Helen Oyeyemi: Mr. Fox

But what teeth he had. So:

The pleasure of biting. Or letting him. And afterwards the feel of a long, wet tongue light against the hot wound.

The different ways:

the hidden bite

the swollen bite

the point

the line of points

the coral and the jewel

the line of jewels

the broken cloud.

One medicine-making day, as they carried fresh water back to her hut in wooden buckets, he asked her, “How old are we?”

And she answered, “I have forgotten.”

She put down her bucket and tried to count years on her fingers. He watched until she gave up, then put his arms about her — he stood a head higher than she did.

“What’s so funny?” she asked him.

And he said, “Nothing.”

III

I almost forgot to mention another fox I know of — a very wicked fox indeed. But you are tired of hearing about foxes now, so I won’t go on.

Thank you:

Cathy

Bolaji

Ali

Tracy

Maria

Jin

Kate

Antosca

Tate

Piotr.

And thanks to Amy, Vito, Jess, Denise, and everyone at Hedgebrook, including & especially my amazing fellow fellows, Neela, Robin, Tina, and Katy, who listened to the first few pages of Mr. F .

When I first started thinking about Bluebeard, I read and watched every interpretation I could find — all of them valuable, but some sank in especially deep: Marina Warner’s From the Beast to the Blonde , Margaret Atwood’s essay “Fitcher’s Bird,” and Anne Sexton’s Transformations . These were wise and excellent guides.

Rules of particular interest to Daphne Fox, Mary Foxe, and St. John Fox have been highlighted by those persons in the order mentioned.