Neko no Sara (The Cat's Dish)
猫の皿・ねこのさら
The story
A traveling antique connoisseur, working his way through the provinces, happens to notice the dish being used as a cat's feeding bowl at a rundown roadside tea stall. He recognizes it at once as a costly masterpiece. Feigning complete indifference, he offers to buy the cat from the old shopkeeper — 'and that grubby old dish too, while we're at it' — scheming to carry the treasure off for next to nothing. But the old man says he will never let the dish go.
What to listen for
The straight-faced battle of nerve beneath the surface — the connoisseur trying to filch a valuable dish for a pittance, and the tea-stall keeper who saw through the scheme all along. The pleasure is in the quiet duel of wits between two old hands at the game.
Background
Antique dealers of the day made their living hunting out bargains in the countryside, buying up prized objects cheaply from people who did not know their worth. Here that game is turned on its head by a humble country shopkeeper.
Notable performers
五代目柳家小さん柳家小三治