This collection of Japanese folk tales is translated by the renowned scholar of Japanese literature, Vera Nikolaevna Markova. It includes a preface and commentary by the translator. The tales presented in this collection tell of cunning pranks and mythical feats, of the struggle between good and evil and the triumph of justice, of the magical deeds of a wondrous wife, and of the cruel war between a treacherous monkey and crabs. And the heroes of these stories – mischievous foxes and badger-poets, beautiful bird-maidens and snake-women, cunning tengu spirits and mischievous ghosts – will remain in the readers' memories for a long time.