Folk Tales Every Child Should Know

ere straying about, they saw at the foot of a hill two foxes that had brought out their cub to play; and whilst they looked on, struck by the

the old foxes took to flight, they surrounded them and beat them with the stick, so that they ran away as fast as their leg

d one of them, raising his voice, shouted out, "H

m home and sell him to a young man in our village. He'l

ter attentively, "I suppose it's all the same to you

m if we could find a fox, and got us to come out to the hills

ped, then; but how much would the

us three hundred

[1] and so you'll gain five hu

that, sir. How shall w

nd the neck with the string of the napkin in which the luncheon-box was

ll, certainly you have got queer tastes. What

lp for it. How could I stand by and see life taken? It was but a little I spent-only half a bu-to save the cub, but had it cost a fortune I should not have grudged it. I thought you were int

of firmness, the other, retiring backward an

you. I thought that you might wish to use the cub as a sort of decoy to lead the old ones to you, that you might pray them to bring prosperity and virtue t

: "Really! was that indeed your thought? Then I

was just sprouting; so they rolled up a little of it in their fingers and applied it to the part. Then they pulled out some boiled rice from their luncheon-box and offered it to the cub, but it showed no sign of wanting to eat; so they stroked it

xes sat; and as the wounded foot was no longer painful, with one bound it dashed to its parents' side and licked them all over for joy, while they seemed to bow their thanks, looking toward the two friends. So, with peace in

physician prescribed the liver taken from a live fox, which, as he said, would certainly effect a cure. If that were not forthcoming, the most expensive medicine in the world would not restore the boy to health. When the parents heard this, they were at their wits' end. However, they told the state of the case to a man who lived on the mountains. "Even though our child should die for it," the

unced himself as coming from the person who had undertaken to proc

ll into his hands; so he sent me to bring it to you." With these words the messe

se was greatly pleased and said, "Indeed, I am deeply gr

t, and received the jar wi

a present to t

e already been pa

te, you must sto

m I have not seen for a long while, and I will pass the

a medicine for the patient, which at once produced a good effect, and there was no little joy in the household. As luck would have it, three day

at once! The doctor prepared the medicine, and now our boy can ge

sion with which you entrusted me about the fox's liver turned out to be a matter of impossibility, so I

e house, bowing with his hands on the ground, "for t

you a fox's liver: there must be some mistake

the effect that you had sent him with a fox's liver, which you had just procured, and said that he would come and tell us the price anot

at he could make nothing of it. As for the husband and wife, they felt quite out of countenance at having thanke

y cub to play, it was carried off by some boys, and only saved by your goodness. The desire to requite this kindness pierced me to the quick. At last, when calamity attacked your house, I thought I might be of use to you

k her, moved in bed, upon which his wife awoke and asked him what was the matter;

weeping thu

not be the means of killing a fox on purpose, but asked him, in case he heard of any hunter killing a fox, to buy it for me. How the foxes came to hear of this I don't know; but the foxes to whom I had shown kindness killed their own cub and took out the liver

ch the family idol stood, and spent the night in reciting prayers and praises, and the next day they published the matter to the household and to their relations and friends. Now, althoug

t spot on the premises to erect a shrine to Inari Sama,[2] the Fox God, and offered sacrif

ty, "are men who, in the remote ages, when the country was developing itself, were sages, and by their great and virtuous deeds having earned the gratitude of future generations, received divine honours

ould be persons of some standing, a certain small rank is procured for them through the intervention of the representatives of the above noble families, who, on the issuing of the required patent, receive as their perquisite a fee, which, although insignificant in itself, is yet of importance to the poor Kugés, whose penniless condition forms a great contrast to the wealth of their inferiors

nts of the whole country, as distinct from thos

of the tongue. The art of medicine would appear to be at the present time in China much in the state in which it existed in Europe in the sixteenth century, when the excretions and secretions of all manner of animals, saurians, and venomous snakes and insects, and even live bugs, were administered to patients. "Some physicians," says Matthiolus, "use the ashes of scorpions, burnt alive, for retention caused by either renal or vesical calculi. But I have myself thoroughly experienced the utility of an oil I make myself, wh

ntioned the Chinese doctor's prescription of scorpion tea, and th