■ あらすじ　
　狩人達に狩られて森には一匹の狸と親子狐だけが残ったが、食糧が無くなり困った狸が策を巡らせた。まず、人間に化けた母狐が死んだ
振りをしている狸を売った金で食糧を買い、売られた狸は逃げて来た。数日後、役を入れ替えて、狸が母狐を売りに行くと、強欲な狸は食糧を独占するために母狐が生きていることを買い手に教え、母狐は殺されてしまった。秘かに仇討ちを決意した子狐は、狸に化け比べの遊びを
提案し、自分は木陰に隠れていた。狸は、通りかかった大名行列の中に化けた子狐がいると思い、大名の駕籠<かご>へ走り寄って家来たちに斬られた。

■ Outline of this story
　Hunters had slain almost all of the animals in the forest. All that were left were one badger and a mother fox with one little cub. At the end of his rope after their food ran out, the badger worked out a plan. First, the mother fox assumed human form and sold the badger, who played dead. The fox bought food with the money from the sale, and the badger escaped back into the forest. After a few days, they switched roles, and the badger set out to sell the fox. But to have the food all to himself, the greedy badger told the buyer that the fox was alive, and she was slaughtered as a result. Her cub secretly vowed to take revenge, and challenged the badger to a game of changing into human beings. The cub instead hid behind a tree, while the badger was sure that he had mingled in the procession of a "daimio" (i.e., lord) then passing by. When he ran up to the lord's "norimono" (i.e., palanquin), he was cut down by the retainers.

Note
　This was originally a simple folk story, well-known throughout Japan, of the fox's betrayal after changing places with the badger and playing dead. Heightening the contrast between the guileless fox and the devious badger, Mrs. T.H. James remakes the story into one of animals put into in desperate circumstances by hunters deceiving humans to get food and taking vengeance. The illustrations are by Eitaku Kobayashi.