I might’ve found the "why", Patrick… as this particular mystery is mentioned in connection with the Fourth City, I googled for "mongols" and "foxes". I came upon an article called A survey of the fox in Mongolian folklore and folk belief in a German anthology called Der Fuchs in Kultur, Religion und Folklore Zentral- und Ostasiens. I recommend reading the whole article, it’s in English and it’s fascinating. In short, the fox was a "taboo animal" in Mongol belief, an "ill-omen". The different Mongol tribes had various instructions on how to avoid foxes, how to avoid killing them, how to kill them if absolutely necessary, and what to do with their remains in the event of killing one: for example, to burn them after cutting off the fox’s tail. So, this could explain the origin of the term "foxfire candles" as well as why all Neath-foxes decided to get lost after a Mongolian city arrived in the Neath. As these Neath-foxes presumably are highly intelligent, they may have even negotiated a kind of truce with the Mongols: "we’ll stay out of your way and you stop going after our tails." And because there still are remnants of Fourth City population in the Neath, the foxes decided to stay hidden for now (or the "new-Neathy" foxes of the Fifth City told them about the English nobility’s favourite sport…)
edited by Rupho Schartenhauer on 3/24/2015
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