1. A nine-tail dog
Once upon a time, there were a grandfather and a grandson living in a small village far away. They were very poor. They earned their living by selling vegetables. They had a dog which had 9 tails. When the grandson grew up, the grandfather died. As he was very poor he could not make a nice coffin for his grandfather. He then put his grandfather's dead body on a piece of wood. The young man was very sad .He dragged his grandfather’s body through the forest and crossed the mountains, crying along the way not realising how far he had gone away from home until his grandfather’s body got stuck in the vine. He decided to bury his grandfather near the vine. Day by day, the boy cleared the wilderness. He removed all the weeds and prepared the land for planting. As time passed, the boy felt better. He decided to build a hut and grew crops. He sold his crops in the market. One day, his dog started barking near the bush. The young man did not pay much attention to that. He went to work in the field as he did every day. One evening, when he was back from his field, he was surprised to see the cooked rice in the pot and many kinds of food. The hut was cleaned. The area looked pleasant. Days later, the young man noticed that the dog would bark at the bush and followed something to the house. The man became suspicious. One day, he decided to find out. The man pretended to go to his field as usual but he hid behind the tree. When the dog barked, he was surprised to see a very beautiful lady stepping out from a big egg and walking to the hut. She cleaned the house and cooked dinner for him. The man fell in love with her. He wanted her to be his wife. He broke the egg shell so that the lady would not be able to go back and live in the egg as she did before. When she found out that her egg was broken, she cried disappointedly.
The man said “Don’t cry my dear. I did that because I love you so much. I promise I will take a good care of you forever”
The lady shook her head.
“ I cannot be your wife unless you ask the permission from the god who takes care of me.”
The man agreed to do as she told him. He went to the god and asked if he could marry the lady. The god allowed him to marry the lady. However, he told the man that if he wanted this lady to be his wife he must promise not to eat any kind of egg, as this would separate them.
“It’s the rule of the heaven. You mustn’t forget what I ‘ve told you otherwise you will be separated from your wife”
The man agreed to do so. The couple lived happily together for quite a long time until one day the man forgot the rule of the heaven. He ate hen’s eggs. The god of the forest was very angry. He let the hunter see the beauty of the man's beloved wife. The hunter was impressed by her beauty. He went back to his town and told the king about her. The king ordered his soldiers to kidnap her while the husband was away. When he came back home, he did not find his wife as usual. He was very sad and realized that he did not keep his promise. He started to search for her. He went with his 9-tail dog until he reached a big river. The man was worried because he could not swim. The dog jumped into the water wagging his tails waiting for his master to hold. The man then held the dog’s tails while it swam across the river. However, the river was very wide. When they reached the small island in the middle of the river, eight of the dog’s tails were cut. There was only one tail left. The man was very sad. He felt extremely disappointed and died of grief. The dog had only one tail left and it has been like this since then.
Moral: It’s very important to keep up the promise.