MUKASHIBANASHI SO FAR

MUKASHIBANASHI SO FAR

I was obliged to add two extra mukashibanashi to my list of retellings, because I have just remembered these two. I'm on a writing streak like Alexander Hamilton's, so let's make the most out of it, right?
Lord Ricestraw is the story of a poor orphan stripling whose prayer to the Goddess of Mercy is answered by a series of convenient chance encounters, just like in the film and novel Pay It Forward, but without the domestic violence; a good deed leads to another in a snowballing chain of kindness. And yes, it all begins with a rice straw by the wayside.
The Lucky Kettle is about a tanuki, or raccoon, who can turn into a kettle at will; fortunately, he is far more well-intentioned than the one in Kachikachiyama/Mount Crackle... Given that I began with a tanuki, I should end with one as well to mirror it, right?