Week 11 Story: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

In my youth, I was the most beautiful fox in the forest, with luscious red fur and a wide, bushy tail. I held a secret, however--none of my fox brethren knew that I could become a human at will. I simply tugged at my fur and it came off, transforming me into a beautiful woman in the process. I never revealed this secret to the creatures I lived with in the forest as all, to some extent, were terrified of humans and for good reason--hunters frequented our little woods and made short work of any unfortunate animal who happened to cross their path.

One day, I grew bored of my life in the forest and longed for human interaction. I never was satisfied with my life as a fox and, in my youthful folly, decided to join mankind. I knew of a young hunter who lived near the edge of the woods and decided that he would be my husband, though of course he had no idea of this. Every day, I watched his house, waiting for him to go hunting, at which point I swooped in, ripped off my fur, and labored all day, cooking and cleaning and generally being the perfect housekeeper. I found these tasks significantly easier with opposable thumbs, thus my transformation into my human form. Yet I could not get over my fear of humans, deeply instilled in me from my years in the forest, so I never waited for him to return, instead dashing off as soon as I had finished my work.

But eventually the man grew curious and wanted to know who was doing all of these things for him. So he waited, unbeknownst to me, outside in the forest after pretending to go out hunting. I, having seen him enter the forest, dashed into the house and began my work, happy to be caring for my secret husband. Imagine my shock when he entered the house behind me! He inquired if I was the one who had been cooking and cleaning for him, to which I replied yes, I was the one taking care of him as his wife. He seemed a bit surprised to find that he had a wife but agreed to remain my husband. He commented on the beautiful fox fur hanging beside me but never asked about how he had seen a fox enter his house yet had found a woman. And so we lived together for several weeks, my need for human companionship finally being fulfilled.

But then, the man ruined it. The day had started perfectly enough--he went out hunting while I stayed behind and cleaned the house. He never once had asked about the fox fur or about my possibly being a fox, so I was content to leave the subject alone. After a long day of hard work, I was finally done with my tasks and collapsed in bed for a nap. An hour later, my husband returned with the day's kill. After we had finished our evening meal and were preparing to go to sleep, the ungrateful man asked what that musky smell he always smelled was. For those of you who do not know, we foxes emit a natural musky smell. Some people find it tolerable while others simply find it stinky. Apparently my ungrateful husband found it stinky.

He continued to dig his own grave, jabbering on and on about how the smell never went away and how he just wanted to know what it was, if maybe it was the fox fur I kept hanging by the bed. In my anger, I could bear his insults no longer. I declared that the smell was from me and that if he was going to complain about such a small matter, I would leave and never return. I grabbed my fur, put it on and transformed into a fox, dashing out into the night. That night, I swore to myself that I would never step foot in the home of another man and subject myself to their ingratitude. I have lived as a fox ever since and do not miss the company of men in the least.

Photo of a fox, taken by littlew. Source: Flickr

Author's Note:

I kept the original story exactly the same, only I told it from the viewpoint of the fox-woman because I found her decision to become the wife of the hunter and her decision to leave him interesting. I would not think that a fox-woman would want to be anywhere near a hunter, so that is why I incorporated the bit about her fears of humans. I also thought that an animal-human hybrid like her would crave human interaction at times, so that is how I explained her decision to act as wife to the man (though of course she is too frightened to stick around). I found the ending hilarious as she basically swears off of men for good because of the hunter's ingratitude and the lack of tact he shows in asking about the smell!

Bibliography: The Fox-Woman in Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson (1929).