There was once a man who had a fox for a friend. A heavenly fox with fantastic magical powers, it could take the man to tour celebrated mountains and other scenic spots to his heart's content, travelling thousands of li and back in the twinkle of an eye. It once told him, "Except for residences of sages and immortals, I can get to any spot on the map at will." One day the man said to the fox, "Since you can take me to any place a thousand li away, how about putting me in the boudoir of someone else's house?" When the fox asked him what was on his mind, he explained, "I am often invited by a friend to feast in his backyard, where we are entertained by song and dance performances. A favorite concubine of his has cast me many amorous glances. Though we have not exchanged a single word, our hearts are already linked together. Unfortunately she remains out of my reach, living in a secluded corner of that big house, and in vain do I yearn for her. If you can take me to her boudoir in the dead of night, I will enjoy a fabulous moment with her."

After hearing the man out, the fox hesitated for a long time. "This is not impossible to arrange," it finally said, "but what if her husband happens to be with her?" To this the man replied, "I'll go only after I have made sure he is staying the night with another concubine." Later he got the news he had been waiting for and asked the fox to take him there. Before he could get dressed properly, the fox picked him up and flew into the air. After a while it put him down, saying, "Here you are," and left. Feeling his way in the dark, the man found himself alone in a room with books everywhere. The fox, he realized, had played a trick by putting him in his friend's library. In his panic he knocked over a desk, the items on the surface crashing to the floor. The watchman cried 'thief' on hearing the noise, and a crowd of armed servants came at once with lit candles to search the place. As soon as they heard someone shuddering behind a screen, they rushed over to strike him down and tie him up. Looking closely under the candlelight, they were amazed to recognize their master's friend. This man had the presence of mind to tell a lie, saying he had offended his fox-friend, who therefore had taken him there against his will. Well-acquainted with him, the master of the house dismissed the incident with a smile. "So the mischievous fox wants me to beat you up," he said. "I'll spare you the thrashing this time and just throw you out of my house!" A servant was sent to take the man home.

His anger was not yet appeased when he described his experience to a good friend a few days later. "Foxes are indeed inhuman," he said. "I've known this one for ten years, yet it betrayed me like that!" His friend was outraged. "You've known that friend of yours for more than ten years," he said, "yet you wanted to seduce his woman with. the help of a fox. Who deserves to be called inhuman? Though the fox detested you for your faithlessness and punished you with a prank, it acted with such restraint as to allow you an excuse to clear yourself. That was rather tolerant on its part. If it had made you dress up and put you under the man's bed, how would you be able to extricate yourself? From this point of view, the fox is actually human, and you are a fox in nature. Don't you feel any remorse at all?" At this a wave of shame flooded the man's face. The fox never visited him again, and that friend of his gradually ceased to see him.