The
Fox Woman
After dinner, the
Chief was ready for the second story.
Quiet, everyone, and I will
begin the next story. I call it, The Fox Woman.
It starts with a lonely man who
lived by himself. This man's name was Cloud. He had a home in the
middle of the woods that was very disorderly and messy. He did not have
time to take care of it because he hunted all day.
One day Cloud entered his home
and noticed everything was clean and put away. His dishes had
been done and his bed had been made. He noticed a wonderful smell and
saw that dinner was on the table. For a second he thought he walked
into the wrong house. When he was convinced it was his own house, he
looked around to see who did this. He found no one. He thought it was
very odd
but decided to enjoy it. He had not been taken care
of in years and he liked it. For the first time, Cloud, felt like he
had a wife. He had never been married before but had always wanted to.
The next day, Cloud came home
after hunting. He found the house clean and dinner on the table.
He thought yesterday had been a one-time thing. He was delighted to see
the
house in such good condition but he was starting to wonder who was
doing this. So, one day he pretended to go hunting but
secretly watched his house. He hid behind a nearby bush and
waited. A few minutes later he saw a fox slip through the crack in his
front door. He thought the fox was going to eat his food so he ran in
after it. When he opened the door he saw a beautiful woman cleaning his
dishes. She had long dark hair and bright green eyes. She was dressed
in the most beautiful animal skin. Cloud was stunned
by her beauty. He finally asked her if she had been the one who
cleaned and cooked. She admitted it was her and that she was his wife.
She
said it was her duty to make sure dinner was on the table and the
dishes were clean.
Cloud did not remember getting
married. He thought to himself, "It cannot be this easy to get a wife.
She is
beautiful and does everything for me. What more could I ask for?"
Cloud and his wife lived a happy
life together. His wife always took care of the house and Cloud. Every
night when Cloud would come home from hunting he would
notice fox fur on a line outside. He never brought fox
home for dinner so he did not know where she got it. He did not pay too
much attention to it though.
One day Cloud confronted his
wife about a stench in the house. He said he started smelling it when
she first started living with him. He said it smelled like a wild fox.
His wife looked at him with angry tears in her
eyes. She said that she was the stench and if he had a
problem with it she would leave. She quickly ran outside and
transformed into a fox. She never returned.
So, you see why Cloud lost
everything? He had the perfect life and ruined it by complaining. The
beautiful woman took complete care of him and never asked for anything
in return. Cloud could not remain satisfied. In
the beginning he had to spy on her and see who it was that was taking
care of him. Later, he asked her why she smelled. His question hurt her
feelings and caused her to leave
him. Sometimes, we should just be grateful for what we have and not ask
questions. Complaining can cost you everything.
Complaining is always negative and will always have a negative outcome.
We also see how Cloud is ignorant in this story. He sees a fox go into
his house but he does not realize it is her. Later, he notices fox
fur outside but does not think anything of it. He does not put it
together when he smells her. Hopefully, everyone learned that ignorance
and complaining are a bad combination.
Author's
Note: I kept the title of the story the same as the original. I
did not deviate from the storyline. The original story did not use
names. I thought it would be easier to re-tell the story if I gave the
man the name Cloud. I added small details to the story. I described
what the woman looked like and told the reader that Cloud was lonely.
Everything else in my re-telling follows the original story
line. I thought the important lesson in this story was to learn that
some things are better left unquestioned. In Cloud's situation his
wife's
smell was not hurting him so he would have been better off not asking.
If you had someone taking care of you and asking nothing in return,
would you comment
on their flaws? It would be rude and might hurt their feelings, just
like Cloud's wife's feelings were hurt. She ran away and never came
back. Cloud's ignorance and complaining caused him to lose everything.
Bibliography
Book Title: Tales of North American Indians
Author: Stith Thompson
Story Title: The Fox Woman
Year Published: 1929
Web Address: Sacred
Texts
Image Information
Fox. National
Association of Scholars
Coverpage
Introduction