The Fox's Folly狐の浅知恵
Long, long ago, there lived, in the environs of a temple, a hunter who was exceptionally skilled at catching foxes. One day, there appeared an especially crafty fox, who the hunter could not capture despite all of his best efforts and well-laid traps.
Grieved by the hunter's relentless pursuit of him and his comrades, the fox sought the aid of a monk at the temple, asking him to speak to the hunter on his behalf. However, the monk rebuked him, saying, "If you are wise enough to evade his traps, you can speak to the man yourself."
The fox then began to explain how, in his former life, he had been a monastic scholar who had devoted himself to the pursuit of knowledge at the expense of cultivating virtue. As a consequence, after he died, he had been reborn in the form of a fox.
Taking pity on the poor creature, the monk promised to speak to the hunter the very next day. However, by then it was too late, for the hunter had managed to catch and kill the crafty fox. It seems the fox had let its guard down, believing that he was now safely under the monk's protection, and had walked straight into the hunter's trap.
In the end, the fox had tried to rely on knowledge and reason, and had thus met a sorry end. Sadly even being reborn as a fox seemed to have taught him nothing.
Just look at this gravestone—it's absolutely filthy! No wonder nobody comes to pay their respects here. Let me clean it up a little.
Ah yes, I knew the man who rests here... He was once my most senior student, in fact. A bright lad, he was... Too bright, in fact. Arrogant, really. He used to look down on me and his fellow students. What that boy lacked was virtue. I hope he rests in peace, but who knows? It would have been better if he had used his learning to help others while he was here, that much I know...
...Mm? Oh, a fox. It's got a nerve snuffling around a graveyard. No, no, you won't find anything to eat here, you little thief, now shoo!
"It is not food I seek, but rather your aid!"
...Um, did that fox just...speak to me?
ふぅむ。この墓もだいぶ汚れてしまったのう。 誰も墓参りに来ないから無理もない。 どれ、ちと綺麗にしてやるか。 思えばこの墓に眠る男… 我が兄弟子は実に頭が良い僧であった。 しかし、頭が良いばかりにワシをはじめ他の僧を 見下して…徳のない人じゃった。 もう少しあの知恵を人のために使っておれば 極楽往生できたかもしれんのに…。 ……ん？ 何じゃこの狐は。 食い物ならばここにはないぞ。よそへ行け。 「食い物はいらぬ。どうか助けてはくれないか」 ……いまこの狐、喋ったか？
This is your first time meeting a talking fox, I take it? Well, I'm in rather a hurry, so I'll cut to the chase.
There's a renowned hunter who lives around here, and he's been snaring my fellow foxes, one after the other. It's been relentless!
As for me, no matter how hard he tries, I always manage to outwit him. You'd think he might have given up by now, but I seem only to have got him even more fired up. So he lays ever more elaborate traps, and I spend my entire life trying to evade them.
Now, surely you are of the mind that needless killing is a bad thing? So do you think you could speak to that hunter on my behalf and get him to let me be?
So let me get this straight—you are a talking fox who is clever enough to evade even the most elaborate traps? Why then, Mister Fox, you should be more than capable of speaking to that hunter yourself!
...But it's strange. There's something about your voice, and the way you speak, that seems curiously familiar. Ah, that's it! You once studied under me, didn't you? All brains and no virtue, you were! And that's why you were born again as a fox! It all makes sense now.
Truth be told, I never warmed to you when you were my student, but it is sad to see what you have become. Very well, I will talk to that hunter for you.
Why, my good monk, what brings you here? Is something the matter?
...Ah yes, that would be me. I suppose you could say that I have a knack for catching foxes. But what's that? You'd like me to stop pursuing the crafty little devil who's been evading all my traps?
I'm afraid I cannot oblige. For you see, I finally managed to snag him. I killed him not an hour ago.
Yes, I know perfectly well that he was no ordinary fox. No sooner was he in my trap than he started ranting about how he was a monk in a former life, and after he'd finished hectoring me, he told me that I'd surely rot in hell.
He might well have been a monk, but that doesn't make him any better than me! There's no excuse for speaking to anyone like that!
The funny thing is, if he'd actually behaved like a fox and whined and yapped and pleaded for his life, I might have actually let the blighter go!
- Where
- South of Gojo Street - West
- Map
- Eastern Kyoto
- Region
- Eastern Kyoto
- Hand in to
- Lady Murasaki, Yasaka Shrine
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