Ten Evenings

The collection "Ten Evenings" got its name from an unusual tradition: in Japan, fairy tales have always been a relaxation after a hard day's work, and what could be better than warming oneself by the hearth in the evening and listening to wonderful and amusing stories.

The tales presented in the book tell of cunning tricks and mythical feats, of the struggle between good and evil and the triumph of justice, of the magical deeds of a wonderful wife and the cruel war of a treacherous monkey with crabs. The heroes of these stories – mischievous foxes and badger-poets, beautiful bird-maidens and snake-women, sly tengu and prankish ghosts – will stay 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.