A salt peddler lived in a small village and would get up every morning at the first ray of light to travel to neighbouring villages to sell salt. After a whole day of going around from village-to-village, he would return late at night and fall asleep exhausted. That day was just like any other day, the man went out to sell salt but by the evening the sky was covered with dense clouds, the wind was strong and the rain would fall any minute.

The salt seller knew he could not go back in such weather and looked around for a temporary shelter. Soon, he saw a giant boulder at some distance with some hollow underneath. It was was a small cave. The cave was just big enough to shelter him from rain and he could rest for some time.

He put his salt sack down and laid his head on it, using the sack as a pillow. Slowly, his eyelids grew heavy and he closed his eyes. He was almost asleep when a sound woke him up. He instantly became alert; he sat up and looked out of the cave to find the source of the voice.

The voice was heard again and this time the salt seller recognized it as a woman’s voice. He got out of the small cave to find out what is going on. But after searching and finding nothing he went back in to sleep again.

As soon as he laid down, he heard the voice once again, this time much nearer. He crawled out of the cave. The rain had stopped and the bright moonlight illuminated the surroundings.

Under the dim light he noticed a white female fox, its snow tail was dangling down from the boulder under which he was hiding. He was frightened, he heard the fox mumbling to itself in a woman’s voice and quickly hid behind the tree before the fox noticed his presence.

The fox was holding a human skull and fiddling with it. On a closer look, the white fox was busy griding the skull against the boulder, trying to give it some type of shape. The fox stops and tries to put skull on her head but it was still not the right size. She grinded it some more and put it on again, this time the skull was right fit.

The salt seller was confused and terrified, he could not understand what is going on. Suddenly, the fox jumped and flipped in the air, the fox vanished instead an old woman stood at her place. The old woman had white hair and bent back. Despite her age, she easily jumped off the boulder and began walking to the village salt seller came from.

He followed the disguised fox at some distance and found her going to the Old Kim’s house, who is the richest man in the village. The guards allowed her in and the servants welcomed her enthusiastically; they took her to the guest room prepared for her.

After waiting for some time, the salt seller went to Old Kim’s family gate and asked if he could stay for one night, the servants knew if since he would often come to the village to sell salt and let him in. He went to the bed but all his focus on the room the old woman was staying in.

Everything was quite but suddenly there was a loud gong sound accompanied by some strange chanting. The man listened carefully trying to understand what she was saying, but he could only make out it was some kind of prayer. He asked the servant who came to sleep beside him what is going on.

The servant told him that the master of the house was ill and no one could heal him so a shamaness had been invited to treat him. The prayer would could throughout night, the servant told him to get some rest and went to sleep. The salt seller felt sleepy as the rhythmic sound lured him to sleep.

He forced himself to get up and stepped out of his room. He put is ear on the paper door to make out fox movements. He poked the paper and peeked at the old woman.

In the middle of the night, the old woman was beating the gong; her sharp teeth and fox-like tongue was illuminated by the yellow light from the oil lamp. The fox planned to kill the Old Kim and eat his liver.

The salt seller realized the danger when he noticed everyone had fell asleep under the evil sound. He wanted to call for help but he knew he was helpless, no one would believe him. With such thought he wanted to leave before something happens to him.

But at that moment he knew the sound is affecting him and he stopped. He picked up a pestle and rushed into the room. His shout woke up everyone, he smashed the head of old woman before she could attack him. The people who rushed tried to stop him but the old woman had died by that time.

When they looked again the old woman had turned into a fox, everyone was confused. The salt seller explained to them what he had seen from start to finish. The next morning, Old Kim’s illness disappeared and he rewarded the salt seller for saving his life.