The Fox That Wanted Nine Golden TailsNelson, Kathleen Gray
Science
The Fox That Wanted Nine Golden Tails
Nelson, Kathleen Gray
Fairy tales; Foxes -- Juvenile fiction
“Henceforth you shall belong to me,” the Prince declared, and so he
took her back to his Bamboo Castle as his bride. There every one
wondered at this fair maid of the forest, but no one could find out who
were her parents or where her home had been or anything about her, and
the Prince was so charmed with her grace and beauty he never bothered
his head about these questions that so worried other people. She loved
him and he loved her and that was all he cared to know about her, for
the Prince was a very clever man.
He bought her the loveliest gowns of purple and yellow satin, all
embroidered in roses and green leaves and jeweled butterflies, and
she had servants to wait upon her and fan her and a red and gold
jinricksha to ride in. He called her a queer Japanese word which means
Wild Flower, for he said she grew and blossomed in the forest and he
transplanted her and made her a Princess. But that was just his own pet
name for her, and he ordered that throughout the Land Where the Day
Begins she should be known as the Princess Hoshi, or the Star Princess.
And he gave a great supper and invited all the people of his kingdom to
it, and in the center of the table was a cake so big it looked like a
snow-covered mountain, and around it were blooming all the joyous and
lucky flowers, while out in the court was a maple tree covered with
what every one thought at first was autumn leaves, but these leaves
turned out to be little cakes of every color under the sun, and each
guest was given a red paper bag filled with them to carry home. No
wonder they were all glad the Prince had found a Princess Hoshi, and
wished him and his Star Princess long life and much joy. It is true
there were some who, as soon as they got away, nodded their heads
knowingly as they munched their cakes, and said the Princess was an odd
person and perhaps the Prince would one day wish he had left her in the
forest.
Now, a Bamboo Castle is a charming place to live. There were wind
bells hung all along the eaves and they tinkled with the whisper of
every passing breeze, and the windows were of paper, so that when the
Princess wanted to look out of doors all she had to do was to poke a
hole in one of them with her finger and by putting one eye there she
could see everything that was passing and no one could catch a glimpse
of her, and there were hundreds of mats on the floor of every room,
and these were soft and cool to walk upon even in Doyo, or the Period
of Greatest Heat, and the Prince went all the way to the town of
Hirosaki to get her a bronze mirror that she might see how pretty she
was, and she often looked in it. He also brought her a long-haired,
fluffy little dog, but she screamed and would have nothing to do with
it, so in its place he gave her a red cat without any tail that purred
pleasantly whenever she touched it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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