The Meanness of Raiko
Raiko was a rich man who lived in a small village in Japan. Even though he was very rich he was also very mean. He carried all of his money in his girdle, allowing no one to see it. As Raiko grew older he got meaner and meaner, until finally he thought about dismissing his faithful servants of many years.
One day Raiko became very ill. On the tenth night of his illness a poorly dressed priest appeared by his pillow. The priest asked Raiko how he was doing and remarked that he thought Raiko had lived longer than he had expected him too. This made Raiko very angry, and he demanded that the priest leave
immediately. Instead of leaving the priest told Raiko that there was only one cure for his illness; to loosen his girdle and distribute his wealth to the poor.
This really made Raiko mad and he grabbed a dagger and tried to kill the kindly priest. The priest then told Raiko that he had heard of Raiko's plan to fire his faithful servants and had come each night to drain the life blood of Raiko. After telling Raiko this he blew out the light, leaving the room totally dark. Raiko felt a ghostly presence coming toward him. He lashed out with his dagger and screamed for help at the same time.
His servants came running with lanterns and found the horrible claw of a monster lying by the side of Raiko's mat. The servants followed the trail of blood outside to the garden, where they found an enormous spider sticking out of the ground. This creature begged the servants to try and convince their master to not attack the Gods, and in the future to stop being mean.
When Raiko heard this he repented, and gave large sums of money to the poor. Inari had assumed the role of the spider and of the priest to teach Raiko a lesson.