The fox had long known the secret of the elixir of
life. The secret was contained within
its inner fire, though no one but the fox knew about it. One day, however, a man saw the fox blowing
his fire. It was obvious that man was
covetous of the fox’s fire. It made the
fox wonder if given the chance the man would figure out the fire’s secret. Finally, the fox decided that the man could
handle having the fire. He was unsure of
how to give the fire to man, though. The
fox did not have words like the man did.
He would have to find a different way to share the fire.
Eventually, the fox realized that he would have to get the
man to swallow the fire like he did. It
took several tries, but eventually the man learned the ways of the fox and
possessed the fire. The fire gave the
man many amazing abilities. It allowed
him to be invisible, gave the ability to see ghosts and devils, and allowed him
access to the spirit-world. The man did
many good deeds with these powers. The
fox was proud of the man and was happy with his decision to share the
fire. Soon, however, the man started
accepting gifts for his good deeds. He
was overcome by greed and stopped doing things out of the kindness of his
heart. Instead, he would request gold or
treasure before helping people or performing miracles.
The fox gave the man thirty long years with his gift. During those years, the man had grown
complacent and lazy, often falling asleep with a goblet of wine in his
hand. It was then that the fox decided
it was time to reclaim the gift he had given the man. He knew he had to be clever about it
though. The man had grown accustomed to
having those gifts and would not give them up willingly. Instead, the fox came up with a plan. He would wait until the man drank himself to
sleep one night. During his slumber, the
fox would come up behind him and pat his back repeatedly until the man coughed,
causing the fire to come shooting up out of his mouth. Then, the fox would leap over the man and
catch the fire into his mouth, where it should have remained.
That is exactly what the fox did. Once he reclaimed the fire, the man was
sorrowful and lamented his misuse of the fire.
This did not sway the fox, however.
He had learned his lesson.
Mankind was not yet ready for the secret of life.
Author's Note:
I chose to write about the story of the fox-fire from the Chinese Fairy Tales unit. I previously knew a little bit about fixes in Chinese/Japanese culture, so this really interested me. While reading the original, I wondered why the fox didn't immediately take back his fire, and that is how this story came about. I didn't change too much, but I added reasoning and details to make the story fit together better. In the original, the fox doesn't decide to give the man the fire, instead the man is clever enough to steal it, but the fox lets him have it for thirty years.
The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921).
