"Kitsune-don, Kitsune-don! Will you grant me one request?"
"That depends on what the request is," the fox replied.
"Just one thing-- can you change into a high-class tea kettle for me?"
"If you'll bring me a jubako of kowameshi and an oil herring, I don't mind changing into a tea kettle for you."
And so Monja no Kichi quickly procured some azuki rice and an oil herring which he brought, wrapped in a furoshiki, to the fox's den in the middle of a grove.
"Okay, Kitsune-don, I brought it."
Seeing that, the fox did a flip in mid air, and came down in the form of a fine arare tea kettle.
Chuckling to himself, Monja no Kichi wrapped the tea kettle in the furoshiki and carried it to the priest of a mountain temple.
"Osho-san, osho-san, I've found a good tea kettle. Won't you please buy it for 3 ryo?
The priest was very taken with it, and paid the 3 ryo without hesitation. He wanted to boil up some water right away, and called an acolyte.
"Kozo! Please take this tea kettle to the river out in front and get it clean."
The acolyte took the tea kettle to the river, and started to scrub it with sand. This hurt too much for the tea-kettle fox to endure.
"Kozo! You're hurting me. Please scrub gently," it cried.
The acolyte was astonished, and raced back to the temple.
"Osho-sama, Osho-sama! That tea kettle said 'Kozo, you're hurting me; please scrub gently' to me."
"Don't worry," the priest replied. "New tea kettles say that sort of thing. You need to scrub it well.
The acolyte took the tea kettleback to the river, and started to scrub it with sand. The tea-kettle cried out again.
"Darn it, Kozo, that hurts! Don't you know what it means to scrub gently?"
But this time the acolyte stayed calm, and scrubbed away. When he was done, he filled the tea kettle with water, and put it over the fire in the irori.
"Kozo!" the tea kettle cried. "That's too hot. Put the fire out-- put it out!"
That shocked the acolyte, who went to the priest's room again.
"Osho-sama, Osho-sama! That tea kettle said 'Kozo, that's too hot. Put the fire out-- put it out' to me."
"New tea kettles say that sort of thing," the priest replied. "You go right ahead and make a good fire."
The acolyte got the fire burning hotter and hotter. Before long, ears popped out of the side of the tea kettle.
The acolyte was shocked again, and called out, "Osho-sama, Osho-sama! That tea kettle has ears!"
Even as he spoke, a head popped out, and then a tail, and then feet.
"Osho-sama, Osho-sama! It's got a head, and a tail, and feet!"
The priest replied, "New tea kettles have . . ." but before he could finish, the tea kettle jumped off the fire
"It's too hot, Kozo! You've burned me, Osho!" the tea kettle barked. It returned to its true form as a fox, and escaped into the mountains behind the temple.