to squeeze her hand, upon which she told him never to do so again; and then for some time he neither saw nor heard anything of her.  She had conceived a violent dislike to the young stranger above mentioned; and one evening, when he was sitting talking with Ku, the young lady appeared.  After a while she got angry at something he said, and drew from her robe a glittering knife about a foot long.  The young man, seeing her do this, ran out in a fright and she after him, only to find that he had vanished.  She then threw her dagger up into the air, and whish! a streak of light like a rainbow, and something came tumbling down with a flop.  Ku got a light, and ran to see what it was; and lo! there lay a white fox, head in one place and body in another.  “There is your friend,” cried the girl; “I knew he would cause me to destroy him sooner or later.”  Ku dragged it into the house, and said, “Let us wait till to-morrow to talk it over; we shall then be more calm.”  Next day the young lady arrived, and Ku inquired about her knowledge of the black art; but she told Ku not to trouble himself about such affairs, and to keep it secret or it might be prejudicial to his happiness.  Ku then entreated her to consent to their union, to which she replied that she had already been as it were a daughter-in-law to his mother, and there was no need to push the thing further.  “Is it because I am poor?” asked Ku.  “Well, I am not rich,” answered she, “but the fact is I had rather not.”  She then took her leave, and the next evening when Ku went across to their house to try once more to persuade her the young lady had disappeared, and was never seen again.

The Boon-companion

Once upon a time there was a young man named Ch’e, who was not particularly well off, but at the same time very fond of his wine; so much so that without his three stoups of liquor every night he was quite unable to sleep, and bottles were seldom absent from the head of his bed.  One night he had waked up and was turning over and over, when he fancied some one was in the bed with him; but then, thinking it was only the clothes which had slipped off, he put out his hand to feel, and in doing so touched something silky like a cat.  Striking a light, he found it was a fox, lying in a drunken sleep like a dog; and then looking at his wine bottle he saw that it had been emptied.  “A boon-companion,” said he, laughing, as he avoided startling the animal, and, covering it up, lay down to sleep with his arm across it, and the candle alight so as to see what transformation it might undergo.  About midnight the fox stretched itself, and Ch’e cried, “Well, to be sure, you’ve had a nice sleep!” He then drew off the clothes, and beheld an elegant young man in a scholar’s dress; but the young man jumped up, and, making a low obeisance, returned his host many thanks for not cutting off his head.  “Oh,” replied Ch’e, “I am not averse to liquor myself; in fact they say I’m