“Who Changes a Monster’s Reputation?”

The nine-tailed fox started as a man-eater, a protective charm, and an omen of peace all at once. The peri started as a demon in the Avesta and ended as a poet’s compliment. This episode puts three suspects in the lineup: the priests, the state, and the storytellers. It asks who actually changed their reputations, what the sources do and don’t show, and why neither creature simply “flipped.” Episode 15 of an animated series exploring East Asian fox legends, with the sources checked.