The White Fox
25
paper.
- The Fox.—Yes, I remember well. I gave you chocolates, I always thought you were a very smart messenger-boy. I never forgot you, you see. (The fox sits down on a rock.) Why do you stand there? Come and sit here near me!
- Kakutaro.—Oh, thank you, it is very kind of you. (He takes a seat near her, with great delight.)
- The Fox.—Kakutaro-san, why are you here?
- Kakutaro.—Oh, I will tell you about myself. I once was employed there, but unfortunately it was reputed that I was mad. It was untrue … but I had to leave, and retruned again to this part of the country, which is my native place.
- The Fox.—Do your father and mother live here?
- Kakutaro.—No. Both of them are dead, so I was compelled to live with my aunt.
- The Fox.—I see. So you stay here with your aunt, do you?
- Kakutaro.—No, not now. I’ve already fled from her house, for I hate her very much … she treats me very badly, and is always scolding me.
- The Fox.—Then, where are you staying now?
- Kakutaro.—I have no home at all. By day, I always hide myself in the woods and on the mountains, and at night I aways come down here to this valley … Rosa-san, I know that you visit this bath every night, and so every evening I come here and peep at you from this spot.
- The Fox.—What! Have you been here every night?
