Mame-danuki

◆ The legend

The mame-danuki is a little tanuki (a raccoon dog native to Japan) told of in western Japan, in places like Hyogo and Osaka. It's far smaller than an ordinary tanuki, but its tricks are nothing to laugh at. It is said to enjoy teasing people by showing them illusions. Some stories also say it quietly makes its home in people's houses and storehouses.

Its best-known trick is tied to an old saying about the tanuki's "eight-mat spread." The mame-danuki, the story goes, stretches part of its own body out like a giant cloth and makes it look like a room of eight tatami mats. A traveler who knows nothing sits down to rest, until some small slip makes the whole room flip over, and he finds himself sitting alone in an empty field. Tales like this are told for laughs. A mischief-maker, yes, but a funny and lovable one.