Original Text
Yi Gun was a native of Jiujiang in Jiangxi. One night, a woman came and slept with him. In his heart, he knew she was a fox spirit, but he was captivated by her beauty, so he kept the secret and told no one, not even his parents. As time went on, his body grew increasingly emaciated. His parents pressed him relentlessly, and only then did Yi Gun reveal the truth. His parents were greatly alarmed and had people take turns sleeping with him, and they also employed charms and spells, but they could never stop her. His father personally shared the bed with Yi Gun, and the fox spirit did not come; as soon as someone else took his place, she returned. Yi Gun asked the fox spirit why this was so, and she said, "How could the charms and spells of this world ever restrain me? But there is a matter of ethics and morality—how could one engage in lewd acts in the presence of a father?" When the father heard this, he stayed even more resolutely by his son's side and never left, and so the fox spirit ceased to come. Later, when rebels ran rampant and plundered the land, the entire village fled, and Yi Gun became separated from his family. He escaped into the Kunlun Mountains near Jiujiang, and looking around, he saw nothing but desolation. As dusk fell, Yi Gun grew fearful. Suddenly, a woman appeared, and when she drew near, he saw it was the fox spirit. Meeting in the midst of chaos, both were overjoyed. The fox spirit said, "The sun has already set; wait here for a while. I will go find a good place and build a temporary shelter to keep us safe from tigers and wolves." With that, she walked north a few steps, crouched among the wild grasses, and did something unknown. After a moment, she returned, took Yi Gun by the hand, and led him south. After walking about a dozen paces, she pulled him back. Yi Gun suddenly saw a vast grove of tall trees surrounding a lofty pavilion, with walls of bronze and pillars of iron, and a roof that seemed plated with gold leaf. As they drew near, he saw that the walls were as high as his shoulders, with no gate anywhere, but densely covered with small holes. The fox spirit stepped on these holes to climb over the wall, and Yi Gun followed her example. Once inside, Yi Gun suspected that this golden dwelling could not have been made by human hands, and he asked where it came from. The fox spirit smiled and said, "You may stay here, and tomorrow I will give it to you. This house is made of thousands of catties of gold and iron, and you will never exhaust its worth in a lifetime." Having said this, she prepared to take her leave. Yi Gun earnestly begged her to stay, and only then did she remain. The fox spirit said, "I have been despised and abandoned by others, and I once swore to sever all ties forever, but today I cannot hold to that resolve." When Yi Gun awoke, the fox had vanished without a trace. At daybreak, he climbed over the wall and looked back at the place where he had slept; there was no pavilion or house, only four needles stuck into a ring, covered by a rouge box, and the great grove of trees was nothing but a thicket of brambles.
Commentary
This tale is composed of two loosely connected short stories. The first recounts how parents exhaust all means to prevent a fox spirit from associating with Yi Gun, only to succeed when the fox spirit, constrained by ethical norms, cannot "commit lewd acts with the elder." The second tells of the fox spirit, after their separation, using a minor ruse to rescue Yi Gun amid wartime chaos. The romance between the human and the fox spirit, lacking deep emotional bonds, is not particularly outstanding, yet the author’s use of moral principles to expel the fox, especially the imaginative depiction of the fox spirit crafting a temporary, delicate refuge from a thimble, needle, and rouge box, leaves a lasting impression.