World and Lore / Kyoto mystery

The Terror of the Temple

There once appeared in Kyoto a monstrous giant capable of taking on any form it chose. Understandably, this caused much panic among the citizenry, and a reward was offered to whoever could bring the beast to heel. Hearing of this, a certain bibulous samurai decided he would pay a visit to the temple where the beast had made its lair. But rather than fight the fiend, he proceeded to lavish praise upon it. Begging the giant for a demonstration of its powers, the samurai had it transform itself into a myriad of things, finally coaxing it into turning itself into a pickled plum. When the puffed-up monster had thus shrunk itself, the wily samurai promptly popped it into his mouth and washed it down with a generous swig of sake. And so that awful giant ended up safely confined to the samurai's stomach, while its vanquisher claimed his just reward.