Two or three days ago, the family servant (yōng) caught a little fox from the mountains. To this day, it won’t eat no matter what I feed it.

A deserted moon appeared above the bare oak trees. The little fox sat alone in the nest, raising his neck and howling (háo). It was a clear, sad sound.

Shotaro looked at the little fox intently. He thought that the little fox might be calling mother - mother - how pitiful this little fox is!

In the middle of the night, the Akita dog barked, and Shotaro was awakened. Both father and mother slept very soundly. Shotaro quietly got up and looked at the warehouse with wide eyes. I saw a big fox strutting towards the Akita dog, holding a trembling chicken in its mouth.

The Akita dog pounced, and the old fox quickly turned around and ran away. The Akita dog chased into the darkness. In no time, the sound of the dog barking was far away.

At this time, another old fox appeared quietly. As soon as the little fox saw the old fox, he kept humming and nuzzling the old fox's body. It wanted to follow the old fox, but as soon as it took two or three steps, it was caught by the chain. After repeating this twice, the old fox discovered the iron chain. It bit hard with its teeth. It took a long time to realize that it was futile, so it lay on the ground and nursed the little fox.

At some point, the father fox who led the dog out came back again. With its neck straightened, it stood guard for them. After a while, Father Fox made a warning cry. The mother fox had no choice but to walk away from her child. The two old foxes looked back again and disappeared into the dark woods.

Later, the old fox never came again.

"Maybe he gave up because he thought he couldn't save the little fox. It would be better to unchain the little fox as soon as possible. He looks so pitiful." Shotaro thought.

The strange thing is that although the little fox still doesn't eat, it is growing up day by day.

At noon that day, Shotaro walked casually to the little fox's den, and suddenly heard a click (kā). There was nothing around, but the fox's footprints were clearly printed on the warm ground.

"Haha! You dare to come here in the daytime, how brave you are!" Shotaro suddenly understood the reason why the fox appeared during the day, "Yes, dogs are leashed during the day!"

But how could they escape so fast? Just when I heard a little sound, it disappeared without a trace!

When Shotaro looked under the floor, he couldn't help but be startled. Four shining green eyes were staring straight at him. Those are the parents of the little fox. They stared at Shotaro for a while, then quietly climbed up the bricks leading from the floor to the room above, climbed to the place where the hearth was built, and disappeared.

The old fox made a nest under the floor!

Shotaro found that the coats of the two old foxes were duller than before, probably because they were obsessed with the little foxes, and they had obviously lost weight.

Shotaro really wanted to untie the iron chain for the little fox. At this moment, the old fox began to do an unusual thing, which made him give up this idea: the old fox realized that he could not bite the iron chain no matter what, so he bit the wooden stake that tied the iron chain. Shotaro thought it might be better to let the old fox use his own power to rescue the little fox.

Shotaro decided to deliver food to the hungry old fox. Whenever the family made fried pork or fried tofu, he would keep some and throw it under the floor; he would also pour a cup of milk into the broken bowl under the floor every day. After a month, the old fox and Shotaro became familiar with each other. Sometimes when there was no one else in the house, Shotaro's door would ring softly, and two foxes would squeeze in through the crack in the door, lick Shotaro's hand, and walk slowly and leisurely in the house. To pace (duó) back and forth. When the little fox sees Shotaro, it will also lick his hand softly with its rough pink tongue.

The old fox never forgot about rescuing the little fox.

Gradually, the wooden pile was gnawed very thin. How happy the old fox must be when he uses his own power to rescue the little fox! When Shotaro thought of this, tears could not help but well up in his eyes.

One day, Shotaro came home from school, passed by the warehouse, and looked into the little fox's nest, but he didn't even see the shadow of the little fox. He hurriedly asked his mother, who told him that the little fox was taken away by Mr. Yasuda. Shotaro was anxious. He said that the little fox must be returned to its parents. After saying that, he ran towards Mr. Yasuda's ranch on the other side of the mountain.

Shotaro was running and accidentally stepped on the snow on the edge of the cliff. He fell headfirst with the snow and lost consciousness. After an unknown amount of time, Shotaro felt his face getting warm. He struggled to open his eyes and saw a big fox licking his cheek. Another fox squatted on his chest, warming his body.

The next day, Shotaro got the little fox back and went to the valley with his father to release it.

As soon as the little fox ran more than ten meters away, the old fox ran over from nowhere, happily jumped around the little fox, and then ran into the depths of the woods together.

Facing the dazzling morning sun, the foxes' footprints shine with golden light, extending deep into the dense forest.