Schippeitaro (written in Japanese as "Shippeitaro" or "Takehachitaro") is a widely circulated Japanese folk tale about a brave dog and a young warrior who join forces to defeat a monster. The story goes: in ancient times, a Japanese boy came of age and left home to travel far in search of deeds and glory. He lost his way in a deep mountain forest and spent the night in a deserted small Buddhist chapel. At midnight he was startled awake by shrill cries and glimpsed a band of monstrous cats dancing wildly in the moonlight, chanting again and again, "Don't tell Schippeitaro! Keep it secret!" The next day he came down to a village at the foot of the mountain and found a household weeping for their daughter: each year the village had to offer a maiden to the mountain god, and this year it was this family's daughter's turn; at nightfall she would be sealed in a wooden box and sent to the chapel. The warrior remembered the cries of the night and learned that Schippeitaro was a strong, handsome dog belonging to the village chief. He borrowed the dog, sent the girl back home, and hid the dog in the sacrificial wooden box. At midnight the monstrous cats gathered around a huge black cat demon. When the black cat opened the lid, Schippeitaro leaped out and seized it; the warrior struck it down with his sword, and together with the other dogs drove off the swarm of cats. The village was at peace from then on. The warrior returned the dog to its owner, declined any reward, and set out on his journey once more.
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Andrew Lang is an important figure in editing and compiling fairy tales and folk stories, though detailed information about his life is limited in publicly available Chinese sources. Four of his works are included here: The Red Fairy Book and The Blue Fairy Book from his "coloured fairy book" series, as well as The Red Romance Book and Historical Mysteries. These works show that he was skilled at collecting and retelling folk legends and fairy tales from various regions, with clear and fluent narratives, accessible language, and attention to preserving the oral tradition and imaginative quality of the stories. His fairy-tale anthologies have circulated widely and are often classified as inspirational coming-of-age reading, exercising a lasting influence on children's literature and the dissemination of folk tales in the English-speaking world.
