The Werewolf Fox
In ancient times, a dense forest grew around Mount Ishan. If anyone settled there, it was mostly people from the plains. A young man named Yang Wu—Yang the Fifth—came to those parts. His eyes and brows sparkled with humor, his face was open, and it was clear at once that his heart was honest and kind. He and his mother had lived by the Yellow River, their house standing right by the water, but a flood came. Yang Wu and his mother barely escaped, carrying only a shoulder pole, and made their way to Ishan. They built a small house from branches and sticks. It wasn’t much, but it had a few rooms, and they stayed there to live.Yang Wu exchanged his oars for an axe and instead of fishing nets, he began carrying firewood on his back. Every day he went into the forest to chop wood, but he could never explore all of it. Autumn arrived, and the heat subsided. The pine needles remained green, the leaves of the cork oaks had already turned red, and the poplars donned golden attire. As Yang walked through the forest, chopping wood, he didn’t notice how he had wandered into a place where people were rarely seen. He looked around—there was an entire forest of persimmon trees. It was past noon, but the sun was bright and clear, as if it were early morning. And it wasn’t the sun that made the leaves red; rather, the sun itself seemed red from the leaves. Among the red leaves hung ripe fruits in pairs, glittering. Yang Wu was nimble; in an instant, he climbed a tree, picked some sweet fruits, and returned home.
As soon as he entered the gate, he began shouting:
"Mother! Rejoice! We’ll have wine for the New Year!"
His mother saw that her son had returned cheerful and smiled. That year, Yang Wu indeed brewed wine from the persimmons—thick and fragrant. When you opened the lid of the jar, the aroma of the wine spread far and wide. On New Year's Eve, his mother said to him:
"Son, we have few vegetables, no oil at all, and even less of other food. Bring the wine jar, let’s heat it up and drink."
Yang Wu gathered some branches, lit a fire, and white, fragrant steam rose from the kettle, spreading in all directions. Just as the young man poured the cups, the door creaked slightly open, and a youth entered; his face was dark red, his eyes sparkled, and he was handsome and well-dressed. Mother and son stared at him as if they had met him somewhere before, but couldn’t remember where. The youth sat at the table, laughing, clearly wanting to drink some wine. Mother and son thought: "It’s better to welcome the New Year with guests."
The mother said:
"If you don’t mind, stay and celebrate the New Year with us."
Yang Wu offered the guest a cup.
The youth began praising the wine:
"What a scent! What an aroma!"
Yang Wu was delighted and said:
"The smell is good, but the taste is even better."
The youth took the cup with both hands, brought it to his lips, drank, and praised again:
"Good wine, strong wine!"
Hearing this, Yang Wu was even more pleased. The guest drank one cup, and Yang Wu poured him a second; the guest drank the second, and Yang Wu poured him a third. Amid the wine, merriment, and conversation, they didn’t notice the dawn breaking. The youth suddenly remembered and said:
"Tomorrow at midnight, brother, light a lantern, and I’ll come in a flash."
With these words, he dashed out the gate faster than the wind.
Mother and son remembered the youth’s words, and the next day, as midnight approached, Yang Wu said to his mother:
"Mother! Let’s light the lantern!"
"There’s no oil; it all burned out last night. Light a pine branch instead."
Yang Wu lit a pine branch and went outside. As the saying goes: a small flame can be seen from a hundred steps away. The road outside the gate became bright. Yang Wu looked and couldn’t believe his eyes—was it the fire playing tricks on him? In front of the gate lay all sorts of food, grain, and a heap of fabrics. Then, in the light, yesterday’s guest appeared, waving his hand, and Yang Wu greeted him. Yang Wu was both joyful and amazed.
"Brother," he said, "I don’t know where all this bounty suddenly appeared at my gate."
Then his mother ran out of the house and asked:
"What’s this miracle, son?"
"Mother," the youth-guest replied, "I brought all this for you. And I have another gift for my younger brother." Saying this, he pulled out from his belt a golden plate the size of a cow’s tongue, or even larger, handed it to Yang Wu, and said:
"Take it, brother. This gold is from the Mountain of the Evil Dragon. The whole mountain is made of gold. But it’s guarded by an evil dragon. You can’t even approach it."
Yang Wu looked at the gold; it sparkled in the firelight, almost blinding. The youth-guest then said:
"I must go; I have too much to do. We’ll have fun another time."
Yang Wu really didn’t want to part with this extraordinary, kind youth, but what could he do? He said:
"If you have things to do, go, but how can we meet again?"
The youth replied:
"Nothing could be simpler: go into the forest, walk a hundred steps, turn to the west, and shout three times: 'Gēgē—elder brother!' I’ll appear in an instant."
Mother and son saw the youth off, and soon the fifteenth day of the New Year arrived. The mother cooked the finest rice and prepared various vegetables. Yang Wu made two red paper lanterns, thinking to himself: "Today is a holiday, and on holidays, we don’t work. I’ll go and call him. It’s more fun to celebrate together."
Yan Wu took a carrying pole, hung lanterns on it, and went into the forest. Ahead were trees, their shadows falling on the ground, and the snow crunched underfoot. Yan Wu walked, counting his steps—no more, no less—exactly one hundred steps. He stopped, turned to the west, and shouted loudly three times. As soon as the echo faded, a young man stood before Yan Wu. They saw each other and were so overjoyed that it's hard to put into words.
They returned home together. By that time, Yan Wu's mother had already made lanterns out of soybean flour, as was the custom, and lit them. In that very moment, flames began to flicker and sparkle everywhere—on the grain chest, the clay jars, the stone slabs, and the gates. The three of them ate and drank wine. Then the mother said:
"I've heard that in Yangzhou, on the fifteenth day of the first month every year, people go out for a stroll with colorful lanterns. Maybe it's true, maybe it's a lie."
Yan Wu replied to his mother:
"It's not a lie at all. I've heard that nowhere else are there lanterns as beautiful as in Yangzhou."
At this point, the guest chimed in:
"So you're saying the lanterns in Yangzhou are beautiful. Well, we ought to see them. We don't seem to have any business to attend to, so let's set off this very evening."
The mother said:
"Even if that city were only a few hundred li away, we couldn't reach it in one evening. And I don't even know how many thousands of li it actually is."
The guest laughed and replied:
"We'll get to Yangzhou in an instant. Climb onto my back, brother. We'll go quickly and return early, and we'll still have time to get some sleep."
The guest placed Yan Wu on his back, walked a few steps away from the house, and disappeared from sight. By the time the mother stepped outside the gate, the two young men were already far away, several hundred li off. The white snow lay on the ground, the moon shone in the sky, and on the snowy-white earth, the lights of the lanterns twisted like a red ribbon, while the stars sparkled and shimmered in the dark sky.
In an instant, the young men found themselves in Yangzhou. They saw a river—smooth and clear as a mirror—and ancient houses, tall and beautiful. On the main streets and bridges, patterned lanterns indeed burned in various colors. The light from the lanterns and the moon made it brighter than daylight. The moon and the lanterns reflected in the water, their red and silver rays competing. Everywhere, lanterns swayed and sparkled, gold shimmered and gleamed. And there were so many people admiring the lanterns that, as they say, you could build a mountain and dam a sea with them. There was plenty to see and admire. One lantern was a fierce lion, another a delicate lotus, and yet another a red plum blossom; golden cicadas, golden fish, butterflies, pomegranates—there was something for every taste. The young men looked east, turned west, and before they knew it, they had reached a bridge made of white jade. There, a crowd had gathered, jostling each other, clearly examining some curiosity. The young men squeezed closer and saw: two lanterns hung there—two inseparable mandarin ducks, with flowers embroidered on the lanterns—simply breathtaking, the patterns impossible to look away from. Everything rejoiced, everything came alive under the red glow of their rays.
Yan Wu looked at the lanterns and thought, "These were made by skillful hands."
The people around were saying the same thing. Yan Wu listened to what they were saying and learned that these lanterns had been made by a young lady named Cui-cui, the daughter of Mr. Li, a long-time resident of Yangzhou. "If the girl's hands are so skillful," thought Yan Wu, "then she must be clever and resourceful." Yan Wu admired the lanterns for a long time until his friend took him by the hand, and they both extricated themselves from the crowd.
The young man walked ahead, and Yan Wu followed. They approached a place where there were few people, and the young man said quietly:
"I'll take you to see the young lady who embroidered the ducks on the lanterns."
Yan Wu even stopped and shook his head:
"How can we? They won't let us into the house, and it would be embarrassing in front of the young lady. We're strangers to her, after all!"
The young man replied:
"Listen to me and don't be afraid."
He took Yan Wu by the hand, led him to a large gate, then gave him a branch with two green leaves and said:
"This is an invisibility branch. Hold it, and no one will see you."
They entered the large gate, then a smaller one, and no one noticed them—not the gatekeeper, nor the maid carrying tea. They didn't go to the main rooms or the great hall but found a small, tidy house in a secluded corner of the large courtyard. They climbed the stairs, entered, and saw large and small mirrors hanging and boxes of various sizes arranged. A young lady sat on the bed. It was Cui-cui, of course. Who else could it be? When Yan Wu saw her, he nearly cried out, she was so beautiful.
And indeed, Cui-cui was lovely. She sat there, crying, tears glistening in her large eyes, rolling down her cheeks, her small mouth tightly closed, yet she still seemed beautiful. Slowly, the girl turned her head, looked at the window paper, which reflected the red flame of a candle, and softly opened her mouth to say:
"Ah, Father, you keep saying: a suitable match, a respectable family, but you know nothing of your daughter's thoughts, you don't know whom your daughter wishes to marry."
At this, the young man said:
"Don't be sad, sister, don't grieve. I've come to arrange a match for you."
Cui-cui searched the entire room, wondering what kind of miracle this was—she could hear a voice but see no one! She wasn't frightened and calmly asked:
"Who are you: an evil spirit or an immortal saint?"
The young man replied:
"Neither an evil spirit nor an immortal saint—I've brought a handsome young man to you."
He said this, took the invisibility branch from Yan Wu's hands, and the young lady saw: indeed, a fine young man stood before her. "It would be nice," she thought, "to marry him and calm my heart. I like him. But would Father, Mother, and my elder brother and sister-in-law agree to give me to this young man?" She was both happy and sad, both fearful and sorrowful. She asked Yan:
"How did you get in here? Where is your home, and what is your name?"
Yan Wu told her everything as it was, hiding nothing. The girl wanted to ask something more, but then she heard footsteps on the stairs. Yan Wu got scared, turned to the young man, but he had vanished without a trace. Luckily, the invisible branch remained on the table. Yan Wu grabbed it just as the maid opened the door and entered the room. She looked around—only the young lady was there, no one else.
And so, that night, Yan Wu stayed with Cui-cui.
The next day, the maid brought Cui-cui breakfast. Yan Wu held the branch in his hand, sat at the table, and ate and drank with the young lady. However, they didn’t get enough to eat—the breakfast had been prepared for only one person.
Cui-cui said to the maid:
“The food suited my taste today. Next time, bring more.”
The maid nodded and brought a larger portion for lunch. Cui-cui and Yan Wu finished everything without a trace—after all, they hadn’t eaten enough in the morning. The maid was surprised: “The young lady always eats very little. What’s happened to her today?” At dinner, everything was eaten again.
This continued for several days in a row. Now, not only the maid but even the old mistress was puzzled. She began to wonder: “Why does my daughter lock the doors as soon as she finishes eating? She hasn’t come downstairs once in three days.” The old mistress quietly climbed the stairs and stood by the door. Suddenly, she heard a man’s voice in the room. She screamed and ordered the door to be opened immediately. She entered and looked around—no one was there, only her daughter. The mistress got angry and interrogated her daughter. But Cui-cui replied:
“There’s no one here, mother. You must have imagined it.”
The mother didn’t believe her and began searching the room, but she found no one. Still unconvinced, she went downstairs and sternly questioned the maid. The maid told her everything she knew. That evening, the old mistress told her husband everything. When Master Li heard this, he jumped up in anger, as they say, “burning with flames three zhang high.” He shouted and roared, threatening to bury Cui-cui alive. But the mother disagreed—she felt sorry for her daughter. The husband and wife argued, shouting and making noise, and the quarrel escalated. The eldest son overheard his parents arguing, stood by the door, and learned everything he needed to know. He returned, told his wife, and said with malice:
“She should be killed, and that’s it!”
The daughter-in-law pursed her lips, pointed at her husband, and replied:
“What are your parents thinking? As the saying goes, ‘Don’t air your dirty laundry in public.’ Burying someone alive—that’s only to astonish heaven and shake the earth. Talking nonsense is even worse. Let’s sneak into her house, set it on fire, and say that heavenly fire burned it down. We’ll bury her, and that’ll be the end of it.”
The elder brother listened to his wife and waited for the dark of night to carry out the evil deed.
In the middle of the night, Yan Wu and Cui-cui smelled acrid smoke. They woke up, opened the door slightly, and saw that the staircase had burned down, and the fire was about to spread to the room. Yan Wu remembered his young friend and shouted:
“Brother, brother, save us quickly!”
As soon as he shouted, a huge bird appeared out of nowhere, several zhang in length. It folded its wings, entered the door, and without hesitation, Yan Wu and Cui-cui climbed onto its back. The bird flapped its wings and soared into the sky.
Meanwhile, smoke and flames poured from the windows.
The bird carried them straight to Mount Yishan and landed at the gates of Yan Wu’s house. As soon as they stepped onto the ground, the bird flapped its wings and transformed back into the young man.
Yan Wu was amazed and said:
“Brother, is that you?”
The young man replied:
“I’ve spent many days in Yangzhou for your sake, but now it’s time for me to return home and see how things are there.”
With that, he disappeared into the dense forest.
Back at home, Yan Wu’s mother was eagerly waiting for her son. When she saw that he had returned and even brought a wife with him, she cried with joy. Soon, the second day of the second month arrived. On this day, all insects awaken from their winter slumber. The spring thunder would soon rumble, rain would pour, snow would melt, and ice would thaw. As soon as the rain passed and the clouds cleared, Yan Wu went into the forest to gather firewood. The poplars were washed by the rain, green leaves peeking out on the branches, while the apricot branches were red and pink. Yan Wu climbed an oak tree to chop dry branches, but before he could cut even one, a strong wind blew, tearing off the dry leaves that had hung on the tree all winter and throwing them to the ground. Yan Wu held tightly to the thick branches so the hurricane wouldn’t sweep him away. As soon as the hurricane passed, black clouds rolled in from the northeast, and a black dragon descended from them, swishing its tail. Thunder rumbled, and lightning flashed. The young man saw the dragon dart toward a large pine tree. He looked under the pine tree—and wished he hadn’t. He broke into a cold sweat when he saw the young man under the tree. The young man took off his clothes, waved them once, twice, and each time the lightning died down. The black dragon flashed and lunged at the young man. The lightning flickered, then died, flickered, then died—at least ten times, getting closer and closer to the young man. Finally, it got close enough, jumping and thrashing. Seeing this, Yan Wu threw his axe with all his might at the black dragon, splitting it in half. The black dragon writhed and flailed, but the young man waved his clothes, pressed the dragon’s head to the ground, lifted its tail, and slammed it to the ground, killing it.
Yan Wu jumped down from the tree and ran to the young man, who said:
“That was the evil dragon from Mount Erlongshan. You saved my life, brother. I’ve realized I still haven’t learned how to fight properly. Farewell, brother. I’ll go wander the four seas and master the arts.”
Yan Wu really didn’t want to part with the young man, so he said one last thing:
“I’ve known you for a long time, elder brother, but I still don’t understand—are you a man or an immortal saint? Tell me before you go!”
The young man replied with just four lines:
Yan Wu grew up kind,
Befriended an immortal fox,
Traveled to Yangzhou to see the lanterns,
And found a wife a thousand li away.
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