One evening an impressive looking samurai came in and asked to rest there. Kihei could see that this hakama and kimono and sword were those of a genuine samurai, but his face just didn't look right.
There was fur growing on his face, which had a pointed muzzle and triangular ears pointing straight up. This was a fox imitating a samurai.
This looked so funny that Kihei could hardly stand it. However, he controlled himself and didn't laugh. Instead he put some water in a metal basin and placed it before the fox-samurai. "Samurai-sama! Do you wish to wash your face?"
The fox stood proudly like a samurai and bent over the water to wash his face. When he did, his face was reflected in the water.
Only then did he realize that although he had the body of a samurai, his face was still that of a fox. The fox barked in horror, and dashed out of the tea shop.
The next day Kihei went into the mountains to gather wood. On the way back he heard someone in a grove of trees calling "Kihei, Kihei."
"What is it?"
"That was pretty funny last night, wasn't it?" the voice said. Then Kihei realized it was the fox from the night before.
They say that long ago foxes would imitate men that way. Apparently they could laugh with men that way too. I don't know if that's true or not, but it does make an interesting story.