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How a Fox-Maid Wins Her Freedom

My wet nurse, Granny Li, was a native of Cangzhou. Her son, Zhu’er, was told the following tale about a fox while he worked as a herdsman along the coast. A salt-man had gone to bed one night when he heard rustling sounds in the room. By the moonlight coming in through the window, he could see no one and concluded a mouse had made the noise. A moment later a noisy crowd approached the house from the distance. “She has slipped into this room,” Said a man’s voice. The salt-man was puzzling over these words when the man outside knocked on the window and asked, “Are you in there?”    “Yes, I am,” replied a voice in the room.    “Did the host let you stay?”   “Yes, he did,” came the reply.   “Are you in the same bed with him or put up in a separate room?” the man asked again.    “Who would have let me stay without making me share his bed?” the voice in the room shot back.    The man outside the window stamped his feet, crying, “How terrible! How terrible!”   This was followed by a woman’s laughing voice. “I told you whatever place she ran to, no one would let her stay for nothing, and you did not believe me. Now what? Aren’t you too ashamed to take her back home?” Then there came the noise of people walking to and fro. A moment later the woman laughed again. “You can’t make up your mind on such a small matter—and you call yourself a man!” Knocking on the window, she called into the room, “Since the maid who ran away from us has consigned herself to you, and you have kept her for the night, it would be impossible for us to take her back. The old fool has no excuse to vent his anger on you, for you did nothing to seduce or coerce the girl. Even if he bears a grudge against you, I can assure you that he dare do nothing. We will take our leave, and the two of you can go back to sleep.”   The salt-man peeped out through a crack in the window and found the crowd gone. Turning back, he saw a beautiful girl lying by his side. Both surprised and delighted, he asked where she had come from. “I am a fox-woman,” the girl replied. “I was bought by the fox that spoke to you just now to be his concubine. His wife was so jealous that she found and excuse to give me a beating every day. Unable to bear it any longer, I ran away to save myself. I did not ask your permission for fear that you would not dare let me stay and I would be taken back by force. So I hid myself on a corner of your bed until they came, and then told them I had already slept with you, hoping to send them away. Now that I am free at last, I am willing to stay with you through thick and thin.”    The salt-man expressed his worry that the sudden appearance of a beautiful wife by his side would rouse suspicion and jealousy and bring him harm.   “I can make myself invisible,” the girl said. “Have you forgotten how I hid on your bed a moment ago?” So she stayed. Thanks to her diligence and hard work in running the house, they gradually became fairly well off. Zhu’er, being a distant relative of the salt-man, was able to learn about the story in great detail. In afterthought, the fox-maid was taking a great risk when she told a self-deprecating lie to save herself from suffering. It was precisely because of her self-claimed loss of chastity that her husband was unable to take her back home and her mistress was able to drive her away. Thus the risky move turned out to be a master stroke that achieved her purpose. As for her husband, by failing to anticipate the consequences when he took her for his concubine or resolve the conflicts that ensued, he should take the blame for driving her into desperation and flight. A little bit of self-knowledge on his part would have saved him all this trouble and disgrace.