"Buying Mittens" (手袋を買いに, Tebukuro wo kai ni) is a short story in children's literature by Nankichi Niimi.
The story talks about a fox child who goes to the nearby town to buy some gloves.
When a cold winter comes to the forest, a little fox awakens one morning to the magic of a first snow-fall.
His romp in the snow is cut short, however, when his cold, wet paws turn peony colored.
So begins an overnight journey into the village where humans live, to buy a pair of mittens and where, along the way, the little fox learns that people are more complicated creatures than he thought.