Ten Evenings

The collection titled "Ten Evenings" received its name from an unusual tradition: in Japan, fairy tales have always been a respite after a hard workday, and what could be better than warming oneself by the hearth in the evening and listening to wonderful and amusing stories. The fairy tales presented in the book narrate cunning pranks and mythical feats, the struggle between good and evil, the triumph of justice, magical deeds of a marvelous wife, and the cruel war of a treacherous monkey with crabs. The heroes of these stories – mischievous foxes and poet badgers, beautiful bird maidens and snake women, sly tengu and playful spirits – will remain in the readers' memory for a long time. All the stories included in this edition have been selected and translated by the renowned Soviet philologist and researcher of classical Japanese literature Vera Nikolaevna Markova. The book also contains her preface and comments.