In Bazhou lived an old Confucian scholar who was a true gentleman enjoying high prestige.  One day a fox spirit broke into his house to make trouble. When the scholar was there all would be quiet, but the moment he left the fox would start shaking the doors and windows, smashing utensils, throwing rubbish around, and doing other sorts of mischief. Thus kept from going out, the old scholar stayed home all day reading. Just then a group of scholars in Bazhou met in the local school to sign a joint petition against the prefect about a river control project. They wanted to elect the old scholar as their leader, but as he was unable to attend the gathering because of the fox in his house, they elected a Mr. Wang instead. Wang, charged with gathering a crowd to defy authority, was subsequently tried and executed, and the old scholar had a narrow escape. As soon as the case broke out, the old scholar’s house ceased to be disturbed by the fox. Only then did he realize that the fox had tied him down in the house in order to prevent him from getting involved in the case. Therefore nothing auspicious will ever happen to a petty man; if any such thing should happen to him, it must have been generated by heaven to make him aggravate his sin. Likewise, a gentleman will not meet any demon; if he should meet one, it must have been sent by heaven to help him avoid a catastrophe.

 Ever since I read my first fantasy novel featuring kitsune a few years ago, I’ve loved the concept, and I’ve scoured the net for more tales about the wily multi-tailed foxes and their antics. One site that has helped me get my fix is Kitsune.org, and I found this traditional story above there, as well as other traditional and original stories.

As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk 
the Law runneth forward and back —
For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf,
and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.

Achilles was very strong.

This book was recommended to me when I was posting something introspective on one of my favorite social media sites.

Here’s an excerpt:

Healthy wolves and healthy women share certain psychic characteristics: keen sensing, playful spirit, and a heightened capacity for devotion. Wolves and women are relational by nature, inquiring, possessed of great endurance and strength…

Yet both have been hounded, harassed and falsely imputed to be devouring and devious, overly aggressive, of less value than those who are their detractors. They have been the targets of those who would clean up the wilds as well as the wildish environs of the psyche, extincting the instinctual, and leaving no trace of it behind.

I have nothing more to add, other than that I will be reading this book.

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GO BLUE!

photograph of Wing as it appears in The Art of Michael Whelan

Whelan’s site:  http://www.michaelwhelan.com/

It’s not really art, but a well-known actor and martial artist who is making an appeal to the world — build hospitals that will not lose the ability to function when natural disasters strike.

source: TorrentFreak,

via Mark "Rizzn" Hopkin’s FriendFeed

Riding through the mountains on the way back from vacation, I had this idea for posting a picture of the scenery I was enjoying. I actually didn’t think I could do this with Photogene (an iPhone photo editing app), but I was delighted to be wrong!

81 year-old singer, actress and dancer Eartha Kitt succumbed to cancer on Christmas Day. This talented lady will be missed. Watch her lively 2006 performance of Santa Baby.