s death, and enacts his vengeance through his friend the rabbit. The different versions of this story are two sides of the same coin, and in trying to curate the story for a younger audience, the original message is seemingly abandoned.

One thing the informant noted is that tanuki’s are generally well-meaning, playful tricksters in the stories that feature. This is the only story they know of where the tanuki plays a villainous role. In censoring the original tale, the tanuki in this story has inadvertently become more similar to its counterparts in other stories.

Dokkaebi (도깨비) – Legend

Nationality: Korean
Age: 20
Occupation: Film & TV Production Major Student and University of Southern California
Residence: Orion Housing at the University of Southern California
Language: English

Text: 

Dokkaebi (도깨비) translates to Goblin from Korean to English.

Context: 

“There are these creatures popular in Korean media known as ‘goblins,’ which are mischievous creatures that are essentially fairies. There’s a very famous K-drama by the same title. They usually carry these big, magical clubs which can grant wishes, and they wear outfits that look as if you were to skin a tiger and wear its skin.”

The performer heard about this legend when he was 18 and read Omniscient Viewpoint, a manhwa popular among teenagers in 2023.  He later learned it was popular to use the “Goblin” trope in various types of Korean media, ranging from horror to kids’ shows. 

Analysis: 

Dokkaebi are supernatural beings recorded in Korean Literature since medieval Korea (about 918–1392). However, the oral folktelling of the trope has evolved and remains popular into modern times, often tied to people, places, events, or dreams. For example, older renditions of the Dokkaebi are traditionally adorned in animalistic tiger skin, but in modern retellings (such as with K-pop merchandise or the K-drama Goblin (Guardian: The Lonely and Great God)), the Dokkaebi are portrayed to be at the forefront of fashion trends. This is because in the past, a tiger skin would’ve symbolized wealth and power, but now, that symbol is replaced by expensive suits. Despite physical changes to accommodate the advancing Korean folk, Dokkaebi adhere to Korean values of ethics and morals.

Oftentimes, Dokkaebi figures take on the role of playing with a karmic law: punishing the bad and rewarding the good. They’re considered neither demon nor ghost, taking on a neutral presence within Korean folklore as a figure that teaches humans lessons. Because of this, they are often considered tricksters. They emphasize that good and mischief can coexist as there is a balance and order to the way life plays out. This balance is commonly seen within Korean culture as many subscribe to concepts from Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, and shamanism – all of which emphasize duality and harmony.

Dokkaebi plays well into Korean folk beliefs of shamanism and animism as Dokkaebi are often derived from nature and the spiritual imbuing of objects. In some tales of Dokkaebi, the Goblins arise from normal objects turned sacred (such as old brooms or keepsakes) which gain a spirit over time (animism). If the sacred objects were cast aside carelessly, this could result in the rise of a Dokkaebi.

Why Frogs Cry(Croak) in the Rain

Text:

Long ago, there lived a widowed frog mother and her son. Her son was notoriously mischievous and disobedient, often doing the opposite of what his mother told him. If his mother told him to come inside, he would stay outside and play longer. If she told him to go up, he would go down. If she told him to go to the hills, he would wander near the river, and so on and so forth. She loved her son very much, but his antics worried her so much she began to get sick. But even then, her son did not change. One day, when the mother frog knew she was going to die, she lay on her deathbed and called her son over. She wanted a proper burial on the mountainside, but knew that if she told her son, he would do the opposite. So she asked him to bury her next to the river. Sorrowfully, he promised. And when she died, her son mourned and blamed himself for her death, and decided to keep his last promise to his mother rather than go against her supposed wishes. So, even though he knew it wasn’t the proper way, he buried his mother next to the river instead of up in the mountains. But when it rained, the waters started to rise, and he prayed that it would not wash away his mother’s grave. But the rain did not stop, and the river overflowed, and indeed washed his mother’s grave away. The son sat in the rain and cried for his mother. And that is why frogs cry in the rain today.

Context:

The informant had heard this tale from her mother, as it is a traditional Korean folktale. She interprets it as a warning to obey your elders, especially your parents.

Analysis:

I, too, interpret this story as a warning to always listen to your parents and respect them. I see this as a broader reflection of Korean culture; historically, almost all aspects of Korean society have operated under strong Confucian influences and values, especially filial piety, obedience, and social harmony. In the story, because the frog disobeyed his mother constantly, he caused her early death, and furthermore caused himself personal distress as he watched her grave wash away. This is a consequence of his constant disregard of hierarchical family relationships(in Korea, elders are held in high esteem and have overarching authority in the family dynamic) that are central to Confucianism. Although this is a folktale to find the reason behind frogs crying–croaking–in the rain, this story seems moreso to be a cautionary tale rather than an etiological story.