What the Fox Woman Told Me

What My Father Told Me: Peoples of Glorantha is, as we all know, one of the most famous texts unearthed from the Jonstown collection. Without its passages, each stylized as a child asking an authority figure to explain the world to them, we might have much less insight into the nuances of Glorantha's cultures.

However, it is common knowledge in Gloranthan studies that even Peoples of Glorantha does not contain all examples of the form. References and asides in other recovered texts have alluded to other such compilations, and it seems that the Lhankor Mhy cult found it a useful pedagogical tool to quickly convey both facts about different cultures and the internal worldviews of various peoples for the aspiring student.

It appears that Mianmo agreed, as one of the texts recovered from her tomb is in this style. This is another link between Mianmo and the famous Fox House of Nochet. A waystation for the Wandering Beast Circus since the days of the Crossline, the Fox House was kept in good order by a rotating cast of elurae and other Beast Folk willing to slum it in the greatest city in the world. Previous scholarship on Nochet by Dr. Smith has already found evidence of an elura named Samashi in residence there during the Early Hero Wars period, a member of one of the city's cults of Lanbril the Thief. While much of Mianmo's writing is concerned with Kerofinela, this is further evidence that she was no stranger to Kethaela.

Who are you?
I'm Samashi. Some folks call me Drummer, but you call me Mama.

Who am I?
You're Bug. I’m still coming up with a proper name for you, but you’re small and loud and get into everything, so Bug it is for now.

Who are we?
We're elurae, the daughters of Elura. We are foxes who take whatever shape we please. We're the only people who know the game for what it is, so we do whatever we like. I decided playing the game of men was more fun, but maybe you grow up, you hear the call of the wild, you decide to go and eat weird bugs for fun. It’s up to you.

So are we foxes who are women, or women who are foxes?
Yes.

Bruvaora down the street says I’m not really a fox.
She is stupid. Bite her if you want. Ignore her otherwise. Everyone can see our sleek redness, our lovely tails, our undeniable beauty. We are the most foxes in the whole world, and anything that’s not us is just envious of that.

Is that what makes us great?
“No one can make you do anything,” that’s what the blowhards say – but it’s true for us. Nobody in the whole world can catch us or pin us down or make us do what they want, so long as we remember to be cunning and quick and good with a line. Every mark wants us, and they know that we know this, and that makes them dumb and slow and two steps behind the beat all the time.

Where do we live?
In the best city in the world, Bug: Nochet. It's big and stinking and interesting all over, and you'll see more in one day here than our cousins do in a year up north. Way back ago, some of us played the game called Clacks and Lunars real clever and tricked Nochet into giving us a place that's all ours. This is the same place even if it isn't in the same spot, yeah? And I know that you know all the secret doors and the spots in the walls that are good for hiding, especially when you don’t want to take a bath, stinky little kit.

We have plenty of relatives who live in Beast Valley up north. It’s a place where there are no buildings and no food stalls, but plenty of husbands and places to scamper. Up there you can choose a direction to run in and keep going as long as you like, instead of making me dizzy going round and round the rooms. If you want to visit, take a trader-boat up to New Crystal City and go from there: Elura's daughters have their paws all over the river trade from here to Duck Point.

The ones who live up in Sartar's country are a lot like us, except they have less friendly neighbors and their stakes are much more dangerous. You fall for a mark, you get what you deserve.

How do we live?
We keep playing Clacks and Lunars as long as it's entertaining, because the prizes are good and there are so many ways to win. Your silly auntie, Lightfoot Elmura, is gambling she can get lots of points by getting marks to watch her dance. I'm playing the big-point strategy of getting marks to pay me lots for moving things around while she dances, and I give Elmura some so that she can keep getting all the prizes she wants. Your good-with-voices auntie, Red Ayesha, instead does the two-for-one of getting marks to pay her for giving her all the bedplay she wants. Then they stumble off and brag to other marks about it, and Ayesha gets enough points this way to bury us all in Clacks and Lunars, for the trade-off that she has to focus on playing her strat, which is why you cannot use her game clothes for nesting in.

We do whatever we like through Sea and Fire seasons, but around the end of Earth Season, we get so hungry we want to eat whatever we can get our hands on, as if we were Uz. So that’s when we have our big feast in the courtyard and party all through the day and night, and once our appetites are sated we go and take all our blankets and bedding down to the cellar and make a den for ourselves to play the Beast and sleep right through the Dark. We can get up if we have to but – and our little Duck doorguard can attest – we’re all sleepy and grumpy and hungry about it and like to play the game called Bite You and Hit You with Sticks.

This is because it is hard work staying on the beat being the most beautiful and clever creatures in the whole world, and we need our beauty sleep about it.

Other cousins live like foxes all the time and women only when it suits them. But women have opposable thumbs and purses, yeah? We know ourselves all the time and do what we want no matter our shape at the moment. Still other cousins have Causes and Oaths, especially up in Sartar, which is the sort of nonsense you should keep well away from.

What shapes can we take?
We are foxes and we are women. So we can be anything that's fox and anything that’s woman. I know you like being a fox with a girl's face to spook other children; I know Ayesha sometimes gets lots of custom when she has a fox's head and a woman's body. Heki always uses these ears, no matter which face she’s using. When we have to pretend to be all woman for a game, we tuck our tails in underneath our skirts or wear them as belts. Of course we have them all the time – we'd fall flat on our faces trying to balance without them! But because they're always with us, they know the balance of each form we take. You're always yourself, though – if you want to be someone else entirely, that's what makeup is for.

What is important to us?
Playing whatever game we choose well enough that we get the prizes we want. For us here, that’s hot food, loud clothes, doorguards through the winter, and a mark whenever we want. For the cousins up north, that’s food anytime they want, no worries about what other people might want, a hidden place in the winter, and a mark whenever they find one. But all of us know the importance of kits, games, and a warm sunbeam.

Who rules us?
Eh, nobody can make you do anything, remember? We listen to Hysha because she’s the den-keeper and older than us, and so more cunning, but she can't make me do anything I don't want to unless she tricks me into it or gives me other things I want in exchange. Most of living with other fox women is doing one or the other, really. There’s a King up north but none of us listen to him either. If you meet Elura in our rites, you listen to her because she's the oldest and most cunning and she's already figured out a dozen ways to make you do what she wants, so it'll be less painful for everybody if you just do it.

What is evil?
Listen carefully to me: there are things in this world which want nothing from you except your death. Anything like that is evil. The hungry dead, broken men, the things which crawl out of the Footprint: these are evil things. Anything else you can run rings around and play the games with, but when you meet evil, you run and you hide and you do anything to survive, and you beg Avenger for her help and protection.

What is my lot in life?
Whatever you want, my darling. Whatever game you want to play, it's yours. Seize it between your teeth and don't let anyone take it from you until you're done.

What is the difference between men and women?
When we have children, they come out like the mother or the father. You came out like me. You’ve got a brother who came out a kicking kid and is off playing the pipes with his father somewhere. Someone way back forever cursed Elura's granny about it, if I heard Running Kitty right. Now she only gets great-granddaughters out of us. I hear the blowhards have a trick for letting you be a boy like Red Spearboy if you want, though. I won't have my daughter thinking anyone can stop her from being what she wants. But then you'll have to play a long and hard game to have kits of your own.

The only differences between men and women for marks are the ways they can satisfy your desires. Your silly auntie goes boys, boys, boys, and her tail lifts all by itself, but I enjoy seeing oh-so-serious women get all silly when I drop my voice like this and lid my eyes like this. Ha!

How do we deal with others?
They are family, marks, or evil. Simple as. With both family and marks, it’s all about getting them to do what you want, but family knows more of your tricks and you mustn't sleep with them to get your way. I already told you how to deal with evil, so that’s simple, too.

Violence isn't really our way for any of it. Yes, I know Heki's like... that... but she’s a freak. We have such pleasant voices, such beauty, and such cunning that talking with a mark's always worth doing first. Then if they're evil and try to hurt you, you can just run away, because you've kept your eye on an exit. But most of the time, marks are so loud and so needy that you'll figure out right away what they want and how you can dangle it in front of them.

But it doesn’t hurt to know someone who can do violence. Up north, they've got the centaurs and the minotaurs and the manticores. Down here, everybody thinks it's Old Orum, but it's really Heki. And there is always, always the Axe Temple. They might call us names, but they have to protect us when we ask them to. If you get lost in the city, you go to the nearest Axe you can find and you ask her to take you home. Namedrop Heki and Voria if you have to.

Who are our enemies?
Enemies? That’s just evil things again. Though I suppose marks who are particularly annoying can be an enemy too, just one that you want to overcome through a game. And cousins whose game is interfering with yours, they're enemies but not evil. Embarrass them, lead them astray, crow in their faces, make them realize that you are cleverer and prettier and they'll never win. Simple as. Anyone who tries to put you in a cage is also your enemy, but remember the story of Elura and the Cage and you’ll be free in the end.

Who are my deities?
Elura and her Granny, Vusalka, are the Mothers of Us All. Their magic is about being more yourself: clever, quick and beautiful. You want to suck up to Elura because her favors are wonderful half the time, even if they get you in trouble the other half. Still, it’s usually good trouble.

Marks have some useful gods, too: Axe-Avenger and Ernalda the Queen, Trickster and the Gentleman, Uleria and Donandar, Issaries and the Goodears. I’m in good with the Gentleman, and your silly auntie’s working hard for Donandar’s attention, and Ayesha’s so much Uleria that she’s got marks dropping at her feet to kiss them.

Your mark-deity right now is Voria. She’s the reason you get all those sweets and flowers in Sea Season and the reason the Axes will protect you even if they grumble about it.

I’ve heard about other powers. Can you tell me about…

...Orlanth?
Sometimes his winds ignore how cute we are and send us tumbling. Sometimes his followers are evil. But sometimes you can get in between his legs and get what you want that way.

...Engizi?
I’m not one for boats, but like I said, our relatives have their paws in river traffic. I’d bet some of them just fell in love with their reflections on the river.

...Flamal and Aldrya?
It’s not so bad to chew on a tasty leaf every now and then. Aldrya’s children appreciate our help talking to marks for them, which isn’t bad work if you can get it.

...the Red Goddess?
Approach her through Goodears if you have to. She preaches that we can join her Way, but in practice I've noticed that her followers are just like any other mark. Besides, We Are… not marks. Obviously.

...Chaos?
Chaos is evil. But sometimes Chaos is a vile accusation that marks throw around when they’re ashamed of sleeping with us – succubus is a slur! Set them straight: we're not like the things that crawl out of the Footprint at all.

...the Invisible God?
The marks in Meldektown like to think they're better than anyone else. It's not worth dealing with them and their endless debates about whether God's more like a wind or more like a cabbage. We know what we are, and if they don't appreciate us, their loss.