After eating the liver of all the cattle, and fooling her father — a rich farmer, who did not believe a daughter could do such a thing — the girl began to kill men in the same way. The villagers were terrified and fled from their homes. In the end, her father and mother too were found dead, so that the village was completely deserted and haunted by the spirits of the dead.

The farmer’s son who was driven from the house had wandered off into the mountains. He met an old Buddhist priest and with him studied the laws of magic that governed the world of spirits. A few years went by and one day he began to feel homesick, and longed to see his parents. He took leave of his master and set out for home. Before he left the old priest gave him three bottles: one red, one white and one blue. ‘These are for you to use if you encounter danger,’ he said. The boy hid the three bottles at his breast and rode on horseback to his native village.

He found the village deserted and his own home desolate. He went into his old home and found it overgrown with dense grass and covered with moss. Hi sister was sitting in the sun catching lice and eating them. She welcomed her brother with a happy smile. She seemed to be very hungry and was apparently waiting for a new victim to fall into her clutches. She looked at her brother with a queer expression and asked, ‘Where have you been all these years, Brother? I have missed you so much.’

Her brother asked, ‘Where are father and mother?’

‘They are in their graves,’ she replied. Her brother began to suspect that she might have been in some way responsible for their deaths, and he made up his mind to run away before she could kill him too. He said, ‘Sister, I am very hungry. Won’t you cook something for me, say the leeks in the front garden? They would suit me very well.’

His sister took a reel of thread from her pocket and said, ‘You must not run away again, Brother. Tie this thread round your waist and I will hold the other end while I go and get them.’ He did as she asked, but as soon as she was out of sight he tied the thread to a post and crept away. He got on his horse and galloped off. When his sister found he had gone she rushed after him with all speed.

‘Brother!’ she shouted. ‘Stop! Stop!’ She almost caught up with the horse and reached out her hand to seize its tail. Her brother took the red bottle from his breast and hurled it straight at her. It burst into a mass of flames, and she was severely scorched. She managed to pass through, and nearly caught up again. This time he threw the white bottle, which barred the way with a mass of needles. This obstacle too she managed to pass, and so her brother threw the blue bottle at her. It formed a mighty sea, and she was drowned. When her body floated to the surface he saw that it was a fox, which had taken the form of his sister.