A long time ago, a beautiful woman came to visit a temple. The woman tried to lead a young apprentice away to the mountain with her deceitful words. The youth fell for her words, but a monk gave him three talismans in case something happened to him.
The apprentice entered the mountain with the woman and was taken to her house. The woman was, in fact, a frightening yamamba (mountain crone) who had brought the youngster there to eat him.
The young apprentice realized this and requested the yamamba to let him go to the washroom. She tied a string around his body to prevent him from running away and sent him to the bathroom.
Not yet--- the young man would reply to the woman's insistent questions as he tied a string to the toilet support, then he took out the first talisman, told it to reply on his behalf, and fled from the bathroom.
The yamamba, frustrated by the youth's persistent refusal to come out, yanked on the string, which broke the support and revealed that he had fled. The apprentice drew out the second talisman and made a great river appear in front of the yamamba, who was chasing after him. The yamamba drank the water in one gulp and continued her chase.
The young man made a wish on the third talisman. A huge flame rose in front of the yamamba's eyes, but she spat out the water she had swallowed to extinguish it. However, thanks to these holdups, the apprentice managed to escape back to the temple and explained the situation to the monk.
The monk hides the boy away and confronts the yamamba. The monk tells her to show him the greatness of her power.
The yamamba does as the monk says and becomes gigantic, showing the greatness of her power. Impressed, the monk asked her if she could also become small. The yamamba, in a fit of rage, became as small as a pea, whereupon the monk picked her up and crushed her in his hands.
This story appears throughout Japan, especially in the Akita and Niigata prefectures, and is still a popular folk tale today. In some regions, beads, combs, or ornamental hairpins are used instead of talismans, and there are differences in the obstacles created by the talismans.
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