The Foxes' Wedding

Once upon a time there was a young white fox, whose name was

Fukuyémon. When he had reached the fitting age, he shaved off his

forelock[55] and began to think of taking to himself a beautiful

bride. The old fox, his father, resolved to give up his inheritance to

his son,[56] and retired into private life; so the young fox, in

gratitude for this, laboured hard and earnestly to increase his

patrimony. Now it happened that in a famous old family of foxes there

was a beautiful young lady-fox, with such lovely fur that the fame of

her jewel-like charms was spread far and wide. The young white fox,

who had heard of this, was bent on making her his wife, and a meeting

was arranged between them. There was not a fault to be found on either

side; so the preliminaries were settled, and the wedding presents sent

from the bridegroom to the bride's house, with congratulatory speeches

from the messenger, which were duly acknowledged by the person deputed

to receive the gifts; the bearers, of course, received the customary

fee in copper cash.

[Footnote 55: See the Appendix on "Ceremonies."]

[Footnote 56: See the note on the word Inkiyô, in the story of the

"Prince and the Badger."]

When the ceremonies had been concluded, an auspicious day was chosen

for the bride to go to her husband's house, and she was carried off in

solemn procession during a shower of rain, the sun shining all the

while.[57] After the ceremonies of drinking wine had been gone

through, the bride changed her dress, and the wedding was concluded,

without let or hindrance, amid singing and dancing and merry-making.

[Footnote 57: A shower during sunshine, which we call "the devil

beating his wife," is called in Japan "the fox's bride going to her

husband's house."]

The bride and bridegroom lived lovingly together, and a litter of

little foxes were born to them, to the great joy of the old grandsire,

who treated the little cubs as tenderly as if they had been

butterflies or flowers. "They're the very image of their old

grandfather," said he, as proud as possible. "As for medicine, bless

them, they're so healthy that they'll never need a copper coin's

worth!"

As soon as they were old enough, they were carried off to the temple

of Inari Sama, the patron saint of foxes, and the old grand-parents

prayed that they might be delivered from dogs and all the other ills

to which fox flesh is heir.

In this way the white fox by degrees waxed old and prosperous, and

his children, year by year, became more and more numerous around him;

so that, happy in his family and his business, every recurring spring

brought him fresh cause for joy. [Illustration: THE FOXES' WEDDING.

(2)]