| Wang and Zhang, both foxhunters, lived about ten li apart. One
day they located a grave frequented by foxes and decided to get together
after sunset and hunt them. When Zhang got to the appointed place,
Wang was already waiting there. They arrived at a grave and found
a vault big enough to hold a man. Wang told Zhang to stay in the
vault while he hid himself in a grove of trees outside. On the foxes'
return Wang would block their way of escape so that Zhang could catch them
in the vault. Zhang waited until late into the night without hearing
a sound. He decided to go discuss the situation with Wang, only to
find the opening to the vault blocked by two tombstones leaving only a
narrow crack. The stones proved too heavy for him to move.
The next day he heard a cowherd passing outside and shouted for help.
Informed by the cowherd, his family arrived at the scene and, with the
assistance from some other people, managed to remove the tombstones.
Convinced that this was an attempt on his life, Zhang went with his family
members in search of Wang, intending to take him to the yamen.
Halfway to Wang's home they found him stripped naked and tied to a willow
tree, with a crowd whipping and swearing at him. As it happened,
on his way to meet Zhang, Wang had run into a village woman carrying food
to her family laboring in the field. She made passes at him, and
they slipped into a sorghum field to get undressed. The moment Wang
had taken off all his clothes the woman, leaping to her feet, grabbed them
and ran away. Luckily no one was around, so Wang headed home in haste,
only to run head-on into a crowd carrying torches and weapons. "We've
found the ruffian!" they shouted at the sight of him. It turned out
that several young women in the house of Wang's neighbor, sleeping in the
courtyard that night, had waken up with a start to see Wang burst in, strip
himself, and lie down beside them. At their scream the family got
up to take a look, and Wang ran away climbing over the wall, leaving his
clothes behind. Caught by these pursuers, Wang was rebuked and beat
up. He was unable to prove his innocence and could only look to heaven
and cry. When Zhang and Wang finally met to describe their respective
experiences, it finally dawned on them that they had both fallen victim
to foxes. Come to think of it, they went to the grave in order to
hunt and kill the foxes there, who chose to strike back merely by playing
a trick. Zhang was shut up in the grave for a whole night, but a
crack was left to save him from suffocation. Wang was stripped and
got a sound beating without being able to defend himself, but as the fox
did not rape any of the young women, the family had no intention to beat
Wang to death. The foxes had therefore shown restraint in their conduct. |
