The Story of the iGoogle Teahouse Fox

February 25, 2008
Filed Under Geeky Articles, Google

Everyday, at 3:15 AM, the teahouse fox on iGoogle receives the visit of three ghostly foxes. Here is the story of why; don’t know if it’s true, but I found it beautiful:

“Before he goes to bed, the Teahouse Fox sets out a persimmon offering outside his pagoda. At the strike of 3:15, three ghosts come to his humble teahouse. Who are these spirits? Why do they visit this Japanese fox?

It started when he was just a young foxing. At night, every night after the death of his grandfather, father, and brother, he was horrified by nightmares. His mother tried her very hardest to help her only living child. So she let him stay up at night gathering the persimmons that grew outside their teahouse. The young foxing would then go to sleep with less frightening nightmares as he thought of the persimmons. About a year afterward, the nightmares came back, more intense than ever. Not even persimmons would help him. His clueless mother would beg the spirits of her husband, father, and son to relieve the poor foxing of his dreadful nights. A message was sent to her by her insane mother: “Have the boy set a persimmon offering at night. They demand his persimmons.” The mother told her son to do so. He gathered a bowl of persimmons in the morning, and set it out before he went to bed. The next morning, the bowl would be empty, and he would have had a good dream-filled night. He did this every night for another year, and did not get a single nightmare. Finally, the foxing’s curiosity got the better of him. He pretended to sleep while on the dock of the pond, but kept one eye open. At 3:15 a.m., the animals left, and the water went still. There was a faint gray light coming from the forest, and the ghosts of three foxes appeared, gliding over the water. One was old and feeble looking. Another seemed young, but older than the foxing.

The last ghost was old enough to be his father, but younger then the elderly ghost. They came and began to take the persimmons away, when the Teahouse Fox accidentally sneezed. The ghosts froze. The youngest ghost went over to the fox, who shut his eyes tight from fear. He finally opened them when he felt a ghostly nudge at his side, and was gazing into the pale blue eyes of his brother, Toshiro. The foxing felt like crying; he was so happy to see his older brother again. He hugged the ghost tight, for it went into a solid form. “Oh, Toshiro! Toshiro!” the foxing cried. “Why are you here?” “I have come for your gracious offering,” Toshiro replied gently. “In the spirit world, where we reside now, there is no food, so we must eat offerings. We take your persimmons.” “We?” the young brother asked. “Myself, Grandfather, and Father. There they are, watching us.” He pointed to the other two ghosts. The old one floated forward. “This is my grandson!” he cried out, and tightly held the Teahouse Fox, who hugged this grandfather whom he never met.

The final ghost then came over. “Greetings, my son,” he said to the foxing. “Father?” he asked. “Is—is that you?” The spirit nodded; the foxing went up to his deceased father, and hugged him, crying in his arms. “Oh, father! Father! Don’t leave me!” The father held his child, and whispered in his ear, “We won’t. We’ll be with you every night. Just leave us the persimmons, and we will come and keep your nightmares away.” “But how?” “We will leave you a magical lizard who feeds on nightmares. When they arrive, he will eat them, and will stay with you until the sunrise. We must go now; it is 4 o’clock, and our 45 minutes of solidness are up.

Goodbye, my son. Remember: we’re always with you.” And with that, Toshiro, his father, and his grandfather disappeared into the forest, leaving a colorful lizard. Then the young Teahouse Fox went to bed, and from that day forward, he never had nightmares again.

The End. “

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3 Responses to “The Story of the iGoogle Teahouse Fox”

martha on May 1st, 2008 2:44 am

I shouldn’t be surprised to find so many people taken with the fox’s beautiful life as I am.
Where can I find out more about the fox in the teahouse?? who is the designer? wha telse has he/she done?
Anna on May 1st, 2008 1:41 pm

LOL! You are so funny.
I wonder why you didn’t do some research on it.
Good imagination though.
In the japanese-asian traditions, you feed the ghosts food such as dango and tea as offerings.
And you see those paper lanterns? They float them on the water as to give directions or signs.
But you were close…
Geek Admin on May 1st, 2008 4:05 pm

Hello Anna and Martha.

Anna Thanks for enlighten us with your knowledge, very nice and Martha I’ll try to find out who the artist was. If I have any news I’ll post it here in the blog.

A quick question, do you like the blog? any suggestions to make it better?