The Fox Transform

There was a scholar of the Liu clan in Huaiyou, who dwelt alone in a deserted garden. On every moonless night there came a maiden to knock at his gate, calling herself the girl next door—of surpassing beauty, gentle in speech and smile. The young Liu was bewitched, and kept her by his side for ten days. Many a village youth had sought her favor; when the maiden came she was all warmth, but where she went none could tell. Some, coveting her beauty, followed her into the wood, and were found the next morning stiff amid the grass, faces like withered timber, a faint mocking smile still upon their lips. One night Liu feigned sleep, yet heard a faint sound at his bedside. Peeping, he beheld the maiden crouched upon the floor, her coat mottled, a tail trailing upon the mat—a great fox she was. Liu rose as if startled, yet said calmly, "Why should my lady hide her shape?" The fox sprang up, her fur gathering into a woman's form, and bowed her head in silence. After a long while she whispered, "I have beguiled a thousand souls; all who saw my true face fled shrieking. That you alone do not fear—my craft has nowhere to hide." So saying, she lightly touched the back of his hand with her claw, cool as autumn dew, and there was a glimmer of tears. As dawn approached, the fox dissolved into a wisp of blue smoke and slipped through the window, leaving a pinch of white fur upon the pillow. The Chronicler of the Strange remarks: Those who beguile the world rely but on men's fear. Let a man but cease to fear, and all their craft is lost; what remains is no more than a lone fox's loneliness. Is it not a thing to be warned of?