The snow was frozen solid and harder than quartz, and the sky also seemed to be made of a cold, smooth blue slab of stone.
"Crusty snow kanko, frozen snow shinko."
The sun also burned pure white, scattering around the fragrance of lilies, and shown on the snow with a dazzling glare. The trees and everything else sparkled with frost, as though they had been sprinkled with sugar.
"Crusty snow kanko, frozen snow shinko."
Wearing little snow boots, Shiro and his little sister Kanko scuffed across the meadow with a kikku kikku kikku kikku sound.
Would there ever be another such interesting day? There were able to walk any direction they wanted, right over the top of fields where they normally couldn't go because of millet stalks, or meadows filled with clumps of susuki grass. The surface was flat as a board. And it glittered as though it was covered with tiny, tiny mirrors.
"Crusty snow kanko, frozen snow shinko."
The two neared the forest. A large oak tree bent under the weight of the hanging icicles till its branches were nearly buried.
"Crusty snow kanko, frozen snow shinko. Little fox, the little fox wants a bride, a bride," they shouted toward the forest.
For a moment everything was silent. They were catching their breaths, ready to shout out again. Just then they heard "Crusty snow kanko, frozen snow shinko" from the forest, as a little white fox walked out over the snow.
Shiro was startled and put Kanko behind him to shield her, then planted his feet firmly and called out, "Little fox, white fox, if you want a bride I'll get you one."
The fox, small as it was, stroked its bristling whiskers soberly and said, "Shiro is shinko, and Kanko is kanko, and I don't need a wife."
Shiro laughed and replied, "Bark, fox, little fox. If you don't want a wife shall I get you some mochi?"
Then the fox shook his head a time or two. Looking interested, he said, "Shiro is shinko, and Kanko is kanko. Shall I give you some millet dumplings?"
This interested Kanko so much that, still hiding behind Shiro, she sang, "Bark, fox, little fox. Foxes' dumplings are rabbit droppings."
The little fox Konzaburo laughed at that, and said, "No, that's not true at all. Would fine-looking people like you ever eat the rabbits' brown dumplings? It is simply a falsehood that we all go around deceiving people."
Shiro was surprised. "It's a lie that foxes deceive people?" he asked.
"It's a lie," Konzaburo replied heatedly. "It's just a terrible lie. People who say they were deceived are usually drunk, or else dizzy with fright. It's interesting-- one moonlit night a while ago a man called Jinbei sat in front of our house all night chanting joruri. We all watched."
Shiro cried out, "If it was Jinbei-san it probably wasn't joruri. He sings naniwa-bushi."
The little fox Konzaburo accepted that explanation. "All right, that may be so. In any case, won't you please have some dumplings. The ones I'll give you are made grasses I have grown myself in a field, then harvested, pounded into flour, kneaded into dough, and then sprinkled with sugar. How about it? Shall I give you a plate?"
Shiro laughed again. "We just ate some mochi, Konzaburo-san. so we're not hungry. Maybe next time."
The little fox Konzaburo waved his paw very happily and said, "Next time? In that case, I'll give them to you at our magic lantern show. Please do come to the lantern show. It will be held on the next moonlit night that the snow is frozen. It will begin at 8 o'clock; I'll give you admission tickets. How many do you want?"
"In that case, I'd like five," Shiro said.
"Five? There are two of you, so who are the other three tickets for?" Konzaburo asked.
"Our brothers," Shiro replied.
"Are your brothers 11 years old or younger?"
"No, the youngest is in 4th grade, and four plus eight is twelve."
"Konzburo stroked his whiskers with a grave look and said, "In that case I'm sorry, but I must refuse your brothers. Please come, just the two of you. I'll get you special seats. It will be interesting. The first scene is called 'Do Not Drink Liquor.' It will show Taemon and Seisuke, two men from your village, who try to eat some unusual dumplings and noodles in the meadow when they are all dizzy from drinking. I show up in the photograph. The second is called 'Be Wary Of Traps.' It shows our Konbei, who was caught in a trap in the meadow. It is a drawing, not a photograph. The third scene is 'Do Not Be Careless With Fire.' It shows when our Konsuke went to your house and burned his tail. Please come watch."
The two children nodded happily.
The fox twisted his mouth in an amused way, and started to step with a kikku kikku ton ton, kikku kikku ton ton sound. He wagged his head and his tail as he thought, and then began to sing while waving his hands in time.
"Crusty snow kanko, frozen snow shinko.
Dumplings in the meadow, po po po.
Taemon, that drunken clown,
Took thirtyeight and gulped them down.
"Crusty snow kanko, frozen snow shinko.
Noodles in the meadow, wo wo wo.
Seisuke in his drunken state
Slurped and swallowed thirty eight!"
Shiro and Kanko were caught up in the game, and danced along with the fox, kikku kikku ton ton. Shiro sang,
"Bark, bark, little fox, bark little fox.
Last year Konbei really groaned.
Caught his left leg in a trap,
Barked and struggled, kon kon kon."
Kanko sang,
"Bark, bark, little fox, bark little fox.
Last year Konsuke really ran.
Tried to catch a baking fish,
Tail on fire, kyan kyan kyan."
As they danced, the three of them gradually got deeper into the woods. Sprouts of magnolias, which are used to make sealing wax, glistened and shook in the wind. The deep blue shadows of trees formed a mesh on the surface of the snow within the woods, and the spots where the sun shown through looked like silver lilies blooming there.
The little fox Konzaburo said, "Shall we call the little deer? She plays the flute very well!"
Shiro and Kanko clapped their hands in joy. Then the three of them called out together, "Crusty snow kanko, frozen snow shinko. Little deer, the little deer wants a bride, a bride."
Some ways away they heard a thin voice say, "Pii, pii, the north wind blows, Kazesaburo. Dou, dou, the west wind blows, Matasaburo."
With a slightly mocking look, the little fox Konzaburo said, "That is the little deer. She's afraid, and isn't likely to come here. But let's try calling to her again."
The three of them shouted together, "Crusty snow kanko, frozen snow shinko. Little deer, the little deer wants a bride, a bride."
This time they heard a sound like the wind whistling in the distance, or perhaps it was the song of the little deer. "Pii, pii, the north wind blows, long, long. Dou, dou, the west wind blows, gone, gone."
The fox stroked his whiskers again. "It would be too bad if the snow softened, so you'd better go back home. Please come here the next time the snow is frozen on a moonlit night. We'll have the lantern slides then.
"Crusty snow kanko, frozen snow shinko," Shiro and Kanko sang as they crossed the silver snow back to their home. "Crusty snow kanko, frozen snow shinko."
The full, bluish white moon rose silently over Hinokamiyama.
The snow glittered blue. Again today it was frozen hard as white marble.
Shiro remembered his promise to the fox Konzaburo, and spoke quietly to his little sister Kanko. "This is the night of the foxes' lantern show. Shall we go?"
"Let's do! Let's go!" Kanko bounced and sang with excitement. "Bark, bark, little fox! Bark Konzaburo!"
Jiro, the second oldest brother, asked "Are you two going to play with the foxes? I'd like to go too, you know."
Shiro was embarrassed and pulled back a bit. "But big brother, the foxes' lantern show is for age eleven and under. It says so on the ticket."
"Let me see that," Jiro said. "Oh, 'Guests 12 Years of Age or Older Not Admitted, Except for Families of Students,' it says. Those foxes are pretty clever-- I can't go. Well, that's that. If you two go you should take along some mochi to give them. Here, this big round one should do."
Shiro and Kanko put on their little snow boots and set out with the mochi.
Their older brothers, Ichiro, Jiro and Saburo, lined up at the door and said, "See you later. If there are grown-up foxes there, close your eyes right away. Do you want us to sing along? Crusty snow kanko, frozen snow shinko. Little fox, the little fox wants a bride, a bride."
The moon rose high in the sky, and the forest was wrapped in a bluish white haze. The pair soon reached the entrance to the forest. A little white fox with an acorn badge on his chest was standing there.
"Good evening," he said. "It's early. Do you have tickets?"
"Here they are." The two showed their tickets.
"Oh, yes. That way please." With a grave face but sparkling eyes, the little fox turned and waved them further back into the forest.
Within the forest, the beams of moonlight slanted down like long blue rods. The two came to a clearing in the woods.
They saw that there were already many pupils of the fox school gathered there, bumping and wrestling with one another. It was especially funny to see one tiny little mouse-like fox on a larger student's shoulders, reaching up trying to catch the stars. In front of everyone was a large white sheet hanging from the branches of a tree.
Shiro and Kanko suddenly heard a voice behind them. "I'm glad you could come this evening. Thank you for the other day."
They were startled, and twisted around to see Konzaburo. This Konzaburo was wearing an impressive western formal coat, with a daffodil in his lapel, and was wiping his pointed jowls with a pure white handkerchief.
Shiro bowed to him and said, "We enjoyed that. Thank you for inviting us this evening. Please give this mochi to everyone."
All the students of the fox school turned to look.
Konzaburo stuck out his chest and accepted the mochi. "I'm embarrassed to accept such a fine gift," he said. "Please relax and enjoy yourselves. The lantern show will start soon. Please excuse me for a moment."
Konzaburo went off with the mochi. The students of the fox school all joined their voices chanting, "Crusty snow kanko, frozen snow shinko. Mochi in a fine form, shiny white and smoothe."
A large card appeared next to the screen, announcing "Contribution: Much Mochi, from the human Shiro and the human Kanko." The fox students clapped their hands happily.
Then a whistle sounded. Clearing his throat, Konzaburo stepped out from beside the screen, and bowed politely. Everyone fell silent.
"The weather this evening is beautiful. The moon looks just like a plate made of pearl. The stars are sparkling like dew on the meadow. We will begin the lantern show now. I ask that everyone open his eyes wide and watch intently, without blinking or sneezing. We have two important guests here tonight, so everyone must be quiet. Please do not throw any chestnut hulls in their direction. These have been my opening remarks."
Again, everyone clapped their hands happily. Shiro quietly said to Kanko, "Konzaburo does that well, doesn't he?" Then the whistle blew again.
The words "Do Not Drink Liquor" were shown on the screen in large letters. Then the words disappeared and were replaced by a photograph. It showed a human-- a drunken old man-- grasping a strange looking round object.
Everyone stamped their feel and sang.
Kikku kikku ton ton, kikku kikku ton ton
"Crusty snow kanko, frozen snow shinko.
Dumplings in the meadow, po po po.
Taemon, that drunken clown,
Took thirtyeight and gulped them down."
Kikku Kikku ton ton, kikku kikku ton ton.
Shiro turned to Kanko and said, "That was Konzaburo's song."
Another photograph was shown on the screen. This was a drunken young man poking his face into a bowl made from a magnolia leaf to eat the contents. Konzaburo, dressed in a white hakama, could be seen looking on.
Everyone stamped their feel and sang.
Kikku kikku ton ton, kikku kikku ton ton
"Crusty snow kanko, frozen snow shinko.
Noodles in the meadow, wo wo wo.
Seisuke in his drunken state
Sluruped and swallowed thirty eight!"
The picture disappeared and there was a short break.
Some cute little girl foxes brought over two dishes of millet dumplings. Shiro didn't know what to do. That was because of what he had just seen about Taemon and Seisaku unknowingly eating bad things.
And then all the students of the fox school turned toward the pair and whispered to each other, "Are they going to eat it? Do you think they'll eat it?"
Kanko shyly held the dish in her hand and turned quite red. Shiro made up his mind. "Let's eat it, okay? Just eat it," he said. "I don't think Konzaburo would try to trick us."
The two of them ate all the millet dumplings. They were quite delicious. The fox school students were more excited than ever, and started dancing around.
Kikku kikku ton ton, Kikku kikku ton ton
"The daytime sun shines boldly down.
At night there's moonlight on the ground.
Though you slice him up, no fox
Who lies will at our school be found."
Kikku kikku ton ton, Kikku kikku ton ton
"The daytime sun shines boldly down.
At night there's moonlight on the ground.
Though you freeze him stiff, no fox
Who steals will at our school be found."
Kikku kikku ton ton, Kikku kikku ton ton
"The daytime sun shines boldly down.
At night there's moonlight on the ground.
No matter what, no jealous fox
Will ever at our school be found."
Kikku kikku ton ton, Kikku kikku ton ton
Shiro and Kanko were so happy that tears ran down their cheeks. They heard the whistle blow again.
The words "Be Wary of Traps" were shown on the screen, followed by a drawing. The drawing was of the fox Konbei with his left foot caught in a trap. Everyone sang,
"Bark, bark, little fox, bark little fox.
Last year Konbei really groaned.
Caught his left leg in a trap,
Barked and struggled, kon kon kon."
"That's a song I wrote," Shiro quietly told Kanko.
The drawing disappeared, and was replaced by the words, "Do Not Be Careless With Fire" That faded and was followed by a drawing of the fox Konsuke when he tried to take a baking fish and caught his tail on fire.
The fox school students all shouted out,
"Bark, bark, little fox, bark little fox.
Last year Konsuke really ran.
Tried to catch a baking fish,
Tail on fire, kyan kyan kyan."
The whistle blew and the screen went blank. Konzaburo came out and spoke again.
"This is the end of this evening's lantern show, everyone. There is something that everyone must keep in his heart and never forget. It is that foxes will never make anything bad and feed it to well-behaved, sober human children. I hope that as you grow up, you will never lie and you will not be envious of humans, so that the bad reputation foxes have had in the past will disappear completely. These are my closing remarks."
The fox students all stood up at once with their forepaws in the air. Tears were sparkling in their eyes.
Konzaburo came over to the two children and bowed politely.
"It's time to say goodbye," he said. "I won't forget your kindness tonight."
Shiro and Kanko bowed in return, and started back toward their house. The fox students followed after the two, and filled their pockets with acorns and chestnuts and fluorescent stones. They said, "Here, this is for you," or "Please take this," and then ran back fast as the wind.
Konzaburo watched with a smile.
Shiro and Kanko left the woods and went across the meadow. In the middle of the cold, snowy meadow, they saw three figures coming toward them. Their older brothers had come out to meet them.
