When Qiu of Zhucheng was appointed intendant of Zunhua, his yamen was full of foxes, and the last tower of the compound was the home of a whole clan of them. They came out from time to time to do harm, and the more they were driven out, the worse they grew. Those who held office there only sacrificed victims to them and dared not offend them. When Qiu took up his post and heard of this, he was angry. The foxes, too, feared his sternness, and one of them, turning into an old woman, told his household, "Pray tell your master not to bear us ill will. Give me three days, and I will carry my whole family away." Qiu heard this but said nothing. The next day, when the troops had finished their drill, he ordered them not to disperse, and made them bring in all the great cannon of the camp and discharge them in a volley round the tower. In a moment the tower of several fathoms was leveled to the ground, and the flesh, skin, fur, and blood of the foxes rained down from the sky. But through the thick dust and poison mist a wisp of white vapor rose up through the smoke and vanished into the sky. "One fox has escaped," said the onlookers. And from that time the yamen was at peace.
Two years later Qiu sent a trusty servant with a sum of silver to the capital, hoping to get a promotion. As the matter was not yet settled, the silver was hidden in the house of a clerk of the yamen. Suddenly an old man appeared at the palace gate crying out for justice, saying his wife and children had been cruelly slaughtered, and denouncing Qiu for having embezzled the soldiers' grain and curried favor with those in power, the booty being hidden in a certain house where it could be verified. By imperial decree it was searched. At the clerk's house they searched high and low and found nothing, till the old man pointed with one foot at the ground. Understanding his meaning, they dug and found the gold, on which was engraved the characters "Consignment from such a prefecture." When they sought the old man, he had vanished. They searched for him by his village and name, but no such man could be found. And Qiu was ruined by this. Only then did they understand that the old man was the escaped fox. The Historian of the Strange remarks: "That the fox should harass a man was a crime worthy of death. But if it had submitted and been spared, that too would have been to preserve one's humanity. Qiu may be said to have carried his severity too far. Had one of the Guanxi men done this, could a hundred foxes have avenged themselves upon him?"