Week 12 Story: The Lady Killer's Demise

Mr. Fox always got what he wanted. He knew how to manipulate people into giving him what he wanted, and if that didn't work well he would just kill them. Not the most mature approach maybe but hey it always got the job done for Mr. Fox in the end. His best talent was making beautiful and rich women fall in love with him. Mr. Fox always went for this and would marry them and then kill them for their riches. He set his sights on the young Lady Madeline one day and knew his game would be short and successful.

Lady Madeline had many men after her hand, but she was waiting for the right one to come along. Mr. Fox seemed to be him but something about him seemed off to her. She didn't quite know what it was, but she decided she was just being silly and not to look into it anymore. Lady Madeline had a secret that no one else knew. She was the best in her town at hand to hand combat and sword fighting. Lady Madeline would go out late at night and practice until she was satisfied.

After some time of hanging out with Mr. Fox, Lady Madeline decided that she would marry him over the other men she was seeing. To calm her nerves before the marriage, she went over to Mr. Fox's house so she could have some idea of what her new life would look like. Mr. Fox had never invited her over and was very vague when Lady Madeline asked about his home. All he would say is that it was a large house in the woods past the creek. When Lady Madeline finally figured out she was in the right place she saw there was a large two-story house in the distance. The house was unlocked and Lady Madeline cautiously walked around the house and inspected everything. It seemed normal but it smelt awful like something had been rotting somewhere in the home. She came to a red door that the stench was the strongest near, and she opened the door. The sight she came upon was a terrifying one. There were bodies of women all around the room, some only bone and others recently deceased. Lady Madeline knew she had to get out of there and tell everyone the truth about Mr. Fox. On her way out of the large house, she heard Mr. Fox talking to himself outside of the house. He was complaining about "something being too heavy" and "he should've done this closer". Lady Madeline peaked out one of the windows and saw Mr. Fox dragging a lifeless woman behind him towards the house. Slipping out the back door, Lady Madeline ran back to her home and tried to come up with a plan.


The wedding date was conveniently the day after these events happened. During the night Lady Madeline couldn't sleep and when sunset happened she finally devised a plan. She told her family that the wedding was off and explained why. They all decided to act normal and help her with the plan to expose Mr. Fox and have justice served.

Mr. Fox was eager for the day to be over with so he could finally relax. The day before had been too stressful with having to carry out his usual post-marriage to-do list. He also had a strange feeling when he had gotten home because the red room was opened and he never left it opened. Mr. Fox was on guard just in case someone knew his dirty secret and wanted to expose him to Lady Madeline.

Lady Madeline asked Mr. Fox about the new home she would be living in. He assured her that everything was wonderful and that she would love it. Wanting to make himself laugh he added that it was "to die for". Lady Madeline knew that she would catch him in his secret, decided to make him flustered. She told him that she wanted to have the wedding at his home instead because of all the wonderful things he said about it. Mr. Fox refused and said only himself and she were allowed at his home. The family pushed him about why and reassured him that they wouldn't go inside his home. Mr. Fox reluctantly agreed, only if they gave him time to prep the house for guests. He told them to wait for five hours and then to come to the location. The family secretly followed him after and Lady Madeline was going to confront him at his home.

Mr. Fox frantically ran home and went straight to the red room to try to get rid of any of the evidence and smell. He decided to put the women in the river and blame it on another person if anyone questioned him. While he was on his way out the door with the bodies in his hands, he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Lady Madeline in his yard. Lady Madeline told him that she would tell everyone what she saw and that he was going to be punished for his actions. Mr. Fox told her that he would kill her first and ran to seize her. Lady Madeline fought him in a duel and easily won. The family came out of the forest and tied Mr. Fox up. They put him in the red room and left him to rot and gave the women a proper burial.

Author's Note: The story was taken from English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs. The specific name of this story is Mr. Fox. I decided to add a lot more details than the original story had. The basic storyline is the same, Mr. Fox killing young woman and was courting the main character of the story. I wanted to add the part of Lady Madeline being able to defend herself. It seemed much more fitting that she would be the one to bring him to justice than any of her brothers or father. 

(Caption: Man in a window by MaxPixel)