Long ago in a place called Yatsushiro in the province of Higo (now Kumamoto prefecture) there was an interesting fellow named Hikoichi-don. He always enjoyed deceiving people and making fun of them. However, there was a tanuki living on the hill behind this Hikoichi-don's home. It was an interesting tanuki of no less skill than Hikoichi. It enjoyed changing to human form and deceiving people on an almost daily basis.

One night when Hikoichi-don went outside, someone called out "Hikoichi-don! Hikoichi-don!"

"Who is it?"

"I'm the tanuki of the back hill."

"What do you want?"

"What are you most afraid of? What is it that frightens you most?"

"Let me see . . . It's dumplings. Penny dumplings frighten me so much I can hardly stand it."

That was Hikoichi-don's answer. The next evening when Hikoichi-don returned home, something was thrown at him through the window. When he looked closely, he saw they were delicious penny dumplings. He recalled his reply to the tanuki, and started yelling, "Help! Help! It's dumplings! I can't stand it!" At the same time he went around the room gathering up the dumplings, and gobbled them down, one after another.

After the tanuki had thrown all the dumplings it had, Hikoichi-don said, "My, that was horrible," then made himself some tea and drank it down. The tanuki saw that through the window. He then realized he had been deceived by Hikoichi-don, and became very angry. "What can I do? He's just gotten free dumplings from me."

The next day Hikoichi-don went to look at his rice fields. Rocks had been thrown everywhere in them.

"Oh, this is great!" he said aloud. "Like they say, 'three years over a rock.'/1 That means this field won't need any fertilizer for the next three years. What a marvel-- I'm really happy! Putting manure on the field would probably ruin it."

Hikoichi-don said this happily, and looked very happy. The tanuki was nearby, of course, and heard it all.

"I've messed up again," it thought. "I've been fooled by Hikoichi!"

That night the field was picked clean of rocks, and horse manure was spread there instead.

Needless to say, Hikoichi-don actually was happy when I saw that.