The Iron Khan

Xiao Chánchú was an orphan from a small village; much ridiculed by the people of the village who mistook his quiet nature for stupidity, he found himself more and more often retreating to the nearby woods, where he reveled in the childish delights of mud and sticks, stones and dirt, beasts and birds. Being of such a quiet nature, and because of the extended time he spent there, the wild things of the forest soon began to trust him, and even to treat him as one of their own. Animals did not flee at the scent of him, for the smell that caused the villagers to declare him filthy seemed to the beasts like a natural thing, and it soon became widely known that Xiao Chánchú was a friend to all creatures. Many were the times his clever fingers and crafty mind released a badger from a hunter's cage, or saved a herd of water deer from stumbling into a hunting party.

Thus it didn't seem terribly unusual to Xiao Chánchú when he was greeted one morning by an excited lark, twittering and peeping of a creature who needed his help. Running along the forest floor, following the lark as it sped through the canopy above, Xiao Chánchú was eventually led to an especially nasty-looking trap. Chánchú was especially surprised to find that the creature trapped inside was the elusive Fox. Without a word, Chánchú bent and trigged the mechanism to release Fox, and smiling shyly, began to turn away.

"Hold, háizi," said Fox. "Thou hast done me a great deed, and yet asked no favor for it. What kind of creature art thou?"

"I am Xiao Chánchú." he said, turning back to Fox.

"Xiao Chánchú, I see thee to the heart. Thou art kind to the beasts of the forest, and ask nothing in return but geniune friendship; and yet thine own cast thee out, and despise thee, for these self-same traits. Thou art wise beyond thy years, Xiao Chánchú, and I would grant thee a boon. Thou needs but ask, and anything in my power is thine."

Xiao Chánchú thought for a long while about this. "I have no need of much, Lord Fox, for the forest provides all those things I need to live." He thought of his last visit to the nearby village, how everyone had been clustering around to read the posting declaring the Emperor's bounty on Fox; he recalled especially the excited tittering of the girls at the boasts of the village men, regarding how they would venture forth and capture Fox, returning in glory. "As much as I love the creatures of the forest, it is a lonely thing to become a man alone in the world. The only true lack I feel," he replied quietly, "is that I have no prospects of wife."

Fox put his head on his paws and considered this for some time. "I see thy mind, Xiao Chánchú. Thou art covninced that delivering me bound to the Emperor would solve thy loneliness." Rising, Fox spun in place twice, and nosed at a bush on his left. At the motion, Chánchú noticed a fine leash of silk and gold, with a sparkling collar inlaid with precious stones. "I cannot assure that thou will find love, háizi. But place this collar around my neck and bear me forth to the court of the Emperor, and I will do what I can."

As he led Fox into the Imperial throne room on a leash, Xiao Chánchú prostrated himself before the Son of Heaven.

"What is this?!" the Emperor cried. "How is it that such a small boy has found success where my bravest soldier, my strongest warrior, and my stealthiest ninja have all failed?"

"By kindness and love unfeigned," Fox replied, and Xiao Chánchú, not raising himself to meet the eyes of the Son of Heaven, released the snap on Fox's collar. Fox padded quietly across the throne room floor to sit upright before the Emperor. "Not the strongest, or bravest, or stealthiest could catch me by their own designs, but through his kindness this lad has captured me more completely than any man ever has; I am bound to him by oath, and will not flee thee."

Impressed, the Emperor caused courtiers to come forth and bear Xiao Chánchú forth, preparing for him the finest robes, a delicious feast, and to draw up the papers of adoption that Xiao Chánchú's blood might be brought formally into the Emperor's line.

While Xiao Chánchú was borne out by the courtiers, Emperor Wu turned back to Fox. "It is quite the thing thou has given this lad, and his life be ever changed for it. I see that thou art a creature of great nobility thyself, and would in nowise harm thee; and yet, my wizards tell me that thou alone has the power to see through the murky gloom that clouds my future from their gaze. For you see, I have many wives and concubines, and yet only one of these has issued me a child - a daughter, whom I love dearly, and yet who cannot hold my seat after me. I must know, oh Fox - why have I no sons?"

"Knowest thou of the Iron Khan?" Fox asked the Emperor.

"Nay - thou sayest this Iron Khan hath done this to me?" the Emperor cried. "I shall see him destroyed, an thou tell me where I canst find him."

The Fox chortled with laughter. "Nay, nay - stay thy rage, oh Son of Heaven, for the Iron Khan be none but a legend, a story meant to lighten the soul and impart understanding. With thy leave, I shall tell thee his tale; an thou art satisfied, mayhap thou wouldst let me go; an thou art not, I shall make all clear to thee."

It had been long since the Emperor had heard a new tale - the Emperor was aged, and his wizards and paiyou had long since fallen into patterns of story-telling that bored him. "An I am satisfied, I will release thee, and call off the hunt," he agreed.

Fox relaxed his posture, pondering where to begin his tale. As he thus contemplated, a mist began to swirl through the room, growing as if from nowhere and gathering about him. Eventually, the mist congealed into the forms of men, actors whose misty bodies began to coalesce into a fully featured representations of Fox's mysterious legend. Other tendrils of smoke took the form of scenery or celestial bodies, until a perfect diorama of the tale unfolded, as if a vision or a dream, before the Emperor. Only once all the images had completely taken their proper place and shape did Fox begin his tale…