Buying Mittens
The cold winter came from the north to the forest where the fox family lived.
One morning, child fox was about to come out of their cave.
But he cried out, "Oh!" and rolled over to his mother, shielding his eyes.
"Mother, I have something stuck in my eyes, please take it out, quickly."
Mother fox was so surprised that she panicked and fearfully removed the child's hands that were shielding his eyes.
But there was nothing stuck in them.
Mother fox stepped out of the cave entrance, and she understood why.
There had been a lot of white snow last night.
The sun was shining on the snow, and the snow was reflecting so brightly.
Child fox, who didn't know snow, thought he had something stuck in his eyes because the reflection was so strong.
Child fox went to play.
As he ran around on the soft, cottony snow, he saw a small rainbow reflected in the spray of snowflakes.
Suddenly, behind him, there was a tremendous noise, and snowflakes, like crumbs, fell on child fox.
Child fox was so surprised that he got away ten meters, rolling in the snow.
He turned around to see what it was, but there was nothing.
The snow had fallen from the branches of the fir tree.
The snow was still spilling between the branches like white silken threads.
Soon child fox came back to the cave.
"Mother, my hands are cold."
He held out his wet, peony-colored hands to mother fox.
Mother fox blew on his hands and wrapped them softly in her warm hands.
"Your hands get warm soon. If they are cold from the snow, they will soon be warm."
However, it would be a pity if the cute little boy's hands got frostbite.
She decided to go to town at night and buy some woolen mittens that would fit the child's hands.
The dark, dark night spread its shadows like a wrapping cloth over the fields and forests.
But the snow was so white that no matter how much they wrapped it, it still appeared white.
The mother and son silver foxes came out of their cave.
Child crawled under mother's belly and walked along, blinking his round eyes and looking this way and that.
Eventually, a light began to appear on the road. Child fox spotted it and asked.
"Mother, the stars are falling down so low."
"That's not a star."
Mother fox said, and her feet slumped.
"That's the light of the town."
When mother fox saw the town light, she remembered that one time she had gone to the town with her friend and had gotten into a terrible trouble.
The friend fox had tried to steal a duck from a house despite her advice.
The farmer found them, chased them all over the place, and they barely escaped with their life.
"Mother, what are you doing, let's go."
Child fox said from under her belly, but mother fox couldn't get going.
So she had no choice but to let the child go to town alone.
"Give me one of your hands." said mother fox.
Mother fox held his hand for a while, and then turned it into the hand of a cute human child.
Child fox opened the hand, held it, pinched it, and sniffed it.
"That's strange. Mother, what's this?"
Child fox stared at his own hand by snow light, which had been turned into a human hand.
"That's a human hand. Listen, little boy. When you go into town, you'll see lots of human houses.
The first thing you need to do is look for a house with a circular hat sign out front.
When you find it, knock on the door and say, 'Good evening.' Then, a person from inside would open the door a little bit.
Through that doorway, you put your hand, this human hand, and say, 'Please give me a mitten that fits this hand.'
You understand. Never put out this hand." Mother fox told him.
"Why?" Child fox asked back.
"When humans find out you're a fox, they won't sell you mittens.
On the contrary, they grab you and put you in a cage. Humans are really scary."
"Hmm."
"Never put out this hand. Put out this hand, a human hand."
Mother fox said and put the two bronze coins in the human's hand.
Child fox walked across the snow-lit field, looking for the town lights.
At first, there was only one light, but then there were two, three, and even ten.
Child fox saw that there were red, yellow, and blue lights, just like the stars.
Eventually, he entered the town, but all the houses on the street had closed their doors.
And the warm lights from the high windows were just falling on the snow on the street.
However, there was a small light above the signs on the street, so child fox, looking by the light. looked for the hatter.
There were signs for bicycles, glasses, and many other things, some with fresh paint, some peeling like an old wall.
But child fox, who was new to the town, had no idea what they were.
At last he found the hatter.
The sign for the big black silk hat, which his mother had told him about on the way, was illuminated by a blue light.
Child fox did as he was told and knocked on the door.
"Good evening."
There was a noise inside, then the door opened a little and a long strip of light stretched across the white snow on the street.
The light was so bright that child fox was dazzled by it, and he put the wrong side hand.
――The one his mother had told him not to put out.
"Please give me a mitten that fits this hand."
Then the hatter thought, "Oh, no."
It was a fox's hand. The fox's hand was asking for mittens.
The hatter thought his coins must be the leaves of a tree. So he said.
"Please give me the money first."
Child fox obediently gave the hatter two bronze coins he had brought with him.
The hatter put them on the tips of his index fingers and clicked them together, which made a nice tinkling sound.
He thought it was real money, not leaves, so he took a pair of kid's woolen mittens from the shelf and put them on child fox's hands.
Child fox thanked him and started to go back the way he came.
"Mother said that humans were scary, but they weren't scary at all.
Because when he saw my hand, he didn't do anything."
Child fox wanted to see what humans were really like.
When he passed under a window, he heard a human voice.
What a gentle voice, what a beautiful voice, what a calm voice.
"Sleep, sleep.
In your mother's chest.
Sleep, sleep.
In your mother's hands――"
Child fox thought that the voice must be that of a human mother.
When child fox was asleep, mother fox would shake him with such a gentle voice.
Then came the voice of a child.
"Mother, child foxes in the forest are crying out in the cold on such a cold night."
Then mother's voice came back.
"Child foxes in the forest are listening to their mother's song and are trying to sleep in their caves.
Now, little boy, go to sleep. Which will sleep faster, child fox or the little boy?
I'm sure the little boy will sleep faster."
When child fox heard this, he suddenly missed his mother.
He jumped and go to mother waiting place.
Mother fox was anxiously waiting for child fox's return, shivering.
When the child came, she hugged him to her warm chest and was so happy that she wanted to cry.
The two foxes went back to the forest.
The moon was up, so their fur shone silver, and their footprints were full of cobalt-colored shadows.
"Mother, I'm not afraid of humans at all."
"Why not?"
"I accidentally showed my real hand. But the hatter didn't catch me. He gave me these nice warm mittens."
Then he patted her mittened hands. Mother fox said.
"Oh my!" She was surprised. But she murmured.
"I wonder if humans are really good. Humans are really good?"
(I translated Buying Mittens (手袋を買いに) by Nankichi Niimi.)
- To return to Japanese short stories translated into English
One morning, child fox was about to come out of their cave.
But he cried out, "Oh!" and rolled over to his mother, shielding his eyes.
"Mother, I have something stuck in my eyes, please take it out, quickly."
Mother fox was so surprised that she panicked and fearfully removed the child's hands that were shielding his eyes.
But there was nothing stuck in them.
Mother fox stepped out of the cave entrance, and she understood why.
There had been a lot of white snow last night.
The sun was shining on the snow, and the snow was reflecting so brightly.
Child fox, who didn't know snow, thought he had something stuck in his eyes because the reflection was so strong.
Child fox went to play.
As he ran around on the soft, cottony snow, he saw a small rainbow reflected in the spray of snowflakes.
Suddenly, behind him, there was a tremendous noise, and snowflakes, like crumbs, fell on child fox.
Child fox was so surprised that he got away ten meters, rolling in the snow.
He turned around to see what it was, but there was nothing.
The snow had fallen from the branches of the fir tree.
The snow was still spilling between the branches like white silken threads.
Soon child fox came back to the cave.
"Mother, my hands are cold."
He held out his wet, peony-colored hands to mother fox.
Mother fox blew on his hands and wrapped them softly in her warm hands.
"Your hands get warm soon. If they are cold from the snow, they will soon be warm."
However, it would be a pity if the cute little boy's hands got frostbite.
She decided to go to town at night and buy some woolen mittens that would fit the child's hands.
The dark, dark night spread its shadows like a wrapping cloth over the fields and forests.
But the snow was so white that no matter how much they wrapped it, it still appeared white.
The mother and son silver foxes came out of their cave.
Child crawled under mother's belly and walked along, blinking his round eyes and looking this way and that.
Eventually, a light began to appear on the road. Child fox spotted it and asked.
"Mother, the stars are falling down so low."
"That's not a star."
Mother fox said, and her feet slumped.
"That's the light of the town."
When mother fox saw the town light, she remembered that one time she had gone to the town with her friend and had gotten into a terrible trouble.
The friend fox had tried to steal a duck from a house despite her advice.
The farmer found them, chased them all over the place, and they barely escaped with their life.
"Mother, what are you doing, let's go."
Child fox said from under her belly, but mother fox couldn't get going.
So she had no choice but to let the child go to town alone.
"Give me one of your hands." said mother fox.
Mother fox held his hand for a while, and then turned it into the hand of a cute human child.
Child fox opened the hand, held it, pinched it, and sniffed it.
"That's strange. Mother, what's this?"
Child fox stared at his own hand by snow light, which had been turned into a human hand.
"That's a human hand. Listen, little boy. When you go into town, you'll see lots of human houses.
The first thing you need to do is look for a house with a circular hat sign out front.
When you find it, knock on the door and say, 'Good evening.' Then, a person from inside would open the door a little bit.
Through that doorway, you put your hand, this human hand, and say, 'Please give me a mitten that fits this hand.'
You understand. Never put out this hand." Mother fox told him.
"Why?" Child fox asked back.
"When humans find out you're a fox, they won't sell you mittens.
On the contrary, they grab you and put you in a cage. Humans are really scary."
"Hmm."
"Never put out this hand. Put out this hand, a human hand."
Mother fox said and put the two bronze coins in the human's hand.
Child fox walked across the snow-lit field, looking for the town lights.
At first, there was only one light, but then there were two, three, and even ten.
Child fox saw that there were red, yellow, and blue lights, just like the stars.
Eventually, he entered the town, but all the houses on the street had closed their doors.
And the warm lights from the high windows were just falling on the snow on the street.
However, there was a small light above the signs on the street, so child fox, looking by the light. looked for the hatter.
There were signs for bicycles, glasses, and many other things, some with fresh paint, some peeling like an old wall.
But child fox, who was new to the town, had no idea what they were.
At last he found the hatter.
The sign for the big black silk hat, which his mother had told him about on the way, was illuminated by a blue light.
Child fox did as he was told and knocked on the door.
"Good evening."
There was a noise inside, then the door opened a little and a long strip of light stretched across the white snow on the street.
The light was so bright that child fox was dazzled by it, and he put the wrong side hand.
――The one his mother had told him not to put out.
"Please give me a mitten that fits this hand."
Then the hatter thought, "Oh, no."
It was a fox's hand. The fox's hand was asking for mittens.
The hatter thought his coins must be the leaves of a tree. So he said.
"Please give me the money first."
Child fox obediently gave the hatter two bronze coins he had brought with him.
The hatter put them on the tips of his index fingers and clicked them together, which made a nice tinkling sound.
He thought it was real money, not leaves, so he took a pair of kid's woolen mittens from the shelf and put them on child fox's hands.
Child fox thanked him and started to go back the way he came.
"Mother said that humans were scary, but they weren't scary at all.
Because when he saw my hand, he didn't do anything."
Child fox wanted to see what humans were really like.
When he passed under a window, he heard a human voice.
What a gentle voice, what a beautiful voice, what a calm voice.
"Sleep, sleep.
In your mother's chest.
Sleep, sleep.
In your mother's hands――"
Child fox thought that the voice must be that of a human mother.
When child fox was asleep, mother fox would shake him with such a gentle voice.
Then came the voice of a child.
"Mother, child foxes in the forest are crying out in the cold on such a cold night."
Then mother's voice came back.
"Child foxes in the forest are listening to their mother's song and are trying to sleep in their caves.
Now, little boy, go to sleep. Which will sleep faster, child fox or the little boy?
I'm sure the little boy will sleep faster."
When child fox heard this, he suddenly missed his mother.
He jumped and go to mother waiting place.
Mother fox was anxiously waiting for child fox's return, shivering.
When the child came, she hugged him to her warm chest and was so happy that she wanted to cry.
The two foxes went back to the forest.
The moon was up, so their fur shone silver, and their footprints were full of cobalt-colored shadows.
"Mother, I'm not afraid of humans at all."
"Why not?"
"I accidentally showed my real hand. But the hatter didn't catch me. He gave me these nice warm mittens."
Then he patted her mittened hands. Mother fox said.
"Oh my!" She was surprised. But she murmured.
"I wonder if humans are really good. Humans are really good?"
(I translated Buying Mittens (手袋を買いに) by Nankichi Niimi.)
- To return to Japanese short stories translated into English