Show FOX AS WILL 0 THE WISP curious belief that Is prevalent among the japanese among the many superstitions of the japanese there Is none more strange or more universal than the belief in the power of ane fox to do them harm and many are the stories told of those against whom this power has been exercised the jap anese fox Is a pretty creature about aboul t two feet long and of a tawny color and Is found nearly everywhere in japan the mischievous tricks which foxes are said to play upon the un wary are many and wonderful are the tales told to awed groups of its beners by those who have been duped by them the designing fox usually takes the form of a fairy maiden in order to play tricks upon some un suspecting wayfarer and beckons him on until he falls into a ditch or Is lost in the mountains it la is almost al ways at night that the fox goes out to deceive and those who have met with such adventures say that the only way to know the difference be tween a real maiden and a fox lady Is that the latter Is clearly dasting ul even on the darkest night the stripes or patterns on her cloth ing being clearly visible even in the darkness it Is usually to those who are carrying some article of food that the artful fox appears with the design of obtaining the dainty and those who have been through the ex peri per lence ence say that a bewildered eel feel ing takes possession of them and they are not able to exert their own wills |