The Dancing Kettle, by Yoshiko Uchida, is a collection of Japanese folk tales. It is an amazing collection. It is beautifully written. The tales in this book have all of the hallmarks of folk tales, including events happening in threes, simple characters that stand for good and evil, and stereotypical beginning as endings. The tales often have magical elements. My favorite story is Urashima Taro and the Princess of the Seam which tells of a boy who helps a tortoise return to his home in the sea. The boy is rewarded for his good deed by being taken on a tour of the ocean home of the tortoise. He is given a box (this is the Pandora's Box story) on the condition that he never open it. I won't tell the ending, but will say that it is a dramatic one.