Once upon a time, in the town of Nagaiwai, in Oita Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, there lived an old woman. Her name was O-Tsune-san. How passionately she loved all kinds of holidays and performances.
One day her relatives invited her to a holiday in their village. O-Tsune-san was delighted and began to get ready for the trip. But the path is not short: through a mountain pass, on the coast of Matama. O-Tsune-san really liked that holiday; the guests had fun until the evening.
The old woman began to prepare for the return journey, and her relatives persuaded her:
“Don’t go, spend the night, and then you’ll hit the road in the morning.” It's late. By the time you reach the pass, it will be completely dark. It's scary on the pass at night.
- Well, here we go again! - answered O-Tsune-san. “I know the road in the forest well.” And today is a moonlit night, nothing will happen to me!
With that, I set off on the road. And the road in the mountains is steep: it goes up and up.
Finally, the old woman reached the Shiromaru Pass. And the day has completely faded away. As soon as she sat down to rest, she heard large festive drums beating somewhere nearby.
“What could it be?” O-Tsune-san was surprised. “The holiday in Matama is long over.” Maybe a new temple was built here on the pass, but I don’t know?
Her heart started beating - it was about to jump out! O-Tsune-san jumped up and ran down the path. Suddenly she sees people walking towards her, cheerful, smart, holding paper lanterns in their hands.
“Tell me, where are you rushing?” the old woman began to ask. “Is it true that there will be a holiday nearby?”
- Don’t you really know anything, grandma? — people were surprised. “Today there is a big performance at the pass.” Come with us!
O-Tsune-san went with everyone together. They approached a small house. O-Tsune-san looked inside - and everything there was just like in the theater. And the performance is about how a faithful servant commits hara-kiri.
And soon it was time for intermission. They began to treat the guests here: they brought boiled rice and sweet cakes. And then the show began again. The audience was shown a very sad story. About how a white fox saved a samurai warrior and then appeared to him in the guise of a young beauty. A samurai and a fox girl got married. They had a boy. But the fox couldn’t stay with people forever. The time has come for her to return to the forest. And then she sang a song about separation, pitiful - more pitiful.
The audience cried when they heard that song. And O-Tsune-san cries, sheds tears. Her performance really touched my soul.
“Wow,” she marveled, “what miracles are shown in the mountain wilderness!” We need to run to the village and tell people about it!
The old woman rushed as fast as she could home to Nagaivaya. She came running and immediately told her daughter about what she had seen at the pass. Her daughter listened, listened, and then laughed:
- Where did you see this performance? - asks. - At Shiromaru Pass? There was nothing there. The White Beauty just decided to laugh at you, so she fainted! And they treated you not to rice or sweets, but to horse and cow manure.
-Who is White Beauty? - O-Tsune-san was surprised.
- Yes, that’s the name of the fox that lives on our pass. And there are three of them in total: White Beauty, Fiery Beauty and the Cat Princess. That's what people call them.
- That can’t be true! - exclaimed O-Tsune-san. “I saw it with my own eyes!”
She never believed her daughter. I waited until evening and went again. Shiromaru Pass went. She walks along the path, and the moon illuminates her path. But then it became completely dark. O-Tsune-san lit a paper lantern and shone it around - the house where she watched the performance was not in the forest, and nothing reminded her of yesterday’s holiday.
The old woman hid behind a tree and waited. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a white fox appeared and turned into a beautiful girl. O-Tsune-san looks from behind the tree with all his eyes. I completely forgot that I was standing in a dark forest, and a werewolf was frolicking nearby.
And the fox doesn’t even care about O-Tsune-san. She was not going to feed the old woman horse and cow dung this time! The white fox was waiting for her fox friends to visit so that she could have a big holiday and have fun until the morning.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru