There was once an old priest who lived beside a ramshackle temple not far from a little village. Nearby, some of the villagers would leave all sorts of things they no longer wanted or needed. This was the very place, on top of the pile of bits and pieces, that the old man found a tea- kettle. It was dented and dirty but the priest was a careful man and he set to work cleaning and polishing it until it shone like the sun. Then he filled the kettle with water and put it on the fire to boil. Soon it was singing away and the lid was bouncing up and down merrily.

Then the most amazing thing happened. All at once, the kettle started to change into a badger! First, there came the head, then four legs and finally the tail.

And, in no time at all, this badger was dancing all around the room. The old man cried out for a younger priest and, together, they managed to catch the badger before it pranced out through the door. They bundled the animal into a box and tied down the lid with some thick rope. The old priest was so exhausted by all the excitement that he lay down and went off to sleep.

In the morning, as soon as he woke up, the priest untied the rope and peeped inside the box. But the badger had gone! Instead, there was the tea-kettle: it had lost its shine and was battered and dirty once more.

"What a stupid thing," grumbled the old priest, carrying the box outside.

But he didn't throw it onto the garbage heap. No, he continued to the village where he sold his kettle to a shopkeeper.

"I can't give you much for this old piece of junk," said the man, tossing a few coins onto the counter. The priest was sure that his kettle was worth more but he took the money without a word, not knowing how to explain his strange story to the shopkeeper.

That night it was the shopkeeper's turn to be amazed. He had not been asleep for long when he was woken by a rustling and a pit-patting. It was coming from the corner where he had left the priest's box and, by the light of the moon, he could just make out a badger dancing and leaping about!

All night the badger danced, on and on. Sometimes it stood on its head, sometimes it whirled around on the tip of its toes and, all the while, its eyes glowed like two orange lanterns. The shopkeeper hid under his padded quilt and waited anxiously for morning.

As soon as it was light, he shuffled nervously over to the corner of his shop – only to find the kettle in its box again. Rushing into the shop next door, quite out of breath, the man told his neighbor what had happened during the night. His friend looked very thoughtful and, stroking his chin, whispered, "There's money to be made from this old kettle of yours."

The very next day the two shopkeepers put up a tent and painted a sign that said, "Come inside to see the magic tea-kettle perform!" And indeed all the villagers did come – men, women and children. First, they paid at a little kiosk outside. Then, taking off their shoes, they entered the tent and sat down on straw mats to watch the performance.

And what a performance it was! First the kettle would sing, with its lid bobbing up and down and then, of course, it would start to change into the badger. Children and adults alike clapped with delight as the badger danced upon the stage sometimes standing on its head and sometimes on its tail. It even waltzed daintily across a tightrope! Then, at the end of each day's final performance, the badger would shrivel up into a dirty tea-kettle once more.

In no time the two shopkeepers became very rich, but neither of them had quite forgotten the old priest.

"I didn't really pay him much for such an amazing tea-kettle," said the first shopkeeper to the other.

"Let's go out to his temple and give him his proper reward," replied his friend. And not only did they give the old priest a trunk filled with money, they also returned the dirty old tea-kettle in its box.

The grateful priest cleared away the garbage pile and bought everything he needed to make a beautiful garden. What's more, he had enough money left over to repair his temple and make it much grander than it had ever been before. Somewhere inside, he hid the kettle in a very secret place and it was never seen again. But someday, if you should visit Japan and come across that temple with its beautiful garden, you might even find the amazing tea-kettle, too!