Tanuki saw that he had eaten his fill and would be thinking about
his prisoner, he hastily shook off the clothes behind a door and
took his own shape. Then he said to the peasant, 'You are a nice
sort of person to seize animals and to talk of killing them! You
are caught in your own net. It is your own wife that you have
eaten, and if you want to find her bones you have only to look
under the floor.' With these words he turned and made for the
forest.

The old peasant grew cold with horror as he listened, and seemed
frozen to the place where he stood. When he had recovered
himself a little, he collected the bones of his dead wife, buried
them in the garden, and swore over the grave to be avenged on the
Tanuki. After everything was done he sat himself down in his
lonely cottage and wept bitterly, and the bitterest thought of
all was that he would never be able to forget that he had eaten
his own wife.

While he was thus weeping and wailing his friend the hare passed
by, and, hearing the noise, pricked up his ears and soon
recognised the old man's voice. He wondered what had happened,
and put his head in at the door and asked if anything was the
matter. With tears and groans the peasant told him the whole
dreadful story, and the hare, filled with anger and compassion,
comforted him as best he could, and promised to help him in his
revenge. 'The false knave shall not go unpunished,' said he.

So the first thing he did was to search the house for materials
to make an ointment, which he sprinkled plentifully with pepper
and then put in his pocket. Next he took a hatchet, bade