The Man in the Moon.
Story source: Laos Folk-Lore by Katherine Neville Fleeson.
This is a story I am really tempted to retell because it is one of my favorite chain tales, and an unusual one. There's a version from Japan also in the UnTextbook: The Stonecutter.
According to Ashliman, this is Lang's source: Lang's source: David Brauns, "Der Steinhauer," Japanische Märchen (Leipzig: Verlag von Wilhelm Friedrich, 1885), pp. 87-89. Another English version: Hashnu. And a Theosophist version! Apparently the Stonecutter story shows up in Max Havelaar, which makes me think the story really is from India or Laos, and not from Japan at all; here's English translation.
The chain in the Laotian version of the story goes: blacksmith-stone-stonecutter-sun-moon-blackmith.
I like the way that the story TRIES to go full circle, but the magical wise man loses patience and will not turn the moon back into a blacksmith, where the chain started. I like circular stories, so I think if I do a version of this story, I will let it come full circle.
Before I do this story, I might do some research to put these different versions together. I don't really care about determining whether it is from Japan or not, but I am curious to read as many versions as I can find before doing my own. :-)
Tiger, Brahman, and Jackal.
Story source: Indian Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs.
I love this story! And it has a nice chain-tale sequence of judges. Some versions of this story have LOTS of judges, so I could do a version like that where I have a whole series of judges who all comment on the ingratitude of the world.
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