"There was once a very wealthy man who lived on a mountain. He had all the money that he needed, and never had to work. Without any job, any work to do, he was often bored and longed for something to take up his time.
"So he took up fox-hunting. He went out to the forest each day, and hunted and hunted and hunted 'till he had so many fur coats he needed a separate room for them. He had a large amount of land, and it was crowded with foxes.
"One day the man went out with his rifle hunting. He waited in the bushes outside a fox den until the mother fox left. Then he snuck into the den, and killed all three of the young foxes. Content, he went back to his house.
"His son was waiting for him there. The young boy had never been enthusiastic about his father's hobby, but now he looked very worried indeed.
"'Father,' he begged, 'please stop your hunting of foxes. The fox god Inari, the god of prosperity, shall not be happy. She will curse us.'
"'Nonsense, boy,' said the man. 'Now take these foxes to be skinned.'
"Just as the boy walked down the stairs to his father, ready to persuade him of anything, he heard a knock on the door. Curious, he answered it, and was met by a stunningly beautiful woman.
"The boy called for his father, and his father invited the strange woman inside for a meal. The woman was obliged, and they sat down for dinner while she told her tale.
"She had been traveling with four men to meet her betrothed when a storm had hit. Each man went in a different direction to find shelter. Each of them had either gotten lost or killed in the storm. The woman had seen the lights of the man's house on the mountain, and had climbed up to seek shelter from the storm.
"The wealthy man invited her to stay with him and his son. The young boy was surprised, for usually his father let guests stay only in the stables. This lady was of a high class, he reasoned, so it would be most rude to turn her away.
"'Son,' said the wealthy man, 'go check on the guests in the stables. I will show our guest my fox room.' So the boy made his way to the stables, staying just long enough for him to her the woman commenting on how many furs there were in that fox room.
"The boy returned from the stables, the guests were fairly content. He went to the fox room and put his hand on the door handle, then turned it. He stared in shock. The woman was standing over his father, the boy could see the man making embracing motions with his hands.
"'Father!' he yelped. 'What are you doing?'
"The woman got off the man and turned to the boy, who startled. Her face was the face of a fox. The boy looked at his father, eyes wide. The wealthy man was deadly pale, and his eyes were glassy and dull.
"The woman! She was the fox god Inari! She transformed fully into her full fox body, blazing orange fur and razor teeth glinting. The man's hunting dogs, trained to kill foxes, jumped to their feet and pounced at Inari.
"The fox dashed down the stairs, the dogs at her tail. The boy followed, shouting. The race went out the door, down the mountain, through the graveyard until finally it ended in the clearing there as the fox took one wrong step.
"The next scene happened in only a moment. The fox transformed into a human, but only made it halfway through her transformation when the dogs pounced, biting her legs. The dogs, along with Inari, turned to stone.
"You can still see the stone there, the figure of a fox-woman being bitten by dogs. If you do go to see it, though, be careful-- it could be haunted...
•°•°•°•°•°•°•°The end•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
Are you scared yet?
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