A Story of the Fox

[The Fox.--Orientals say that among the long-lived creatures are the

tortoise, the deer, the crane and the fox, and that these long-lived

ones attain to special states of spiritual refinement. If trees exist

through long ages they become coal; if pine resin endures it becomes

amber; so the fox, if it lives long, while it never becomes an angel,

or spiritual being, as a man does, takes on various metamorphoses,

and appears on earth in various forms.]

Yi Kwai was the son of a minister. He passed his examinations and

held high office. When his father was Governor of Pyong-an Province,

Kwai was a little boy and accompanied him. The Governor's first wife

being dead, Kwai's stepmother was the mistress of the home. Once when

His Excellency had gone out on an inspecting tour, the yamen was left

vacant, and Kwai was there with her. In the rear garden of the official

quarters was a pavilion, called the Hill Pagoda, that was connected by

a narrow gateway with the public hall. Frequently Kwai took one of the

yamen boys with him and went there to study, and once at night when it

had grown late and the boy who accompanied him had taken his departure,

the door opened suddenly and a young woman came in. Her clothes were

neat and clean, and she was very pretty. Kwai looked carefully at her,

but did not recognize her. She was evidently a stranger, as there

was no such person among the dancing-girls of the yamen.

He remained looking at her, in doubt as to who she was, while she

on the other hand took her place in the corner of the room and said

nothing.

"Who are you?" he asked. She merely laughed and made no reply. He

called her. She came and knelt down before him, and he took her by the

hand and patted her shoulder, as though he greeted her favourably. The

woman smiled and pretended to enjoy it. He concluded, however, that

she was not a real woman, but a goblin of some kind, or perhaps a fox,

and what to do he knew not. Suddenly he decided on a plan, caught

her, swung her on to his back, and rushed out through the gate into

the yamen quarters, where he shouted at the top of his voice for his

stepmother and the servants to come.

It was midnight and all were asleep. No one replied, and no one

came. The woman, then, being on his back, bit him furiously at the

nape of the neck. By this he knew that she was the fox. Unable to

stand the pain of it, he loosened his grasp, when she jumped to the

ground, made her escape and was seen no more.

What a pity that no one came to Kwai's rescue and so made sure of

the beast!

Im Bang.