How the kettle got there the old man did not know , but he took it up and looked it over carefully , and when he found that it was quite whole he cleaned the dust off it and carried it into his kitchen . ` That was a piece of luck , ' he said , smiling to himself ; ' a good kettle costs money , and it is as well to have a second one at hand in case of need ; mine is getting worn out , and the water is already beginning to come through its bottom . ' Then he took the other kettle off the fire , filled the new one with water , and put it in its place . No sooner was the water in the kettle getting warm than a strange thing happened , and the man , who was standing by , thought he must be dreaming . First the handle of the kettle gradually changed its shape and became a head , and the spout grew into a tail , while out of the body sprang four paws , and in a few minutes the man found himself watching , not a kettle , but a tanuki ! The creature jumped off the fire , and bounded about the room like a kitten , running up the walls and over the ceiling , till the old man was in an agony lest his pretty room should be spoilt . He cried to a neighbour for help , and between them they managed to catch the tanuki , and shut him up safely in a wooden chest . Then , quite exhausted , they sat down on the mats , and consulted together what they should do with this troublesome beast . At length they decided to sell him , and bade a child who was passing send them a certain tradesman called Jimmu . When Jimmu arrived , the old man told him that he had something which he wished to get rid of , and lifted the lid of the wooden chest , where he had shut up the tanuki . But , to his surprise , no tanuki was there , nothing but the kettle he had found in the corner . It was certainly very odd , but the man remembered what had taken place on the fire , and did not want to keep the kettle any more , so after a little bargaining about the price , Jimmu went away carrying the kettle with him . Now Jimmu had not gone very far before he felt that the kettle was getting heavier and heavier , and by the time he reached home he was so tired that he was thankful to put it down in the corner of his room , and then forgot all about it . In the middle of the night , however , he was awakened by a loud noise in the corner where the kettle stood , and raised himself up in bed to see what it was . But nothing was there except the kettle , which seemed quiet enough . He thought that he must have been dreaming , and fell asleep again , only to be roused a second time by the same disturbance . He jumped up and went to the corner , and by the light of the lamp that he always kept burning he saw that the kettle had become a tanuki , which was running round after his tail . After he grew weary of that , he ran on the balcony , where he turned several somersaults , from pure gladness of heart . The tradesman was much troubled as to what to do with the animal , and it was only towards morning that he managed to get any sleep ; but when he opened his eyes again there was no tanuki , only the old kettle he had left there the night before . As soon as he had tidied his house , Jimmu set off to tell his story to a friend next door .
The man listened quietly , and did not appear so surprised as XXXXX expected , for he recollected having heard , in his youth , something about a wonder-working kettle .
First Jimmu before fire minutes morning night second tanuki tradesman