In those days there came to dwell in the lands adjacent to the Village a vixen-spirit named Joyous-Company. All day long she would dally and frolic in the fields and in the forests, and at night she would bury herself in the bushes and sleep. But she was also a cunning and quick-footed thief, and would with great frequency filch the freshly-killed game of hunting parties.
One day Tengir and his sons Eternal-One and Thousand-Horse went out for a hunt, and Thousand-Horse shot a deer. The deer ran off wounded into the forest before it keeled over and died, but when they went to collect the carcass, it was not there, but only an impression lingered in the dirt. Tengir said: "A stricken deer does not disappear so much like foam on the sea. This is either the work of a evil spirit or a criminal. Thousand-Horse, go hence into the forest and track down whatever evildoer has wronged us." To which Thousand-Horse: "Yes, Father." And he went deep into the forest.
For two hours there was no sign of the stolen game or the one who stole it. He went into a part of the forest where the boughs were so thick that he could not tell if it was day or night, but being a gallant with fire in his bones, he did not turn back but pressed onward even beyond the point where any ordinary man would have found the going too perilous. For the forest floor was overgrown with creepers and thorny branches and strewn with stones and other odious things that can hold one up, and he knew also that any sort of monster could be crouched in hiding but inches from his face. By and by he spied a wide clearing that assured him that it was still daytime. There a shallow stream flowed almost silently, in which a lady with fox ears was bathing. On the bank of the stream the killed dear laid.
When he drew closer he caught an eyeful of her figure as she slowly poured the water over herself with her hands, and he was enamored. Though he had hidden himself behind a flowery bush and thought he was undetectable by her, she for her part had heard his drawing near and could sense his every movement, but by the elegant naturalness of her motions she seemed to indicate that she knew nothing. He did not doubt that she was a phantom. He drew his sword to strike her but just as he was about to do so she turned straight toward him and struck him with her gaze, which was sharper than any blade. Her lips parted and she spoke thus: "Has something gone missing, young master?" He said in reply: "Something has indeed." And she: "Then I presume you are here to retrieve it." "That I am." He hoisted the deer over his shoulder and was off. Though he cursed her for her wickedness, he secretly longed to run into her again.
There were other times, invariably during the peak hours of the night, when Joyous-Company would sing in the forest. She did not sing loudly, but rather let the curvy leaves and buoyant flowers carry her sprightly voice as far as they would, as the sea carries a boat or a stream a dew-dampened lily. Her ghostly song always went thus:
"Pretty to look at, not to touch
Is that black flower of night.
That I, if just for one, could smell
That black flower of night."
But in those days Tengir's son Eternal-One was accustomed to borrow his father's Wisp Jar and take long excursions into the heart of the dark forest whose downy tapestry of life he longed so much to understand. To know the idea of the forest, he gave himself over to prolonged observation of whatever came, whenever it came. When the song of Joyous-Company tickled his ear, he could not stop himself from searching for its source. It took him dozens of nights, but he eventually found her sitting in a tree.
Eternal-One could not very well climb the tree himself, since it was so slim, so he called to her from below: "Vixen, why do you sing?" She replied: "I sing to remember. I sing to recollect." He asked again: "What does your song recollect? And why?" And she: "A man I used to know would sing that song. I sing it now to make fun of him." Eternal-One knit his brows and scolded her thus: "Vixen, your heart is wicked, there can be no doubt about that." And she: "There is no wicked and good--only ugly and pretty. Say, young master, have you ever picked a black flower?" No--in the forest he discovered many flowers and was initiated into their mysteries, but never before had he seen a black one. But he restrained himself and left the forest without saying a word in reply. In his heart he cursed her for her wickedness, yet he nonetheless was curious to meet her again.
But neither of these two meetings were to be the last, for whenever those two brothers would go out into the forest--the one during the day and the other at night--they knew they had entered her domain and thought they would find her behind any tree or any rock. And whether they knew she was there or not, they knew that she knew whether they were there or not, and this thought made it seem as though the air itself was quivering with her presence. Their footing was uneasy. Inevitably they would run into her again. Every time they did, it seemed to them that her fragrance had gotten more lovely than the last time, and passion swelled in their breasts, until each had gotten his chance to know her intimately. But not a soul did they ever tell of their adventures, least of all one another, and Joyous-Company, evil by nature, did not tell the one that she was also seeing the other.
This went on for several months. There was one time when Joyous-Company was having a tryst with Thousand-Horse, and she said these words to him: "Young master, a great care weighs upon my heart." Thousand-Horse said: "Please tell me what burdens you, that I may do what I must to relieve it." She went on: "There is a wicked man who has set his heart upon me. He tells me he loves me, but in truth it is you alone I love. He comes at night, after you have gone home with your quarry, and terrorizes me so much that I cannot sleep, and I weep lest my frail life should come to an end." Hearing this, Thousand-Horse rose to his feet in anger and yanked his sword from its sheathe, saying thus: "Darling, I swear on the honor of my name that I shall run this sword through the entrails of the villain, or else let Heaven strike me with a bolt of its fury." He then hid waiting for night to come.
Hours passed and soon it was deep into the night. Joyous-Company was lounging in a misty meadow while, not twenty feet away, Thousand-Horse was crouched in hiding behind a tree, his sword at the ready. Footsteps could be heard afar: it was the sound of the undergrowth of grass and twigs and fallen leaves being crumpled by two leather boots. And Eternal-One stepped into the meadow, the Wisp Jar in one hand and a divining rod in the other. When he saw who it was, Thousand-Horse could do nothing to stay his rage. He rushed out of hiding and flung his sword at his brother, but the other, not dull, dodged it. Thousand-Horse swore at him: "Who would have guessed my own brother was the culprit! Who would have guessed my own brother would betray me!" He retrieved his sword and began hacking. But Eternal-One was also a capable swordsman: he took out his own and, while parrying with it, responded thus: "Why are you here, brother? How do you know Joyous-Company? What have you done to her?" And they fought.
While they were doing so, Joyous-Company slipped away. Their wits consumed in the pointless battle, neither of the brothers noticed, but they just kept on fighting, making a disturbing racket all the while. Soon the racket became too much to bear, and it woke up every living creature that lived in the forest. Now wolves were howling and birds of prey were letting out their bone-dry calls. They took to the skies along with swarms of bees, hornets and dragonflies. The din was now so great that it spread to the settled lands and woke up every man, woman and child. Had it gone any further and reached the burial grounds, it probably would have awaken the dead, but it went no farther than the bedchamber of Tengir, causing him to rise with fury. "Who dares disturb my sleep with such demonic noises?"
He went straight to the forest where the noise was emanating from and discovered the cause. With his bare hands he struck Thousand-Horse and Eternal-One on their faces, took their swords, then threw them to the rocky earth. Red with shame, the sons buried their heads at his feet. In the meanwhile, he tracked down Joyous-Company, who, however well she might have hidden herself, did not stand a chance of hiding for long from the eye of Tengir. Because she was shrewd and could very easily slip away again, he hung her upside down in a tree using a long and sturdy vine. The sons apologized endlessly to their father, for he made them see for the first time just how inexcusable and unbecoming their behavior was. And they promised never to have any relations with her again. When they had done so, Tengir with a heavy voice said thus: "Sons, wit you well: this vixen did not just steal a stricken deer; no, she stole something else, too: she stole the order of my household, and that is a crime infinitely greater. Once the deer is gone, one can always go kill another one, for the forest always provides. But once the order of the household is gone, the house cannot stand, and once it falls it cannot so easily be built again."
He then banished the vixen-spirit Joyous-Company from the land with a divine boundary, and declared further that henceforth anyone who had relations with a vixen spirit would be banished likewise, and that any issue from such an odious union would be disinherited.