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THE MAGIC TEA KETTLE (Japan).
Once in a temple in Japan there lived a priest whose hobby was drinking tea. He was very fond of tea and he always made the tea himself. Whenever he went to the market he would look for and buy utensils that would make him a perfect cup of tea.
One day when he went shopping, he went to an old thrift store and saw a beautiful iron kettle. It was old and rusty. But the priest took a great liking to it and so bought it and took it to the temple. He washed, cured and polished it until all the rust and dirt was gone. The kettle then was splendid and looked like new. The priest couldn’t be more delighted.
He went and called three of his pupils in the temple and said, “Look what a fine kettle I found today. Let’s boil some water and we can all have a sumptuous drink of tea.”
He filled the kettle with water and put it on the fire. The pupils and the master sat round it and waited for the water to boil. The kettle slowly warmed up, grew hot and even more hot. Wow! What happened next was unbelievable. From the burning hot kettle out popped the head of a badger, a bushy tail grew at its back and a four little feet grew out from the kettle.
“Ouch! Please help, I’m burning, I’m burning,” cried the badger and scampered out of the fire, jumped up and began running and running out of the room.
The priest stood petrified. Speechless, he could not figure out what happened. Then quickly regaining his senses and not willing to lose his precious kettle he called out to his pupils. “Quick! go catch it, and don’t let it go away.” He screamed and called out to the equally amazed pupils.
The pupils then ran and ran after it. One took a broom, another a dipper and the other a pair of fire tongs. They chased after the running kettle and soon caught it. But the badger was gone. What remained in their hands was the old rusty kettle.
“Phew! That was quick.” Gasped the pupils. “What a naughty badger!” They exclaimed.
The priest was frightened. He did not like the magic in the kettle, that took to its feet in a badger and ran off. “This is nonsense, I will not stand this tormenting from a nasty old kettle. I must get rid of it.” he mumbled to himself.
Just then to his delight a junkman walked into the temple. The priest was quick to beg him to buy the kettle for whatever price he could afford. The junkman bought the kettle for a very small price and went away happily that he had made a good bargain.
That night, tired he shuffled the kettle into his storage and went to sleep. Suddenly he heard a voice calling out. “Mr. Junkman, Mr. Junkman.” The man got up and lighting a candle looked around. He thought it came from the storage and opened the door. He would not believe his eyes; for there before him stood the kettle fully turned into a badger, with a badger head, bushy tail and four little badger feet.
Surprised the Junkman asked, “Aren’t you the kettle I bought from the priest today?”
“Yes, I am, said the kettle. But I am a magic kettle turned a badger. My name is Bumbuku, meaning ‘Good Luck.’ That priest in the temple was mean and wicked to me. He put me on the fire and burnt me. But if you be good and nice to me, I will help you become very rich,” said the badger.
“Very rich!” gasped the man.
“But how?” He queried, his eyes bulging and his face brimming with surprise.
“Don’t worry. All you have to do is put me up on a show. I can do all sorts of tricks. People will come in crowds to watch me and you can become rich.”
“Splendid!” said the junkman, and built a small stage in the yard which he turned into a theatre. Then he put up a sign, “The Trickster Magic Kettle Of Good Luck ,SHOW !” People came pouring in to watch the tricks of Bambuku. Quite magically, he would walk on a single rope from pole to pole carrying a parasol. He would summersault on it and perform many other forms of aerobatics, that mesmerized the people. Then after the show the junkman would feed Bambuku with rice cakes that made him very happy. In this way the Junkman made lots of money and became rich
.
The Junkman had made enough money. So one day he told Bambuku, “I am quite rich now. You must be very tired, so why don’t you go back to the temple and live there peacefully.”
Then Bambuku said, “You are right. I am getting tired now, and would like to get back to the temple. But I am afraid that old priest will put me on the fire and burn me, and would not give rice cakes like you to eat.”
“Don’t worry, I will take care of it,” said the Junkman.
The next day the Junkman took a good sum of money, some rice cakes and took Bambuku to the temple.The Junkman met the priest; gave him money and explained everything about Bambuku and asked, “Will you please let Bambuku live here peacefully, never burn him over the fire and feed him with rice cakes?”
“Oh! Yes indeed I will” said the priest humbly saying sorry to Bambuku for being mean to him. “I’m honored indeed to have a magic kettle like this in the temple. It will be our treasure forever. And I will put it in our treasure house to be with us forever.” Said the priest, feeling sorry for what he had done. Then he placed Bambuku in the temple treasure house where it is believed the magic kettle is still there besides a dish of rice cakes.
Text from SPOOKY TALES FROM THE ORIENT
