Week 10 Story: A Generous Admirer

There once was a very lonely hunter, who lived by himself in the woods. He would often leave for short periods of time for his hunts. However, to his surprise, when he arrived back to his home it would always be spotless. His laundry, once dirty, would be clean, folded, and neatly put away. His dishes would be washed and placed back in their respective cabinets. The weeds in the yard were picked, and the flowers that he never watered still looked beautiful. A hot delicious meal would even be set out on the table and ready to be eaten. Everything was in place and well kept as if he had a wife taking care of him.

The hunter was very curious as to who was entering his home while he was away, and so he came up with a plan. One day, he went away as usual as though he was going on a hunt. However, he decided to hide in the nearby trees and wait to see who it was that was so generous to him.

After a while he saw a fox wandering toward the front door. He suspected that the fox was looking for food. The hunter slowly followed the fox into his home. When he got through the front door, to his surprise stood a gorgeous naked woman. Nearby on the sofa lay the hide of a beautiful fox.

The man, stunned by this woman who robbed the stars of their beauty, asked her if she had been the one who was entering his home and doing all of these wonderful things.She told him that, as a fox, she would often see him on his hunts and ended up falling in love. One day she followed him home and saw that he was all alone and had no one to care for him, so she decided to step in and demonstrate her love.The hunter was amazed, and asked the woman to live with him. 

After they had lived together a short time, he detected a musky odor that lingered in the house and asked her what it was. She replied that she emitted the odor, and if he was bothered by it she would leave. Instead, the hunter started decorating the woman in vibrant and fragrant flowers that he picked from the woods so she would always smell wonderful.

He soon asked her to be his wife, and after some time she gave birth to two adorable girl foxes. 

Author's Note:

The original story was very short and to the point. I decided to add some more detail, especially when writing about the different things the woman did when she entered the home. The ending was really the only thing I changed up. In the original, when the hunter found out that the woman was emitting the odor he was very bothered by it. She morphed back into her fox form and never saw a man again. This ending actually surprised me, and I was a little bummed by it. Therefor, I decided to change it to an ending that made me feel satisfied. I wanted to make it more cutesy. I hope you enjoyed it!

Story source: The Fox-Woman by Stith Thompson (1929)

Image source: Cabin

Image source: Beautiful Fox