A DRAWING, A STORY, A VIDEO: THE KITSUNE & THE MAN

Once upon a time there was a young fox living in the forest. She was as beautiful as the rising sun and even the forest's yokais were fascinated by her grace.

She had nine long and hypnotic tails that shined in the dark as if they were made of fire. At the time foxes where called 狐, and they were gifted with powerful magic, far more powerful than any other mortal could ever have.

Soon the fox, due to her curiosity, found out the existence of humans, she found them so interesting that she started exercising on shape shifting, just to be able to get along with humans.  Even though not much time passed since she started, in just a couple of days she was already able to look like any human.

Some days as an old woman some other days as a child, she walked, spoke and even made friends among humans, but one day she didn't meet a normal human, he was different to her eyes, she soon started to feel something for him.

She fell in love with him, she couldn't find anything more important than him, not a single thought came to her mind beside the ones for him, she decided to abandon her true nature and to become human for ever.

She shifted into the most beautiful woman ever seen by human eyes, her long hair were white like snow, her eyes were made of the most soul-warming fire, her lips were overwhelmed with a sense of desire, her cheeks had the right tone of pink and her whole figure gave her an astonishing look.

It was very quick, just seeing the fox was enough the man fell in love with her: he had never seen such beauty, he just couldn't resist.

The passion that was born from their union soon gave them a child, they were living the happiest live possible, they had a beautiful baby and lived in a house by the riverside.

But it was too good to be true and, one night, while the man was sleeping, the fox slowly returned  to her previous shape.The man suddenly awakened and saw her love for what she really was... 

She couldn't believe it, her dream, her love, it was too scary for her to stay there so she ran away, faster than any other animal,  crying while doing so. She returned to the forest while the rising moon lightened her path.

The more she ran the more the light of the moon was becoming red, she ran until she realised what she was stomping on: blood, like a lake from which every tree of the forest were emerging and everything was overwhelming with a dark red atmosphere.

Then she found a light in that hell, a big deer was standing in that blood bath, he was a Devine emissary, his presence kept her calm, then he started speaking:

'' oh, young fox, why are you so desperate?''

''My heart is broken" she answered

''And why?" replied the deer

''I had a human form not long ago, but I couldn't keep it forever and I didn’t want  my lover to look  at me with horror, so shame and fear were unbearable and I ran"

''Oh sweet fox I know your love is stronger than your think, I'm 鹿, and I was sent from the heavens in order to show you the real path. All kamis want only happiness for such beautiful creatures as you, now come back to the man,  he is calling you''

After he finished speaking, the fox heard with her ears the desperate voice of her lover, calling her back. When she turned again the deer he had gone and everything had turned back to normal.

After whispering  "thank you" to the sky, the fox started running back home, with every step her form began to change back into the woman she had been before.

It didn't take long before the two lovers were finally together again, the man didn't care about the truth behind her and the two together lived a long and happy life.

THE STORY OF THIS POST

Everything  started with the drawing up above, I draw it just for fun and to make something unique for the blog, but I didn't imagine it would end like t up like this.   I wasn't sure what to write for the blog this month, but when our teacher asked me what I meant to do with the drawing above and at the same time she proposed some ideas, one of them was to write a story and I could not resist!

The drawing is inspired to  Japan folklore so I decided to retell an old story about the 狐 ''kitsune'' a mythological creature (yokai in Japanese culture) that is still nowadays well known for her characteristics, like the nine tails and her powerful magic capabilities.

This story told that once a kitsune transformed into a beautiful woman and had a relationship with a man, but one night the kitsune turned back into a fox and decided to run away into the forest. The man still loved her though, so every night he calls the kitsune and every night she comes back in her human form.

This is also where the name kitsune comes, because other than fox the kanji 狐 means also ''to come back'' or ''return''.

Another reference to Japan is the figure of the deer ''狐'', in fact in Japan deers are considered in some cases  messengers from the great ''kamis'' ( which means gods in Japanese, even if it's not the greatest way to translate this term).

Finally,  I wanted to create a fairy-tale ending that was meant to teach how running from difficulties isn't your best option in most cases.

That’s all. It was a good “experiment” and I can’t wait to know what your opinion is in the comment section below.

SIMONE