the emperor ordered kazusa-no-suke and miura-no-suke, the most powerful warriors of the day, to hunt and kill the fox. after escaping from the hunters for some time, the fox appeared to miura-no-suke in a dream. once again in the form of the beautiful tamamo-no-mae, the fox told miura-nosuke would kill it the next day, and begged for its life. miura-no-suke refused.