le rose in a body against the ruler. A great battle was fought.
The wicked Chow-sin was overthrown and put to death by means of those
very instruments of torture he had used so often against his subjects.
By this time it had become known to all the lords and noblemen that the
Emperor's favourite had been the main cause of their ruler's wickedness;
hence they demanded the death of Fox Sprite. But no one wished to kill
so lovely a creature. Every one appointed refused to do the deed.

Finally, a grey-headed member of the court allowed himself to be
blindfolded. With a sharp sword he pierced the body of Fox Sprite to the
heart. Those standing near covered their eyes with their hands, for they
could not bear to see so wonderful a woman die. Suddenly, as they looked
up, they saw a sight so strange that all were filled with amazement.
Instead of falling to the ground, the graceful form swayed backward and
forward for a moment, when all at once there seemed to spring from her
side a huge mountain fox. The animal glanced around him, then, with a
cry of fear, dashing past officials, courtiers and soldiers, he rushed
through the gate of the enclosure.

"A fox!" cried the people, full of wonder.

At that moment Ta-ki fell in a swoon upon the floor. When they picked
her up, thinking, of course, that she had died from the sword thrust,
they could find no blood on her body, and, on looking more closely, they
saw that there was not even the slightest wound.

"Marvel of marvels!" they all shouted. "The gods have shielded her!"

Just then Ta-ki opened her eyes and looked about her. "Where am I?" she
asked, in faint voice. "Pray tell me what has happened."

Then they told her what they had seen, and at last it was plain to the
beautiful woman that, after all these years, Fox Sprite had left her
body. She was herself once more. For a long time she could not make the
people believe her story; they all said that she must have lost her
mind; that the gods had saved her life, but had punished her for her
wickedness by taking away her reason.

But that night, when her maids were undressing her in the palace, they
saw her feet, which had once more become their natural size, and then
they knew she had been telling the truth.

How Ta-ki became the wife of a good nobleman who had long admired her
great beauty is much too long a story to be told here. Of one thing,
however, we are certain, that she lived long and was happy ever
afterwards.