{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_26070/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_26070","id":"gutenberg_26070","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26070","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Tales -- China"],"text":"CHINESE FOLK-LORE TALES\n\n\nBY\nREV. J. MACGOWAN, D.D.\n\n\n\n\nMACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED\nST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON\n1910\n\n\n\n\nGLASGOW: PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS\nBY ROBERT MACLEHOSE AND CO. LTD.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n    I.  THE WIDOW HO\n   II.  KWANG-JUI AND THE GOD OF THE RIVER\n  III.  THE BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER OF LIU-KUNG\n   IV.  THE FAIRY BONZE\n    V.  THE MYSTERIOUS BUDDHIST ROBE\n   VI.  THE VENGEANCE OF THE GODDESS\n  VII.  \"THE WONDERFUL MAN\"\n VIII.  THE GOD OF THE CITY\n   IX.  THE TRAGEDY OF THE YIN FAMILY\n    X.  SAM-CHUNG AND THE WATER DEMON\n   XI.  THE REWARD OF A BENEVOLENT LIFE\n\n\n\n\nI\n\nTHE WIDOW HO\n\nOne day in the early dawn, a distinguished mandarin was leaving the\ntemple of the City God.  It was his duty to visit this temple on the\nfirst and fifteenth of the moon, whilst the city was still asleep, to\noffer incense and adoration to the stern-looking figure enshrined\nwithin.\n\nThis mandarin was Shih-Kung, and a juster or more upright official did\nnot exist in all the fair provinces of the Empire.  Wherever his name\nwas mentioned it was received with the profoundest reverence and\nrespect; for the Chinese people have never lost their ideal of Tien-Li,\nor Divine Righteousness.  This ideal is still deeply embedded in the\nhearts of high and low, rich and poor; and the homage of all classes,\neven of the most depraved is gladly offered to any man who\nconspicuously displays this heavenly virtue.\n\nAs Shih-Kung was being carried along in his sedan chair, with his\nnumerous retinue following closely behind him, he happened to notice a\nyoung woman walking in the road in front of him, and began to wonder\nwhat it was that had brought her out at such an unusually early hour.\nShe was dressed in the very deepest mourning, and so after a little\nmore thought he concluded that she was a widow who was on her way to\nthe grave of her late husband to make the usual offerings to his spirit.\n\nAll at once a sudden, furious whirlwind screamed about the woman and\nseemed determined to spend its force upon her; but beyond her nothing\nwas touched by it.  Not a leaf on the trees near by was moved, and not\na particle of dust on the road, except just where she stood, was in the\nleast agitated by the fierce tempest that for the moment raged around\nher.\n\nAs Shih-Kung gazed at this strange occurrence, the woman's outer skirt\nwas blown up in the air, and he saw that underneath was another garment\nof a rich crimson hue.  He then knew at once that there was something\nradically wrong, for no woman of ordinary virtuous character would ever\ndare to wear such a glaring colour, while she pretended to be in deep\nmourning.  There was something suspicious, too, in the sudden tornado\nthat blew with such terrific violence round the woman only.  It was not\nan accident that brought it there.  It was clearly the angry protest of\nsome spirit who had been foully misused, and who was determined that\nthe wrong-doer should not escape the penalty for the evil she had\ncommitted.\n\nCalling two of his runners to him, Shih-Kung ordered them to follow the\nwoman and to see where she was going and what she did there, and then\nto report to him immediately.\n\nThe two detectives obeyed his instructions to the very letter, and\nfound that she went to a cemetery which lay on the hillside at the\noutskirts of the town. She had brought with her a goodly supply of\ngold and silver paper-money, such as is usually offered to the dead\nto enable them to purchase food and other necessaries in the Land of\nShadows. She was preparing to set these on fire in order that they\nmight reach the spirit for whom they were intended, when, much to the\namazement of the runners, another tornado came with the same violence\nas before, and scattered the paper in all directions so that not a\nsingle piece was left to offer to the dead.\n\nAll this was duly reported to Shih-Kung, who at once sent a dispatch\nto the county magistrate, commanding him to investigate the case\nthoroughly, and giving him all the particulars of the extraordinary\noccurrences which had been witnessed.\n\nThis inferior mandarin was greatly puzzled as to how he should act\nin the matter. No complaint had reached him from anyone concerning\nthe woman, and he had not a particle of evidence on which to proceed\nagainst her. In these circumstances, he determined to make an appeal to\nthe City God to reveal to him a mystery that was beyond his powers to\nunravel. Accordingly, close upon the hour of midnight, he repaired to\nthe temple of this famous idol and lay down to sleep, believing that,\nif he did so, he would be granted some revelation which would deliver\nhim from his difficulties.\n\nDuring the early hours of the morning, close upon the break of day, a\nvision seemed to pass clearly before the mandarin's eyes.\n\nHe saw the grim god come out of his shrine and appear beyond the yellow\ncurtains which hide his features from the unholy gaze of the crowds\nthat every day flock to his temple. Immediately in front of him floated\nin the air the coffin of a full-grown man, which gradually settled on\nthe table just below the altar, on which are placed the brazen bowls\ncontaining the ashes of the countless incense-sticks burned before the\ngod to gain his favour.\n\nAfter the lapse of but a moment the sleeping magistrate saw a man step\nup out of the surrounding darkness and take his stand at the head of\nthe coffin.\n\nThere was something very familiar in the appearance of this mysterious\nindividual who stood there so solemnly, and the mandarin felt that\nhe had seen him before. Suddenly he recognized him as the Coroner of\nhis own district, with whom he had often acted and whose reports were\nfrequently submitted to him in cases where murder was suspected. He was\nso amazed by this discovery that he woke with a start, when the whole\nscene at once vanished from his gaze, and he could see nothing but the\nidol in its shrine, surrounded by the tawdry untidy articles that make\nup the furnishing of a temple.\n\nBy this time the dawn was sending its pale, silver light into the\ngreat, gloomy building; so the magistrate arose and hurried back to his\nyamen with a lightened heart, for the god had revealed to him that the\ngrim secret which had so far evaded him lay in the coffin of the dead,\nand was to be solved there and there only. His course now seemed easy,\nand it was with a mind full of relief that he entered his home.\n\nHe at once issued a warrant for the arrest of the widow, and at the\nsame time sent officers to bring the coffin that contained the body of\nher husband from its burying-place.\n\nWhen the widow appeared before the mandarin, she denied that she knew\nanything of the cause of her husband's death.  He had come home drunk\none night, she declared, and had fallen senseless on the ground.  After\na great deal of difficulty, she had managed to lift him up on to the\nbed, where he lay in a drunken slumber, just as men under the influence\nof liquor often do, so that she was not in the least anxious or\ndisturbed about him.  During the night she fell asleep as she watched\nby his side, and when she woke up she found to her horror that he was\ndead.\n\n\"That is all that can be said about the case,\" she concluded, \"and if\nyou now order an examination of the body, it simply means that you have\nsuspicions about me, for no other person was with him but myself when\nhe died.  I protest therefore against the body being examined.  If,\nhowever, you are determined to do so, I warn you that if you find no\nsigns of violence on it, you expose yourself according to the laws of\nChina to the punishment of death.\"\n\n\"I am quite prepared to take the responsibility,\" replied the mandarin,\n\"and I have already ordered the Coroner to open the coffin and to make\na careful examination of the body.\"\n\nThis was accordingly done, but no trace of injury, not even the\nslightest bruise, could be discovered on any part of the dead man's\nbody.\n\nThe county magistrate was greatly distressed at this result of the\nenquiry, and hastened to Shih-Kung in order to obtain his advice as to\nwhat steps he should now take to escape the punishment of death which\nhe had incurred by his action.  The Viceroy agreed that the matter had\nindeed assumed a most serious aspect.  \"But you need not be anxious,\"\nhe added, \"about what you have done.  You have only acted by my orders,\nand therefore I assume all responsibility for the proceedings which you\nhave adopted to discover the murderer.\"\n\nLate in the afternoon, as the sun began to disappear behind the\nmountains of the west, Shih-Kung slipped out by a side door of his\nyamen, dressed as a peddler of cloth, and with pieces of various kinds\nof material resting on his shoulders.  His disguise was so perfect that\nno one, as he passed down the street, dreamed of suspecting that\ninstead of being a wandering draper, he was in reality the\nGovernor-General of the Province, who was trying to obtain evidence of\na murder that had recently been committed in his own capital.\n\nTravelling on down one street after another, Shih-Kung came at last to\nthe outskirts of the town, where the dwellings were more scattered and\nthe population was less dense.  By this time it was growing dark, so\nwhen he came to a house that stood quite apart by itself, he knocked at\nthe door.  An elderly woman with a pleasant face and a motherly look\nabout her asked him in a kind and gentle voice what he wanted.\n\n\"I have taken the liberty,\" he replied, \"of coming to your house to see\nwhether you would not kindly allow me to lodge with you for the night.\nI am a stranger in this region,\" he continued, \"and have travelled far\nfrom my home to sell my cloth.  The night is fast falling, and I know\nnot where to spend it, and so I beg of you to take me in.  I do not\nwant charity, for I am quite able to pay you liberally for any trouble\nI may cause you; and to-morrow morning, as early as you may desire, I\nshall proceed on my wanderings, and you will be relieved of me.\"\n\n\"My good man,\" she replied, \"I am perfectly willing that you should\nlodge here for the night, only I am afraid you may have to endure some\nannoyance from the conduct of my son when he returns home later in the\nevening.\"\n\n\"My business leads me into all kinds of company,\" he assured her, \"and\nI meet people with a great variety of dispositions, but I generally\nmanage to get on with them all.  It may be so with your son.\"\n\nWith a good-natured smile, the old lady then showed him into a little\nroom just off the one which was used as a sitting room.  Shih-Kung was\nvery tired, so he threw himself down, just as he was, on a trestle bed\nthat stood in the corner, and began to think over his plans for solving\nthe mystery of the murder.  By-and-by he fell fast asleep.\n\nAbout midnight he woke up at the sound of voices in the next room, and\nheard the mother saying:--\"I want you to be very careful how you treat\nthe peddler, and not to use any of your coarse language to him.\nAlthough he looks only a common man, I am sure he is a gentleman, for\nhe has a refined way with him that shows he must have come from no mean\nfamily.  I did not really want to take him in, as I knew you might\nobject; but the poor man was very tired, and it was getting dark, and\nhe declared he had no place to go to, so that at last I consented to\nlet him stay.  It is only for the night, and to-morrow at break of day\nhe says he must be on his travels again.\"\n\n\"I do most strongly dislike having a strange man in the house,\" replied\na voice which Shih-Kung concluded was the son's; \"and I shall go and\nhave a look at him in order to satisfy myself about him.\"\n\nTaking a lantern in his hand, he came close up to where Shih-Kung was\nlying, and flashing the light upon his face, looked down anxiously at\nhim for a few moments.  Apparently he was satisfied, for he cried out\nin a voice that could easily be heard in the other room: \"All right,\nmother, I am content.  The man has a good face, and I do not think I\nhave anything to fear from him.  Let him remain.\"\n\nShih-Kung now considered that it was time for him to act.  He stretched\nhimself and yawned as though he were just waking out of sleep, and\nthen, sitting up on the edge of the bed, he looked into the young man's\nface and asked him who he was.\n\n\"Oh!\" he replied in a friendly way, \"I am the son of the old lady who\ngave you permission to stay here for the night.  For certain reasons, I\nam not at all anxious to have strangers about the house, and at first I\nvery much objected to have you here.  But now that I have had a good\nlook at you, my objections have all vanished.  I pride myself upon\nbeing a good judge of character, and I may tell you that I have taken a\nfancy to you.  But come away with me into the next room, for I am going\nto have a little supper, and as my mother tells me that you fell asleep\nwithout having had anything to eat, I have no doubt you will be glad to\njoin me.\"\n\nAs they sat talking over the meal, they became very friendly and\nconfidential with each other, and the sam-shu that the son kept\ndrinking from a tiny cup, into which it was poured from a steaming\nkettle, had the effect of loosening his tongue and causing him to speak\nmore freely than he would otherwise have done.\n\nFrom his long experience of the shady classes of society, Shih-Kung\nvery soon discovered what kind of a man his companion was, and felt\nthat here was a mine from which he might draw valuable information to\nhelp him in reaching the facts he wished to discover.\n\nLooking across the table at the son, whose face was by this time\nflushed with the spirit he had been drinking, and with a hasty glance\naround the room, as though he were afraid that some one might overhear\nhim, he said in a low voice, \"I want to tell you a great secret.  You\nhave opened your heart a good deal to me, and now I am going to do the\nsame with you.  I am not really a peddler of cloth, as I have pretended\nto be.  I have been simply using that business to disguise my real\noccupation, which I do not want anyone to know.\"\n\n\"And what, may I ask, may be the trade in which you are engaged, and of\nwhich you seem to be so ashamed that you dare not openly confess it?\"\nasked the son.\n\n\"Well, I am what I call a benevolent thief,\" replied Shih-Kung.\n\n\"A benevolent thief!\" exclaimed the other in astonishment.  \"I have\nnever heard of such a thing before, and I should very much like to know\nwhat is meant by it.\"\n\n\"I must tell you,\" explained the guest, \"that I am not a common thief\nwho takes the property of others for his own benefit.  I never steal\nfor myself.  My practice is to find out where men have made money\nunjustly, and then by certain means at my command I deprive them of\nsome of their unlawful gains and distribute them amongst the people\nthey have wronged.  In this way I have been the means of bringing\nsuitable punishment on the heads of the guilty, and at the same time of\nrelieving the necessities of those who have suffered at their hands.\"\n\n\"I am astonished at what you tell me,\" replied the son, \"though I do\nnot believe all you say about not taking a share in the plunder you\nget.  But now that you have opened your heart to me, I shall repay your\nconfidence by telling you what I am.  I am a real thief, and I support\nmy mother, who does not suspect the truth, and keep the home together,\nsimply by what I steal from others.\"\n\nHe then proceeded to give an account of some of the adventures he had\nmet with in the course of his expeditions by night to rooms and houses\nwhich, as he always found out beforehand by careful spying, contained\nvaluables that could be easily carried away.\n\nWhile he was relating these stories, Shih-Kung's eyes gleamed with\ndelight, for he saw that the man had fallen into the trap which had\nbeen laid for him, and felt confident that before the night was over he\nwould be in possession of some clue to the mystery he was endeavouring\nto solve.  He was disgusted with the sordid details of the criminal\nlife of which the man before him seemed to be proud; yet with wonderful\npatience this mandarin, with his large powers of mind, and with a\ngenius for statesmanship which had made him famous throughout the\nEmpire, sat for hours enduring the wretched talk of this common thief.\nBut his reward came in due time.\n\n\"By the way,\" exclaimed this man whose business it was to break into\nhomes when the small hours of the morning found their inmates wrapped\nin slumber, \"some time ago I had a most remarkable experience, and as\nyou have shown yourself such a good fellow, I will tell you about it,\nif you do not think it too late to do so.\"\n\n\"I shall be most delighted to hear you relate it,\" said his guest.  \"I\nhave been greatly entertained by your vivid way of describing the\nadventures through which you have passed.  You deserve to be classed\namongst the great heroes of old, who have made their names famous by\ntheir deeds of daring.  Go on, I pray you, and tell me the particulars\nof this unusual experience.\"\n\n\"Well,\" proceeded the man, \"I had very carefully planned to pay a visit\nto a certain house just outside the walls of the city.  It was an easy\none to get in to without any danger of being observed, for it was in a\nquiet street, where passers-by are very few after dark.  It was a\ngloomy place after sunset, for the high walls that looked down upon it\nthrew deep and heavy shadows, which faint-hearted people declare are\nreally unhappy and restless ghosts prowling about to harass and\ndistress the unwary.\n\n\"It was a little after midnight, when with stealthy footsteps I crept\nalong the narrow streets, keeping as much as I could under cover of the\nhouses, where the darkness lay deepest.  Every home was hushed in\nslumber.  The only things that really troubled me were the dogs, which,\nwith an intelligence far greater than that of their masters, suspected\nme of some evil purpose, and barked at me and made wild snaps at my\nlegs.  I managed, however, to evade them and finally to arrive at the\nhouse I intended to rob.\n\n\"When I got close up to it, I was surprised to find a light burning\ninside. There was another thing, too, that I could not understand, and\nthis was that a little side door by which I had planned to enter had\nnot been bolted, but had been left ajar so that any prowling robber\ncould easily gain admittance through it. Taking off my shoes, I walked\non tiptoe along the stone-paved courtyard in the direction of the room\nwhere the light was burning, and hiding myself just outside the window,\nI could observe everything without being seen myself.\n\n\"I saw a woman of about thirty sitting alone by a table. She was\nevidently annoyed about something, for a frown rested on her face, and\nher eyes now and again flashed with suppressed anger, as though she had\nsuffered some great wrong and wished to avenge it. I was just beginning\nto wonder when I should be able to attend to my own particular\nbusiness, when I heard the side door slam, and the heavy staggering\nfootsteps of a person under the influence of sam-shu sounded in the\ndark.\n\n\"I drew back a little further from the window. A man approached the\nroom where the woman was sitting; lurching heavily, he sent the door\nopen with a bang, fell down on the floor, and lay there perfectly\ninsensible. He was a little insignificant fellow, whilst his wife was a\nvigorous, strapping woman. Looking at him with a world of contempt in\nher eyes, she came and picked him up and laid him on a bed that stood\nin the corner of the room.\n\n\"She then went back to her seat, but there was an evil look in the\nglances that she kept casting at her wretched husband. I was wondering\nto myself what was to be the end of this curious scene, when I saw her\nget up and go to a kind of wardrobe and take out a needle some two or\nthree inches in length. She then undid her husband's dress, and seizing\na mallet that lay on the table, she drove the needle deep down into his\nnavel until it had entirely vanished in the flesh and not a trace of it\nwas to be seen.\n\n\"The drunken man screamed as though in great agony, tossed convulsively\non the bed, and then lay still and moved no more.\n\n\"I was so paralyzed with fear lest I should be implicated in this\nmurder, that I dashed out of the house with all the speed I could\ncommand in the dark, and without stopping my flight for a single\nmoment, I reached my home, terrified beyond measure at the awful scene\nthat I had just witnessed.\n\n\"The only amusing part about the whole business was the inquest which\nwas held the other day upon the body of the dead husband. I was\npresent, and laughed in my sleeve at the whole proceedings. There was\nthe Coroner, with solemn face, going through all the regular rules of\nexamining the body for some proof that the man had been murdered. Then\nthere was the county magistrate, questioning and threatening the woman\nas to the part she had played in the tragedy. And then, too, there was\nthe wife, with sobs and sighs, and with tears running down her face,\ncalling Heaven to witness that she had had nothing to do with the death\nof her husband. It was a splendid farce, carried out with wonderful\nacting by the wife, for there was not a flaw in her evidence, and no\nsign on the body to convict her of her crime.\n\n\"A few words from me would have settled the question in a moment, and\nthe county magistrate, who seemed dreadfully distressed because of\nthe responsibility he had incurred in the eyes of the law by holding\nan examination of the body without sufficient evidence to warrant him\nin so doing, would have had his heart lightened of the load that was\nweighing it down if I could only have had the opportunity of whispering\na single sentence into his ear.\"\n\n\"It is your duty,\" interposed his guest, \"to proceed to-morrow morning\nto the mandarin's yamen, and tell your story to the county magistrate,\nso that a great wrong may not go unpunished.\"\n\n\"That I can never do,\" promptly replied the man.  \"What do you think\nwould happen were I to do what you suggest?  I am a thief.  I get my\nliving by thieving.  I was in the house on the night of the murder for\nthe purpose of robbery.  That would all come out when I give my\nevidence.  After I had proved the murder, what would become of me?  I\nshould be cast into prison, and I might have to lie there for years,\nfor who would ever bail out a thief?  And then my poor mother would\nstarve, for she has to depend on me entirely for her living, and she\nwould be compelled to go on the streets and beg for charity from door\nto door.  No, it is impossible for me ever to interfere in this case.\"\n\nShih-Kung recognized the difficulty in which the man was placed, and\nyet without his evidence it would be impossible to convict the woman of\nthe crime she had committed.  He accordingly thought out a plan which\nhe felt would remove the obstacles that stood in the way of securing\nhim as a witness.\n\nTurning to the man, he said, \"I have had a very pleasant evening with\nyou, and I thank you for your courtesy and hospitality.  I feel my\nheart moved with a desire for a deeper friendship than mere words can\never express, and so I propose that you and I become sworn brothers, so\nthat whatever may befall us in the future we shall stand by each other\nto the very death.\"\n\nThe young man looked up with astonishment at this unexpected proposal,\nbut the sudden flash in his eyes and the smile that overspread his\ncountenance showed that it was very pleasing to him.\n\n\"I shall be delighted to agree,\" he quickly replied, \"but when shall we\nhave an opportunity of appearing in the temple, and of registering our\nvow in the presence of the god?\"\n\n\"There is no need to go to any temple,\" Shih-Kung replied.  \"Your\nfamily idol, which sits over there enshrined before us, will be quite\nsufficient for our purpose.  Give me a pen and paper, and I will write\nout the articles of our brotherhood and present them to the god.\"\n\nIn a few minutes the document was written out according to the minute\nrules laid down by the law which binds two men in a sworn brotherhood.\nBy the most solemn oaths Shih-Kung and this thief agreed to assist each\nother in any extremity in which either might be placed in the future.\nAny call from one to the other must be instantly responded to.  No\ndanger and no peril to life or limb must be allowed to deter either of\nthem when the cry for help or deliverance was heard.  Each was to\nregard the interests of the other as identical with his own, and as\nlong as life lasted, the obligation to succour in every time of need\ncould never be relaxed or annulled.\n\nTo prove that this solemn engagement was no mere passing whim of the\nmoment, it had to be read in the hearing of the household god, who\nhappened to be the Goddess of Mercy.  She would then be an everlasting\nwitness of the transaction, and with the invisible forces at her\ncommand would visit pains and penalties on the one who broke his oath.\nStanding in front of her shrine, Shih-Kung read out the articles of\nagreement, word by word, in a slow and measured tone suited to the\nsolemnity of the occasion.  He then lighted the paper at the lamp, and\nboth men gazed at it until nothing was left but ashes, when each of\nthem knew that the Goddess had received the document and had placed it\nin her archives in the far-off Western Heaven as a record of the vows\nmade in her presence in those early hours of the morning.\n\nWhen they sat down again, Shih-Kung looked with a strong and masterful\ngaze at his newly-created brother and said to him:--\"You and I are now\nsworn brothers, and of course we must be frank with each other.  I do\nnot wish to deceive you any longer, so I must tell you that I am\nneither a peddler of cloth, nor a benevolent thief in the sense in\nwhich you understood the term.  I am in fact Shih-Kung, the Viceroy of\nthis Province.\"\n\nNo sooner did the man hear the name of this great mandarin, who was a\nprofound source of terror to the criminals and evil-doers within his\njurisdiction, than he fell on his knees before him in the most abject\nfright, and repeatedly knocking his head on the ground, besought him to\nhave mercy on him.\n\nRaising him up gently with his hand, Shih-Kung told him to lay aside\nall his fears.  \"You are my brother now,\" he said, \"and we have just\nsworn in the presence of the Goddess to defend each other with our\nlives.  I shall certainly perform my part of the oath.  From this\nmoment your fortune is made; and as for your mother, who received me\nwith such gracious courtesy, it shall be my privilege to provide for\nher as long as she lives.\"\n\nEmboldened by these words of the great statesman, the young man\nappeared at the second inquest, which Shih-Kung ordered to be held, and\ngave such testimony that the guilt of the wretched wife was clearly\nestablished, and due punishment meted out to her.\n\n\n\n\nII\n\nKWANG-JUI AND THE GOD OF THE RIVER\n\nChina is a land where the great masses of the people have to toil and\nstruggle incessantly in order to obtain even the bare necessities of\ndaily existence.  Unnumbered multitudes never enjoy a sufficiency of\nfood, but have to be contented with whatever Heaven may send them; and\nprofoundly thankful they are when they can be sure of two meals a day\nto stave off the pangs of hunger from themselves and their children.\n\nHow many there are who cannot by the severest toil obtain even these\ntwo meals is evident from the organized beggar communities, which are\nto be found in connection with every great city in the Empire, and from\nthe vast numbers of tramps, who wander over the country on the highways\nand byways with pale and sodden faces and with garments nearly falling\nto pieces, picking up a scanty livelihood from the benevolent as they\npass from village to village.\n\nWhatever may be their inmost thoughts, the Chinese bear their terrible\nhardships and privations with a splendid heroism, with little\ncomplaining, with no widespread outbreaks of robbery, and with no\npillaging of rice-shops and public granaries by organized mobs driven\nmad by hunger.\n\nThere is one beautiful feature about the Chinese that has been an\nimportant factor in steadying the nation.  They are imbued with at\nleast one great ideal, which touches their common life in every\ndirection.  Every man in the Empire, rich or poor, learned or\nunlearned, has a profound respect for what he calls Tien-Li, or Divine\nRighteousness.  By this the Chinese judge all actions.  It is the\nstandard by which Kings and Princes and common people direct their\nconduct, whether in the highest affairs of state, or in the ordinary\nengagements of common every-day life.\n\nIn addition to this, the minds of the Chinese are filled with romance\nand poetry, so that to them the invisible world is peopled with fairies\nand all kinds of spirits, both good and bad, the former relieving in\nmysterious ways the dull greyness that sorrow and disaster often shed\nupon the lives of men.\n\nThe story of Kwang-Jui is a remarkable evidence of the unbounded faith\nwhich the Chinese have in the intervention of these mysterious beings\nto deliver men from calamities which would otherwise prove fatal to\nthem.\n\nWhen we first meet with Kwang-Jui, he is living with his widowed mother\nin a retired part of the country.  His father had been dead for some\ntime, and Kwang-Jui was now the only one upon whom the fortunes of the\nhome could be built.  He was a very studious lad, and was possessed of\nremarkable abilities, the result being that he successfully passed the\nvarious Imperial Examinations, even the final one in the capital, where\nthe Sovereign himself presided as examiner.\n\nAfter this last examination, as the men were waiting outside the Hall\nfor the names of those who had satisfied the Emperor to be read out a\nconsiderable crowd had collected.  Most of these people had come from\nmere curiosity to see the Imperial Edict, and to discover who the\nscholar was that stood first on the list.  The excitement was intense,\nand speculation ran rife as to which of the candidates, who had come\nfrom almost every province in the Empire, was going to obtain the place\nof honour which was the dream and the ambition of every scholar in the\nland.\n\nAt last every breath was hushed, and every voice stilled in silence, as\none of the high officials of the Palace, attended by an imposing\nretinue, came out of the great central doors, which had been flung wide\nopen at his approach.  In a clear voice he began to read the list.  It\nwas headed by the name of Kwang-Jui.\n\nAt this precise moment occurred an incident which was destined to\nchange the whole current of Kwang-Jui's career.  As he was standing\novercome with emotion in consequence of the supreme honour which had\nbeen conferred upon him by the Emperor's Edict, a small round ball,\nbeautifully embroidered, was thrown from an upper window of a house\nacross the way, and struck him on the shoulder.\n\nIt may here be explained that it was a custom in the early days of the\nhistory of China to allow any young maiden who was reluctant to have\nher husband chosen for her by her parents, to make use of what was\ncalled \"The throwing of the embroidered ball\" in order to discover the\nman whom the gods intended her to marry.  This ball was made of some\nsoft material, wrapped round with a piece of red silk which was covered\nwith variegated figures, worked by the damsel's own hands and\nemblematic of the love by which the hearts of husband and wife are\nbound indissolubly to each other.  It was firmly believed by every\nmaiden of this romantic type that the man who was struck by the ball\nfrom her fair hands was the one whom Heaven had selected as her\nhusband; and no parent would ever dream of refusing to accept a choice\nmade in this way.\n\nWhilst Kwang-Jui was gazing in amused wonder at the symbol which he\nunderstood so well, a messenger from the house from which it had been\nthrown requested him in respectful tones to accompany him to his\nmaster, who desired to discuss with him a most important subject.\n\nAs Kwang-Jui entered the house, he discovered to his astonishment that\nit belonged to the Prime Minister, who received him with the utmost\ncordiality, and after a long conversation declared that he was prepared\nto submit to the will of the gods, and to accept him as his son-in-law.\nKwang-Jui was of course in raptures at the brilliant prospects which\nwere suddenly opening up before him.  The day, indeed, was a red-letter\none--an omen, he hoped, that fate was preparing to pour down upon him\ngood fortune in the future.  In one brief day he had been hailed as the\nmost distinguished scholar in the Empire, and he had also been\nacknowledged as the son-in-law of the Empire's greatest official, who\nhad the power of placing him in high positions where he could secure\nnot only honours but also wealth sufficient to drive poverty away for\never from his home.\n\nAs there was no reason for delay, the hand of the beautiful daughter\nwho had thrown the embroidered ball, and who was delighted that Heaven\nhad chosen for her such a brilliant husband, was bestowed upon him by\nher parents.  Times of great rejoicing succeeded, and when Kwang-Jui\nthought of the quiet and uninteresting days when he was still unknown\nto fame, and contrasted them with his present life, it seemed to him as\nthough he were living in fairy-land.  His wildest dreams in the past\nhad never conjured up anything so grand as the life he was now leading.\nIn one bound he had leaped from comparative poverty to fame and riches.\n\nAfter a time, through the influence of his father-in-law, and with the\nhearty consent of the Emperor, who remembered what a brilliant student\nhe had been, Kwang-Jui was appointed to be Prefect of an important\ndistrict in the centre of China.\n\nTaking his bride with him, he first of all proceeded to his old home,\nwhere his mother was waiting with great anxiety to welcome her now\nfamous son.  The old lady felt rather nervous at meeting her new\ndaughter-in-law, seeing that the latter came from a family which was\nfar higher in rank and far more distinguished than any in her own clan.\nAs it was very necessary that Kwang-Jui should take up his office as\nPrefect without any undue delay, he and his mother and his bride set\nout in the course of a few days on the long journey to the distant\nPrefecture, where their lives were destined to be marred by sorrow and\ndisaster.\n\nThey had travelled the greater part of the way, and had reached a\ncountry market-town that lay on their route, when Kwang-Jui's mother,\nworn out with the toilsome journey, fell suddenly ill.  The doctor who\nwas called in shook his head and pronounced that she was suffering from\na very serious complaint, which, whilst not necessarily fatal, would\nnecessitate a complete rest for at least two or three months.  Any\nfurther travelling must therefore be abandoned for the present, as it\nmight be attended with the most serious consequences to the old lady.\n\nBoth husband and wife were greatly distressed at the unlucky accident\nwhich placed them in such an awkward position at this wayside inn.\nThey were truly grieved at the serious sickness of their mother, but\nthey were still more puzzled as to what course they should pursue in\nthese most trying circumstances.  The Imperial Rescript appointing\nKwang-Jui to his office as Prefect commanded him to take up his post on\na certain definite date.  To delay until his mother would again be able\nto endure the fatigues of travel was out of the question, as\ndisobedience to the Emperor's orders would be attended by his grave\ndispleasure.  Eventually his mother suggested that he and his wife\nshould go on ahead, and that after taking up the duties of his office\nhe should then delegate them for a time to his subordinates and return\nto take her home.\n\nThis advice Kwang-Jui decided to carry out; though with great\nreluctance, as he was most unwilling to abandon his mother to the care\nof strangers.  He accordingly made all the arrangements he possibly\ncould for her comfort whilst they were parted from each other; he had\nservants engaged to attend upon her, and he left sufficient money with\nher to meet all her expenses during his absence.\n\nWith a mind full of consideration for his mother, and wishing to show\nhow anxious he was to give her pleasure, he went out into the market of\nthe town to see if he could buy a certain kind of fish of which she was\npassionately fond.  He had hardly got outside the courtyard of the inn,\nwhen he met a fisherman with a very fine specimen of the very fish that\nhe wished to purchase.\n\nAs he was discussing the price with the man, a certain something about\nthe fish arrested his attention.  There was a peculiar look in its eyes\nthat seemed full of pathos and entreaty.  Its gaze was concentrated\nupon him, so human-like and with such intensity, that he instinctively\nfelt it was pleading with him to do something to deliver it from a\ngreat disaster.  This made him look at it more carefully, and to his\nastonishment the liquid eyes of the fish were still fixed upon him with\na passionate regard that made him quiver with excitement.\n\n\"Fisherman,\" he said, \"I want to buy this fish, and here is the price\nthat you ask for it.  I have but one stipulation to make, and that is\nthat you take it to the river from which you caught it, and set it free\nto swim away wherever it pleases.  Remember that if you fail to carry\nout this part of the bargain, great sorrow will come upon you and your\nhome.\"\n\nLittle did either of them dream that the fish was the presiding God of\nthe River, who for purposes of his own had transformed himself into\nthis form, and who, while swimming up and down the stream had been\ncaught in the net of the fisherman.\n\nAfter travelling for some hours Kwang-Jui and his wife came to the bank\nof a considerable river, where they hired a large boat to convey them\nto their destination.\n\nThe boatman they engaged was a man of very low character.  He had\noriginally been a scholar and of good family, but, utterly depraved and\nimmoral, he had gradually sunk lower and lower in society, until at\nlast he had been compelled to fly from his home to a distant province,\nand there to engage in his present occupation in order to earn his\nliving.  The large amount of property which Kwang-Jui had with him\nseemed to arouse the worst passions in this man, and while the boat was\nbeing carried along by a fair wind and a flowing tide, he planned in\nhis mind how he was to become the possessor of it.  By the time that\nthey reached the place where they were to anchor for the night, he had\nalready decided what measures he should adopt.\n\nA little after midnight, accordingly, he crept stealthily towards the\nplace where Kwang-Jui was sleeping, stabbed him to the heart and threw\nhis body into the fast-flowing river.  He next threatened the wife that\nif she dared to utter a sound, he would murder her also and send her to\njoin her husband in the Land of Shadows.  Paralyzed with terror, she\nremained speechless, only a stifled sob and groan now and again\nbreaking from her agonized heart.  Her first serious idea was to commit\nsuicide, and she was preparing to fling herself into the water that\ngurgled along the sides of the boat, when she was restrained by the\nthought that if she destroyed herself, she would never be able to\navenge her husband's death or bring punishment upon the villain who had\njust murdered him.\n\nIt was not mere robbery, however, that was in the mind of the man who\nhad committed this great crime.  He had bigger ideas than that.  He had\nnoticed that in personal appearance he very much resembled his victim,\nso he determined to carry out the daring project of passing himself off\nas Kwang-Jui, the mandarin whom the Emperor had despatched to take up\nthe appointment of Prefect.\n\nHaving threatened the widow that instant death would be her portion if\nshe breathed a word to anyone about the true state of the case, and\nhaving arrayed himself in the official robes of the man whom he had\nstabbed to death, the boatman appeared at the yamen, where he presented\nthe Imperial credentials and was duly installed in his office.  It\nnever entered his mind that it was not cowardice which kept the widow\nsilent, but the stern resolve of a brave and high-minded woman that she\nwould do her part to see that vengeance should in time fall upon the\nman who had robbed her of a husband whom she looked upon as the direct\ngift of Heaven.\n\nNow, immediately after the body of Kwang-Jui had been cast into the\nwater, the customary patrol sent by the God of the River to see that\norder was kept within his dominions, came upon it, and conveyed it with\nall speed into the presence of the god himself.\n\nThe latter looked at it intently for a moment, and then exclaimed in\ngreat excitement, \"Why, this is the very person who only yesterday\nsaved my life, when I was in danger of being delivered over to a cruel\ndeath!  I shall now be able to show my gratitude by using all the power\nI possess to serve his interests.  Bring him to the Crystal Grotto,\" he\ncontinued, \"where only those who have distinguished themselves in the\nservice of the State have ever been allowed to lie.  This man has a\nclaim upon me such as no one before him ever possessed.  He is the\nsaviour of my life, and I will tenderly care for him until the web of\nfate has been spun, and, the vengeance of Heaven having been wreaked\nupon his murderer, he shall once more rejoin the wife from whom he has\nbeen so ruthlessly torn.\"\n\nWith the passing of the months, the widow of Kwang-Jui gave birth to a\nson, the very image of his father.  It was night-time when he was born,\nand not long after his birth, a mysterious voice, which could not be\ntraced, was heard distinctly saying, \"Let the child be removed without\ndelay from the yamen, before the return of the Prefect, as otherwise\nits life will not be safe.\"\n\nAccordingly, on the morrow, the babe, about whose destiny even Heaven\nitself seemed concerned, was carefully wrapped round with many\ncoverings to protect it against the weather.  Inside the inmost dress,\nthere was enclosed a small document, telling the child's tragic story\nand describing the danger from a powerful foe which threatened its\nlife.  In order to be able to identify her son, it might be after the\nlapse of many years, the mother cut off the last joint of the little\nfinger of his left hand; and then, with tears and sighs, and with her\nheart full of unspoken agony, she took a last, lingering look upon the\nface of the little one.\n\nA confidential slave woman carried him out of her room, and by devious\nways and secret paths finally laid him on the river's bank.  Casting a\nfinal glance at the precious bundle to see that no danger threatened\nit, she hurried back in the direction of the city, with the faint cries\nof the abandoned infant still sounding in her ears.\n\nAnd now the child was in the hands of Heaven.  That this was so was\nevident from the fact that in a few minutes the abbot of the monastery,\nwhich could be seen crowning the top of a neighbouring hill, passed\nalong the narrow pathway by the side of the river.  Hearing a baby's\ncry, he hastened towards the place from which the sounds came, and\npicking up the little bundle, and realizing that the infant had been\ndeserted, he carried it up to the monastery and made every arrangement\nfor its care and comfort.  Fortunately he was a man of a deeply\nbenevolent nature, and no more suitable person could have been found to\ntake charge of the child.\n\nWe must now allow eighteen years to pass by.  The child that had been\nleft on the margin of the river had grown up to be a fine, handsome\nlad.  The abbot had been his friend ever since the day when his heart\nhad been touched by his cries, and his love for the little foundling\nhad grown with the years.  The boy had become a kind of son to him, and\nin order not to be parted from him he had taught him the temple duties,\nso that he was now a qualified priest in the service of the gods.\n\nOne morning the young man, whose name was Sam-Choang, came to the abbot\nwith a restless, dissatisfied look on his face, and begged to be told\nwho his father was, and who his mother.  The old priest, who had long\nbeen aware of the tragic story of Kwang-Jui's murder, felt that the\ntime had come when the lad ought to know what he had hitherto concealed\nfrom him.  Taking out the document which he had found upon him as a\nbaby, he read it to him, and then the great secret was out.  After this\na long and serious discussion took place between the two as to the\nwisest methods to be adopted for bringing the Prefect to justice and\ndelivering the lad's mother from the humiliating position which she had\nso heroically borne for all these eighteen years.\n\nThe next day a young priest, with shaven head and dressed in the usual\nslate-coloured gown, appeared at the yamen of the Prefect to solicit\nsubscriptions for the neighbouring monastery.  As the Prefect was\nabsent on some public business, he was ushered into the reception-room,\nwhere he was received by his mother, who had always been a generous\nsupporter of the Goddess of Mercy.\n\nAt the first sight of this striking-looking young bonze, she found her\nheart agitated in a strange and powerful way, such as she had not\nexperienced for many a long year; and when she noticed that the little\nfinger on his left hand was without the last joint, she trembled with\nthe utmost excitement.\n\nAfter a few words about the object for which he had come, the young\npriest slipped into her hand the very paper which she had written\neighteen years ago; and as she looked at her own handwriting and then\ngazed into his face and saw the striking likeness to the man at whom\nshe had thrown the embroidered ball, the mother-instinct within her\nflashed suddenly out, and she recognized that this handsome lad was her\nown son.  The joy of the mother as she looked upon the face of\nSam-Choang was reflected in the sparkling eyes and glowing look of\npleasure that lit up his whole countenance.\n\nRetiring for a short time his mother returned with a letter which she\nhanded to him.  In a low voice she told him that it was to her father,\nwho still lived in the capital, and to whom he was to take it without\nany delay.  In order to prevent suspicion on the part of the Prefect,\nhe was to travel as a priest, who was endeavouring to obtain\nsubscriptions for his monastery.  He was to be sure, also, to visit the\nplace where his grandmother had been left, and to try and find out what\nhad become of her.  In order to defray his expenses she gave him a few\nbars of gold, which he could exchange for the current money at the\nbanks on the way.\n\nWhen Sam-Choang arrived at the inn where his father had parted with his\ngrandmother, he could find no trace of her.  A new landlord was in\npossession, who had never even heard her name; but on enquiring amongst\nthe shopkeepers in the neighbourhood, he found to his horror that she\nwas now a member of the beggars' camp, and that her name was enrolled\namongst that degraded fraternity.\n\nOn reaching the wretched hovel where she was living, he discovered that\nwhen her money was exhausted and no remittance came to her from her\nson, she had been driven out on to the street by the innkeeper, and\nfrom that time had tramped the country, living on the scraps and bits\nwhich were bestowed upon her by the benevolent.  Great was her joy when\nher grandson led her away to the best inn in the place, and on his\ndeparture gave her an ample supply of money for all her needs until\nthey should meet again.\n\nWhen Sam-Choang reached the capital and handed his mother's letter to\nhis grandfather, the most profound excitement ensued.  As soon as the\nEmperor was officially informed of the case, he determined that the\nseverest punishment should be inflicted upon the man who had not only\ncommitted a cruel murder, but through it had dared to usurp a position\nwhich could only be held at the Sovereign's command.  An Imperial Edict\nwas accordingly issued ordering the Prime Minister to take a\nconsiderable body of troops and proceed with all possible speed to the\ndistrict where such an unheard-of crime had been committed, and there\nto hand over the offender to immediate execution.\n\nBy forced marches, so as to outstrip any private intelligence that\nmight have been sent from the capital, the avenging force reached the\ncity a little before the break of day.  Here they waited in silence\noutside the city gates, anxiously listening for the boom of the early\ngun which announces the dawn, and at the same time causes the gates to\nbe flung wide open for the traffic of the day to commence.\n\nAs soon as the warders had admitted the waiting crowd outside, the\nsoldiers, advancing at a run, quickly reached the yamen, and arrested\nthe Prefect.  Without form of trial but simply with a curt announcement\nfrom the Prime Minister that he was acting upon instructions from the\nEmperor, the mandarin was dragged unceremoniously through the gaping\ncrowds that rushed from their doors to see the amazing spectacle.\n\nThe feet of Fate had marched slowly but with unerring certainty, and\nhad at last reached the wretched criminal.\n\nBut where was he being taken?  This road did not lead to the execution\nground, where malefactors were doomed to end their careers in shame.\nStreet after street was passed, and still the stern-faced soldiers\nforced the mandarin down the main thoroughfares, whose sides had often\nbeen lined with respectful crowds as he swept by with his haughty\nretinue.  At last they reached the city gate, through which they\nmarched, and then on towards the river, which could be seen gleaming\nlike a silver thread in the distance.\n\nArrived at its bank, the troops formed into a square with the prisoner\nin the centre.  Addressing him, the Prime Minister said, \"I have\nselected this spot rather than the public execution ground where\ncriminals are put to death.  Your crime has been no common one; and so\nto-day, in the face of high Heaven whose righteousness you have dared\nto violate, and within sound of the flowing waters of the stream that\nwitnessed the murder, you shall die.\"\n\nHalf a dozen soldiers then threw him violently to the ground, and in a\nfew minutes the executioner had torn his bleeding heart from his bosom.\nThen, standing with it still in his hand, he waited by the side of the\nPrime Minister, who read out to the great multitude the indictment\nwhich had been drawn up against the Prefect.  In this he described his\ncrimes, and at the same time appealed to Heaven and to the God of the\nRiver to take measures to satisfy and appease the spirit of him who had\nbeen cut off in the prime of life by the man who had just been executed.\n\nAs soon as the reading of the document had been concluded, it was set\nfire to and allowed to burn until only the blackened ashes remained.\nThese, together with the criminal's heart, were then cast into the\nriver.  They were thus formally handed over to the god, who would see\nthat in the Land of Shadows there should come a further retribution on\nthe murderer for the crimes he had committed on earth.\n\nThe water patrol happened to pass by soon after the ashes and heart had\nbeen flung into the river, and picking them up most carefully, they\ncarried them to the official residence of the god.  The indictment was\nat once formally entered amongst the archives of the office, to be used\nas evidence when the case was in due time brought before the notice of\nYam-lo: and after looking at the heart with the intensest scrutiny for\nsome little time, the god exclaimed, \"And so the murderer has at last\nreceived some part of the punishment he so richly deserved.  It is now\ntime for me to awake the sleeping husband, so that he may be restored\nto the wife from whom he has been separated for eighteen years.\"\n\nPassing into the Crystal Grotto, where the unconscious form of\nKwang-Jui had reposed for so many years, the god touched the body\ngently with his hand, and said:--\"Friend, arise!  Your wife awaits you,\nand loving ones who have long mourned you.  Many years of happiness are\nstill before you, and the honours that your Sovereign will bestow upon\nyou shall place you amongst the famous men of the State.  Arise, and\ntake your place once more amongst the living!\"\n\nThe Prime Minister was sitting with his daughter, listening to the sad\nstory of the years of suffering through which she had passed, when the\ndoor was silently opened, and the figure of her long-lost husband\nglided in.  Both started up in fear and amazement, for they believed\nthat what they saw was only a restless spirit which had wandered from\nthe Land of Shadows and would speedily vanish again from their sight.\nIn this, however, they were delightfully disappointed.  Kwang-Jui and\nhis wife were once more reunited, and for many a long year their hearts\nwere so full of gladness and contentment, that the sorrows which they\nhad endured gradually became effaced from their memories.  They always\nthought with the deepest gratitude of the God of the River, who for\neighteen years had kept the unconscious husband alive and had finally\nrestored him to his heart-broken wife.\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\nTHE BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER OF LIU-KUNG\n\nIn one of the central provinces of this long-lived Empire of China,\nthere lived in very early times a man of the name of Chan.  He was a\nperson of a bright, active nature which made him enjoy life, and caused\nhim to be popular amongst his companions and a favourite with every one\nwho knew him.  But he was also a scholar, well-versed in the literature\nof his country, and he spent every moment that he could spare in the\nstudy of the great writings of the famous men of former days.\n\nIn order that he might be interrupted as little as possible in his\npursuit of learning, he engaged a room in a famous monastery some miles\naway from his own home.  The only inhabitants of this monastery were a\ndozen or so of Buddhist priests, who, except when they were engaged in\nthe daily services of the temple, lived a quiet, humdrum, lazy kind of\nexistence which harmonized well with the solitude and the majestic\nstillness of the mountain scenery by which they were surrounded.\n\nThis monastery was indeed one of the most beautiful in China.  It was\nsituated on the slope of a hill, looking down upon a lovely valley,\nwhere the natural solitude was as complete as the most devoted hermit\ncould desire.  The only means of getting to it were the narrow hill\nfootpaths along which the worshippers from the great city and the\nscattered villages wound in and out on festal days, when they came\ntrooping to the temple to make their offerings to the famous God\nenshrined within.\n\nChan was a diligent student, and rarely indulged in recreation of any\nkind.  Occasionally, when his mind became oppressed with excessive\nstudy he would go for a quiet walk along the hillside; but these\noccasions were few and far between, for he made up for every hour he\nspent away from his beloved books by still closer application to them\nin the hours that followed.\n\nOne day he was strolling in an aimless kind of way on the hillside,\nwhen suddenly a party of hunters from the neighbouring city of Eternal\nSpring came dashing into view.  They were a merry group and full of\nexcitement, for they had just sighted a fox which Chan had seen a\nmoment before flying away at its highest speed in mortal dread of its\npursuers.\n\nProminent amongst the hunters was a young girl, who was mounted on a\nfiery little steed, so full of spirit and so eager to follow in the mad\nchase after the prey, that its rider seemed to have some difficulty in\nrestraining it.  The girl herself was a perfect picture.  Her face was\nthe loveliest that Chan had ever looked upon, and her figure, which her\ntrim hunting dress showed off to the utmost advantage, was graceful in\nthe extreme.  As she swept by him with her face flushed with excitement\nand her features all aglow with health, Chan felt at once that he had\nlost his heart and that he was deeply and profoundly in love with her.\n\nOn making enquiries, he found that she was named Willow, that she was\nthe daughter of the chief mandarin of the town in which she lived, and\nthat she was intensely fond of the chase and delighted in galloping\nover the hills and valleys in the pursuit of the wild animals to be\nfound there.  So powerfully had Chan's mind been affected by what he\nhad seen of Willow, that he had already begun to entertain serious\nthoughts of making her his wife; but while his mind was full of this\ndelightful prospect he was plunged into the deepest grief by hearing\nthat she had suddenly died.  For some days he was so stricken with\nsorrow that he lost all interest in life, and could do nothing but\ndwell on the memory of her whom he had come to love with all the\ndevotion of his heart.\n\nA few weeks after the news of her death, the quiet of the retreat was\none day broken by a huge procession which wound its way along the\nmountain path leading to the monastery doors.  On looking out, Chan saw\nthat many of the men in this procession were dressed in sackcloth, and\nthat in front of it was a band of musicians producing weird, shrill\nnotes on their various instruments.\n\nBy these signs Chan knew that what he saw was a funeral, and he\nexpected to see the long line of mourners pass on to some spot on the\nhillside where the dead would be buried.  Instead of that, however,\nthey entered through the great gates of the monastery, and the coffin,\nthe red pall of which told him that it contained the body of a woman,\nwas carried into an inner room of the building and laid on trestles\nthat had been made ready for it.\n\nAfter the mourners had dispersed, Chan asked one of the priests the\nname of the woman who had died, and how it was that the coffin was laid\nwithin the precincts of the temple instead of in the house of the\ndeceased, where it could be looked after by her relatives and where the\ncustomary sacrifices to the spirit of the dead could be offered more\nconveniently than in the monastery.\n\nThe bonze replied that this was a peculiar case, calling for special\ntreatment.\n\n\"The father of the poor young girl who died so suddenly,\" he said, \"was\nthe mandarin of the neighbouring city of Eternal Spring.  Just after\nthe death of his daughter an order came from the Emperor transferring\nhim to another district, a thousand miles from here.\n\n\"The command was very urgent that he should proceed without delay to\ntake up his post in the far-off province, and that he was to allow\nnothing to hinder him from doing so.  He could not carry his daughter's\nbody with him on so long a journey, and no time was permitted him to\ntake the coffin to his home, where she might be buried amongst her own\nkindred.  It was equally impossible to deposit the coffin in the yamen\nhe was about to leave, for the new mandarin who was soon to arrive\nwould certainly object to have the body of a stranger in such close\nproximity to his family.  It might bring him bad luck, and his career\nas an official might end in disaster.\n\n\"Permission was therefore asked from our abbot to allow the coffin to\nbe placed in one of our vacant rooms, until the father some day in the\nfuture can come and bear the body of his beloved daughter to the home\nof his ancestors, there to be laid at rest amongst his own people.\n\n\"This request was readily granted, for whilst he was in office the\nmandarin showed us many favours, and his daughter was a beautiful girl\nwho was beloved by everyone; and so we were only too glad to do\nanything in our power to help in this unhappy matter.\"\n\nChan was profoundly moved when he realized that the woman whom he had\nloved as his own life lay dead within a chamber only a few steps away\nfrom his own.  His passion, instead of being crushed out of his heart\nby the thought that she was utterly beyond his reach, and by no\npossibility could ever be more to him than a memory, seemed to grow in\nintensity as he became conscious that it was an absolutely hopeless one.\n\nOn that very same evening, about midnight, when silence rested on the\nmonastery, and the priests were all wrapped in slumber, Chan, with a\nlighted taper in his hand, stole with noiseless footsteps along the\ndark passages into the chamber of death where his beloved lay.\nKneeling beside the coffin with a heart full of emotion, in trembling\naccents he called upon Willow to listen to the story of his passion.\n\nHe spoke to her just as though she were standing face to face with him,\nand he told her how he had fallen in love with her on the day on which\nhe had caught a glimpse of her as she galloped in pursuit of the fox\nthat had fled through the valley from the hunters.  He had planned, he\ntold her, to make her his wife, and he described, in tones through\nwhich the tears could be heard to run, how heart-broken he was when he\nheard of her death.\n\n\"I want to see you,\" he continued, \"for I feel that I cannot live\nwithout you.  You are near to me, and yet oh! how far away.  Can you\nnot come from the Land of Shadows, where you are now, and comfort me by\none vision of your fair face, and one sound of the voice that would\nfill my soul with the sweetest music?\"\n\nFor many months the comfort of Chan's life was this nightly visit to\nthe chamber where his dead love lay.  Not a single night passed without\nhis going to tell her of the unalterable and undying affection that\nfilled his heart; and whilst the temple lay shrouded in darkness, and\nthe only sounds that broke the stillness were those inexplicable ones\nin which nature seems to indulge when man is removed by sleep from the\nscene, Chan was uttering those love notes which had lain deeply hidden\nwithin his soul, but which now in the utter desolation of his heart\nburst forth to ease his pain by their mere expression.\n\nOne night as he was sitting poring over his books, he happened to turn\nround, and was startled to see the figure of a young girl standing just\ninside the door of his room.  It seemed perfectly human, and yet it was\nso ethereal that it had the appearance of a spirit of the other world.\nAs he looked at the girl with a wondering gaze, a smile lit up her\nbeautiful features, and he then discovered to his great joy that she\nwas none other than Willow, his lost love whom he had despaired of ever\nseeing again.\n\nWith her face wreathed in smiles, she sat down beside him and said in a\ntimid, modest way:--\"I am here to-night in response to the great love\nwhich has never faltered since the day I died.  That is the magnet\nwhich has had the power of drawing me from the Land of Shadows.  I felt\nit there, and many speak about it in that sunless country.  Even\nYam-lo, the lord of the spirits of that dreary world, has been moved by\nyour unchanging devotion; so much so that he has given me permission to\ncome and see you, in order that I might tell you how deeply my heart is\nmoved by the profound affection that you have exhibited for me all\nthese months during which you never had any expectation of its being\nreturned.\"\n\nFor many months this sweet intercourse between Chan and his beloved\nWillow was carried on, and no one in the whole monastery knew anything\nof it.  The interviews always took place about midnight, and Willow,\nwho seemed to pass with freedom through closed doors or the stoutest\nwalls, invariably vanished during the small hours of the morning.\n\nOne evening whilst they were conversing on topics agreeable to them\nboth, Willow unburdened her heart to Chan, and told him how unhappy she\nwas in the world of spirits.\n\n\"You know,\" she said, \"that before I died I was not married, and so I\nam only a wandering spirit with no place where I can rest, and no\nfriends to whom I can betake myself.  I travel here and there and\neverywhere, feeling that no one cares for me, and that there are no\nties to bind me to any particular place or thing.  For a young girl\nlike me, this is a very sad and sorrowful state of things.\n\n\"There is another thing that adds to my sorrow in the Land of Shadows,\"\nshe went on to say, with a mournful look on her lovely countenance.  \"I\nwas very fond of hunting when I was in my father's home, and many a\nwild animal was slain in the hunting expeditions in which I took an\nactive part.  This has all told against me in the world in which I am\nnow living, and for the share I took in destroying life I have to\nsuffer by many pains and penalties which are hard for me to endure.\n\n\"My sin has been great,\" she said, \"and so I wish to make special\nofferings in this temple to the Goddess of Mercy and implore her to\nsend down to the other world a good report of me to Yam-lo, and\nintercede with him to forgive the sins of which I have been guilty.  If\nyou will do this for me, I promise that after I have been born again\ninto the world I will never forget you, and if you like to wait for me\nI shall willingly become your wife and serve you with the deepest\ndevotion of which my heart is capable, as long as Heaven will permit\nyou and me to live together as husband and wife.\"\n\nFrom this time, much to the astonishment of the priests in the\nmonastery, Chan began to show unwonted enthusiasm for the service of\nthe Goddess, and would sometimes spend hours before her image and\nrepeat long prayers to her.  This was all the more remarkable, as the\nscholar had rarely if ever shown any desire to have anything to do with\nthe numerous gods which were enshrined in various parts of the temple.\n\nAfter some months of this daily appeal to the Goddess of Mercy, Willow\ninformed him that his prayers had been so far successful that the\nmisery of her lot in the Land of Shadows had been greatly mitigated.\nThe pleadings of the Goddess with Yam-lo had so influenced his heart\ntowards Willow that she believed her great sin in the destruction of\nanimal life had been forgiven, and there were signs that the dread\nruler of the Underworld was looking upon her with kindness.\n\nChan was delighted with this news, and his prayers and offerings became\nstill more frequent and more fervent.  He little dreamed that his\ndevotion to the Goddess would be the means of his speedy separation\nfrom Willow, but so it was.  One evening she came as usual to see him,\nbut instead of entering with smiling face and laughter in her eyes, she\nwas weeping bitterly as though she were in the direst sorrow.\n\nChan was in the greatest distress when he saw this and asked her to\nexplain the reason for her grief.  \"The reason for my tears,\" she said,\n\"is because after this evening I shall not see you again.  Your\npetitions to the Goddess have had such a powerful effect upon her mind\nthat she has used all her influence with Yam-lo to induce him to set me\nfree from the misery of the Land of Shadows, and so I am to leave that\nsunless country and to be born again into life in this upper world.\"\n\nAs she uttered these words her tears began to flow once more and her\nwhole frame was convulsed with sobbing.\n\n\"I am glad,\" she said, \"that I am to be born once more and live amongst\nmen, but I cannot bear the thought of having to be separated for so\nlong from you.  Let us not grieve too much, however.  It is our fate,\nand we may not rebel against it.  Yam-lo has been kinder to me than he\nhas ever been to any one in the past, for he has revealed to me the\nfamily into which I am to be born and the place where they live, so if\nyou come to me in eighteen years you will find me waiting for you.\nYour love has been so great that it has entered into my very soul, and\nthere is nothing that can ever efface it from my heart.  A thousand\nre-births may take place, but never shall I love any one as I love you.\"\n\nChan professed that he was greatly comforted by this confession of her\nlove, but all the same he felt in despair when he thought of the future.\n\n\"When next I shall see you,\" he said with a sigh, \"I shall be getting\nso old that you, a young girl in the first flush of womanhood, will not\ncare to look at me.  My hair will have turned grey and my face will be\nmarked with wrinkles, and in the re-birth you will have forgotten all\nthat took place in the Land of Shadows, and the memory of me will have\nvanished from your heart for ever.\"\n\nWillow looked with loving but sorrowful eyes upon her lover as he was\nexpressing his concern about the future, but quickly assured him that\nnothing in the world would ever cause her to cease to remember him with\nthe tenderest affection.\n\n\"In order to comfort you,\" she said, \"let me tell you of two things\nthat the dread Yam-lo, out of consideration for your love for me, has\ngranted me--two things which he has never bestowed upon any other\nmortal who has come within the region of his rule.  The first is, he\nhas allowed me to inspect the book of Life and Death, in which is\nrecorded the history of every human being, with the times of their\nre-births and the places in which they are to be born.  I want you this\nvery minute to write down the secret which has been revealed to me as\nto my new name and family and the place where I shall reside, so that\nyou will have no difficulty in finding me, when eighteen years hence\nyou shall come to claim me as your wife.\n\n\"The next is a gift so precious that I have no words in which to\nexpress my gratitude for its having been bestowed upon me.  It is this.\nI am given the privilege of not forgetting what has taken place during\nmy stay in the Land of Shadows, and so when I am re-born into another\npart of China, with a new father and mother, I shall hold within my\nmemory my recollection of you.  The years will pass quickly, for I\nshall be looking for you, and this day eighteen years hence will be the\nhappiest in my life, for it will bring you to me never more to be\nseparated from me.\n\n\"But I must hasten on,\" she hurriedly exclaimed, \"for the footsteps of\nfate are moving steadily towards me.  In a few minutes the gates of\nHades will have closed against me, and Willow will have vanished, and I\nshall be a babe once more with my new life before me.  See, but a\nminute more is left me, and I seem to have so much to say.  Farewell!\nNever forget me!  I shall ever remember you, but my time is come!\"\n\nAs she uttered these words, a smile of ineffable sweetness flashed\nacross, her beautiful face, and she was gone.\n\nChan was inexpressibly sad at the loss he had sustained by the re-birth\nof Willow, and in order to drive away his sorrow he threw his heart and\nsoul into his studies.  His books became his constant companions, and\nhe tried to find in them a solace for the loneliness which had come\nupon him since the visits of Willow had ceased.  He also became a\ndiligent worshipper of the idols, and especially of the Goddess of\nMercy, who had played such an important part in the history of his\nbeloved Willow.\n\nThe years went slowly by, and Chan began to feel that he was growing\nold.  His hair became dashed with silver threads, and wrinkles appeared\nin his forehead and under his eyes.  The strain of waiting for the one\nwoman who had taken complete possession of his heart had been too much\nfor him.  As the time drew near, too, when he should go to meet her, a\ngreat and nervous dread began to fill him with anxiety.  Would she\nrecognize him?  And would she, a young girl of eighteen, be content to\naccept as a husband a man so advanced in years as he now was?  These\nquestions were constantly flashing through his brain.\n\nAt last only a few months remained before he was to set out on his\njourney to the distant province where Yam-lo had decided that Willow\nwas to begin her new life on earth.\n\nHe was sitting one evening in his study, brooding over the great\nproblem that would be solved before long, when a man dressed in black\nsilently entered the room.  Looking on Chan with a kindly smile which\nseemed to find its way instantly to his heart, he informed him that he\nwas a fairy from the Western Heaven and that he had been specially\ndeputed by the rulers there to render him all the assistance in his\npower at this particular crisis, when they knew his heart was so full\nof anxiety.\n\n\"We have all heard in that far-off fairyland,\" he continued, \"of the\ndevotion you have shown to Willow, and how during all the years which\nhave intervened since you saw her last you have never faltered in your\nlove for her.  Such affection is rare among mortals, and the dwellers\nin fairyland would like to help in bringing together two such loving\nhearts; for let me assure you that however strong your feeling for the\none whom you are so anxious to see again, she on her part is just as\ndeeply in love with you, and is now counting the days until she will be\nable to see you and until you need never again be parted from each\nother.  In order to assist in this happy consummation, I want you to\ntake a short trip with me.  It will only take a few hours, and you will\nthen find that something has happened to remove all your fears as to\nhow you will be received by Willow.\"\n\nThe fairy man then led Chan to the door, and gave a wave of his hand in\nthe direction of the sky.  Instantly the sound of the fluttering and\nswish of wings was heard, and in a moment a splendid eagle landed\ngracefully at their feet.  Taking their seats upon its back, they found\nthemselves flashing at lightning speed away through the darkness of the\nnight.  Higher and higher they rose, till they had pierced the heavy\nmasses of clouds which hung hovering in the sky.  Swift as an arrow the\neagle still cleft its way upward until the clouds had vanished to an\ninfinite distance below them; and still onward they were borne in the\nmighty stillness of an expanse where no human being had ever travelled\nbefore.\n\nChan felt his heart throb with a nervousness which he could not\ncontrol.  What if the bird should tire, he thought, and he should be\ndropped into the fathomless abyss below?  Life's journey would then\ncome to a tragic end.  Where, too, was he being carried and how should\nhe be ever able to return to his far-off home on the earth?  He was\nbecoming more and more agitated, when the fairy took hold of his hand\nand in a voice which at once stilled his fears, assured him that there\nwas not the least danger in this journey through the air.\n\n\"We are as safe here,\" he assured him, \"as though we were standing upon\na mountain whose roots lie miles below the surface of the earth.  And\nsee,\" he continued, pointing to something in the distance, \"we shall\narrive at our destination in the course of a few seconds.\"\n\nTrue enough, he had hardly finished speaking when a land, fairer than\nChan had ever seen on earth or pictured in imagination, loomed up\nsuddenly in front of them; and before he could gather together his\nastonished thoughts, the eagle had landed them on its shores, and with\noutspread wings was soaring into the mystery of the unknown beyond.\n\nThe fairy now led Chan along a road surrounded by the most bewildering\nbeauty.  Rare flowers, graceful trees, and birds which made the groves\nresound with the sweetest music, were objects that kept his mind in one\ncontinual state of delight.  Before long they arrived in front of a\nmagnificent palace, so grand and vast that Chan felt afraid to enter\nwithin its portals, or even tread the avenue leading up to it.\n\nOnce more his companion relieved Chan's anxiety by assuring him that he\nwas an expected guest, and that the Queen of this fairy country had\nsent him to earth specially to invite him to come and visit her, in\norder that she might bestow upon him a blessing which would enrich the\nwhole of his life and would enable him to spend many happy years with\nher whom he had loved with such devotion.\n\nChan was ushered into a large reception hall, where he was met by a\nvery stately lady, with a face full of benevolence, whom he at once\nrecognized, from the images he had often worshipped, as the Goddess of\nMercy.  He was startled when he discovered in what august presence he\nwas standing, and began to tremble with excitement as he realized that\nhere in actual life was the famous personage whose image was worshipped\nby the millions of China, and whose influence spread even into the Land\nof Shadows.\n\nSeeing Chan's humility and evident terror of her, the Goddess spoke to\nhim in a gentle, loving voice, and told him to have no fear, for she\nhad summoned him to her presence not to rebuke but to comfort him.\n\n\"I know your story,\" she said, \"and I think it is a beautiful one.\nBefore I was raised to the high position I now occupy I was at one time\na woman like Willow, and I can sympathize with her in her devotion to\nyou because of the wonderful love you have shown her from the first\nmoment that you saw her.\n\n\"I know, too, your anxiety about your age, and your fear lest when\nWillow sees you with the marks of advancing years upon you, her love\nmay die out and you will be left with your heart broken and in despair.\nI have foreseen this difficulty, and I am going to have it removed.\n\n\"The fairy who brought you here,\" she continued, \"will now take you\nround the palace grounds, and if you will carry out my wishes, the\nfears which have been troubling you for years shall entirely vanish.\nYou will then meet Willow with a heart as light as that of any man in\nthe flush of youth, who awaits the coming of the bridal chair which\nbears his future wife to his home.\"\n\nChan at once, without any hesitation, followed his guide through the\nspacious grounds which surrounded the palace, and was finally led to\nthe edge of a beautiful little lake embowered amongst trees and ferns,\nand rare and fragrant flowers.  It was the most exquisite scene on\nwhich his vision had ever rested.\n\nWith a kindly look at his companion, the fairy said, \"This beautiful\npiece of water goes by the name of the 'Fountain of Eternal Youth,' and\nit is the Queen's express desire that you should bathe in it.\"\n\nQuickly undressing, Chan plunged into the pool and for a moment sank\nbeneath the surface of the waters.  Emerging quickly from them, a\ndelightful feeling of new-born strength seemed to be creeping in at\nevery pore of his body.  The sense of advancing age passed away, and\nthe years of youth appeared to come back to him again.  He felt as\nthough he were a young man once more; for the weary doubts, which for\nsome years past had made his footsteps lag, had gone with his first\nplunge into those fragrant waters.\n\nBy-and-by he came out of this \"Fountain of Eternal Youth\" with the\nvisions and ambitions of his young manhood rushing through his brain.\nHis powers, which seemed of late to have become dull and sluggish, had\nrecovered the impetus which in earlier years had carried him so\nsuccessfully through many a severe examination.  His thoughts, too,\nabout Willow had so completely changed that instead of dreading the day\nwhen he should stand before her, his one passionate desire now was to\nstart upon his journey to keep his appointment with her.\n\nChan and the fairy then proceeded to the edge of the vast and boundless\nexpanse which bordered the palace of the Goddess, and found a\nmagnificent dragon waiting to convey them back to earth.  No sooner had\nthey taken their seats on its back than it fled with the swiftness of\nthe wind through the untrodden spaces of the air, until at length the\nmountains came looming out of the dim and shadowy distance, and with a\nrush Chan found himself safely landed at the door of the temple from\nwhich he had taken his departure for his amazing journey to the Western\nHeaven.\n\nWhilst these wonderful things were taking place, Willow--or rather\nPrecious Pearl, as she had been named by her new parents, who of course\nhad no knowledge of her previous history--had grown up to be a most\nbeautiful and fascinating woman.\n\nDuring all these years she had never ceased to look forward with an\nanxious heart to the day when she would once more meet the man to whom\nshe had betrothed herself eighteen years ago.  Latterly she had begun\nto count the days that must still elapse before she could see him\nagain.  She never forgot the night in the temple when she bade him\n\"Good-bye\" just before she was reborn into this world.  The day and the\nhour had been stamped upon her memory, and since then the years had\nseemed to travel with halting, leaden feet, as though they were loth to\nmove on.  But now only a few months remained, and no doubt ever entered\nher brain that Chan would fail her.\n\nJust about this time her mother had an offer of marriage for her from a\nvery wealthy and distinguished family, and contrary to the usual custom\nof mothers in China she asked her daughter what she thought of the\nproposal.  Pearl was distressed beyond measure, and prayed and\nentreated her mother on no account to broach the subject to her again,\nas she could never entertain any proposition of the kind.\n\nAmazed at such a statement, her mother begged her to explain her reason\nfor such strange views.  \"Girls at your age,\" she said, \"are usually\nbetrothed and are thinking of having homes of their own.  This is the\nuniversal custom throughout the Empire, and therefore there must be\nsome serious reason why you will not allow me to make arrangements for\nyour being allied to some respectable family.\"\n\nPearl had been feeling that the time was drawing near when she would\nhave to divulge the secret of her love affair, and she considered that\nnow was the best opportunity for doing so.  To the astonishment\ntherefore of her mother, who believed that she was romancing, she told\nher the whole story of the past; how Chan had fallen in love with her,\nand how after she had died and had come under the control of Yam-lo in\nthe Land of Shadows, that dread lord had permitted her spirit to visit\nher lover in the temple where her body had been laid until a lucky\nresting-place could be found for it on the hillside.  She also\nexplained how it had been agreed between them that she was to wait for\nhim until after the lapse of eighteen years, when she would be old\nenough to become his wife.  \"In a few months the time will be up,\" she\nconcluded, \"and so I beseech you not to speak of my being betrothed to\nany one else, for I feel that if I am compelled to marry any other than\nChan I shall die.\"\n\nThe mother was thunderstruck at this wonderful story which her daughter\ntold her.  She could only imagine that Pearl had in some way or another\nbeen bewitched, and was under a fatal delusion that she was in love\nwith some hero of romance, to whom she believed she was betrothed.\nStill, her daughter had always been most loving and devoted to her, and\nhad shown more brightness and ability than Chinese girls of her age\nusually possessed.  Her mother did not like, therefore, to reprove her\nfor what she considered her ridiculous ideas, so she determined to try\nanother plan to cure her of her folly.\n\n\"What age was this man Chan,\" she asked, \"when you entered into this\nengagement with him?\"\n\n\"He was just thirty,\" Pearl replied.  \"He was of very good family and a\nscholar, and had distinguished himself for his proficiency in the\nancient literature of China.\"\n\n\"Oh! then he must be nearly fifty now.  A fine mate he would make for\nyou, a young girl of only eighteen!  But who knows how he may have\nchanged since last you saw him?  His hair must be turning grey, and his\nteeth may have fallen out; and for anything you know he may have been\ndead and buried so long ago that by this time they have taken up his\nbones, and nothing is left of him but what the funeral urn may contain\nof his ashes.\"\n\n\"Oh!  I do pray that nothing of that kind has happened to him,\" cried\nPearl, in a tone of voice which showed the anguish she was suffering.\n\"Let us leave the question for a few months, and then when he comes for\nme, as I know he will, you will find by personal knowledge what a\nsplendid man he is, and how entirely worthy he is of being your\nson-in-law.\"\n\nOn the day which had been appointed under such romantic circumstances\neighteen years before, Chan arrived in the town, and after taking a\nroom in an inn and making certain enquiries, he made his way to the\nhome where he believed that Willow resided.  On his arrival, however,\nhe was roughly told by the servant that no such person as Willow lived\nthere, and that they did not like strangers coming about the house.\nIndeed he was given plainly to understand that the sooner he left, the\nbetter everyone would be pleased.  This treatment was of course part of\na scheme devised by Pearl's parents to frustrate any plans that Chan\nmight have formed for seeing her.  They were determined not to give\ntheir daughter to a man so old as he must be, and therefore they\ndecided that an interview between the two must be prevented at all\nhazards.\n\nChan was greatly distressed at the rebuff which he had received.  Had\nWillow after all made a mistake eighteen years ago when she gave him\nthe name of this town as the place where her new home was to be?  He\nhad carefully written it down at her dictation, and it had been burned\ninto his brain all the years since.  No, there could be no mistake on\nthat point.  If there were any, then it was one that had been made\npurposely by Yam-lo in order to deceive them both.  That idea, however,\nwas unthinkable, and so there must be something else to account for his\nnot finding Willow as he had expected.  He at once made enquiries at\nthe inn at which he was staying, and found that there was a daughter at\nthe very house to which he had gone, and that in almost every\nparticular the description he was given of her corresponded with his\nbeloved Willow.\n\nIn the meantime, poor Pearl was in a state of the greatest anxiety.\nThe eventful day on which she was to meet her lover had opened for her\nwith keen expectation of meeting him after their long and romantic\nseparation.   She had never for one moment doubted that he would keep\nhis engagement with her.  An instinct which she could not explain made\nher feel certain that he was still alive, and that nothing in the world\nwould prevent him from meeting her, as had been agreed upon between\nthem at that eventful parting in the temple eighteen years before.\n\nAs the day wore on, however, and there were no signs of Chan, Pearl's\ndistress became exceedingly pitiful; and when night came and her mother\ndeclared that nothing had been seen of him, she was so stricken with\ndespair that she lost all consciousness, and had to be carried to bed,\nwhere she lay in a kind of trance from which, for some time, it seemed\nimpossible to arouse her.\n\nWhen at last she did regain consciousness, her mother tried to comfort\nher by saying that perhaps Chan was dead, or that he had forgotten her\nin the long course of years, and that therefore she must not grieve too\nmuch.  \"You are a young girl,\" she said, \"and you have a long life\nbefore you.  Chan is an old man by this time; no doubt he has long ago\nmarried, and the home ties which he has formed have caused him to\nforget you.  But you need not be broken-hearted on that account.  There\nare many other men who will be more suitable for you than he could\npossibly be.  By-and-by we shall arrange a marriage for you, and then\nlife will appear to you very different from what it does now.\"\n\nInstead of being comforted, however, Pearl was only the more distressed\nby her mother's words.  Her love, which had begun in the Land of\nShadows, and which had been growing in her heart for the last eighteen\nyears, was not one to be easily put aside by such plausible arguments\nas those she had just listened to.  The result was that she had a\nrelapse, and for several days her life was in great danger.\n\nThe father and mother, fearing now that their daughter would die,\ndetermined, as there seemed no other remedy, to bring Chan to their\nhome, and see whether his presence would not deliver Pearl from the\ndanger in which the doctor declared she undoubtedly was.\n\nThe father accordingly went to the inn where he knew Chan was staying,\nand to his immense surprise he found him to be a young man of about\ntwenty-five, highly polished in manner, and possessed of unusual\nintelligence.  For some time he utterly refused to believe that this\nhandsome young fellow was really the man with whom Pearl was so deeply\nin love, and it was not until Chan had told him the romantic story of\nhis life that he could at all believe that he was not being imposed\nupon.  Eventually, however, he was so taken with Chan that he became\ndetermined to do all in his power to bring about his marriage with his\ndaughter.\n\n\"Come with me at once,\" he said, \"and see if your presence will not do\nmore than the cleverest doctors in the town have been able to\naccomplish.  Pearl has been so distressed at not seeing you that she is\nnow seriously ill, and we have been afraid that she would die of a\nbroken heart.\"\n\nWhen they arrived at the house Chan was taken into the sick-room, and\nthe girl gazed into his face with a look of wonderment.  \"I do not seem\nto recognize you,\" she said in a feeble voice.  \"You are much younger\nthan Chan, and although there is something about you that reminds me of\nhim, I cannot realize that you are the same person with whom my spirit\neighteen years ago held fellowship in the monastery where my body lay\nunburied.\"\n\nChan proceeded to explain the mystery.  \"For years,\" he said, \"my mind\nwas troubled about the difference between our ages.  I was afraid that\nwhen you saw me with grey hairs and with wrinkles on my face, your love\nwould receive a shock, and you might regret that you had ever pledged\nyourself to me.  Although you had vanished from my sight, my prayers\nstill continued to be offered to the Goddess of Mercy.  She had heard\nthem for you, you remember, when you were in the Land of Shadows, and\nthrough her intercession Yam-lo had forgiven your sins, and had made\nlife easier for you in that gloomy country.\n\n\"I still continued to pray to her, hoping in some vague way that she\nwould intervene to bring about the desire of my heart, and that when in\ndue time I should meet you again, every obstacle to our mutual love\nwould be for ever removed.\n\n\"One day a fairy came into the very room where your spirit had often\nconversed with me.  He carried me away with him to the Western Heaven\nand brought me into the very presence of the Goddess of Mercy.  She\ngave directions for me to bathe in the 'Fountain of Eternal Youth,' and\nI became young again.  That is why you see me now with a young face and\na young nature, but my heart in its love for you has never changed, and\nnever will as long as life lasts.\"\n\nAs he was telling this entrancing story, a look of devoted love spread\nover the beautiful countenance of Pearl.  She gradually became instinct\nwith life, and before he had finished speaking, the lassitude and\nexhaustion which had seemed to threaten her very life entirely\ndisappeared.  A rosy look came over her face, and her coal-black eyes\nflashed with hidden fires.\n\n\"Now I know,\" she cried, \"that you are Chan.  You are so changed that\nwhen I first caught sight of you my heart sank within me, for I had\npictured an older man, and I could not at once realize that you were\nthe same Chan who showed such unbounded love for me in the years gone\nby.\n\n\"It was not that I should have loved you less even though you had\nreally been older.  My heart would never have changed.  It was only my\ndoubt as to your reality that made me hesitate, but now my happiness is\nindeed great; for since through the goodness of the Goddess you have\nrecovered your youth, I need not fear that the difference between our\nyears may in the near future bring to us an eternal separation.\"\n\nIn a few days Pearl was once more herself again.  Her parents,\ndelighted with the romantic turn that things had taken and highly\npleased with Chan himself, arranged for the betrothal of their daughter\nto him; and in the course of a few months, the loving couple were\nunited in marriage.  And so, after years of waiting, the happy\nconsummation was accomplished, which Heaven and the Goddess of Mercy\nand even the dread Ruler of the Land of Shadows had each taken a share\nin bringing about; and for many and many a long year the story of Chan\nand his wife was spread abroad throughout the region in which they\nlived.\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\nTHE FAIRY BONZE\n\nIn a certain well-known and populous city in one of the north-western\nprovinces of China, there once resided a man of the name of Meng.\nEveryone knew about him.  His fame had spread not only throughout the\ntown, but also far away into the country beyond; for of all the\nmerchants who carried on business in this great commercial centre he\nwas the wealthiest and the most enterprising.\n\nHe had begun life as a poor lad; but through great strength of purpose\nand positive genius for business, he had steadily risen step by step,\nuntil by the time our story opens, he had become exceedingly wealthy\nand was the acknowledged leader in all the great undertakings for which\nthe city was famous.\n\nMeng had always gained the admiration and affection of every one who\nbecame acquainted with him.  He was of an artless, open-hearted\ndisposition which won men to him, and his reputation for generosity\nmade his name fragrant throughout the entire region in which he lived.\n\nForty years ago he had come to the city in search of employment.  His\nfather was a farmer in one of the outlying country districts; but Meng,\ndiscontented with the dulness of the life and with the strain and\ntrouble brought upon his home by bad seasons, started out for the great\ntown to make his fortune.\n\nAll that he possessed he carried on his person.  His stock-in-trade\nconsisted simply of a stout bamboo pole and a good strong rope, the\nusual signs of a porter; but his willingness to oblige, and the hearty,\npleasant way in which he performed his arduous duties, gained him the\ngoodwill of all who employed him.  Before many months had passed he was\nin constant demand, and was slowly saving up money that was to enable\nhim to rise from the position of a coolie and to enter some business\nwhich would give him a more honourable place in society.\n\nHe had a shrewd and common-sense mind which enabled him to take\nadvantage of any trade-opening that presented itself, and as he had a\ngenial and happy disposition, everyone who had had any business\nrelations with him was glad to do all in his power to give him a lift\nin the upward road along which he had made up his mind to travel.  The\nresult was that before many years had passed away he had established\nhimself in a very lucrative line of business which brought a steady\nflow of wealth into his coffers.\n\nIn time he opened branches in distant cities, and his fame reached the\nfar-off provinces in the East, where the merchant-princes who had\ndealings with him counted him as one of the most trustworthy of their\nclients, to whom they were glad to give as much credit as he might\ndesire.\n\nThere was one delightful feature about Meng, and that was the intense\nsympathy he had for his fellow-creatures.  He had a heart of gold that\nno prosperity could spoil; no one who ever applied to him for relief\nwas sent away empty-handed.  The struggling shopkeeper made his humble\nappeal when fate seemed determined to crush him, and the substantial\nloan that Meng made to him without hesitation kept him from closing his\nshutters and once more set him on his feet to commence the struggle\nagain.  The widow who had been left in absolute poverty had but to\nstate her case, when with a countenance beaming with compassion and\nwith eyes moist at her piteous story, Meng would make such arrangements\nfor her and her children that the terror of starvation was lifted from\nher heart, and she left his presence with a smiling face and with\nheart-felt words of praise for the man who by his generosity had given\nher a new glimpse of life.\n\nThe character of Meng's mind may well be discovered from the manner in\nwhich he distributed a considerable portion of his riches amongst those\nwho had been born under an unlucky star, and upon whom an unhappy fate\nhad pressed heavily in the distribution of this world's goods and\nfavours.\n\nThe generous men in China are not the rich.  It is true that\noccasionally one does hear of a munificent donation having been made by\nsome millionaire, but the public is never deceived by these unusual\noutbursts of generosity.  There is a selfish motive at the back of\nnearly every one of them, for the hope of the donors is that by gaining\nthe favour of the mandarins they may obtain some high official position\nwhich will enable them to recoup themselves most handsomely for any\nsums they may have expended in charity.\n\nMeng's deeds, however, were always purely unselfish, and no idea of\nreward ever entered his head.  He was moved solely by a sincere desire\nto alleviate human suffering.  The look of gladness that flashed over\nthe faces of those whom he assisted, their gleaming eyes, and the words\nof gratitude that burst from their lips, were to him the sweetest\npayment that could possibly be made to him in return for the sums he\nhad given away.\n\nThat Meng's fame had travelled far was shown by an occurrence which was\ndestined to have a considerable influence on the fortunes of his only\nson, Chin, in whom his whole soul was bound up.\n\nOne day he received a letter from the head of a most aristocratic\nfamily in a distant city, begging that he would consent to an alliance\nwith him.  This man wrote that he had a daughter, who was declared by\nall who saw her to be possessed of no ordinary beauty, and he wished to\nhave her betrothed to Meng's son.  Meng's reputation for goodness and\nfor love to his fellow-men had reached his ears, and he was anxious\nthat their families should be united by the marriage of two young\npeople.\n\nThe rich merchant, whose heart always retained its child-like spirit,\nwas delighted with this proposal, which had come to him spontaneously,\nand not through the intrigues of a middle-woman.  He was also touched\nby the apparently generous spirit of the writer, so he at once\nresponded to the appeal.  After some little correspondence, the\nbetrothal was drawn up in due form, and the young couple were bound to\neach other by legal ties which no court in the Empire would ever dream\nof unloosing.\n\nJust at this juncture, when the tide in Meng's affairs seemed at its\nhighest, there appeared at his doors one day a venerable-looking bonze,\nwho asked to be received as a guest for a few days, as he was on a\npilgrimage to a famous shrine and was tired out with the long journey\nthat he had already made.\n\nMeng, who was a very devout and religious man, gave the old priest a\nmost hearty welcome.  He placed one of the best rooms in the house at\nhis disposal, and treated him with all the generous hospitality which\nhe was accustomed to bestow upon men of his profession, who in\ntravelling from one monastery to another had very often stayed with him\nfor a night or two before proceeding further on their way.\n\nNow, this priest had such pleasing manners, and was so refined and\ncultivated, that he completely captured the hearts of all the\nhousehold, so much so that Meng insisted upon his prolonging his stay.\nThe result was that months went by and the bonze still remained with\nhim as his guest.\n\nEveryone in the house seemed to be attracted by this stranger, so\nwinning were his ways, and so full of quiet power were his whole\nbearing and character.  He was affable and pleasant with all, but he\nseemed to take most pleasure in the company of Chin, over whom he soon\ncame to exercise a very powerful influence.\n\nTheir habit was to wander about on the hillside, when the priest would\nentertain his young friend with stories of the wonderful things he had\nseen and the striking adventures he had met with.  His whole aim,\nhowever, seemed to be not so much to amuse Chin as to elevate his mind\nwith lofty and noble sentiments, which were instilled into him on every\npossible occasion.\n\nIt was also their custom to retire every morning to some outhouses at\nthe extremity of the large garden attached to the dwelling-house, where\nundisturbed they could converse together upon the many questions upon\nwhich the bonze was ready to discourse.  One thing, however, struck\nChin as very singular, and this was that the bonze made him collect\ncertain curiously-shaped tiles, and bury them in the earthen floors of\nthese little-used buildings.  Chin would have rebelled against what he\nconsidered a child-like proceeding, but he was restrained by the\nprofound love and veneration he felt for his companion.\n\nAt length the day came when the bonze announced that he must proceed\nupon his journey.  He had already, he declared, stayed much longer than\nhe had originally intended, and now the imperative call of duty made it\nnecessary that he should not linger in the house where he had been so\nroyally treated.\n\nSeeing that he was determined in his purpose, Meng wanted to press upon\nhim a considerable sum of money to provide for any expenses to which he\nmight be put in the future.  This, however, the bonze absolutely\nrefused to accept, declaring that his wants were few, and that he would\nhave no difficulty in meeting them by the donations he would receive\nfrom the different temples he might pass on his way to his destination.\n\nLittle did Meng dream that the guest from whom he was parting with so\nheavy a heart was a fairy in disguise.  Yet such was the case.  The\nrulers of the far-off Western Heaven, who had been greatly moved by\nMeng's noble and generous life in succouring the distressed and the\nforlorn, had sent the bonze to make arrangements to meet a certain\ncalamitous crisis which was soon to take place in the home of the\nwealthy merchant.\n\nA few months after the good bonze had left them, a series of disasters\nfell with crushing effect upon the house of Meng.  Several firms which\nowed him very large sums of money suddenly failed, and he found himself\nin such financial difficulties that it was utterly impossible for him\nto pay his debts.\n\nIn consequence, Meng was utterly ruined, and after paying out all that\nhe possessed, even to the uttermost cash, found himself absolutely\npenniless.  This so wrought upon his mind that he became seriously ill,\nand after a few days of intense agony, his spirit vanished into the\nLand of Shadows, and his wife and son were left desolate and bereaved.\n\nAfter a time Chin bethought himself of the wealthy and distinguished\nman who had been so anxious to recognize him as a son-in-law, and after\nconsultation with his mother, who was completely broken-hearted, he set\noff for the distant city in which his proposed father-in-law lived.\nChin hoped that the latter's heart would be moved by the disasters\nwhich had befallen his father, and that he would be willing to extend\nhim a helping hand in his hour of dire sorrow, when even Heaven itself\nseemed to have abandoned him and to have heaped upon his head\ncalamities such as do not often occur to the vilest of men.\n\nWeary and worn with the long journey, which he had been compelled to\nmake on foot, he arrived one day about noon at the gates which led into\nthe spacious courtyard of the palatial mansion in which his\nfather-in-law lived.  The doors, however, were shut and barred, as\nthough some enemy was expected to storm them and carry off the property\nwithin.\n\nChin called loudly to the porter to open them for him, but to his\namazement he was told that orders had been received from the master of\nthe house that he was not to be admitted on any terms whatsoever.\n\n\"But are you aware who I am?\" he asked.  \"Do you not know that the man\nwho owns this building is my father-in-law, and that his daughter is my\npromised wife?  It ill becomes you therefore to keep me standing here,\nwhen I should be received with all the honours that a son-in-law can\nclaim.\"\n\n\"But I have been specially warned against you,\" replied the surly\ngatekeeper.  \"You talk of being a son-in-law, but you are greatly\nmistaken if you imagine that any such kinship is going to be recognized\nin this house.  News has reached my master of the utter failure of your\nfather's business, and of his death, and he declares that he does not\nwish to be mixed up in any way with doubtful characters or with men who\nhave become bankrupt.\"\n\nChin, who was imbued with the fine and generous spirit of his father,\nwas so horrified at these words that he fled from the gate, determined\nto suffer any indignity rather than accept a favour from a man of such\nan ignoble disposition as his father-in-law apparently possessed.\n\nHe was crossing the road with his heart completely cast down, and in\nabsolute despair as to how he was ever to get back to his home again,\nwhen a woman in one of the low cottages by the roadside, beckoned him\nto come in and sit down.\n\n\"You seem to be in distress, sir,\" she said, \"and to be worn out with\nfatigue, as though you had just finished a long journey.  My children\nand I are just about to sit down to our midday meal, and we shall be so\npleased if you will come and partake of it with us.  I have just been\nwatching you as you stood at the gate of that wealthy man's house, and\nI saw how roughly you were treated.  Never mind,\" she continued,\n\"Heaven knows how you have been wronged, and in time you will be\navenged for all the injury you have suffered.\"\n\nComforted and gladdened by these kindly words and by the motherly\nreception given him by this poor woman, Chin started out on his return\njourney, and after much suffering finally reached his home.  Here he\nfound his mother in the direst poverty, and with a heart still full of\nthe deepest woe because of the death of her noble-minded husband.\n\nAlmost immediately after Chin had been refused admission to the house\nof his father-in-law, the latter's daughter, Water-Lily, became aware\nof the insulting way in which he had been treated.  She was grieved\nbeyond measure, and with tears in her eyes and her voice full of\nsorrow, she besought her mother to appeal to her father on her behalf,\nand to induce him to give up his purpose of arranging a marriage for\nher with a wealthy man in the neighbourhood.\n\n\"My father may plan another husband for me,\" she said, \"but I shall\nnever consent to be married to anyone but Chin.  All the rites and\nceremonies have been gone through which bind me to him as long as I\nlive, and to cast him off now because calamity has fallen upon his home\nis but to invite the vengeance of the Gods, who will surely visit us\nwith some great sorrow if we endeavour to act in a way contrary to\ntheir laws.\"\n\nThe piteous appeals of Water-Lily had no effect upon her father, who\nhurried on the arrangements for his daughter's wedding to the new\nsuitor, anxious to marry her off in order to prevent the unfortunate\nChin from appearing again to claim her as his wife.\n\nShe, however, was just as determined as her father, and when she\nrealized that all her entreaties and prayers had produced not the\nslightest effect upon him, and that in the course of a few days the\ncrimson bridal chair would appear at the door to carry her away to the\nhome of her new husband, she determined to adopt heroic methods to\nprevent the accomplishment of such a tragedy.\n\nNext morning, as dawn began to break, the side-gate of the rich man's\nhouse was stealthily opened, and a degraded-looking beggar-woman\nstepped out into the dull grey streets, and proceeded rapidly towards\nthe open country beyond.\n\nShe was as miserable a specimen of the whining, cringing beggar as\ncould have been met with in any of the beggar-camps where these unhappy\noutcasts of society live.  She was dressed in rags which seemed to be\nheld together only by some invisible force.  Her hair was tied up in\ndisjointed knots, and looked as if no comb had ever tried to bring it\ninto order.  Her face was black with grime, and a large, dirty patch\nwas plastered over one of her ears in such a way that its shape was\ncompletely hidden from the gaze of those who took the trouble to cast a\npassing glance upon her.\n\nAltogether she was a most unattractive object; and yet she was the most\nlovely woman in all that region, for she was none other than\nWater-Lily, the acknowledged beauty of the town, who had adopted this\ndisguise in order to escape from the fate which her father had planned\nfor her.\n\nFor several weary months she travelled on, suffering the greatest\nhardships, and passing through adventures, which, if some gifted writer\nhad collected them into a volume, would have thrilled many a reader\nwith admiration for this brave young maiden.  Though reared and\nnurtured in a home where every luxury was supplied her, yet she endured\nthe degradation and privations of a beggar's life rather than be forced\nto be untrue to the man whom she believed Heaven had given her as a\nmate.\n\nOne evening, as the shadows were falling thickly on the outer courtyard\nof the desolate house where Chin lived, a pitiful-looking beggar-woman\nstood timidly at the front door, gazing with wistful looks into the\nroom which faced the street.  Not a sound did she utter, not a single\nword escaped her lips to indicate that she had come there to obtain\ncharity.\n\nIn a few minutes Chin's mother came out from a room beyond.  When she\nsaw this ragged, forlorn creature standing silently as though she were\nafraid that some word of scorn and reproach would be hurled at her, she\nwas filled with a great and overmastering pity, and stepping up to her\nshe began to comfort her in loving, gentle language.\n\nTo her astonishment this draggled, uncleanly object became violently\naffected by the tender, motherly way in which she was addressed.  Great\ntear-drops trickled down her grimy face, leaving a narrow, snow-like\nline in their wake.  Presently she was convulsed with sobs that shook\nher whole body, whilst she wrung her hands as though some great sorrow\nwas gripping her heart.\n\nMrs. Meng was deeply affected by the sight of this unhappy woman, and\nwhilst she was gazing at her with a look of profound sympathy, the\nbroad patch which had concealed and at the same time disfigured the\nbeggar's countenance, suddenly dropped to the ground.\n\nThe effect of this was most startling, for a pair of as beautiful black\neyes as ever danced in a woman's head were now revealed to Mrs. Meng's\nastonished gaze.  Looking at the stranger more intently, she saw that\nher features were exquisitely perfect, and had the grace and the poetry\nwhich the great painters of China have attributed to the celebrated\nbeauties of the Empire.\n\n\"Tell me who you are,\" she cried, as she laid her hand tenderly and\naffectionately on her shoulder, \"for that you are a common beggar-woman\nI can never believe.  You must be the daughter of some great house, and\nhave come here in this disguise in order to escape some great evil.\n\n\"Confide in me,\" she continued, \"and everything that one woman can do\nfor another, I am willing to do for you.  But come in, dear child, and\nlet us talk together and devise some plan by which I can really help\nyou, for I feel my heart drawn towards you in a way I have never felt\nfor any stranger before.\"\n\nMrs. Meng then led her into her bedroom, where Water-Lily threw off the\nouter garments in which she had appeared to the public as a beggar, and\ntelling her wonderful story to Chin's mother, she revealed herself as\nher daughter-in-law.\n\nBut though her romantic arrival into this gloomy and distressed home\nbrought with it a sudden gleam of happiness, the great question as to\nhow they were to live had still to be solved.  They were absolutely\nwithout means, and they could only hope to meet their meagre expenses\nby the sale of the house in which they were living.\n\nAt last this plan was discussed, and it was decided that the unused\nbuildings, in which Chin and the Buddhist priest had been accustomed to\nspend a part of every day together, should be first of all disposed of.\n\nIn order to have some idea as to how much these outhouses were worth,\nChin went to see what condition they were in, so that he might fix a\nprice for them.  As they had not been used for some time, the grass had\ngrown rank about them, and they had a dilapidated and forlorn air which\nmade Chin fear that their market value would not be very great.\n\nEntering in by an open door, which a creeping vine, with the luxuriance\nof nature, was trying to block up, Chin looked round with a feeling of\ndisappointment sending a chill into his very heart.\n\nThe air of the place was damp and musty.  The white mould could be seen\ngleaming on the walls, as if it wished to give a little colour to the\nsombre surroundings.  Great cobwebs flung their streaming banners from\nthe beams and rafters overhead, whilst smaller ones, with delicate\nlace-like tracery, tried to beautify the corners of the windows,\nthrough which the light from the outside world struggled to enter the\ngloomy room.\n\nThrowing the windows wide open to let in as much sunshine as was\npossible, Chin soon became convinced that the market value of this\nparticular part of his property would be very small, and that unless he\ncarried out extensive repairs, it would be impossible to induce any one\nto entertain the idea of buying it.\n\nWhile he was musing over the problem that lay before him, his eye\ncaught a silvery gleam from a part of the earthen floor, where the\nsurface had evidently been scratched away by some animal that had\nwandered in.\n\nLooking down intently at the white, shining thing which had caught his\nattention, Chin perceived that it was one of the tiles that the bonze\nhad made him bury in the earth, and when he picked it up, he discovered\nto his amazement that in some mysterious manner it had been transformed\ninto silver!  Digging further into the earth, he found that the same\nprocess had taken place with every tile that had been hidden away\nbeneath the floor of this old and apparently useless building.\n\nAfter some days occupied in transporting his treasure to a safe place\nin his dwelling-house, Chin realized by a rough calculation that he was\nnow the possessor of several millions' worth of dollars, and that from\nbeing one of the poorest men in the town he had become a millionaire\nwith enormous wealth at his command.\n\nThus did the Gods show their appreciation of the noble life of Mr.\nMeng, and of his loving sympathy for the poor and the distressed, by\nraising his fallen house to a higher pinnacle of prosperity than it had\never attained even during his lifetime.\n\n\n\n\nV\n\nTHE MYSTERIOUS BUDDHIST ROBE\n\nThe short visit which the Emperor Li Shih-ming paid to the Land of\nShadows had produced a profound impression on his mind.  The pain and\nmisery that men had to endure there, because of the evils they had\ncommitted in this life by their own voluntary action, had been brought\nbefore him in a most vivid manner.  He had seen with his own eyes what\nhe had always been unwilling to believe--namely, that wrong-doing is in\nevery case followed by penalties, which have to be paid either in this\nworld or the next.\n\nHe was now convinced that the doctrine of the sages on this point was\ntrue, for he had witnessed the horrors that criminals who had\npractically escaped punishment in this life had to suffer when they\ncame under the jurisdiction of Yam-lo.\n\nWhat distressed him most of all, however, was the grim thought which\nclung to him and refused to be silenced, that a large number of those\nin the Land of Shadows who were suffering from hunger and nakedness,\nwere there as the result of his own cruelty and injustice, and that the\ncries of these men and women would reach to Heaven, and in due time\nbring down vengeance on himself.\n\nWith this fear of coming judgment there was at the same time mingled in\nhis mind an element of compassion, for he was really sorry for the poor\nwretches whom he had seen in the \"City of the Wronged Ones,\" and whose\nreproaches and threats of divine vengeance had entered into his very\nsoul.\n\nHe therefore determined to institute a magnificent service for those\nspirits of the dead, who through the injustice of rulers, or the\nimpotence of law, or private revenge, had lost their lives and were\nsuffering untold hardships in the other world.  He would have prayers\nsaid for their souls, that would flood their lives with plenty, and in\ncourse of time would open up the way for their being reborn into the\nworld of men.\n\nIn this way he would propitiate those whom he had injured, and at the\nsame time accumulate such an amount of merit for his benevolence, that\nthe gods would make it easy for him when his time of reckoning came,\nand the accounts of his life were made up and balanced.\n\nAs this ceremony was to be one such as had never before been held at\nany period of Chinese history, he was anxious that the man who should\nbe the leader and conductor of it should not be one of the men of\nindifferent lives who are usually found in the Buddhist temples and\nmonasteries.  He must be a man of sterling character, and of a life so\npure and holy that no stain could be found upon it to detract from the\nsaintly reputation he had acquired.\n\nHis Majesty accordingly sent out edicts to all the Viceroys in the\nEmpire, commanding them to issue proclamations throughout the length\nand breadth of the country, telling the people of the great religious\nservice which he was going to hold in the capital for the unhappy\nspirits in the Land of Shadows.  In these edicts he ordered that search\nshould be made for a priest of unblemished character--one who had\nproved his love for his fellow-men by great acts of sympathy for them.\nThis man was to be invited to present himself before the Emperor, to\ntake charge of the high and splendid service which had been designed by\nthe Sovereign himself.\n\nThe tidings of this noble conception of Li Shih-ming spread with\nwonderful rapidity throughout his dominions, and even reached the\nfar-off Western Heaven, where the mysterious beings who inhabit that\nhappy land are ever on the alert to welcome any movement for the relief\nof human suffering.  The Goddess of Mercy considered the occasion of\nsuch importance that she determined to take her share of responsibility\nfor this distinguished service, by providing suitable vestments in\nwhich the leader of the great ceremony should be attired.\n\nSo it came to pass that while men's minds were excited about the\nproposed celebration for the dead, two priests suddenly appeared in the\nstreets of the capital.  No one had ever seen such old-fashioned and\nweird-looking specimens of manhood before.  They were mean and\ninsignificant in appearance, and the distinctive robes in which they\nwere dressed were so travel-stained and unclean that it was evident\nthey had not been washed for many a long day.\n\nMen looked at them with astonishment as they passed along the road, for\nthere was something so strange about them that they seemed to have come\ndown from a far-off distant age, and to have suddenly burst into a\ncivilization which had long out-grown the type from which they were\ndescended.  But by-and-by their curious old-world appearance was\nforgotten in amazement at the articles they carried with them.  These\nwere carefully wrapped in several folds of cloth to keep them from\nbeing soiled, though the two priests were perfectly willing to unfold\nthe wrappers, and exhibit them to anyone who wished to examine them.\n\nThe precious things which were preserved with such jealous care were a\nhat and robe such as an abbot might wear on some great occasion when\nthe Buddhist Church was using its most elaborate ceremonial to perform\nsome function of unusual dignity and importance.  There was also a\ncrosier, beautifully wrought with precious stones, which was well\nworthy of being held in the hand of the highest functionary of the\nChurch in any of its most sacred and solemn services.  The remarkable\nthing about the hat and robe was their exquisite beauty.  The richness\nof the embroidered work, the quaint designs, the harmonious blending of\ncolours, and the subtle exhibition of the genius of the mind which had\nfashioned and perfected them, arrested the attention of even the lowest\nclass in the crowds of people who gathered round the two priests to\ngaze upon the hat and robe, with awe and admiration in their faces.\n\nSome instinct that flashed through the minds of the wondering\nspectators told them that these rare and fairy-like vestments were no\nordinary products manufactured in any of the looms throughout the wide\ndomains of the Empire.  No human mind or hand had ever designed or\nworked out the various hues and shades of such marvellous colours as\nthose which flashed before their eyes, and which possessed a delicacy\nand beauty such as none of the great artists of the past had ever been\nable to produce.\n\nThe priests from the various temples and monasteries of the capital\nsoon heard the reports that spread through the city about the\nmarvellous hat and robe, and flocked in large numbers to see these\nwonderful things, which the two curious-looking men were displaying to\nall who cared to gaze upon them.\n\n\"Do you wish to dispose of these things?\" asked one of the city priests.\n\n\"If any one can pay the price at which alone we are prepared to sell,\nwe shall be willing to part with them to him,\" was the reply.\n\n\"And what may the price be?\" anxiously enquired the priest.\n\n\"The hat and robe will cost four thousand taels, and the crosier, which\nis of the rarest materials and manufacture, will be sold for the same\namount.\"\n\nAt this a great laugh resounded through the crowd.  In those days eight\nthousand taels was a huge fortune which only one or two of the\nwealthiest men of the State could have afforded to give.  The\nboisterous mirth, however, which convulsed the crowd when they heard\nthe fabulous sums asked by these strangers for their articles, soon\nbecame hushed when the latter proceeded to explain that the sums\ndemanded were purposely prohibitive, in order that the sacred vestments\nshould not fall into the hands of anyone who was unworthy to possess\nthem.\n\n\"You are all aware,\" said one of the strangers, \"that His Majesty the\nEmperor, recognizing that the service for the dead which he is about to\nhold is one of momentous importance, not only to the spirits suffering\nin the Land of Shadows, but also to the prosperity and welfare of the\nChinese Empire, has already issued edicts to secure the presence of\nsome saintly and godly priest, who shall be worthy to superintend the\nprayers that will be said for the men and women who are leading dreary\nlives in the land over which Yam-lo rules.\"\n\nThe story of these two men spread with great rapidity throughout the\nhomes of all classes in the metropolis, and when it was understood that\nthey had no desire to make money by the rare and beautiful articles\nwhich they readily displayed to the crowds that followed them whenever\nthey appeared on the streets, they began to be surrounded with a kind\nof halo of romance.  Men whispered to each other that these were no\ncommon denizens of the earth, but fairies in disguise, who had come as\nmessengers from the Goddess of Mercy.  The garments which they had with\nthem were such as no mortal eyes had ever beheld, and were clearly\nintended for use only at some special ceremony of exceptional\nimportance such as that which the Emperor was planning to have carried\nout.\n\nAt length rumours reached the palace of the strange scenes which were\ndaily taking place in the streets of the capital, and Li Shih-ming sent\nofficers to command the two strange priests to appear in his presence.\n\nWhen they were brought before him, and he saw the wonderful robe\nembroidered in delicate hues and colours such as no workman had ever\nbeen known to design before, and grasped the crosier which sparkled and\nflashed with the brilliancy of the precious stones adorning it, the\nEmperor felt that the invisible gods had approved of his design for the\nsolemn service for the dead and had prepared vestments for the High\nPriest which would be worthy of the exalted position he would occupy in\nthe great ceremony.\n\n\"I hear that you want eight thousand taels for these articles,\" said\nthe Emperor to the two men, who stood respectfully before him.\n\n\"We are not anxious, your Majesty,\" replied one of the strangers,\n\"about the price.  That is to us of very little importance.  We have\nmentioned this large sum simply to prevent any man of unworthy mind\nfrom becoming their possessor.\n\n\"There is a peculiarity about that robe,\" he continued.  \"Any person of\npure and upright heart who wears it will be preserved from every kind\nof disaster that can possibly assail him in this world.  No sorrow can\ntouch him, and the schemes of the most malignant of evil spirits will\nhave no influence upon him.  On the other hand, any man who is under\nthe dominion of any base passion, if he dares to put on that mystic\nrobe, will find himself involved in all kinds of calamities and\nsorrows, which will never leave him until he has put it off and laid it\naside for ever.\n\n\"What we are really here for,\" he concluded, \"is to endeavour to assist\nyour Majesty in the discovery of a priest of noble and blameless life\nwho will be worthy of presiding at the service you are about to hold\nfor the unhappy spirits in the Land of Shadows.  When we have found him\nwe shall consider that our mission has been fulfilled, and we can then\nreturn and report the success we have achieved.\"\n\nAt this moment despatches from high officials throughout the country\nwere presented to the Emperor, all recommending Sam-Chaong as the only\nman in the dominions who was fit to act as High Priest in the proposed\ngreat service.  As Sam-Chaong happened to be then in the capital, he\nwas sent for and, being approved of by His Majesty, was at once\nappointed to the sacred office, which he alone of the myriads of\npriests in China seemed to be worthy of occupying.\n\nThe two strangers, who had been noting the proceedings with anxious and\nwatchful eyes, expressed their delight at the decision that had been\narrived at.  Stepping up to Sam-Chaong with the most reverential\nattitude, they presented him with the costly vestments which had\nexcited the wonder and admiration of everyone who had seen them.\nRefusing to receive any remuneration for them, they bowed gracefully to\nthe Emperor and retired.  As the door of the audience-chamber closed\nupon them they vanished from human sight, and no trace of them could\nanywhere be found.\n\nOn the great day appointed by the Emperor, such a gathering was\nassembled as China in all the long history of the past had never before\nwitnessed.  Abbots from far-off distant monasteries were there, dressed\nin their finest vestments.  Aged priests, with faces wrinkled by the\npassage of years, and young bonzes in their slate-coloured gowns, had\ntravelled over the hills and mountains of the North to be present, and\ntook up their positions in the great building.  Men of note, too, who\nhad made themselves famous by their devoted zeal for the ceremonies of\nthe Buddhist Church and by their munificent gifts to the temples and\nshrines, had come with great retinues of their clansmen to add to the\nsplendour and dignity of the occasion.\n\nBut the chief glory and attraction of the day to the assembled crowds\nwas the Emperor, Li Shih-Ming.  Never had he been seen in such pomp and\ncircumstance as on this occasion.  Close round him stood the princes of\nthe royal family, the great officers of state and the members of the\nCabinet in their rich and picturesque dresses.  Immediately beyond were\nearls and dukes, viceroys of provinces and great captains and\ncommanders, whose fame for mighty deeds of valour in the border warfare\nhad spread through every city and town and hamlet in the Empire.\n\nThere were also present some of the most famous scholars of China, who,\nthough not members of the Buddhist Church, yet felt that they could not\nrefuse the invitation which the Emperor had extended to them.\n\nIn short, the very flower of the Empire was gathered together to carry\nout the benevolent purpose of rescuing the spirits of the dead from an\nintolerable state of misery which only the living had the power of\nalleviating.\n\nThe supreme moment, however, was when Sam-Chaong and more than a\nhundred of the priests most distinguished for learning and piety in the\nwhole of the church, marched in solemn procession, chanting a litany,\nand took their places on the raised platform from which they were to\nconduct the service for the dead.\n\nDuring the ceremony, much to his amazement, Li Shih-Ming saw the two\nmen who had bestowed the fairy vestments on Sam-Chaong, standing one on\neach side of him; but though they joined heartily in the proceedings,\nhe could not help noticing that a look of dissatisfaction and\noccasionally of something which seemed like contempt, rested like a\nshadow on their faces.\n\nAt the close of the service he commanded them to appear before him, and\nexpressed his surprise at their conduct, when they explained that the\ndiscontent they had shown was entirely due to a feeling that the ritual\nwhich had been used that day was one entirely inadequate to the\noccasion.  It was so wanting in dignity and loftiness of conception,\nthey said, that though some ease might be brought to the spirits\nsuffering in the Land of Shadows from the service which had been\nperformed, it would utterly fail in the most important particular of\nall--namely, their deliverance from Hades, and their rebirth into the\nland of the living.\n\nThat this was also a matter which had given the Goddess of Mercy a vast\namount of concern was soon made evident to the Emperor, for in the\nmidst of this conversation there suddenly sounded, throughout the great\nhall in which the vast congregation still lingered, a voice saying:\n\"Send Sam-Chaong to the Western Heaven to obtain the ritual which shall\nthere be given him and which shall be worthy of being chanted by a\nnation.\"\n\nThis command from the invisible Goddess produced such an impression\nupon the Emperor that he made immediate preparations for the departure\nof Sam-Chaong on his momentous journey; and in a few days, supplied\nwith everything necessary for so toilsome an undertaking, the famous\npriest started on what seemed a wild and visionary enterprise in\npursuit of an object which anyone with less faith than himself would\nhave deemed beyond the power of any human being to accomplish.\n\nIn order to afford him protection by the way and to act as his\nbody-servants, the Emperor appointed two men to accompany Sam-Chaong on\nthe long journey which he had undertaken at the command of the Goddess\nof Mercy.  His Majesty would indeed have given him a whole regiment of\nsoldiers, if he had been willing to accept them; but he absolutely\nrefused to take more than just two men.  He relied chiefly on the fairy\nrobe which he had received, for that secured him from all danger from\nany foes whom he might meet on the road.  Moreover, his mission, as he\nassured the Emperor, was one of peace and good-will, and it would not\nharmonize either with his own wishes or with those of the Goddess for\nhim to be in a position to avenge his wrongs by the destruction of\nhuman life.\n\nBefore many days had elapsed Sam-Chaong began to realize the perilous\nnature of the service he had been called upon to perform.  One\nafternoon, the travellers were jogging leisurely along in a wild and\nunsettled district, when suddenly two fierce-looking hobgoblins swooped\ndown upon them, and almost before a word could be said had swallowed up\nboth his poor followers.  They were proceeding to do the same with\nSam-Chaong when a fairy appeared upon the scene, and sent them flying\nwith screams of terror to the caverns in the neighbouring hills where\ntheir homes seemed to be.\n\nFor a moment or two, Sam-Chaong was in extreme distress.  He had just\nescaped an imminent peril; he was absolutely alone in an apparently\nuninhabited region; and the shadows of night were already darkening\neverything around.  He was wondering where he would spend the night,\nwhen a man appeared upon the scene and invited him to come home with\nhim to a mountain village on the spur of the hills which rose abruptly\nsome distance away in front of them.\n\nAlthough an entire stranger, who had never even heard Sam-Chaong's\nname, this man treated his guest right royally and gave him the very\nbest that his house contained.  Deeply impressed with the generous\ntreatment he had received, Sam-Chaong determined that he would repay\nhis host's generosity by performing an act which would be highly\ngratifying both to him and to all the members of his household.\n\nArranging a temporary altar in front of the image of the household god,\nwho happened to be the Goddess of Mercy, he chanted the service for the\ndead before it with such acceptance that the spirit of the father of\nhis host, who had been confined in the Land of Shadows, was released\nfrom that sunless land and was allowed to be reborn and take his place\namongst the living.  Moreover, that very night, the father appeared\nbefore his son in a vision, and told him that in consequence of the\nintercession of Sam-Chaong, whose reputation for piety was widely known\nin the dominions of Yam-lo, he had been allowed to leave that dismal\ncountry and had just been born into a family in the province of Shensi.\n\nThe son was rejoiced beyond measure at this wonderful news, and in\norder to show his gratitude for this generous action, he volunteered to\naccompany Sam-Chaong right to the very frontiers of China and to share\nwith him any dangers and hardships he might have to endure by the way.\n\nAfter many weary days of travelling this part of the journey was at\nlast accomplished, and they were about to separate at the foot of a\nconsiderable hill which lay on the border line between China and the\ncountry of the barbarians beyond, when a loud and striking voice was\nheard exclaiming, \"The priest has come!  The priest has come!\"\n\nSam-Chaong asked his companion the meaning of these words and to what\npriest they referred.\n\n\"There is a tradition in this region,\" replied the man, \"that five\nhundred years ago, a certain fairy, inflamed with pride, dared to raise\nhimself in rebellion against the Goddess of Mercy in the Western\nHeaven.  To punish him she turned him into a monkey, and confined him\nin a cave near the top of this hill.  There she condemned him to remain\nuntil Sam-Chaong should pass this way, when he could earn forgiveness\nby leading the priest into the presence of the Goddess who had\ncommanded him to appear before her.\"\n\nAscending the hill in the direction of the spot from whence the cry\n\"The priest has come!\" kept ringing through the air, they came upon a\nnatural cavern, the mouth of which was covered by a huge boulder,\nnicely poised in such a position that all exit from it was rendered an\nimpossibility.  Peering through the crevices at the side, they could\ndistinctly see the figure of a monkey raising its face with an eager\nlook of expectation in the direction of Sam-Chaong and his companion.\n\n\"Let me out,\" it cried, \"and I will faithfully lead you to the Western\nHeaven, and never leave you until you find yourself standing in the\npresence of the Goddess of Mercy.\"\n\n\"But how am I to get you out?\" asked Sam-Chaong.  \"The boulder that\nshuts you in is too large for human hands to move, and so, though I\npity you in your misfortune and greatly desire your help to guide me\nalong the unknown paths that lie before me, I fear that the task of\nsetting you free must fall to other hands than mine.\"\n\n\"Deliverance is more easy than you imagine,\" replied the monkey.  \"Cast\nyour eye along the edge of this vast rock, which the Goddess with but a\nsimple touch of one of her fingers moved into its place five hundred\nyears ago, as though it had been the airiest down that ever floated in\na summer's breeze, and you will see something yellow standing out in\nmarked contrast to the black lichen-covered stone.  That is the\nsign-manual of the Goddess.  She printed it on the rock when she\ncondemned me centuries ago to be enclosed within this narrow cell until\nyou should come and release me.  Your hand alone can remove that mystic\nsymbol and save me from the penalty of a living death.\"\n\nFollowing the directions of the monkey, Sam-Chaong carefully scraped\naway the yellow-coloured tracings which he tried in vain to decipher;\nand when the last faint scrap had been finally removed, the huge,\ngigantic boulder silently moved aside with a gentle, easy motion and\ntilted itself to one side until the prisoner had emerged, when once\nmore it slid gracefully back into its old position.\n\nUnder the guidance of the monkey, who had assumed the appearance of a\nstrong and vigorous young athlete, Sam-Chaong proceeded on his\njourney--over mountains so high that they seemed to touch the very\nheavens, and through valleys which lay at their foot in perpetual\nshadow, except only at noon-tide when the sun stood directly overhead.\nThen again they travelled across deserts whose restless, storm-tossed,\nsandy billows left no traces of human footsteps, and where death\nseemed, like some cunning foe, to be lying in wait to destroy their\nlives.\n\nIt was here that Sam-Chaong realized the protecting care of the Goddess\nin providing such a valuable companion as the monkey proved himself to\nbe.  He might have been born in these sandy wastes, so familiar was he\nwith their moods.  There was something in the air, and in the colours\nof the sky at dawn and at sunset, that told him what was going to\nhappen, and he could say almost to a certainty whether any storm was\ncoming to turn these silent deserts into storm-tossed oceans of sand,\nwhich more ruthless even than the sea, would engulf all living things\nwithin their pitiless depths.  He knew, moreover, where the hidden\nsprings of water lay concealed beneath the glare and glitter that\npained the eyes simply to look upon them; and without a solitary\nlandmark in the boundless expanse, by unerring instinct, he would\ntravel straight to the very spot where the spring bubbled up from the\ngreat fountains below.\n\nHaving crossed these howling wildernesses, where Sam-Chaong must have\nperished had he travelled alone, they came to a region inhabited by a\npastoral people, but abounding in bands of robbers.  Monkey was a\ndaring fellow and was never afraid to meet any foe in fair fight; yet\nfor the sake of Sam-Chaong, whose loving disposition had been\ninsensibly taming his wild and fiery nature, he tried as far as\npossible to avoid a collision with any evil characters, whether men or\nspirits, who might be inclined to have a passage of arms with them.\n\nOne day they had passed over a great plain, where herds of sheep could\nbe seen in all directions browsing under the watchful care of their\nshepherds, and they had come to the base of the foot-hills leading to a\nmountainous country beyond, when the profound meditation in which\nSam-Chaong was usually absorbed was suddenly interrupted by a startled\ncry from Monkey.\n\nDrawing close up to him, he said in a low voice, \"Do you see those six\nmen who are descending the hill and coming in our direction?  They look\nlike simple-minded farmers, and yet they are all devils who have put on\nthe guise of men in order to be able to take us unawares.  Their real\nobject is to kill you, and thus frustrate the gracious purpose of the\nGoddess, who wishes to deliver the souls in the Land of Shadows from\nthe torments they are enduring there.\n\n\"I know them well,\" he went on; \"they are fierce and malignant spirits\nand very bold, for rarely have they ever been put to flight in any\nconflict in which they have been engaged.  They little dream, however,\nwho it is you have by your side.  If they did they would come on more\nwarily, for though I am single-handed they would be chary of coming to\nissues with me.\n\n\"But I am glad,\" he continued, \"that they have not yet discovered who I\nam, for my soul has long desired just such a day as this, when in a\nbattle that shall be worthy of the gods, my fame shall spread\nthroughout the Western Heaven and even into the wide domains of the\nLand of Shadows.\"\n\nWith a cry of gladness, as though some wondrous good-fortune had\nbefallen him, he bounded along the road to meet the coming foe, and in\ncontemptuous tones challenged them to mortal combat.\n\nNo sooner did they discover who it was that dared to champion\nSam-Chaong with such bold and haughty front, than with hideous yells\nand screams they rushed tumultuously upon him, hoping by a combined\nattack to confuse him and to make him fly in terror before them.\n\nIn this however they had reckoned without their host.  With a daring\nquite as great as theirs, but with a skill far superior to that of the\nsix infuriated demons, Monkey seized a javelin which came gleaming\nthrough the air just at the precise moment that he needed it, and\nhurled it at one of his opponents with such fatal effect that he lay\nsprawling on the ground, and with a cry that might have come from a\nlost spirit breathed his last.\n\nAnd now the battle became a mighty one indeed.  Arrows shot from\ninvisible bows flew quicker than flashes of light against this single\nmighty fighter, but they glanced off a magic shield which fairy arts\nhad interposed in front of him.  Weapons such as mortal hands had never\nwielded in any of the great battles of the world were now brought into\nplay; but never for a moment did Monkey lose his head.  With marvellous\nintrepidity he warded them off, and striking back with one tremendous\nlunge, he laid another of the demons dead at his feet.\n\nDismay began to raise the coward in the minds of those who were left,\nand losing heart they turned to those subtle and cunning devices that\nhad never before failed in their attacks on mankind.  Their great\nendeavour now was to inveigle Monkey into a position where certain\ndestruction would be sure to follow.  Three-pronged spears were hurled\nagainst him with deadly precision, and had he not at that precise\nmoment leaped high into the air no power on earth could have saved him.\n\nIt was at this tremendous crisis in the fight that Monkey won his\ngreatest success.  Leaping lightly to the ground whilst the backs of\nhis foes were still turned towards him, he was able with the\ndouble-edged sword which he held in each of his hands to despatch three\nmore of his enemies.  The last remaining foe was so utterly cowed when\nhe beheld his comrades lying dead upon the road that he took to flight,\nand soon all that was to be seen of him was a black speck slowly\nvanishing on the distant horizon.\n\nThus ended the great battle in which Monkey secured such a signal\nvictory over the wild demons of the frozen North, and Sam-Chaong drew\nnear to gaze upon the mangled bodies of the fierce spirits who but a\nmoment ago were fighting so desperately for their very lives.\n\nNow, Sam-Chaong was a man who naturally had the tenderest heart for\nevery living thing; and so, as he looked, a cloud of sadness spread\nover his countenance and he sighed as he thought of the destruction of\nlife which he had just witnessed.  It was true that the demons had come\nwith the one settled purpose of killing him, and there was no reason\ntherefore why he should regret their death.  But life to him was always\nprecious, no matter in what form it might be enshrined.  Life was the\nspecial gift of Heaven, and could not be wilfully destroyed without\ncommitting a crime against the gods.\n\nSo absorbed did Sam-Chaong become in this thought, and so sombre were\nthe feelings filling his heart, that he entirely forgot to thank the\nhero by his side who had risked his life for him, and but for whose\nprowess he would have fallen a victim to the deadly hatred of these\nenemies of mankind.  Feelings of resentment began to spring up in the\nmind of Monkey as he saw that Sam-Chaong seemed to feel more pity for\nthe dead demons than gratitude for the heroic efforts which had saved\nhim from a cruel death.\n\n\"Are you dissatisfied with the services I have rendered to you to-day?\"\nhe asked him abruptly.\n\n\"My heart is deeply moved by what you have done for me,\" replied\nSam-Chaong.  \"My only regret is that you could not have delivered me\nwithout causing the death of these poor wretched demons, and thus\ndepriving them of the gift of life, a thing as dear to them as it is to\nyou or me.\"\n\nNow Monkey, who was of a fierce and hasty temper, could not brook such\nmeagre praise as this, and so in passionate and indignant language he\ndeclared that no longer would he be content to serve so craven a\nmaster, who, though beloved of the Goddess, was not a man for whom he\nwould care to risk his life again.\n\nWith these words he vaulted into the air, and soared away into the\ndistance, on and on through countless leagues of never-ending sky,\nuntil he came to the verge of a wide-spreading ocean.  Plunging into\nthis as though it had been the home in which he had always lived, he\nmade his way by paths with which he seemed familiar, until he reached\nthe palace of the Dragon Prince of the Sea, who received him with the\nutmost cordiality and gave him an invitation to remain with him as his\nguest as long as he pleased.\n\nFor some time he entertained himself with the many marvellous sights\nwhich are hidden away beneath the waters of the great ocean and which\nhave a life and imagery of their own, stranger and more mysterious\nperhaps than those on which men are accustomed to look.  But in time he\nbecame restless and dissatisfied with himself.  The unpleasant thought\ncrept slowly into his heart that in a moment of passion he had basely\ndeserted Sam-Chaong and had left him helpless in a strange and unknown\nregion; and worse still that he had been unfaithful to the trust which\nthe Goddess had committed to him.  He became uncomfortably conscious,\ntoo, that though he had fled to the depths of the ocean he could never\nget beyond the reach of her power, and that whenever she wished to\nimprison him in the mountain cavern where he had eaten out his heart\nfor five hundred years, she could do so with one imperious word of\ncommand.\n\nIn this mood of repentance for his past errors, he happened to cast his\neye upon a scroll which hung in one of the rooms of the palace.  As he\nread the story on it his heart smote him, and from that moment he\ndetermined to hasten back to the post from which he had fled.\n\nThe words on the scroll were written in letters of gold and told how on\na certain occasion in the history of the past the fairies determined to\nassist the fortunes of a young man named Chang-lung, who had gained\ntheir admiration because of the nobility of character which he had\nexhibited in his ordinary conduct in life.  He belonged to an extremely\npoor family, and so without some such aid as they could give him, he\ncould never attain to that eminence in the State which would enable him\nto be of service to his country.  But he must first be tested to see\nwhether he had the force of character necessary to bear the strain\nwhich greatness would put upon him.  Accordingly one of the most\nexperienced amongst their number was despatched to make the trial.\n\nAssuming the guise of an old countryman in poor and worn-out clothing,\nthe fairy sat down on a bridge over a stream close to the village where\nthe favourite of the gods lived.  By-and-by Chang-lung came walking\nbriskly along.  Just as he came up to the disguised fairy, the latter\nlet one of his shoes drop into the water below.  With an air of\napparent distress, he begged the young man to wade into the stream and\npick it up for him.\n\nCheerfully smiling, Chang-lung at once jumped into the water.  In a\nmoment he had returned with the shoe and was handing it to the old man,\nwhen the latter requested him to put it on his foot for him.  This was\nasking him to do a most menial act, which most men would have\nscornfully resented; but Chang-lung, pitying the decrepit-looking old\nstranger, immediately knelt on the ground and carefully fastened the\ndripping shoe on to his foot.\n\nWhilst he was in the act of doing this, the fairy, as if by accident,\nskilfully managed to let the other shoe slip from his foot over the\nedge of the bridge into the running stream.  Apologizing for his\nstupidity, and excusing himself on the ground that he was an old man\nand that his fingers were not as nimble as they used to be, he begged\nChang-lung to repeat his kindness and do him the favour of picking up\nthe second shoe and restoring it to him.\n\nWith the same cheery manner, as though he were not being asked to\nperform a servile task, Chang-lung once more stepped into the shallow\nbrook and bringing back the shoe, proceeded without any hesitation to\nrepeat the process of putting it on the old man's foot.\n\nThe fairy was now perfectly satisfied.  Thanking Chang-lung for his\nkindness, he presented him with a book, which he took out of one of the\nsleeves of his jacket, and urging him to study it with all diligence,\nvanished out of his sight.  The meeting that day on the country bridge\nhad an important influence on the destiny of Chang-lung, who in time\nrose to great eminence and finally became Prime Minister of China.\n\nAs Monkey studied the golden words before him, he contrasted his own\nconduct with that of Chang-lung, and, pricked to the heart by a\nconsciousness of his wrong, he started at once, without even bidding\nfarewell to the Dragon Prince of the Sea, to return to the service of\nSam-Chaong.\n\nHe was just emerging from the ocean, when who should be standing\nwaiting for him on the yellow sands of the shore but the Goddess of\nMercy herself, who had come all the way from her distant home to warn\nhim of the consequences that would happen to him were he ever again to\nfail in the duty she had assigned him of leading Sam-Chaong to the\nWestern Heaven.\n\nTerrified beyond measure at the awful doom which threatened him, and at\nthe same time truly repentant for the wrong he had committed, Monkey\nbounded up far above the highest mountains which rear their peaks to\nthe sky, and fled with incredible speed until he stood once more by the\nside of Sam-Chaong.\n\nNo reproof fell from the latter's lips as the truant returned to his\npost.  A tender gracious smile was the only sign of displeasure that he\nevinced.\n\n\"I am truly glad to have you come back to me,\" he said, \"for I was lost\nwithout your guidance in this unknown world in which I am travelling.\nI may tell you, however, that since you left me the Goddess appeared to\nme and comforted me with the assurance that you would ere long resume\nyour duties and be my friend, as you have so nobly been in the past.\nShe was very distressed at my forlorn condition and was so determined\nthat nothing of the kind should happen again in the future, that she\ngraciously presented me with a mystic cap wrought and embroidered by\nthe fairy hands of the maidens in her own palace.\n\n\"'Guard this well,' she said, 'and treasure it as your very life, for\nit will secure you the services of one who for five hundred years was\nkept in confinement in order that he might be ready to escort you on\nthe way to the Western Heaven.  He is the one man who has the daring\nand the courage to meet the foes who will endeavour to destroy you on\nyour journey, but he is as full of passion as the storm when it is\nblowing in its fury.  Should he ever desert you again, you have but to\nplace this cap on your head, and he will be wrung with such awful and\nintolerable agonies that though he were a thousand miles away he would\nhurry back with all the speed he could command to have you take it off\nagain, so that he might be relieved from the fearful pains racking his\nbody.'\"\n\nAfter numerous adventures too long to relate, Sam-Chaong reached the\nborders of an immense lake, many miles in extent, spanned by a bridge\nof only a single foot in width.  With fear and trembling, as men\ntremble on the brink of eternity, and often with terror in his eyes and\na quivering in his heart as he looked at the narrow foothold on which\nhe was treading, he finally crossed in safety, when he found to his\nastonishment that the pulsations of a new life had already begun to\nbeat strongly within him.  Beyond a narrow strip of land, which bounded\nthe great expanse of water over which he had just passed, was a wide\nflowing river, and on its bank was a boat with a ferryman in it ready\nto row him over.\n\nWhen they had reached the middle of the stream, Sam-Chaong saw a man\nstruggling in the water as if for dear life.  Moved with pity he urged\nupon the boatman to go to his rescue and deliver him from drowning.  He\nwas sternly told, however, to keep silence.  \"The figure you see\nthere,\" said the boatman, \"is yourself--or rather, it is but the shell\nof your old self, in which you worked out your redemption in the world\nbeyond, and which you could never use in the new life upon which you\nhave entered.\"\n\nOn the opposite bank of the river stood the Goddess of Mercy, who with\nsmiling face welcomed him into the ranks of the fairies.\n\nSince then, it is believed by those whose vision reaches further than\nthe grey and common scenes of earthly life, Sam-Chaong has frequently\nappeared on earth, in various disguises, when in some great emergency\nmore than human power was required to deliver men from destruction.\nThere is one thing certain at least,--these gifted people declare--and\nthat is that in the guise of a priest Sam-Chaong did once more revisit\nthis world and delivered to the Buddhist Church the new ritual which\nthe Goddess of Mercy had prepared for it, and which is used to-day in\nits services throughout the East.\n\n\n\n\nVI\n\nTHE VENGEANCE OF THE GODDESS\n\nIn a certain temple in the northern part of the Empire, there once\nlived a famous priest named Hien-Chung, whose reputation had spread far\nand wide, not merely for the sanctity of his life, but also for the\nsupernatural powers which he was known to possess, and which he had\nexhibited on several remarkable occasions.  Men would have marvelled\nless about him had they known that the man dressed in the long\nslate-coloured robe, with shaven head, and saintly-looking face, over\nwhich no one had ever seen a smile flicker, was in reality a pilgrim on\nhis way to the Western Heaven, which he hoped to reach in time, and to\nbecome a fairy there.\n\nOne night Hien-Chung lay asleep in a room opening out of the main hall\nin which the great image of the Goddess of Mercy, with her benevolent,\ngracious face, sat enshrined amidst the darkness that lay thickly over\nthe temple.  All at once, there stood before him a most striking and\nstately-looking figure.  The man had a royal look about him, as though\nhe had been accustomed to rule.  On his head there was a crown, and his\ndress was such as no mere subject would ever be allowed to wear.\n\nHien-Chung gazed at him in wonder, and was at first inclined to believe\nthat he was some evil spirit who had assumed this clever disguise in\norder to deceive him.  As this thought flashed through his mind, the\nman began to weep.  It was pitiable indeed to see this kingly person\naffected with such oppressive grief that the tears streamed down his\ncheeks, and with the tenderness that was distinctive of him Hien-Chung\nexpressed his deep sympathy for a sorrow so profound.\n\n\"Three years ago,\" said his visitor, \"I was the ruler of this 'Kingdom\nof the Black Flower.'  I was indeed the founder of my dynasty, for I\ncarved my own fortune with my sword, and made this little state into a\nkingdom.  For a long time I was very happy, and my people were most\ndevoted in their allegiance to me.  I little dreamed of the sorrows\nthat were coming on me, and the disasters which awaited me in the near\nfuture.\n\n\"Five years ago my kingdom was visited with a very severe drought.  The\nrains ceased to fall; the streams which used to fall down the\nmountain-sides and irrigate the plains dried up; and the wells lost the\nfountains which used to fill them with water.  Everywhere the crops\nfailed, and the green herbage on which the cattle browsed was slowly\nblasted by the burning rays of the sun.\n\n\"The common people suffered in their homes from want of food, and many\nof the very poorest actually died of starvation.  This was a source of\ngreat sorrow to me, and every day my prayers went up to Heaven, that it\nwould send down rain upon the dried-up land and so deliver my people\nfrom death.  I knew that this calamity had fallen on my kingdom because\nof some wrong that I had done, and so my heart was torn with remorse.\n\n\"One day while my mind was full of anxiety, a man suddenly appeared at\nmy palace and begged my ministers to be allowed to have an audience\nwith me.  He said that it was of the utmost importance that he should\nsee me, for he had come to propose a plan for the deliverance of my\ncountry.\n\n\"I gave orders that he should instantly be brought into my presence,\nwhen I asked him if he had the power to cause the rain to descend upon\nthe parched land.\n\n\"'Yes,' he replied, 'I have, and if you will step with me now to the\nfront of your palace I will prove to you that I have the ability to do\nthis, and even more.'\n\n\"Striding out to a balcony which overlooked the capital, and from which\none could catch a view of the hills in the distance, the stranger\nlifted up his right hand towards the heavens and uttered certain words\nwhich I was unable to understand.\n\n\"Instantly, and as if by magic, a subtle change crept through the\natmosphere.  The sky became darkened, and dense masses of clouds rolled\nup and blotted out the sun.  The thunder began to mutter, and vivid\nflashes of lightning darted from one end of the heavens to the other,\nand before an hour had elapsed the rain was descending in torrents all\nover the land, and the great drought was at an end.\n\n\"My gratitude to this mysterious stranger for the great deliverance he\nhad wrought for my kingdom was so great that there was no favour which\nI was not willing to bestow upon him.  I gave him rooms in the palace,\nand treated him as though he were my equal.  I had the truest and the\ntenderest affection for him, and he seemed to be equally devoted to me.\n\n\"One morning we were walking hand in hand in the royal gardens.  The\npeach blossoms were just out, and we were enjoying their perfume and\nwandering up and down amongst the trees which sent forth such exquisite\nfragrance.\n\n\"As we sauntered on, we came by-and-by upon a well which was hidden\nfrom sight by a cluster of oleander trees.  We stayed for a moment to\npeer down its depths and to catch a sight of the dark waters lying deep\nwithin it.  Whilst I was gazing down, my friend gave me a sudden push\nand I was precipitated head first into the water at the bottom.  The\nmoment I disappeared, he took a broad slab of stone and completely\ncovered the mouth of the well.  Over it he spread a thick layer of\nearth, and in this he planted a banana root, which, under the influence\nof the magic powers he possessed, in the course of a few hours had\ndeveloped into a full-grown tree.  I have lain dead in the well now for\nthree years, and during all that time no one has arisen to avenge my\nwrong or to bring me deliverance.\"\n\n\"But have your ministers of State made no efforts during all these\nthree years to discover their lost king?\" asked Hien-Chung.  \"And what\nabout your wife and family?  Have they tamely submitted to have you\ndisappear without raising an outcry that would resound throughout the\nwhole kingdom?  It seems to me inexplicable that a king should vanish\nfrom his palace and that no hue and cry should be raised throughout the\nlength and breadth of the land until the mystery should be solved and\nhis cruel murder fully avenged.\"\n\n\"It is here,\" replied the spirit of the dead king, \"that my enemy has\nshown his greatest cunning.  The reason why men never suspect that any\ntreason has been committed is because by his enchantments he has\ntransformed his own appearance so as to become the exact counterpart of\nmyself.  The man who called down the rain and saved my country from\ndrought and famine has simply disappeared, so men think, and I the King\nstill rule as of old in my kingdom.  Not the slightest suspicion as to\nthe true state of things has ever entered the brain of anyone in the\nnation, and so the usurper is absolutely safe in the position he\noccupies to-day.\"\n\n\"But have you never appealed to Yam-lo, the ruler of the Land of\nShadows?\", asked Hien-Chung.  \"He is the great redresser of the wrongs\nand crimes of earth, and now that you are a spirit and immediately\nwithin his jurisdiction, you should lay your complaint before him and\npray him to avenge the sufferings you have been called upon to endure.\"\n\n\"You do not understand,\" the spirit hastily replied.  \"The one who has\nwrought such ruin in my life is an evil spirit.  He has nothing in\ncommon with men, but has been let loose from the region where evil\nspirits are confined to punish me for some wrong that I have committed\nin the past.  He therefore knows the ways of the infernal regions, and\nis hand in glove with the rulers there, and even with Yam-lo himself.\nHe is, moreover, on the most friendly terms with the tutelary God of my\ncapital, and so no complaint of mine would ever be listened to for a\nmoment by any of the powers who rule in the land of the dead.\n\n\"There is another very strong reason, too, why any appeal that I might\nmake for justice would be disregarded.  My soul has not yet been loosed\nfrom my body, but is still confined within it in the well.  The courts\nof the Underworld would never recognize me, because I still belong to\nthis life, over which they have no control.\n\n\"Only to-day,\" he continued, \"a friendly spirit whispered in my ear\nthat my confinement in the well was drawing to a close, and that the\nthree years I had been adjudged to stay there would soon be up.  He\nstrongly advised me to apply to you, for you are endowed, he said, with\npowers superior to those possessed by my enemy, and if you are only\npleased to exercise them I shall speedily be delivered from his evil\ninfluence.\"\n\nNow the Goddess of Mercy had sent Hien-Chung a number of familiar\nspirits to be a protection to him in time of need.  Next morning,\naccordingly, he summoned the cleverest of these, whose name was Hing,\nin order to consult with him as to how the king might be delivered from\nthe bondage in which he had been held for the three years.\n\n\"The first thing we have to do,\" said Hing, \"is to get the heir to the\nThrone on our side.  He has often been suspicious at certain things in\nthe conduct of his supposed father, one of which is that for three\nyears he has never been allowed to see his mother.  All that is needed\nnow is to get some tangible evidence to convince him that there is some\nmystery in the palace, and we shall gain him as our ally.\n\n\"I have been fortunate,\" he continued, \"in obtaining one thing which we\nshall find very useful in inducing the Prince to listen to what we have\nto say to him about his father.  You may not know it, but about the\ntime when the King was thrown into the well, the seal of the kingdom\nmysteriously disappeared and a new one had to be cut.\n\n\"Knowing that you were going to summon me to discuss this case, I went\ndown into the well at dawn this morning, and found the missing seal on\nthe body of the King.  Here it is, and now we must lay our plans to\nwork on the mind of the son for the deliverance of the father.\nTo-morrow I hear that the Prince is going out hunting on the\nneighbouring hills.  In one of the valleys there is a temple to the\nGoddess of Mercy, and if you will take this seal and await his coming\nthere, I promise you that I will find means to entice him to the\nshrine.\"\n\nNext morning the heir to the Throne of the \"Kingdom of the Black\nFlower\" set out with a noisy retinue to have a day's hunting on the\nwell-wooded hills overlooking the capital.  They had scarcely reached\nthe hunting grounds when great excitement was caused by the sudden\nappearance of a remarkable-looking hare.  It was decidedly larger than\nan ordinary hare, but the curious feature about it was its colour,\nwhich was as white as the driven snow.\n\nNo sooner had the hounds caught sight of it, than with loud barkings\nand bayings they dashed madly in pursuit.  The hare, however, did not\nseem to show any terror, but with graceful bounds that carried it\nrapidly over the ground, it easily out-distanced the fleetest of its\npursuers.  It appeared, indeed, as though it were thoroughly enjoying\nthe facility with which it could outrun the dogs, while the latter grew\nmore and more excited as they always saw the quarry before them and yet\ncould never get near enough to lay hold upon it.\n\nAnother extraordinary thing was that this hare did not seem anxious to\nescape.  It took no advantage of undergrowth or of clumps of trees to\nhide the direction in which it was going.  It managed also to keep\nconstantly in view of the whole field; and when it had to make sudden\nturns in the natural windings of the road which led to a valley in the\ndistance, where there stood a famous temple, it hesitated for a moment\nand allowed the baying hounds to come perilously near, before it darted\noff with the speed of lightning and left the dogs far behind it.\n\nLittle did the hunters dream that the beautiful animal which was giving\nthem such an exciting chase was none other than the fairy Hing, who had\nassumed this disguise in order to bring the Prince to the lonely temple\nin the secluded valley, where, beyond the possibility of being spied\nupon by his father's murderer, the story of treachery could be told,\nand means be devised for his restoration to the throne.\n\nHaving arrived close to the temple, the mysterious hare vanished as\nsuddenly as it had appeared, and not a trace was left to enable the\ndogs, which careered wildly round and round, to pick up the scent.\n\nThe Prince, who was a devoted disciple of the Goddess of Mercy, now\ndismounted and entered the temple, where he proceeded to burn incense\nbefore her shrine and in muttered tones to beseech her to send down\nblessings upon him.\n\nAfter a time, he became considerably surprised to find that the\npresiding priest of the temple, instead of coming forward to attend\nupon him and to show him the courtesies due to his high position,\nremained standing in a corner where the shadows were darkest, his eyes\ncast upon the ground and with a most serious look overspreading his\ncountenance.\n\nAccordingly, when he had finished his devotions to the Goddess, the\nPrince approached the priest, and asked him in a kindly manner if\nanything was distressing him.\n\n\"Yes,\" replied Hien-Chung, \"there is, and it is a subject which\nmaterially affects your Royal Highness.  If you will step for a moment\ninto my private room, I shall endeavour to explain to you the matter\nwhich has filled my mind with the greatest possible anxiety.\"\n\nWhen they entered the abbot's room, Hien-Chung handed the Prince a\nsmall box and asked him to open it and examine the article it contained.\n\nGreat was the Prince's amazement when he took it out and cast a hurried\nglance over it.  A look of excitement passed over his face and he cried\nout, \"Why, this is the great seal of the kingdom which was lost three\nyears ago, and of which no trace could ever be found!  May I ask how it\ncame into your possession and what reason you can give for not having\nrestored it to the King, who has long wished to discover it?\"\n\n\"The answer to that is a long one, your Highness, and to satisfy you, I\nmust go somewhat into detail.\"\n\nHien-Chung then told the Prince of the midnight visit his father had\nmade him, and the tragic story of his murder by the man who was now\nposing as the King, and of his appeal to deliver him from the sorrows\nof the well in which he had been confined for three years.\n\n\"With regard to the finding of the seal,\" he continued, \"my servant\nHing, who is present, will describe how by the supernatural powers with\nwhich he is endowed, he descended the well only this very morning and\ndiscovered it on the body of your father.\"\n\n\"We have this absolute proof,\" he said, \"that the vision I saw only two\nnights ago was not some imagination of the brain, but that it was\nreally the King who appealed to me to deliver him from the power of an\nenemy who seems bent upon his destruction.\n\n\"We must act, and act promptly,\" he went on, \"for the man who is\npretending to be the ruler of your kingdom is a person of unlimited\nability, and as soon as he gets to know that his secret has been\ndivulged, he will put into operation every art he possesses to\nfrustrate our purpose.\n\n\"What I propose is that your Highness should send back the greater part\nof your retinue to the palace, with an intimation to the effect that\nyou are going to spend the night here in a special service to the\nGoddess, whose birthday it fortunately happens to be to-day.  After\nnight has fallen upon the city, Hing shall descend into the well and\nbring the body of your father here.  You will then have all the proof\nyou need of the truth of the matter, and we can devise plans as to our\nfuture action.\"\n\nA little after midnight, Hing having faithfully carried out the\ncommission entrusted to him by Hien-Chung, arrived with the body of the\nKing, which was laid with due ceremony and respect in one of the inner\nrooms of the temple.  With his marvellous wonder-working powers and\nwith the aid of invisible forces which he had been able to summon to\nhis assistance, he had succeeded in transporting it from the wretched\nplace where it had lain so long to the friendly temple of the Goddess\nof Mercy.\n\nThe Prince was deeply moved by the sight of his father's body.\nFortunately it had suffered no change since the day when it was thrown\nto the bottom of the well.  Not a sign of decay could be seen upon the\nKing's noble features.  It seemed as though he had but fallen asleep,\nand presently would wake up and talk to them as he used to do.  The\nfact that in some mysterious way the soul had not been separated from\nthe body accounted for its remarkable preservation.  Nevertheless to\nall appearance the King was dead, and the great question now was how he\ncould be brought back to life, so that he might be restored to his\nfamily and his kingdom.\n\n\"The time has come,\" said Hien-Chung, \"when heroic measures will have\nto be used if the King is ever to live again.  Two nights ago he made a\npassionate and urgent request to me to save him, for one of the gods\ninformed him that I was the only man who could do so.  So far, we have\ngot him out of the grip of the demon that compassed his death, and now\nit lies with me to provide some antidote which shall bring back the\nvital forces and make him a living man once more.\n\n\"I have never had to do with such a serious case as this before, but I\nhave obtained from the Patriarch of the Taoist Church a small vial of\nthe Elixir of Life, which has the marvellous property of prolonging the\nexistence of whoever drinks it.  We shall try it on the King and, as\nthere is no sign of vital decay, let us hope that it will be effective\nin restoring him to life.\"\n\nTurning to a desk that was kept locked, he brought out a small black\nearthenware bottle, from which he dropped a single drop of liquid on to\nthe lips of the prostrate figure.  In a few seconds a kind of rosy\nflush spread over the King's features.  Another drop, and a look of\nlife flashed over the pallid face.  Still another, and after a short\ninterval the eyes opened and looked with intelligence upon the group\nsurrounding his couch.  Still one more, and the King arose and asked\nhow long he had been asleep, and how it came about that he was in this\nsmall room instead of being in his own palace.\n\nHe was soon restored to his family and to his position in the State,\nfor the usurper after one or two feeble attempts to retain his power\nignominiously fled from the country.\n\nA short time after, Hien-Chung had a private interview with the King.\n\"I am anxious,\" he said, \"that your Majesty should understand the\nreason why such a calamity came into your life.\n\n\"Some years ago without any just reason you put to death a Buddhist\npriest.  You never showed any repentance for the great wrong you had\ndone, and so the Goddess sent a severe drought upon your Kingdom.  You\nstill remained unrepentant, and then she sent one of her Ministers to\nafflict you, depriving you of your home and your royal power.  The man\nwho pushed you down the well was but carrying out the instructions he\nhad received from the Goddess.  Your stay down the well for three years\nwas part of the punishment she had decreed for your offence, and when\nthe time was up, I was given the authority to release you.\n\n\"Kings as well as their subjects are under the great law of\nrighteousness, and if they violate it they must suffer like other men.\nI would warn your Majesty that unless you show some evidence that you\nhave repented for taking away a man's life unjustly, other sorrows will\nmost certainly fall upon you in the future.\"\n\n\n\n\nVII\n\n\"THE WONDERFUL MAN\"\n\nThere is a certain Prefectural city in the south of China, which has\nearned a reputation distinguishing it from all such towns throughout\nthe Empire.\n\nIn outward appearance this city is very much like every other of\nsimilar size.  The streets are narrow, and the houses are crowded close\nup to each other.  Every foot of land has been utilized, and no room\nhas been left for sanitation, or for parks and open spaces, where the\npeople may breathe the pure air of heaven.  These things are modern\ninventions of the West and have never yet touched the thought or the\nlife of the East, where sullen heat, fetid atmosphere, and stifling\nsurroundings are the natural inheritance of the men and women who\nthrong the cities and crowd and elbow each other in the great battle of\nlife.\n\nThere was one thing, however, for which this city was deservedly\ncelebrated.  It had a great reputation for learning, and was famous as\nthe abode of scholars.\n\nIn the main thoroughfares, where men with a dexterity begotten of long\nexperience just managed to evade jostling each other, the long-gowned\nstudents were conspicuous by their numbers.  Their pale intellectual\nfaces, and their gleaming black eyes burning with hidden fires, marked\nthem out distinctly from the farmers and artisans and coolies, with\ntheir coarser, heavier features, who moved along side by side with\nthem.  And down the narrow alley-ways, where fetid smells and impure\nairs floated the live-long day, one's ear would catch the shrill tones\nof more youthful students, who in unhealthy rooms were mastering aloud\nthe famous classics of China, in order that in time they might compete\nin the triennial examinations for the prizes offered by the Empire to\nits scholars.\n\nThe ambition for learning was in the air, and a belated wayfarer,\nwandering down the labyrinth of streets in the early hours of the\nmorning, would hear the solemn stillness broken into by the voices of\nthe students, as in their highest tones they repeated the writings of\nthe great sages.\n\nThe town was therefore dear to the God of Literature, who has ever been\nready to champion the cause of his scholars, whenever anyone has dared\nto lay a hand upon their privileges.\n\nA legend in which there is widespread belief declares that on one\noccasion, when the scholars of five counties had assembled at a\ntriennial examination, the Imperial Examiner, who for some reason or\nother had conceived a spite against the competitors from this\nparticular city, determined that not one of them should pass.\n\nAs their essays came into his hands, he carefully laid them in a pile\nclose beside him on the table.  The God of Literature, who was sitting\nin his shrine at the far end of the room, became indignant at the\ninsult that was about to be put on his favourites, and breathed some\nclassic phrases under his breath, to the effect that he would never\nallow such a wrong to be perpetrated as long as he had power to prevent\nit.\n\nThe last paper had been examined and laid carefully on the top of the\nothers, when, as if by a flash of lightning, the examiner was seized\nwith a stroke of paralysis, and fell to the ground unconscious.  That\nwas the answer of the God to his evil schemes.\n\nThe greatest dismay was exhibited by the under-officials of the\nexamination.  Thousands of students were waiting outside for the list\nto be issued of those who had passed, but the only man who had the\npower to prepare this list lay helpless in the grip of paralysis.  Yet\nsomething must be done, and that speedily.  As they looked over the\nmanuscripts lying on the table, a little pile was discovered, evidently\nplaced there by the examiner for some purpose of his own.  One of the\nofficials at once suggested that these must belong to the men who had\ngained their degrees.  The idea was enthusiastically accepted as the\ncorrect one.  There was no need for further delay.  The names of the\nwriters were hurriedly copied out and pasted up on the board in front\nof the Examination Hall.\n\nTo the amazement of all the assembled scholars, the only men who had\ngot their degrees were those belonging to the city favoured of the God.\nThis was the God's second answer to the examiner, who would unjustly\nhave excluded them from the honours of the day.\n\nThere was another thing for which the people of this city were noted,\nand that was the pleasure taken by the leaders of society in\nrecognizing those who displayed conspicuous civic virtues.\n\nOutside one of the four gates, and well beyond the streets and houses\nwhich had grown up as an overflow from the great city, there was a\nconsiderable open space, through the middle of which the main road\nmeandered on its way to the countless towns and villages in the regions\nbeyond, and finally to the far-off capital, Peking, thousands of miles\naway in the extreme north.  It was a busy, much-frequented road, and\nthe tread of human feet and the sound of the voices of passing\ntravellers never ceased from early dawn until darkness had fallen and\ndriven men to the shelter of the city.\n\nThe striking feature about the long stretch of uninhabited land which\nbordered one side of this road was a magnificent series of memorial\narches built in close succession to each other for a considerable\ndistance.  They were composed of granite slabs, some very plain in\ntheir design, whilst others were highly artistic, and had evidently\nbeen produced by men who were masters of their craft.  The general plan\nand execution were the same in all, but the ornamentation in some was\nmost elaborate, and filled one with pleasure and delight to look at it.\n\nEvery one of these arches had been erected to commemorate some person\nwho had already passed away, but whose virtues in life had been so\nconspicuous that the community had determined that they should not be\nforgotten, but that a record of them should be handed down to\nposterity, not only to keep their memory fragrant, but also to provide\nbeautiful examples for succeeding generations.\n\nAmongst the virtues recorded on these granite slabs, the most common\nwas that of filial piety.  A son had distinguished himself by his\ndevotion to his parents, and had sacrificed his very life in faithful\nservice to them.  In undying words the story was carved into the stone;\nand the two mystic characters, \"Holy Will,\" in the centre of the middle\narch showed that the Emperor had given his permission for the erection\nof this memorial to a virtue so admired by the whole Chinese nation.\n\nOther arches, almost as numerous as those raised to dutiful sons, were\nthose setting forth the virtues of widows who had refused to marry\nagain after their husbands had died.\n\nIn one case a widow had been left in great straits, and had been\ncompelled to struggle with poverty and privations of every kind.  All\nthese she might have avoided had she been willing to listen to the\noffers of marriage that were made to her.  Nothing, however, could make\nher forget the allegiance which she believed she still owed to the man\nwho had first won her heart, or induce her to neglect her duty to the\nchildren of her marriage.  She could never consent to let them become\nthe property of another man, who might despise and ill-treat them, and\nwho at any rate would never have for them the kind of affection which\nwould lead him to make the sacrifices necessary to help them towards\ngaining a better position in life.  Accordingly, she struggled on,\nenduring the greatest sufferings in order to provide for the needs of\nher sons as they gradually grew up; and eventually, owing to the\nhardships which she had borne so heroically, they all passed with\nhonour through their examinations into the service of the Emperor.\n\nOn her death her story was forwarded to the capital, and his Majesty\nwas so much moved by it that he gave his sanction for an arch to be\nerected to her memory, in order that for ages to come the crowds\npassing daily under its shadow might read the record of her\nself-sacrifice, and might learn how an admiring community had built\nthis imperishable memorial of her wifely and motherly virtues.\n\nBut of all the numerous arches spanning the road there was one which\nattracted more attention than any other in the long line.\n\nThis was not because the virtues of the person, in whose honour it was\nraised, were so conspicuous, or because they so far outrivalled those\nrecorded on the other arches, that men were constrained to stop and\nponder over a life so remarkable for its heroism.\n\nOn the contrary, no virtues of any kind were mentioned.  On the central\narch, in large letters cut into the granite stone, were the words: \"The\nWonderful Man\"; and that was all.  Not a word of explanation was given\nas to who this wonderful man was; not a hint as to the special story of\nhis life.\n\nScholars passing along the dusty road would catch a sight of this brief\nbut cryptic inscription, and would at once be set wondering what a\nphrase so unclassical and so mysterious could possibly mean.  They\nwould walk round to the other side of the arch, to see if any\nexplanation were afforded there.  But no, the inscription was simply\nrepeated in the same cold and veiled language; and so they would pass\non, no wiser than before.\n\nFarmers, with produce of their own growing suspended from their\nshoulders on stout bamboo poles, would come along at their accustomed\ntrot, and would gaze at these words, \"The wonderful man,\" with a\ncurious look on their faces.  They were not profound scholars, for on\naccount of their poverty they had been compelled to leave school before\nthey had mastered the ancient characters which make up the Chinese\nwritten language; but they knew enough to read such simple words as\nthese.  But what did the words really mean?  They would laugh and joke\nwith each other about them as they sped on their way, and many a witty\nsuggestion would be merrily thrown out as a solution of the mystery.\n\nThe story that really lay behind this strange inscription was after all\na most romantic and a most pathetic one.\n\nMany years before, in a village beyond the hills skirting the plain on\nwhich the city was built, there lived a family of three; that is to\nsay, a man and his wife and their little son.  It was a supremely happy\nhome.  The husband and wife were devotedly attached to each other, and\nthe ambition of every family amongst the four hundred millions of China\nhad been granted them; for they had a son, who in the future would\nperpetuate the father's name, and present at his grave sacrificial\nofferings which would reach him in the Land of Shadows and keep him\nfrom starvation there.\n\nThe one great sorrow of the home was its poverty.  There was no\nquestion but that they were exceedingly poor; and every morning, as the\ndawn broke upon them, they felt that they stood close up to the line\nbeyond which lay hunger and even starvation.\n\nBut China is full of homes in such a situation.  In this respect,\nindeed, the country is a land of heroes and heroines, for with vast\nmasses of the people it is a daily struggle for food.  Millions\nscattered throughout the Empire never or very rarely get enough to eat,\nand yet with splendid and pathetic patience they set themselves to\nsuffer and to die, sternly and uncomplainingly, as becomes an Imperial\nrace such as the Chinese are.\n\nAll that this particular family had to live upon were a few diminutive\nfields, which under the most favourable circumstances could produce\nbarely enough sweet potatoes to keep body and soul together, and a\nscanty supply of vegetables with which to season them.  If the rains\nfailed and the potato vines were parched and blasted in their ridges by\nthe great red-hot sun, then the husband had to look out for some other\nmeans of earning enough money to provide the bare necessaries of life\nfor his little home.\n\nSometimes he would engage himself as a porter to carry the produce of\nthe larger farmers to the great market-town which lay ten miles\ndistant; but even then he could earn only just enough to provide the\nmost meagre fare for his family for a week or two at the very most.\n\nAt other times he would secure better-paid employment by carrying a\nsedan-chair to some distant place, which would take him from home for\nseveral days at a time.  He would return, it is true, with some goodly\nstrings of cash, which would make his wife's eyes gleam with\nsatisfaction at the possibilities they contained for at least another\nmonth of better food for them all; but it was dearly earned money.  The\nman had not been trained as a chairbearer, and so had not learned the\nknack of manipulating the cross-bars, which rested on his shoulders, in\nsuch a way as to make the heavy burden less distressing to him.  The\nresult was that every time he returned from one of these expeditions,\nhe was so seriously knocked up that for several days he had to lie in\nbed and refrain from all work.\n\nTime went on, and the severe strain of his labour, and the poor quality\nof the food upon which he had to live, and the constant wear and tear\nof a constitution that never had been very strong, told upon the poor,\noverworked father.  Gradually he became a confirmed invalid, so that he\ncould not perform even the lightest work on his little farm.  The\nshadows of coming misfortune grew darker and blacker every day.  Hope\nbegan to abandon the hearts of husband and wife, and the sound of the\nfootsteps of cruel Fate could almost be heard, as they drew nearer and\nnearer.  Still these two heroic souls uttered no complaints, and there\nwere no signs of heartbreak, except occasionally when the wife's eyes\noverflowed with tears, which she brushed hastily away lest her husband\nshould see them and be distressed.\n\nOne night the storm was blowing a north-east gale outside, and the wind\nhowled and moaned in such weird and doleful tones around the cottage,\nthat it seemed as though some troubled spirit had been let loose to\nwail out a solemn requiem over a departing soul.\n\nThe Chinese believe that the air is filled with demons who have a\nmortal hatred of human beings, and who are ever on the watch to compass\ntheir destruction.  These evil spirits gather round when disaster is\nabout to fall on a home.  They stand with invisible forms and peer into\nthe darkened room, where some one lies dying, and they breathe out\ntheir delight in unholy sounds that strike terror into the hearts of\nthe watchers.\n\nIn her anxiety about her husband the wife had not been able to sleep.\nHer heart throbbed with an infinite pain, and suppressed sobs now and\nagain showed the anguish of her spirit.  She began to realize, during\nthis dreadful night, that her husband was exceedingly ill and might\nvery probably die.  The storm which raged outside, and the furious\nblasts and the uncanny sounds in the air, had terrified her and made\nher nervous.\n\nIt was true that only that day she had gone to the nearest temple, and\nhad been assured by the god that her husband was going to recover; but\nhe had been growing steadily weaker and weaker, and now the tempest had\nbroken her courage and filled her with an unspeakable dread.  What a\ntumult there was outside!  Whose were the hideous voices that shrieked\nround the building, and whose were the hands that tore at the doors and\nwindows until they shook and rattled under their grasp?\n\nAt last she could stand it no longer.  She felt she must get up and see\nwhether the mad and furious spirits, who had evidently gathered in\nforce around the dwelling, were going to prove to be true prophets of\nevil.\n\nThe room was in darkness, so she lit the tiny wick that lay in a saucer\nof oil, and, peering into her husband's face, she looked with all her\nheart in her eyes into his sunken features.  He seemed to know her, for\na wan and wintry smile flickered round his lips and died out in a\nmoment.  She gazed at him with an almost breaking heart, for her\ninstinct told her that the greyness of his face and the sudden paling\nof his lips were the forerunners of death.  A long-drawn sigh, and a\nsob or two, and the one who was the dearest to her in all the world had\nleft her forever.\n\nAfter the funeral, which swallowed up everything she possessed, even to\nthe very fields, which she had been compelled to sell in order to meet\nthe expenses, the widow was left almost destitute.  She was a woman,\nhowever, with a very strong character, and she realized the absolute\nnecessity of making up her mind at once as to her course of action.\nThat she should marry again seemed to every one the only course open to\nher; but this she determined she would never do.  The memory of her\ndead husband was too precious to her, and besides it was her duty to\nrear up her little son to manhood, so that he might take his place\namongst the scholars and thinkers of the Empire.\n\nSoon a scheme, as original as it was daring, sprang up within her\nbrain.  No one must ever learn what it was.  It must be the secret of\nher life, which she should bury within her own bosom, and which not\neven her own son should ever know, if she could possibly help it.\n\nHaving sold her cottage, she moved away to a quiet suburb outside the\ngreat city which was so renowned for learning.  Then she discarded her\nwoman's attire and dressed herself as a man.  In no other way could she\nsupport herself and her child, for in China a woman is always under\ngreat disadvantages in the way of earning her own living.  As a man,\nshe knew that she could hold her own in any of the unskilled\nemployments which she was capable of taking up.  And so it turned out.\nShe could carry as heavy a load as any of the men with whom she had to\ncompete, and she was so civil and so well-behaved and so free from the\nuse of profane language, that employers unaware of her sex used to pick\nher out in preference to others who offered themselves.\n\nThe years went by, and her little son was growing up to be a fine young\nman.  The mother had determined that he should be a scholar.  This was\nthe one ambition of her life, and for this she slaved and toiled and\ndenied herself almost the very necessaries of life.\n\nTwenty years had passed since that stormy night.  In the neighbouring\ncity, the triennial examinations were just finished and the excitement\nwas intense amongst the thousands of students who gathered round the\nExamination Hall to learn the names of the successful candidates.\n\nBy-and-by the son came home with a light step and with his eyes\nflashing with delight.  His excitement was so great that he could\nhardly utter distinctly the words which rushed from his lips.\n\n\"Father,\" he cried, \"the great desire of your heart and of mine has\nbeen granted to us to-day.  I have passed, and that too with honours,\nfor my name stands at the very top of the list of those who have been\nadjudged successful.  And now, my beloved father, there will be no more\nhard work for you.  My name will soon be flashed throughout the\nProvince and will be posted in every Confucian guild, and scholars\neverywhere will speak with admiration of the great success I have won.\nMy fortune has indeed been made, and it is due entirely to your\nself-denial, and to the sufferings and hardships you have consented to\nendure, during the long years of the past, that I have at length come\ninto my kingdom, and that I need not be a labouring man, earning but a\nfew cash a day, as you, my dear father, have been willing to do for the\nlove of me.\"\n\nAll the time her son was talking, the mother's face shone with delight,\nfor the hopes and wishes of a lifetime had come to her with a rush that\nalmost overpowered her.\n\n\"Ah! if only my husband could have been with us now,\" she thought, \"to\nshare with us the supreme joy of this moment!\"  And her memory wandered\nback to that dreadful night, the blackest she had ever known in her\nlife; and the roar of the storm which had thundered round the poor\nlittle shanty of a home and the ominous wailings of the spirits of evil\nwhich had struck a chill into her very blood, once more sounded in her\nears as though the tragedy had happened only the night before.\n\nIn the fulness of the new joy which had suddenly transformed his life,\nthe son went on to talk of the plans that he had been mapping out for\nthe future.  There would be no lack of money any more, he said, for\nemployment would open up to him in all directions.  He would be invited\nby the wealthy men of the city to teach their sons.  He was a notable\nscholar now, and men of means would compete with each other to secure\nhis services.\n\nBefore long too, he would be certain to obtain a government appointment\nwhich would bring riches into the home; and then his father would be a\ngentleman, and would live with him in his yamen, and be treated by all\nwith honour and respect.  And so with glowing face and glistening eyes,\nas the visions of the future rose up before him, the boy talked on with\nthe enthusiasm of youth, whilst his mother gazed at him with admiring\neyes.\n\nAt last he suddenly stopped.  The laughter died out of his countenance,\nand with a grave and solemn face he exclaimed, \"Father, I want you to\ntell me where my mother is buried.  I must arrange to go to her grave\nand make the proper offerings to her spirit, and tell her how her son\nhas prospered, and how grateful he is to her.  That is my duty as a\nfilial son, and I must not delay in performing it.\"\n\nThe young fellow did not notice the deadly pallor that spread over his\nparent's face as he uttered these words.  He did not know that they\nproduced a feeling of despair in the heart of his mother, for she now\nfelt that she had come to the end of her life.  She was a true and\nnoble woman, with a high ideal of what a woman's life ought to be, and\nshe dared not face the opinion of the world when it was discovered that\nshe had lived as a man, and for many years had freely mingled with men.\nShe had violated the laws of etiquette which regulate the conduct of\nwomen in every grade of society, and now the only thing left for her to\ndo was to die.\n\nNext morning, at sunrise, when the son entered his father's room, as\nwas his daily custom, he found him lying upon his bed, dead, but\nmarvellous to say, dressed in a woman's clothes.  That the death was\nnot accidental could be seen at a glance.  The body lay prepared as if\nfor a funeral.  The clothes and the dressing of the hair, and the other\nminute details necessary in laying out a body for burial, had all been\nattended to.  No outside hands need touch her, and no curious or\nunsympathetic eyes be gratified by peering too deeply into the mystery\nof her life.\n\nThe story spread with wonderful rapidity from the suburbs into the\ncity.  There it was discussed in every home, gentle and simple.  The\nuniversal feeling was one of intense admiration for the devotion and\nheroism which had caused the mother to sacrifice her life for her son,\nand the mandarins and scholars petitioned the Emperor to issue an edict\npermitting an arch to be erected in order that the memory of such a\nnoble woman should be kept alive for ever.\n\nThis petition was granted; and it was decided that the inscription to\nbe carved upon the arch should consist simply of these words: \"THE\nWONDERFUL MAN.\"\n\n\n\n\nVIII\n\nTHE GOD OF THE CITY\n\nOne evening in the distant past a fisherman anchored his boat near the\nbank of a stream which flowed close by a great city, whose walls could\nbe seen rising grey and rugged in the near distance.  The sound of life\nfell upon his ear and kept him from feeling lonely.  Coolies, with\nbamboo carrying-poles on their shoulders, tired out with the heavy work\nof the day, hurried by afraid lest the darkness should overtake them\nbefore they reached their homes.  The bearers of sedan-chairs, which\nthey had carried for many a weary mile, strode by with quickened step\nand with an imperious shout at the foot passengers to get out of their\nway and not block up the narrow road by which they would gain the city\nwalls before the great gates were closed for the night.\n\nBy the time that the afterglow had died out of the sky and the distant\nhills were blotted out of the horizon, the fisherman had finished the\ncooking of his evening meal.  The rice sent a fragrant odour from the\nwide-mouthed pan in which it lay white and appetizing.  A few of the\nvery small fish he had caught in the river had been fried to a brown\nand savoury-looking colour, and he was just about to sit down and enjoy\nhis supper when, happening to look round, he saw a stranger sitting in\nthe after part of the boat.\n\nHe was greatly amazed and was about to express his surprise, when\nsomething about the appearance of this unexpected visitor kept him\nspell-bound.  For the stranger had a fine scholarly look about him, and\nthe air of a man belonging to a good family.  He had, moreover, a\nbenevolent, kindly face, which could not fail to win the confidence of\nanyone who gazed upon it.\n\nWhilst the fisherman was wondering who his visitor was and how he had\nmanaged to come so mysteriously into the boat, the stranger said:\n\"Allow me to explain who I am and to apologise for intruding on you\nwithout first having got your permission to do so.  I am the spirit of\na man who two years ago was drowned not very far from where your boat\nis now anchored.  Many attempts have I made to inveigle others into the\nriver, so that I might be free to leave the spot to which my miserable\nfate binds me until another unhappy wretch shall take my place.\"\n\nThe spirit of a drowned person is condemned to hover round the spot\nwhere his life was lost, until, either by accident or by the wiles of\nthe sufferer, someone else perishes in the water and thus takes the\nplace of the spirit, which then travels with lightning speed to the\nLand of Shadows.\n\n\"I was so dull this evening,\" continued the stranger, \"that I felt\nimpelled to come and have a chat with you for a short time.  So I hope\nyou will take my visit in good part, and allow me to sit in your boat\nuntil it is time for you to go to bed.\"\n\nThe fisherman, who was greatly taken with his courtly visitor,\nexpressed his great pleasure in receiving him, and invited him to share\nhis evening meal and to make himself quite at home for as long as he\nliked.\n\nAfter this the solitary spirit of the river used frequently to come and\nspend an evening with the fisherman, until quite a friendship sprang up\nbetween them.  One evening this ghostly visitor appeared with a face\ncovered with smiles and with a glad note of joy in his voice.  No\nsooner had he sat down than he said, \"This is the last evening I shall\nbe able to spend with you.  The long weary time of waiting is now\nnearly at an end, and to-morrow another victim to the river will give\nme my release and you will see me no more.\"\n\nNow, the fisherman was a deeply benevolent man, and he was most anxious\nto see what unhappy person was to be drowned on the morrow.  About\nmidday, as he was watching by the river-side, he saw a poor woman,\nweeping and sobbing, come rushing with hasty steps towards the water.\nHer hair was dishevelled, and her eyes red with tears, and frequent\ncries of sorrow burst from her lips.  Straight as an arrow she made for\nthe stream, and was just preparing to throw herself into it, when the\nfisherman in a loud and commanding voice told her to stop.\n\nHe then asked her what was the matter and what reason there was for her\nto sacrifice her life in the river.\n\n\"I am a most unhappy woman,\" she replied.  \"On my way home just now I\nwas waylaid by a footpad, who robbed me of some money that I was taking\nback to my husband.  This money was to pay a debt we owed to a man who\nthreatens us with the severest penalties if we do not give it to him\nto-day.  Far rather would I face death than see the sorrow which would\noverwhelm my husband if I told him my sorrowful story.\"\n\nHaving asked her how much money had been taken from her, the fisherman\npresented the woman with the exact amount, and soon she was proceeding\nwith joyful footsteps in the direction of her home.\n\nThat same evening the fisherman was again visited by the spirit who had\nbidden him an eternal farewell the previous evening.\n\n\"What did you mean,\" asked the visitor, \"by depriving me of the one\nchance I had of gaining my freedom?\"\n\n\"I could not bear to see the sorrow of the poor woman,\" replied the\nfisherman, \"nor to think of the tragedy to her home had she perished in\nthe stream, and so I saved her.\"  With eloquent lips he proceeded to\ndescribe the beauty of benevolence, and urged upon his guest the nobler\ncourse of trying to save life even at the expense of his own happiness.\nIn the end the latter was so deeply moved that he promised never again\nto make any attempt to gain his liberty through another's death, even\nthough this should mean that he would have to spend long ages of misery\nin the fatal stream.\n\nYears went by, and yet for the imprisoned spirit there came no release.\nCases of suicide or accidental drowning in the flowing stream ceased\naltogether.  Many a life that would have perished was saved from\ndestruction by mysterious warnings which came from the sullen water,\nand which terrified away the would-be suicides as they were about to\nhurl themselves into it.\n\nAt length Kwan-yin, the Goddess of Mercy, moved by the sight of such a\ngenerous sacrifice of self in order to save the souls of unfortunate\npeople who had become weary of life, released this noble spirit from\nits watery prison.  Moreover, as she felt convinced that such a man\ncould safely be entrusted with the destinies of those who might appear\nbefore his tribunal, she made him a god and decreed that temples should\nbe erected to him in every town and city of the Empire, so that all who\nwere suffering wrong or injustice could have their causes righted at\nthe shrine of one who had shown such profound devotion and sympathy for\nothers in distress.\n\nSuch is the story of the God of the City.\n\nSince he is regarded as the representative of the dread ruler of the\nLand of Shadows, his temple has been erected very much in the same\nstyle as the courts of the Mandarins.  Its main entrance is large and\nimposing, and the great gates suggest those of the yamen of some high\nofficial.\n\nWithin these is an immense courtyard, paved with slabs of granite, and\non each side of this there are six life-size statues of the \"runners,\"\nor policemen, of the god, who stand ready to carry out his decisions,\nand to pursue and capture by invisible and mysterious processes those\nwhom he has condemned as guilty.  The faces of these figures are\ndistorted by passion, and their attitudes are such as men might be\nconceived to assume in apprehending some notorious criminal whom Yam-lo\nhad ordered to be seized.\n\nAt the end of this spacious courtyard is the shrine of the god, but he\nis so hidden behind a yellow curtain that it is impossible to catch a\nglimpse of his image.  In front of him are statues of his two\nsecretaries, who, with huge pens in their hands, stand ready day and\nnight to take down the petitions and indictments laid before the god by\nthose who are in sorrow or who are suffering wrong.\n\nOne afternoon the peace of such a temple was suddenly disturbed by a\nnoisy clamour outside, and the sound of hurried footsteps as of a crowd\nrushing through the main gates.  Two men advanced with rapid, excited\nstrides straight past the demon policeman at the door, who seemed to\nscowl with added ferocity as they gazed at the actors in a scene with\nwhich they would have much to do by-and-by.\n\nThe two men were quite young, a little over twenty; and behind them\nfollowed a string of idlers and loafers and street arabs, who seem to\nspring up like magic when anything unusual happens.  One of the young\nmen was slightly ahead of the crowd.  His face was flushed and his\nblack eyes sparkled with excitement, whilst in his left hand he carried\na large white cock.  He was the complainant, and his purpose in coming\nto the temple was to appeal to the god to vindicate his honour.\n\nHe took his stand in front of the idol, and the secretaries, with pens\nin their hands, seemed to put on a strained look of attention as the\nyoung fellow produced a roll of paper and began to read the statement\nhe had drawn up.  It was diffuse and wordy, as most of such documents\nare, but the main facts were quite plain.\n\nThe two young men were assistants in a shop in the city.  Some little\ntime before, the master of the shop, without telling either of them,\nconcealed in a chosen place a sum of one hundred dollars, which he\nwished to have in readiness in order to pay for certain goods he had\npurchased.  The previous day, when he went to get the money on the\npresentation of the bill, he found to his horror that it had\ndisappeared.  He had told no one of this secret hoard, not even his\nwife; and therefore he felt convinced that in some way or other one of\nhis two assistants had discovered his hiding-place.  For some reason\nhis suspicions became aroused against the man who was now detailing his\ngrievances, and who was appealing to the god to set in motion all the\ntremendous forces at his command, not only to proclaim his innocence\nbut also to bring condign punishment on the real culprit.\n\nThe scene was a weird and fascinating one, and became most exciting as\nthe young man neared the end of his appeal.  He called upon the god to\nhurl all the pains and penalties in his unseen armoury against the man\nwho had really stolen the money.\n\n\"Let his life be one long torture,\" he cried with uplifted hands.  \"May\nevery enterprise in which he engages end in disaster; may his father\nand mother die, and let him be left desolate; may a subtle and\nincurable disease lay its grip upon him; may misfortune pursue him in\nevery shape and form; may he become a beggar with ulcered legs and sit\non the roadside and beseech the passers-by, in sunshine and in storm,\nfor a few cash that will just help to keep him alive; may he never have\na son to perpetuate his name or to make offerings to his spirit in the\nLand of Shadows; may madness seize upon him so that his reason shall\nfly and he shall be a source of terror to his fellow-men; and finally,\nmay a tragic and horrible death bring his life to a sudden end, even as\nI bring to an end the life of this white cock that I have brought with\nme.\"\n\nAs he uttered these last words he grasped a chopper, and with one sharp\nand vicious blow cut off the head of the struggling animal, which\nwildly fluttered its wings in the agonies of death, whilst its\nlife-blood poured out in a stream on the ground.\n\nHe then took his petition, and advancing close up to the secretaries,\nwho seemed for the moment to gaze down upon him with a look of sympathy\non their faces, he set fire to it and burned it to ashes.  In this way\nit passed into the hands of the god, who would speedily set in motion\nunseen machinery to bring down upon the head of the guilty one the\njudgments which had just been invoked.\n\nThe sympathies of the crowd were with the man who had sworn a solemn\noath that he was innocent of the theft.  The other young fellow, who\nhad said little or nothing during the proceedings, was believed to be\nthe real culprit, but there was no evidence upon which he could be\nconvicted.  The god knew, however, and every one was satisfied that in\ndue time punishment would descend upon the transgressor.\n\nIn a few minutes the temple resumed its normal aspect, for with the\ndisappearance of the two principal actors in the scene, the idlers from\nthe street slowly dispersed, each one loudly expressing his opinion as\nto the merits of the question in dispute.  With the dissolving of the\ncrowd, it would have seemed to the casual observer that no further\nproceedings were to be taken in the matter.  The god's face wore its\nusually placid look, unmoved by the shifting panorama of human life\nwhich ebbed and flowed in front of him from morning till night.  The\nghastly-looking policemen, with their grinning visages and ferocious\nscowls and contorted bodies, remained in the same unchanging postures\nby the main entrance.\n\nA week or two had gone by since the appeal had been made to the god,\nwhen those who were following the case and were looking out for some\ngrim evidence that the god was at work in bringing retribution on the\nman whom everyone suspected of being the thief, were startled by a\nheartrending catastrophe.\n\nThis man had a sister, just bursting into womanhood, who was the very\nlight of her home.  Her merry laugh could be heard throughout the day,\nso that sadness could not long abide in the same house.  Her face, too,\nseemed to have been formed to match her sunny smiles, and was a\nconstant inspiration that never failed to give those who looked upon it\na brighter view of life.\n\nOne morning she went down to the river-bank with several of her\nneighbours to do the household washing.  The stream was strong and\nrapid in the centre, but the place which these women had selected for\ntheir work had always been considered perfectly safe, for it was\noutside the current and no accident had ever happened there.\n\nThey had finished all that they had purposed to do, and were ascending\nthe bank to return home, when they heard an agonized cry and turning\nswiftly round they perceived that this young girl had stumbled and\nfallen into the river.  They were so horrified at the accident that\nthey lost all presence of mind and allowed the fast-flowing stream to\nget a grip of her and drag her into the current.  When help at last\ncame, her body could just be seen floating on the troubled waters, and\nbefore a boat could be launched it had disappeared in the waves of the\nsea which tumbled and roared about a quarter of a mile further down.\n\nThis terrible disaster, which brought unutterable gloom and sorrow upon\nthe home, was unquestionably the work of the god.  With bated breath\npeople talked of the tragic end of this beautiful girl, who had won her\nway into the hearts of all who knew her; but they recognized that her\ndeath had been caused by no mere accident, but by the mysterious power\nof the invisible forces which are always at work to bring punishment\nupon those who have violated the Righteousness of Heaven.\n\nAbout a month after this calamity, the monsoon rains began to fall.\nThe clouds gathered in dense masses upon the neighbouring hills, and\npoured down such copious showers that the mountain streams were turned\ninto roaring avalanches, tearing their way down to the sea with an\nimpetuosity that nothing could resist.\n\nOne of these streams, which used to run by the side of the ancestral\nproperty of the family of the man who was believed to have stolen the\nhundred dollars, overflowed its banks and rushing along with mad and\nheadlong speed it swept away their fields, so that when the rains\nceased not a trace of them was to be found, but only sand and gravel,\nfrom which no crop could ever be gathered in the future.  The\nconsequence was that the family was utterly ruined.\n\nThis second disaster falling on the homestead was a clear indication to\neveryone who knew the story of the stolen money that the god was still\nat work in bringing retribution on the sinner.  The fact that other\nfarms had come out of the flood undamaged was proof positive of this.\n\nFrom this time, too, the young man who really was the culprit began to\nbe troubled in his mind because of the calamities that had fallen on\nhis family.  The death of his sister by drowning, and the utter\ndestruction of his home by the flood, which had injured no other farmer\nin the neighbourhood, were plain indications that the curses which his\nfalsely accused fellow-assistant had prayed the god to bring down on\nthe head of the guilty party were indeed coming fast and thick upon him.\n\nA dread of coming evil took possession of him, and this so preyed upon\nhis mind that he began to lose his reason.  He would go about muttering\nto himself, and declaring that he saw devils.  These fits grew upon\nhim, until at last he became raving mad, and had to be seized and bound\nwith ropes to prevent him doing injury to himself or to others.  At\ntimes he suffered from violent spasms of mania, while at others, again,\nthough undoubtedly insane, he was quiet and subdued.  He would then\ntalk incessantly to himself, and bemoan the sad fact that the dread God\nof the City was sending evil spirits to torment him because he had\npurloined the hundred dollars belonging to his master.\n\nBy-and-by these random confessions attracted the attention of his\nheart-broken father, who used to sit watching by his side, and they\nbecame so frequent and so circumstantial, describing even where the\nmoney had been hidden, that at last he determined to examine into the\nmatter.  Investigations were made, and the whole sum was found in the\nvery place which the young man had mentioned in his delirium, and was\nat once returned to the shopkeeper.\n\nAs the money had been given back, and the father and mother were\ndependent upon their only son to provide for them in their old age, the\nman who had entered the accusation before the god was entreated again\nto appear before him in his temple and withdraw the charges that he had\npreviously made against his fellow-assistant.  Only in this formal and\nlegal way could the god have official knowledge of the fact that\nreparation had been made for the offence which had been committed; and\nif this were not done he would still continue to send sorrow after\nsorrow until the whole family were involved in absolute ruin or death.\n\nOut of pity for the old couple the other young man consented to take\nthe necessary steps.  He accordingly presented a petition to the god,\nstating that he wished to withdraw the accusation which he had made\nagainst a certain man who had been suspected of theft.  The stolen\nmoney had been returned to its owner, and the god was now besought to\nstay all further proceedings and forgive the culprit for the wrong he\nhad done.\n\nIt was evident that this petition was granted, for at once the young\nman began to recover, and soon all signs of madness left him.  He had,\nhowever, learned a lesson which he never forgot; and as long as he\nlived he never committed another offence such as the theft which had\nbrought such serious consequences upon himself and his family.\n\n\n\n\nIX\n\nTHE TRAGEDY OF THE YIN FAMILY\n\nIn a certain district in one of the central provinces of China, there\nlived a man of the name of Yin.  He was possessed of considerable\nproperty, with a great ambition to become distinguished in life.  The\none desire of his heart, which seemed to master every other, was that\nhis family should become an aristocratic one.\n\nSo far as he knew, none of his immediate predecessors had ever been a\nconspicuous scholar, or had gained any honour in the great triennial\nexaminations.  The result was that his family was a plebeian one, from\nwhich no mandarin had ever sprung.  In what way, then, could he secure\nthat the fame and dignities, which had come to some of the clans in the\nregion in which he lived, should descend upon his home and upon his\ngrandsons?\n\nHe was a rich man, it is true, but he was entirely illiterate, and all\nhis money had been made in trade.  As a lad his education had been\nneglected, for his early life had been spent in the mere struggle for\nexistence.  He had been more than successful, but the honours of the\nstudent never could be his, and never could he act as one of the\nofficials of the Empire.  It occurred to him, however, that though it\nwas impossible that he himself should ever be classed amongst the great\nscholars of China, his sons and grandsons might be so honoured.  In\nthat case the glory of their success would be reflected upon him, and\nmen would talk of him as the head of a family which had become\ndistinguished for scholarship and high dignities in the State.\n\nHe finally came to the conclusion that the most effectual way of\naccomplishing this was to secure a lucky burying-ground in which he\ncould lay the bodies of his father and his grandfather, who had\ndeparted this life some years before.  The universal belief that in\nsome mysterious way the dead have the power of showering down wealth\nand honours and prosperity upon the surviving members of their\nfamilies, was held most tenaciously by Mr. Yin.  This belief pointed\nout to him how he could emerge from the common and dreary road along\nwhich his ancestors had travelled, into the one where royal favours and\nofficial distinction would mark out his posterity in the future.\n\nAs he had retired from business, he was able to spend nearly the whole\nof his time in searching the country for the spots where certain unseen\nforces are supposed to collect with such dominant and overmastering\npower that the body of any person laid to rest amongst them will be\nfound to dispense untold riches and dignities upon his nearest\nrelatives.  Accordingly, attended by a professor of the art, whose\nstudy of this intricate science enable him to detect at a glance the\nplaces which fulfilled the required conditions, Yin made frequent\nexcursions in the regions around his home.\n\nThe valleys through which the streams ran, and where the sound of the\nrunning waters could be heard day and night as they sang their way to\nthe sea, were all explored.  Wherever water and hills were to be found\nin a happy conjunction, there these two men were to be seen peering\nover the ground, and with the aid of a compass which the professor\ncarried with him in a cloth bag, marking whether the lines upon which\nthey ran indicated that the mysterious Dragon had his residence beneath.\n\nInnumerable places were carefully examined, and whilst some of them\nwould have been admirably suited for a person of ordinary ambition,\nthey did not satisfy the large expectations for the future which were\ncherished by Mr. Yin.  The rising knolls and winding streams and\nfar-off views of hills lying in the mist-like distance, showed perhaps\nthat moderate prosperity would be the lot of those whose kindred might\nbe buried there; but there were no signs of pre\u0106\u00abminence in scholarship,\nor of mandarins riding on horseback or in sedan-chairs, with great\nretinues attending them, as they proceeded in haughty dignity through\nthe streets of the city in which they lived as rulers.  Such places\nwere therefore rejected as unsuitable.\n\nDays and months went by in this search for a spot with which the\nfortunes of the Yin family were to be linked for many generations yet\nto come; but every place failed in some one or two particulars which\nwould have marred the splendid prospect that ambition had pictured\nbefore the vision of this wealthy man.\n\nAt last, as they were sauntering along one day with eyes keen and\nalert, they stayed for a moment to rest on the top of a low hill which\nthey had just ascended.  Hardly had they cast a rapid glance over the\nbeautiful scenery that lay stretched out before them, before the\nprofessor, with flashing eyes and unusual enthusiasm, exclaimed with\nexcitement in his voice, \"See! this is the very place we have been\nlooking for all these days!\n\n\"No more suitable spot could have been found in the whole of China than\nthis.  We stand, as it were, in the centre of a great amphitheatre in\nwhich have been gathered the finest forces of Fung-Shuy.  Behind us the\nhill rises in a graceful semi-circular form to shield the spot, where\nthe dead shall lie buried, from the northern blasts, and from the\nfierce and malignant spirits that come flying on the wings of the great\ngales which blow with the touch of the ice and snow in them.\n\n\"On the plain in front of us, scattered over its surface, are gentle\nrisings showing where the Dragon lies reposing, waiting to dispense its\nfavours to all who come within its magic influence.  And then, behold\nhow the river winds in and out, seemingly unwilling to leave a place\nwhere unseen influences are at work to enrich the homes and gladden the\nhearts of the men and women of this region.  See how it flows out with\na hasty rush towards the sea beyond, and how it threads its way round\nyonder cape and is lost to view.  Then mark again how it would seem as\nthough some force it could not control had swung it round in its\ncourse, for it winds back upon the plain with gleaming eyes and joyous\nlooks as if it were glad to return once more towards the distant\nmountains from whence it took its rise.\n\n\"The meaning of all this is,\" he continued, \"that the prosperity, which\nthe Dragon will bestow upon the living through the ministry of the dead\nlying within its domain, shall not soon pass away, but like the river\nthat we see meandering before us, shall stay and comfort for many a\nlong year those to whom it has been granted.\n\n\"That riches will come is certain, and official rank, and honours as\nwell; for cast your eyes upon yonder ridge gleaming in the morning sun,\nand note the figure which rises up distinct and well-defined from its\nsummit.  It is simply a rock, it is true, but mark well its contour and\nyou will note how the outline grows upon your vision until it assumes\nthe form of a mandarin in full official robes standing with his face\ntowards us.\n\n\"I would strongly advise you,\" concluded the professor, \"to secure this\nplot of land on which we stand, whatever it may cost you, for every\nambition that has ever filled your soul shall in time be satisfied by\nthe wealth and honours which not only the Dragon but all his attendant\nspirits shall combine to pour into your home.\"\n\nYin was entranced with the prospect which was pictured before him in\nsuch glowing language by the man at his side, and he heartily agreed\nwith the proposal that he should stay his search and purchase the\nground on which they were standing as a cemetery for his family.\n\nJust at this moment a man came sauntering along to see what these two\nstrangers were doing in this out-of-the-way place, to which no road ran\nand from which no by-paths led to the villages beyond.\n\n\"Can you tell me, my man,\" asked Yin, \"to whom this piece of land\nbelongs?\"\n\n\"Yes, I can easily do that,\" he replied.  \"Do you see that\ndilapidated-looking cottage down by the riverside?  Well, it is\noccupied by a man named Lin, together with his wife and a daughter\nabout nineteen years of age.  They are exceedingly poor, as you can see\nby their house.  The only property Lin possesses is this plot of\nground, which has come down to him from his forefathers, and which he\nhopes one day to dispose of to some well-to-do person as a\nburying-ground that may bring him good luck.\"\n\n\"I am very willing to buy the land, if I can only get it at a\nreasonable price,\" replied Yin, \"and I shall be glad if you will\nconsent to act as middleman and negotiate the matter for me.  You might\ngo at once and see Lin, and find out what are the terms upon which he\nis willing to transfer the property to me.\"\n\nOn the morrow the middle-man returned and reported to Yin that Lin\nwould on no consideration consent to let him have the ground.  \"The\nfact is,\" he continued, \"that Lin has a settled purpose in his mind\nwith which this particular plot of land has a good deal to do.  He and\nhis wife are getting on in years, and when the daughter is married off\nhe is afraid that his branch of the family will become extinct; so he\nplans to get a husband for her who will come into the home and act the\npart of a son as well as that of son-in-law.\"\n\nSo determined, however, was Yin to gain possession of this particular\npiece of land that after considerable negotiations during which it\nseemed as though the old father would never be moved from his settled\npurpose, it was finally agreed that his daughter should be married to\nYin's eldest son, Shung, and that her father and mother should remove\nto rooms in Yin's family mansion, where they should be maintained by\nhim in ease and comfort as long as they lived.  Had Yin been a\nlarge-hearted and generous person, this plan would have been an ideal\none, but seeing that he was by nature a stingy, money-grubbing\nindividual, it was attended with the most tragic results.\n\nNo sooner had the deeds of the coveted plot of ground been passed over\nto him than Yin had the body of his father, who had been buried in a\nplace far removed from the influence of the Dragon, transferred to this\nnew location, where he would be in touch with the higher spirits of the\nUnderworld.  Here, also, he could catch the eye of the mandarin, who\nday and night would have his face turned towards him, and who from the\nvery fact of the sympathy that would grow up between them, must in time\ngive him the mysterious power of turning his grandsons, and their sons\nafter them, into scholars, who would obtain high positions in the\nservice of the State.\n\nIn the meanwhile preparations were being made for the marriage of the\nyoung maiden of low degree to a man in a much higher social position\nthan she could ever have aspired to in the ordinary course of events.\nPearl was a sweet, comely-looking damsel, who would have made a model\nwife to one of her own station in life, but who was utterly unsuited\nfor the new dignity which would be thrust upon her as soon as she\ncrossed the threshold of the wealthy family of Yin.  She was simply a\npeasant girl, without education and without refinement.  Her days had\nbeen passed amidst scenes of poverty, and though she was a thoroughly\ngood girl, with the high ideals that the commonest people in China\neverywhere have, her proper position was after all amongst the kind of\npeople with whom she had lived all her life.\n\nHer father and mother had indeed all along been doubtful about the\npropriety of marrying their daughter into a family so much above them\nas the Yins, and for a long time they had stood out against all the\narguments in favour of it.  Finally, overborne by the impetuosity of\nYin, and dazzled with the prospects which such an alliance offered not\nonly to the girl herself but also to themselves by the agreement to\nkeep them in comfort for the rest of their lives, they had given an\nunwilling consent.\n\nIn order that Pearl should suffer as little disgrace as possible when\nshe appeared amongst her new relations, her father sold all his\navailable belongings in order to procure suitable wedding-garments for\nher.  His idea, however, of the fitness of things had been gathered\nfrom the humble surroundings in which he had lived all his days, and\nthe silks and satins and expensive jewellery that adorn the brides of\nthe wealthy had never come within the vision of his dreams.  Still\nPearl was a pretty girl, and with her piercing black eyes which always\nseemed to be suffused with laughter, and with a smile which looked like\na flash from a summer sky, she needed but little adornment, and would\nhave won the heart of any man who had the soul to appreciate a true\nwoman when he saw one.\n\nAt last the day came, hurried on by the eager desire of Yin to have the\nwhole thing settled, when the humble home was to be given up and its\ninmates transferred to the rich house that lay just over a neighbouring\nhill.\n\nA magnificent bridal chair, whose brilliant crimson colour made it a\nconspicuous object on the grey landscape, wound its way towards the\ncottage where the bride was attired all ready to step into it the\nmoment it appeared at the door.\n\nIn front of it there marched a band, making the country-side resound\nwith weird notes which seemed to fly on the air with defiance in their\ntones, and to send their echoes mounting to the tops of the hills and\npiercing down into the silent valleys.  There were also crowds of\nretainers and dependants of the wealthy man.  These were dressed in\nsemi-official robes, and flocked along with smiling faces and joyous\nshouts.  The occasion was a festal one, and visions of rare dishes and\nof generous feasting, kept up for several days, filled the minds of the\nhappy procession as it went to meet the bride.\n\nThe return of the party was still more boisterous in its merriment.\nThe members of the band seemed inspired by the occasion and sent forth\nlusty strains, whilst the instruments, as if aware how much depended\nupon them, responded to the efforts of the performers and filled the\nair with joyful notes.\n\nA distinguished company had assembled to receive the bride, as she was\nled by her husband from the crimson chair and advanced with timid steps\nand faltering heart into the room that had been prepared for her\nreception.  As she entered the house something in the air struck a\nchill into her heart and caused the hopes of happiness, which she had\nbeen cherishing, to die an almost instant death.\n\nShung, her husband, was a man of ignoble mind, and had always objected\nto marrying a woman so far beneath him.  The sight of his bride, with\nher rustic air, and the ill-made commonplace-looking clothes in which\nshe was dressed, made his face burn with shame, for he knew that a\nsneer was lurking on the face of everyone who had gathered to have a\nlook at her.\n\nA profound feeling of hatred entered his narrow soul, and as the days\nwent by the one purpose of his life was to humiliate this\nsweet-tempered woman, who had been sacrificed simply to further the\nambitious schemes of her designing father-in-law, Mr. Yin.  For a few\nweeks he simply ignored her, but by degrees he treated her so cruelly\nthat many a time she had serious thoughts of putting an end to her\nlife.  It soon turned out that a systematic attempt was being made by\nboth father and son to get rid of the whole family.\n\nThe old father and mother, whom Yin had agreed to provide for during\nthe rest of their lives, found things so intolerable that they\nvoluntarily left the miserable quarters assigned to them and returned\nto their empty cottage.  Every stick of furniture had been sold in\norder to buy their daughter's wedding garments, so that when they\nreached their old home they found absolutely nothing in it.  With a few\nbundles of straw they made up a bed on the floor, but there was no food\nto eat, and not a single thing to comfort them in this their hour of\ndarkest misery.\n\nSorrow for their daughter, and disappointment and anguish of heart at\nthe thought of how they had been tricked and cheated by Mr. Yin in\norder that he might gain possession of their bit of land, so told upon\ntheir spirits that they both fell ill of a low fever, which laid them\nprostrate on their bed of straw.  As they lived remote from other\npeople, for some time no one knew that they were sick.  Days went by\nwithout anyone visiting them, and when at last one kindly-hearted\nfarmer came to make enquiries, he found to his horror that both husband\nand wife lay dead, side by side, in their miserable cabin.\n\nThe news of their death produced the greatest pleasure in the mind of\nthe wretched man who was really the cause of it.  He was now freed from\nthe compact compelling him to provide for them during their life, and\nso there would be an actual saving of the money which he would have had\nto spend in providing them with food and clothing.  A cruel, wintry\nsmile lingered on his hard face for several days after the poor old\ncouple had been lain to rest on the hillside near their cottage, and\nthis was the only look of mourning his features ever assumed.\n\nFrom this time Pearl's life became more and more of a burden to her.\nLove, the one element which would have filled her heart with happiness,\nwas the one thing that was never offered her.  Instead of affection\nthere were cruel, cutting words and scornful looks and heavy blows--all\nthese were plentifully bestowed upon her by the soulless man who was\ncalled her husband.\n\nAt length, to show his utter contempt and abhorrence of her, he\narranged with the connivance of his father to bring a concubine into\nhis home.  This lady came from a comparatively good family, and was\ninduced to take this secondary position because of the large sum of\nmoney that was paid to her father for her.  The misery of Pearl was\nonly intensified by her appearance on the scene.  Following the lead of\nher husband, and jealous of the higher position in the family that the\nlaw gave her rival, she took every means that a spiteful woman could\ndevise to make her life still more miserable.\n\nThe death of her parents had filled Pearl's heart with such intense\ngrief and sorrow that life had lost all its charm for her.  She saw,\nmoreover, from the sordid rejoicing that was openly made at their\ntragic end, that the Yins would never be satisfied until she too had\nfollowed them into the Land of Shadows.  She would therefore anticipate\nthe cruel purposes of her husband and his father, and so deliver\nherself from a persecution that would only cease with her death.  So\none midnight, when all the rest of the family were asleep, and nothing\nwas heard outside but the moaning of the wind which seemed as though it\nwas preparing to sing a requiem over her, she put an end to all her\nearthly troubles by hanging herself in her own room.\n\nWhen the body was found next day, suspended from a hook in one of the\nbeams, a great cry of delight was uttered by Yin and his son.  Without\nany violence on their part they had been set free from their alliance\nwith this low-class family, and at a very small cost they had obtained\nfirm possession of the land which was to enrich and ennoble their\ndescendants.\n\nAnd so whilst the poor girl lay dead, driven to an untimely end by\nspirits more fierce and malignant than any that were supposed to be\nflying with hatred in their hearts in the air around, smiles and\nlaughter and noisy congratulations were indulged in by the living\nghouls whose persecution had made this sweet-tempered woman's life\nunbearable.\n\nBut retribution was at hand.  Heaven moves slowly in the punishment of\nthe wicked, but its footsteps are sure and they travel irresistibly\nalong the road that leads to vengeance on the wrongdoer.\n\nOne dark night, when the sky was overcast and neither moon nor stars\nwere to be seen, and a storm of unusual violence was filling the air\nwith a tumult of fierce and angry meanings, a weird and gruesome scene\nwas enacted at the grave where the father of Yin had been buried.\nHideous sounds of wailing and shrieking could be heard, as though all\nthe demons of the infernal regions had assembled there to hold a night\nof carnival.  Louder than the storm, the cries penetrated through the\nshrillest blasts, and people in their homes far away were wakened out\nof their sleep by the unearthly yells which froze their blood with\nterror.  At last a thunderbolt rolled from the darkened heavens, louder\nthan ever mortal man had heard.  The lightnings flashed, and\nconcentrating all their force upon the grave just where the coffin lay,\nthey tore up a huge chasm in the earth, and gripping the coffin within\ntheir fiery fingers, they tossed it with disdain upon a hillside a mile\naway.\n\nAfter a long search, Yin discovered it next day in the lonely spot\nwhere it had been cast, and was returning to make arrangements for its\ninterment, when in a lonely part of the road two unearthly figures\nsuddenly rose up before him.  These, to his horror, he recognized as\nthe spirits of Pearl's father and mother who had practically been done\nto death by him, and whom Yam-lo had allowed to revisit the earth in\norder to plague the man who was the author of their destruction.  So\nterrified was Yin at their wild and threatening aspect, that he fell to\nthe ground in a swoon, and thus he was found, hours afterwards, by his\nson, who had come out in search of him.\n\nFor several days he was tended with the greatest care, and the most\nfamous physicians were called in to prescribe for him.  He never\nrallied, however, and there was always a vague and haunted look in his\neyes, as though he saw some terrible vision which frightened away his\nreasoning powers and prevented him from regaining consciousness.  In\nthis condition he died, without a look of recognition for those he\nloved, and without a word of explanation as to the cause of this tragic\nconclusion of a life that was still in its prime.\n\nThe eldest son was now master of his father's wealth; but instead of\nlearning a lesson from the terrible judgment which had fallen on his\nhome because of the injustice and wrong that had been committed on an\ninnocent family, he only became more hard-hearted in his treatment of\nthose who were within his power.  He never dreamed of making any\nreparation for the acts of cruelty by which he had driven his wife to\nhang herself in order to escape his tyranny.  But the steps of Fate\nwere still moving on towards him.  Leaden-footed they might be and\nslow, but with unerring certainty they were travelling steadily on to\ncarry out the vengeance of the gods.\n\nBy-and-by the room in which Pearl had died became haunted.  Her\nspectral figure could be seen in the gloaming, flitting about and\npeering out of the door with a look of agony on her face.  Sometimes\nshe would be seen in the early dawn, restless and agitated, as though\nshe had been wandering up and down the whole night; and again she would\nflit about in the moonlight and creep into the shadow of the houses,\nbut always with a ghost of the old look that had made her face so\nwinning and so charming when she was alive.\n\nWhen it was realized that it was her spirit which was haunting the\nhouse, the greatest alarm and terror were evinced by every one in it.\nThere is nothing more terrible than the appearance of the spirits of\nthose who have been wronged, for they always come with some vengeful\npurpose.  No matter how loving the persons themselves may have been in\nlife, with death their whole nature changes and they are filled with\nthe most passionate desire to inflict injury and especially death upon\nthe object of their hatred.\n\nThe course of ill-usage which her husband Shung had cruelly adopted in\norder to drive Pearl to commit suicide was known to every one, and that\nshe should now appear to wreak vengeance on him was not considered at\nall wonderful; but still every one was mortally afraid lest they should\nbecome involved in the punishment that was sure to be meted out.\n\nAs the ghost continued to linger about and showed no signs of\ndisappearing, Shung was at last seized with apprehension lest some\ncalamity was about to fall upon his house.  In order to protect himself\nfrom any unexpected attack from the spirit that wandered and fluttered\nabout in the darkest and most retired rooms in his home, he provided\nhimself with a sword which he had ground down to a very sharp edge and\nwhich he carried in his hand ready uplifted to lunge at Pearl should\nshe dare to attack him.\n\nOne evening, unaware that his concubine was sitting in a certain room\non which the shadows had thickly fallen, he was entering it for some\npurpose, when the spirit of his late wife gripped his hand with an\novermastering force which he felt himself unable to resist, and forced\nhim to strike repeated blows against the poor defenceless woman.  Not\nmore than a dozen of these had been given before she was lying\nsenseless on the ground, breathing out her life from the gaping wounds\nthrough which her life-blood was flowing in streams.\n\nWhen the grip of the ghost had relaxed its hold upon him and he felt\nhimself free to look at what he had done, Shung was horrified beyond\nmeasure as he gazed with staring eyes upon the dreadful sight before\nhim, and realized the judgment that had come upon him for the wrongs he\nhad done to Pearl and her family.\n\nAs soon as the news of the murder of the woman was carried to her\nfather, he entered a complaint before the nearest mandarin, who issued\na warrant for Shung's apprehension.  At his trial he attempted to\ndefend himself by declaring that it was not he who had killed his\nconcubine, but an evil spirit which had caught hold of his arm and had\ndirected the blows that had caused her death.\n\nThe magistrate smiled at this extraordinary defence, and said that\nShung must consider him a great fool if he thought for a moment that he\nwould be willing to accept such a ridiculous excuse for the dreadful\ncrime he had committed.\n\nAs Shung was a wealthy man and had the means of bribing the\nunder-officials in the yamen, his case was remanded in order to see how\nmuch money could be squeezed out of him before the final sentence was\ngiven.  The murder--apparently without reason or provocation--of a\nwoman who had been a member of a prominent family in society, produced\na widespread feeling of indignation, and public opinion was strong in\ncondemnation of Shung.  Every one felt that there ought to be exemplary\npunishment in his case; otherwise any man who had only money enough\nmight be able to defy all the great principles established by Heaven\nfor the government of society and for the prevention of crime.\n\nIn order to make it easy for Shung whilst he was in prison, his mother\nhad to spend large sums in bribing every one connected with the yamen.\nNever before had such an opportunity for reaping a golden harvest been\npresented to the avaricious minions entrusted by the Emperor with the\nadministration of justice amongst his subjects.  In her anxiety for her\nson the poor woman sold field after field to find funds wherewith to\nmeet the demands of these greedy officials.  Dark hints had simply to\nbe thrown out by some of these that Shung was in danger of his life,\nand fresh sales would be made to bribe the mandarin to be lenient in\nhis judgment of him.\n\nAt length the property had all been disposed of, and when it was known\nthat no further money could be obtained, sentence was given that Shung\nshould be imprisoned for life.  This was a cruel blow to his mother,\nwho had all along hoped that he might be released.  Full of sorrow and\nabsolutely penniless in a few weeks she died of a broken heart, whilst\nthe son, seeing nothing but a hopeless imprisonment before him,\ncommitted suicide and thus ended his worthless life.\n\nThis tragic extinction of a family, which only a short year before was\nin the highest state of prosperity, was accepted by every one who heard\nthe story as a just and righteous punishment from Heaven.  For Heaven\nis so careful of human life that any one who destroys it comes under\nthe inevitable law that he too shall in his turn be crushed under the\nwheels of avenging justice.\n\n\n\n\nX\n\nSAM-CHUNG AND THE WATER DEMON\n\nSam-chung was one of the most famous men in the history of the Buddhist\nChurch, and had distinguished himself by the earnestness and\nself-denial with which he had entered on the pursuit of eternal life.\nHis mind had been greatly exercised and distressed at the pains and\nsorrows which mankind were apparently doomed to endure.  Even those,\nhowever, terrible as they were, he could have managed to tolerate had\nthey not ended, in the case of every human being, in the crowning\ncalamity which comes upon all at the close of life.\n\nDeath was the great mystery which cast its shadow on every human being.\nIt invaded every home.  The sage whose virtues and teachings were the\nmeans of uplifting countless generations of men came under its great\nlaw.  Men of infamous and abandoned character seemed often to outlive\nthe more virtuous of their fellow-beings; but they too, when the gods\nsaw fit, were hurried off without any ceremony.  Even the little ones,\nwho had never violated any of the laws of Heaven, came under this\nuniversal scourge; and many of them, who had only just commenced to\nlive were driven out into the Land of Shadows by this mysterious force\nwhich dominates all human life.\n\nAccordingly Sam-Chung wanted to be freed from the power of death, so\nthat its shadow should never darken his life in the years to come.\n\nAfter careful enquiry, and through friendly hints from men who, he had\nreason to believe, were fairies in disguise and had been sent by the\nGoddess of Mercy to help those who aspired after a higher life, he\nlearned that it was possible by the constant pursuit of virtue to\narrive at that stage of existence in which death would lose all its\npower to injure, and men should become immortal.  This boon of eternal\nlife could be won by every man or woman who was willing to pay the\nprice for so precious a gift.  It could be gained by great self-denial,\nby willingness to suffer, and especially by the exhibition of profound\nlove and sympathy for those who were in sorrow of any kind.  It\nappeared, indeed, that the one thing most imperatively demanded by the\ngods from those who aspired to enter their ranks was that they should\nbe possessed of a divine compassion, and that their supreme object\nshould be the succouring of distressed humanity.  Without this\ncompassion any personal sacrifice that might be made in the search for\nimmortality would be absolutely useless.\n\nSam-Chung was already conscious that he was a favourite of the gods,\nfor they had given him two companions, both with supernatural powers,\nto enable him to contend against the cunning schemes of the evil\nspirits, who are ever planning how to thwart and destroy those whose\nhearts are set upon higher things.\n\nOne day, accompanied by Chiau and Chu, the two attendants commissioned\nby the Goddess of Mercy to attend upon him, Sam-Chung started on his\nlong journey for the famous Tien-ho river, to cross which is the\nambition of every pilgrim on his way to the land of the Immortals.\nThey endured many weeks of painful travelling over high mountains and\nthrough deep valleys which lay in constant shadow, and across sandy\ndeserts where men perished of thirst or were struck down by the\nscorching heat of the sun, before they met any of the infernal foes\nthat they expected to be lying in wait for them.\n\nWeary and footsore, they at last arrived one evening on the shores of\nthe mighty Tien-ho, just as the sun was setting.  The glory of the\nclouds in the west streamed on to the waters of the river, and made\nthem sparkle with a beauty which seemed to our wearied travellers to\ntransform them into something more than earthly.  The river here was so\nwide that it looked like an inland sea.  There was no sign of land on\nthe distant horizon, nothing but one interminable vista of waters,\nstretching away as far as the eye could reach.\n\nOne thing, however, greatly disappointed Sam-Chung and his companions,\nand that was the absence of boats.  They had planned to engage one, and\nby travelling across the river during the night, they hoped to hurry on\ntheir way and at the same time to rest and refresh themselves after the\nfatigues they had been compelled to endure on their long land journey.\n\nIt now became a very serious question with them where they were to\nspend the night.  There was no sign of any human habitation round\nabout.  There was the sandy beach along which they were walking, and\nthere was the wide expanse of the river, on which the evening mists\nwere slowly gathering; but no appearance of life.  Just as they were\nwondering what course they should pursue, the faint sound of some\nmusical instruments came floating on the air and caught their ear.\nHastening forward in the direction from which the music came, they\nascended a piece of rising ground, from the top of which they were\ndelighted to see a village nestling on the hillside, and a small temple\nstanding on the very margin of the river.\n\nWith hearts overjoyed at the prospect of gaining some place where they\ncould lodge for the night, they hurried forward to the hamlet in front\nof them.  As they drew nearer, the sounds of music became louder and\nmore distinct.  They concluded that some festival was being observed,\nor that some happy gathering amongst the people had thrown them all\ninto a holiday mood.  Entering the village, they made their way to a\nhouse which stood out prominently from the rest, and which was better\nbuilt than any others they could see.  Besides, it was the one from\nwhich the music issued, and around its doors was gathered a number of\npeople who had evidently been attending some feast inside.\n\nAs the three travellers came up to the door, a venerable-looking old\nman came out to meet them.  Seeing that they were strangers, he\ncourteously invited them to enter; and on Sam-Chung asking whether they\ncould be entertained for the night, he assured them that there was\nample room for them in the house, and that he gladly welcomed them to\nbe his guests for as long as it was their pleasure to remain.\n\n\"In the meanwhile you must come in,\" he said, \"and have some food, for\nyou must be tired and hungry after travelling so far, and the tables\nare still covered with the good things which were prepared for the\nfeast to-day.\"\n\nAfter they had finished their meal, they began to talk to the old\ngentleman who was so kindly entertaining them.  They were greatly\npleased with his courtesy and with the hearty hospitality which he had\npressed upon them.  They noticed, however, that he was very\nabsent-minded, and looked as if some unpleasant thought lay heavy on\nhis heart.\n\n\"May I ask,\" said Sam-Chung, \"what was the reason for the great\ngathering here to-day?  There is no festival in the Chinese calendar\nfalling on this date, so I thought I would take the liberty of\nenquiring what occasion you were really commemorating.\"\n\n\"We were not commemorating anything,\" the old man replied with a grave\nface.  \"It was really a funeral service for two of my grand-children,\nwho, though they are not yet dead, will certainly disappear out of this\nlife before many hours have passed.\"\n\n\"But how can such a ceremony be performed over persons who are still\nalive?\" asked Sam-Chung with a look of wonder in his face.\n\n\"When I have explained the circumstances to you, you will then be no\nlonger surprised at this unusual service,\" replied the old man.\n\n\"You must know,\" he continued, \"that this region is under the control\nof a Demon of a most cruel and bloodthirsty disposition.  He is not\nlike the ordinary spirits, whose images are enshrined in our temples,\nand whose main aim is to protect and guard their worshippers.  This one\nhas no love for mankind, but on the contrary the bitterest hatred, and\nhis whole life seems to be occupied in scheming how he may inflict\nsorrow and disaster on them.  His greatest cruelty is to insist that\nevery year just about this time two children, one a boy and the other a\ngirl, shall be conveyed to his temple by the river side to be devoured\nby him.   Many attempts have been made to resist this barbarous demand,\nbut they have only resulted in increased suffering to those who have\ndared to oppose him.  The consequence is that the people submit to this\ncruel murder of their children, though many a heart is broken at the\nloss of those dearest to them.\"\n\n\"But is there any system by which the unfortunate people may get to\nknow when this terrible sacrifice is going to be demanded from them?\"\nasked Sam-Chung.\n\n\"Oh yes,\" replied the man.  \"The families are taken in rotation, and\nwhen each one's turn comes round, their children are prepared for the\nsacrifice.  Moreover, that there may be no mistake, the Demon himself\nappears in the home a few days before, and gives a threatening command\nto have the victims ready on such a date.  Only the day before\nyesterday, this summons came to us to have our children ready by\nto-morrow morning at break of day.  That is why we had a feast to-day,\nand performed the funeral rites for the dead, so that their spirits may\nnot be held under the control of this merciless Damon, but may in time\nbe permitted to issue from the Land of Shadows, and be born again under\nhappier circumstances into this world, which they are leaving under\nsuch tragic circumstances.\"\n\n\"But what is the Demon like?\" enquired Sam-Chung.\n\n\"Oh, no one can ever tell what he is like,\" said the man.  \"He has no\nbodily form that one can look upon.  His presence is known by a strong\nblast of wind which fills the place with a peculiar odour, and with an\ninfluence so subtle that you feel yourself within the grip of a\npowerful force, and instinctively bow your head as though you were in\nthe presence of a being who could destroy you in a moment were he so\ndisposed.\"\n\n\"One more question and I have finished,\" said Sam-Chung.  \"Where did\nthis Demon come from, and how is it that he has acquired such an\novermastering supremacy over the lives of men, that he seems able to\ndefy even Heaven itself, and all the great hosts of kindly gods who are\nworking for the salvation of mankind?\"\n\n\"This Demon,\" the man replied, \"was once an inhabitant of the Western\nHeaven, and under the direct control of the Goddess of Mercy.  He must,\nhowever, have been filled with evil devices and fiendish instincts from\nthe very beginning, for he seized the first opportunity to escape to\nearth, and to take up his residence in the grottoes and caverns that\nlie deep down beneath the waters of the Tien-ho.  Other spirits almost\nas bad as himself have also taken up their abode there, and they\ncombine their forces to bring calamity and disaster upon the people of\nthis region.\"\n\nSam-Chung, whose heart was filled with the tenderest feelings of\ncompassion for all living things, so much so that his name was a\nfamiliar one even amongst the Immortals in the far-off Western Heaven,\nfelt himself stirred by a mighty indignation when he thought of how\ninnocent childhood had been sacrificed to minister to the unnatural\npassion of this depraved Demon.  Chiau and Chu were as profoundly\nindignant as he, and a serious consultation ensued as to the best\nmethods to be adopted to save the little ones who were doomed to\ndestruction on the morrow, and at the same time to break the monster's\nrule so that it should cease for ever.\n\nChiau, who was the more daring of the two whom I the goddess had\ndeputed to protect Sam-Chung, at length cried out with flashing eyes,\n\"I will personate the boy, Chu shall act the girl, and together we will\nfight the Demon and overthrow and kill him, and so deliver the people\nfrom his dreadful tyranny.\"\n\nTurning to the old man, he said, \"Bring the children here so that we\nmay see them, and make our plans so perfect that the Demon with all his\ncunning will not be able to detect or frustrate them.\"\n\nIn a few moments the little ones were led in by their grandfather.  The\nboy was seven and the girl was one year older.  They were both of them\nnervous and shy, and clung timidly to the old man as if for protection.\n\nThey were very interesting-looking children.  The boy was a proud,\nbrave-spirited little fellow, as one could see by the poise of his head\nas he gazed at the strangers.  If anything could be predicted from his\nlooks, he would one day turn out to be a man of great power, for he had\nin his youthful face all the signs which promise a life out of the\ncommon.  The girl was a shy little thing, with her hair done up in a\nchildlike fashion that well became her.  She was a dainty little\nmortal.  Her eyes were almond-shaped, and with the coyness of her sex\nshe kept shooting out glances from the corners of them at the three men\nwho were looking at her.  Her cheeks were pale, with just a suspicion\nof colour painted into them by the deft hand of nature; whilst her lips\nhad been touched with the faintest dash of carmine, evidently just a\nmoment ago, before she left her mother's side.\n\n\"Now, my boy,\" said Chiau to the little fellow, \"keep your eyes fixed\non me, and never take them from me for a moment; and you, little\nsister,\" addressing the girl, \"do the same to the man next to me, and\nyou will see something that will make you both laugh.\"\n\nThe eyes of them both were at once riveted on the two men, and a look\nof amazement slowly crept into their faces.  And no wonder, for as they\ngazed they saw the two men rapidly changing, and becoming smaller and\nsmaller, until they were the exact size and image of themselves.  In\ntheir features and dress, and in every minute detail they were the\nprecise pattern of the children, who with staring eyes were held\nspellbound by the magic change which had taken place in front of them.\n\n\"Now,\" said Chiau to the old gentleman, \"the transformation is\ncomplete.  Take the children away and hide them in the remotest and\nmost inaccessible room that you have in your house.  Let them be seen\nby no chattering woman or servant who might divulge our secret, so that\nin some way or other it might reach the ears of the Demon, and put him\non his guard.  Remember that from this moment these little ones are not\nsupposed to exist, but that we are your grand-children who are to be\ntaken to the temple to-morrow morning at break of day.\"\n\nJust as the eastern sky showed the first touch of colour, two\nsedan-chairs were brought up to the door to carry the two victims away\nto be devoured by the Demon.  A few frightened-looking neighbours\npeered through the gloom to catch a last glimpse of the children, but\nnot one of them had the least suspicion that the boy and girl were\nreally fairies who were about to wage a deadly battle with the Demon in\norder to deliver them from the curse under which they lived.\n\nNo sooner had the children been put into the temple, where a dim\nrush-light did but serve to disclose the gloom, and the doors had been\nclosed with a bang, than the chair-bearers rushed away in fear for\ntheir very lives.\n\nAn instant afterwards a hideous, gigantic form emerged from an inner\nroom and advanced towards the children.  The Demon was surprised,\nhowever, to find that on this occasion the little victims did not\nexhibit any signs of alarm, as had always been the case hitherto, but\nseemed to be calmly awaiting his approach.  There was no symptom of\nfear about them, and not a cry of terror broke from their lips; but\nwith a fearless and composed mien they gazed upon him as he advanced.\n\nHesitating for a moment, as if to measure the foe which he began to\nfear might lie concealed beneath the figures of the boy and girl before\nhim, the Demon's great fiery eyes began to flash with deadly passion as\nhe saw the two little ones gradually expand in size, until they were\ntransformed into beings as powerful and as mighty as himself.  He knew\nat once that he had been outwitted, and that he must now battle for his\nvery life; so, drawing a sword which had always stood him in good\nstead, he rushed upon the two who faced him so calmly and with such\napparent confidence in themselves.\n\nChiau and Chu were all ready for the fray, and with weapons firmly\ngripped and with hearts made strong by the consciousness of the justice\nof their cause, they awaited the onslaught of the Demon.\n\nAnd what a battle it was that then ensued in the dim and shadowy\ntemple!  It was a conflict of great and deadly significance, waged on\none side for the deliverance of helpless childhood, and on the other\nfor the basest schemes that the spirits of evil could devise.  It was a\nbattle royal, in which no quarter was either asked or given.  The clash\nof weapons, and sounds unfamiliar to the human ear, and groans and\ncries which seemed to come from a lost soul, filled the temple with\ntheir hideous uproar.\n\nAt last the Demon, who seemed to have been grievously wounded, though\nby his magic art he had caused his wounds to be instantly healed, began\nto see that the day was going against him.  One more mighty lunge with\nhis broadsword, and one more furious onset, and his craven heart failed\nhim.  With a cry of despair he fled from the temple, and plunged\nheadlong into the river flowing by its walls.\n\nGreat were the rejoicings when Chiau and Chu returned to report to\nSam-Chung the glorious victory they had gained over the Demon.\nLaughter and rejoicing were heard in every home, and men and women\nassembled in front of their doors and at the corners of the narrow\nalley-ways to congratulate each other on the great deliverance which\nthat day had come to them and to their children.  The dread of the\nDemon had already vanished, and a feeling of freedom so inspired the\nmen of the village that as if by a common impulse, they rushed\nimpetuously down to where the temple stood, and in the course of a few\nhours every vestige of it had disappeared beneath the waters into which\nthe Demon had plunged.\n\nAfter his great defeat the baffled spirit made his way to the grotto\nbeneath the waters, where he and the other demons had taken up their\nabode.  A general council was called to devise plans to wipe out the\ndisgrace which had been sustained, and to regain the power that had\nslipped from the Demon's grasp.  They wished also to visit Sam-Chung\nwith condign punishment which would render him helpless for the future.\n\n\"We must capture him,\" said one wicked-looking imp, who always acted as\ncounsellor to the rest.  \"I have been told that to devour some of his\nflesh would ensure the prolongation of life for more than a thousand\nyears.\"\n\nThe suggestion to seize Sam-Chung was unanimously accepted as a very\ninspiration of genius, and the precise measures which were to be\nadopted in order to capture him were agreed to after a long discussion.\n\nOn the very next morning, a most violent snowstorm set in, so that the\nface of the river and the hills all round about, and the very heavens\nthemselves were lost in the blinding snow-drifts that flew before the\ngale.  Gradually the cold became so intense that the Ice King laid his\ngrip upon the waters of the Tien-ho, and turned the flowing stream into\na crystal highway, along which men might travel with ease and safety.\nSuch a sight had never been seen before by any of the people who lived\nupon its banks, and many were the speculations as to what such a\nphenomenon might mean to the welfare of the people of the region.  It\nnever occurred to any one that this great snow-storm which had turned\ninto ice a river that had never been known to freeze before, was all\nthe work of demons determined on the destruction of Sam-Chung.\n\nNext day the storm had passed, but the river was one mass of ice which\ngleamed and glistened in the morning rays.  Much to the astonishment of\nSam-Chung and his two companions, they caught sight of a number of\npeople, who appeared to be merchants, moving about on the bank of the\nriver, together with several mules laden with merchandise.  The whole\nparty seemed intent on their preparations for crossing the river, which\nthey were observed to test in various places to make sure that it was\nstrong enough to bear their weight.  This they seemed satisfied about,\nfor in a short time the men and animals set forward on their journey\nacross the ice.\n\nSam-Chung immediately insisted upon following their example, though the\nplan was vigorously opposed by the villagers, who predicted all kinds\nof dangers if he entered on such an uncertain and hazardous enterprise.\nBeing exceedingly anxious to proceed on his journey, however, and\nseeing no prospect of doing so if he did not take advantage of the\npresent remarkable condition of the river, he hastened to follow in the\nfootsteps of the merchants, who by this time had already advanced some\ndistance on the ice.\n\nHe would have been less anxious to enter on this perilous course, had\nhe known that the innocent-looking traders who preceded him were every\none of them demons who had changed themselves into the semblance of men\nin order to lure him to his destruction.\n\nSam-Chung and his companions had not proceeded more than five or six\nmiles, when ominous symptoms of coming disaster began to manifest\nthemselves.  The extreme cold in the air suddenly ceased, and a warm\nsouth wind began to blow.  The surface of the ice lost its hardness.\nStreamlets of water trickled here and there, forming great pools which\nmade walking exceedingly difficult.\n\nChiau, whose mind was a very acute and intelligent one, became\nterrified at these alarming symptoms of danger, especially as the ice\nbegan to crack, and loud and prolonged reports reached them from every\ndirection.  Another most suspicious thing was the sudden disappearance\nof the company of merchants, whom they had all along kept well in\nsight.  There was something wrong, he was fully convinced, and so with\nall his wits about him, he kept himself alert for any contingency.  It\nwas well that he did this, for before they had proceeded another mile,\nthe ice began to grow thinner, and before they could retreat there was\na sudden crash and all three were precipitated into the water.\n\nHardly had Chiau's feet touched the river, than with a superhuman\neffort he made a spring into the air, and was soon flying with\nincredible speed in the direction of the Western Heaven, to invoke the\naid of the Goddess of Mercy to deliver Sam-Chung from the hands of an\nenemy who would show him no quarter.\n\nIn the meanwhile Sam-Chung and Chu were borne swiftly by the demons,\nwho were eagerly awaiting their immersion in the water, to the great\ncave that lay deep down at the bottom of the mighty river.  Chu, being\nan immortal and a special messenger of the Goddess, defied all the arts\nof the evil spirits to injure him, so that all they could do was to\nimprison him in one of the inner grottoes and station a guard over him\nto prevent his escape.  Sam-Chung, however, was doomed to death, and\nthe Demon, in revenge for the disgrace he had brought upon him, and in\nthe hope of prolonging his own life by a thousand years, decided that\non the morrow he would feast upon his flesh.  But he made his plans\nwithout taking into consideration the fact that Sam-Chung was an\nespecial favourite with the Goddess.\n\nDuring the night a tremendous commotion occurred.  The waters of the\nriver fled in every direction as before the blast of a hurricane, and\nthe caverns where the demons were assembled were illuminated with a\nlight so brilliant that their eyes became dazzled, and for a time were\nblinded by the sudden blaze that flashed from every corner.  Screaming\nwith terror, they fled in all directions.  Only one remained, and that\nwas the fierce spirit who had wrought such sorrow amongst the people of\nthe land near by.  He too would have disappeared with the rest, had not\nsome supernatural power chained him to the spot where he stood.\n\nSoon the noble figure of the Goddess of Mercy appeared, accompanied by\na splendid train of Fairies who hovered round her to do her bidding.\nHer first act was to release Sam-Chung, who lay bound ready for his\ndeath, which but for her interposition would have taken place within a\nfew hours.  He and his two companions were entrusted to the care of a\nchosen number of her followers, and conveyed with all speed across the\nriver.\n\nThe Goddess then gave a command to some who stood near her person, and\nin a moment, as if by a flash of lightning, the cowering, terrified\nDemon had vanished, carried away to be confined in one of the dungeons\nwhere persistent haters of mankind are kept imprisoned, until their\nhearts are changed by some noble sentiment of compassion and the\nGoddess sees that they are once more fit for liberty.\n\nAnd then the lights died out, and the sounds of fairy voices ceased.\nThe waters of the river, which had been under a divine spell, returned\nto their course, and the Goddess with her magnificent train of\nbeneficent spirits departed to her kingdom in the far-off Western\nHeaven.\n\n\n\n\nXI\n\nTHE REWARD OF A BENEVOLENT LIFE\n\nOn the banks of a river flowing through the prefecture of Tingchow,\nthere stood a certain city of about ten thousand inhabitants.  Among\nthis mass of people there was a very fair sprinkling of well-to-do men,\nand perhaps half-a-dozen or so who might have been accounted really\nwealthy.\n\nAmongst these latter was one particular individual named Chung, who had\nacquired the reputation of being exceedingly large-hearted and\nbenevolently inclined to all those in distress.  Anyone who was in want\nhad but to appeal to Chung, and his immediate necessities would at once\nbe relieved without any tedious investigation into the merits of his\ncase.  As may be inferred from this, Chung was an easy-going,\ngood-natured man, who was more inclined to look kindly upon his\nfellow-men than to criticise them harshly for their follies or their\ncrimes.  Such a man has always been popular in this land of China.\n\nNow the whole soul of Chung was centred upon his only son Keng.  At the\ntime when our story opens, this young fellow was growing up to manhood,\nand had proved himself to be possessed of no mean ability, for on the\nvarious occasions on which he had sat for examination before the\nLiterary Chancellor, his papers had been of a very high order of merit.\n\nThe rumours of Chung's generosity had travelled further than he had\never dreamed of.  Several reports of the noble deeds that he was\nconstantly performing had reached the Immortals in the Western Heaven,\nand as these are profoundly concerned in the doings of mankind, steps\nwere taken that Chung should not go unrewarded.\n\nOne day a fairy in the disguise of a bonze called upon him.  He had\nalways had a sincere liking for men of this class.  He admired their\ndevotion, and he was moved by their self-sacrifice in giving up home\nand kindred to spend their lives in the service of the gods and for the\ngood of humanity.\n\nNo sooner, therefore, had the priest entered within his doors, than he\nreceived him with the greatest politeness and cordiality.  The same\nevening he prepared a great dinner, to which a number of distinguished\nguests were invited, and a time of high festivity and rejoicing was\nprolonged into the early hours of the morning.\n\nNext day Chung said to his guest, \"I presume you have come round\ncollecting for your temple.  I need not assure you that I shall be most\ndelighted to subscribe to anything that has to do with the uplifting of\nmy fellow-men.  My donation is ready whenever you wish to accept it.\"\n\nThe bonze, with a smile which lit up the whole of his countenance,\nreplied that he had not come for the purpose of collecting\nsubscriptions.\n\n\"I have come,\" he said, \"to warn you about a far more important matter\nwhich affects you and your family.  Before very long a great flood will\ntake place in this district, and will sweep everything before it.  It\nwill be so sudden that men will not be able to take measures to\npreserve either their lives or their property--so instantaneous will be\nthe rush of the mighty streams, like ocean floods, from the mountains\nyou can see in the West.  My advice to you is to commence at once the\nconstruction of boats to carry you and your most precious effects away.\nWhen the news first comes that the waters are rising, have them\nanchored in the creek that flows close by your doors; and when the\ncrisis arrives, delay not a moment, but hurry on board and fly for your\nlives.\"\n\n\"But when will that be?\" asked Chung anxiously.\n\n\"I may not tell you the precise day or hour,\" replied the bonze; \"but\nwhen the eyes of the stone lions in the East Street of the city shed\ntears of blood, betake yourselves with all haste to the boats, and\nleave this doomed place behind you.\"\n\n\"But may I not tell the people of this approaching calamity?\" asked\nChung, whose tender heart was deeply wrung with distress at the idea of\nso many being overwhelmed in the coming flood.\n\n\"You can please yourself about that,\" answered the priest, \"but no one\nwill believe you.  The people of this region are depraved and wicked,\nand your belief in my words will only cause them to laugh and jeer at\nyou for your credulity.\"\n\n\"But shall I and my family escape with our lives?\" finally enquired\nChung.\n\n\"Yes, you will all escape,\" was the reply, \"and in due time you will\nreturn to your home and your future life will be prosperous.  But there\nis one thing,\" he continued, \"about which I must entreat you to be\nexceedingly careful.  As you are being carried down the stream by the\ngreat flood, be sure to rescue every living thing that you meet in\ndistress upon the waters.  You will not fail to be rewarded for so\ndoing, as the creatures you save will repay you a thousandfold for any\nservices you may render them.  There is one thing more that I would\nsolemnly warn you against.  You will come across a man floating\nhelplessly on the swiftly flowing tide.  Have nothing to do with him.\nLeave him to his fate.  If you try to save him, you will only bring\nsorrow upon your home.\"\n\nAs the priest was departing, Chung tried to press into his hand a\nconsiderable present of money, but he refused to accept it.  He did not\nwant money from him, he said.  The gods had heard of his great love for\nmen, and they had sent him to warn him so that he might escape the doom\nwhich would overtake his fellow-citizens.\n\nAfter his departure Chung at once called the boat-builders who had\ntheir yards along the bank of the stream, and ordered ten large boats\nto be built with all possible speed.  The news of this spread through\nthe town, and when the reasons were asked and the reply was given that\nthe boats were in anticipation of a mighty flood that would ere long\ndevastate the entire region, everyone screamed with laughter; but Chung\nlet them laugh.\n\nFor weeks and months he sent an old man to East Street to see if the\neyes of the stone lions there had overflowed with bloody tears.\n\nOne day two pig-butchers enquired of this man how it was that every day\nhe appeared and looked into the eyes of the lions.  He explained that\nChung had sent him, for a prophecy had come from the gods that when the\neyes of the lions shed blood, the flood which was to destroy the city\nwould be already madly rushing on its way.\n\nOn hearing this, these two butchers determined to play a practical\njoke.  Next day, in readiness for the coming of the old man, they\nsmeared the stone eyes with pigs' blood.  No sooner had Chung's\nmessenger caught sight of this than, with terror in his eyes, he fled\nalong the streets to tell his master the dreadful news.  By this time\neverything had been prepared, and Chung was only waiting for the\nappointed sign.  The most valuable of his goods had already been packed\nin some of the boats, and now his wife and son and household servants\nall hurried down to the water's edge and embarked; and remembering the\ninjunction of the priest that there should be no delay, Chung at once\nordered the anchors to be raised, and the boatmen, as if for dear life,\nmade for the larger stream outside.\n\nHardly had the vessels begun to move when the sun, which had been\nblazing in the sky, became clouded over.  Soon a terrific storm of wind\ntore with the force of a hurricane across the land.  By-and-by great\ndrops of rain, the harbingers of the deluge which was to inundate the\ncountry, fell in heavy splashes.  Ere long it seemed as though the\ngreat fountains in the heavens had burst out, for the floods came\npouring down in one incessant torrent.  The sides of the mountains\nbecame covered with ten thousand rills, which joined their forces lower\ndown, and developed into veritable cataracts, rushing with fearful and\nnoisy tumult to the plain below.\n\nBefore many hours had passed, the streams everywhere overflowed their\nbanks, and ran riot amongst the villages, and flowed like a sea against\nthe city.  There was no resisting this watery foe, and before night\nfell vast multitudes had been drowned in the seething floods from which\nthere was no escape.\n\nMeanwhile, carried swiftly along by the swollen current, Chung's little\nfleet sped safely down the stream, drawing further and further away\nfrom the doomed city.\n\nThe river had risen many feet since they had started on their voyage,\nand as they were passing by a high peak, which had been undermined by\nthe rush of waters hurling themselves against its base, the boats were\nput into great danger by the whirl and commotion of the foam-flecked\nriver.  Just as they escaped from being submerged, the party noticed a\nsmall monkey struggling in the water, and at once picked it up and took\nit on board.\n\nFurther on they passed a large branch of a tree, on which there was a\ncrow's nest, with one young one in it.  This, also, remembering the\nsolemn injunction of the priest, they carefully took up and saved.\n\nAs they were rushing madly on down the tawny, swollen river, they were\nall struck with sudden excitement by seeing something struggling in the\nboiling waters.  Looking at this object more attentively as they drew\nnearer to it, they perceived that it was a man, who seemed to be in\ngreat peril of his life.\n\nChung's tender heart was filled with sympathy, and he at once gave\norders for the boatmen to go and rescue him.  His wife, however,\nreminded him of the warning of the priest not to save any man on the\nriver, as he would inevitably turn out to be an enemy, who would in\ntime work his rescuer great wrong.\n\nChung replied that at such a time, when a human being was in extreme\ndanger of being drowned, personal interests ought not to be considered\nat all.  He had faithfully obeyed the command of the priest in saving\nanimal life, but how much more valuable was a man than any of the lower\norders of creation?  \"Whatever may happen,\" he said, \"I cannot let this\nman drown before my eyes,\" and as the boat just then came alongside the\nswimmer, he was hauled into it and delivered from his peril.\n\nAfter a few days, when the storm had abated and the river had gone down\nto its natural flow, Chung returned with his family to his home.  To\nhis immense surprise, he found that his house had not been damaged in\nthe least.  The gods who had saved his life had used their supernatural\npowers to preserve even his property from the ruin and devastation that\nhad fallen upon the inhabitants of the city and of the surrounding\nplain.\n\nShortly after they had settled down again, Chung enquired of Lo-yung,\nthe man whom he had saved from the flood, whether he would not like to\nreturn to his family and his home.\n\n\"I have no family left,\" he answered with a sad look on his face.  \"All\nthe members of it were drowned in the great flood from which you\ndelivered me.  What little property we had was washed away by the wild\nrush of the streams that overflowed our farm.  Let me stay with you,\"\nhe begged, \"and give me the opportunity, by the devoted service of my\nlife, to repay you in some slight degree for what you have done in\nsaving my life.\"\n\nAs he uttered these words his tears began to flow, and his features\nshowed every sign of profound emotion.  Always full of tenderness and\ncompassion, Chung was profoundly moved by the tears and sobs of\nLo-yung, and hastened to assure him that he need be under no concern\nwith regard to his future.  \"You have lost all your relatives, it is\ntrue, but from to-day I shall recognize you as my son.  I adopt you\ninto my family and I give you my name.\"\n\nSix months after this important matter had been settled, the city was\nplacarded with proclamations from its Chief Mandarin.  In these he\ninformed the people that he had received a most urgent Edict from the\nEmperor stating that an official seal, which was in constant use in\nhigh transactions of the State, had in a most mysterious manner\ndisappeared and could not be found.  He was therefore directed to\ninform the people that whoever informed His Majesty where the seal was,\nso that it could be recovered, would receive a considerable reward and\nwould also be made a high mandarin in the palace of the Emperor.\n\nThat very night, whilst Chung was sleeping, a fairy appeared to him in\na dream.  \"The gods have sent me,\" he said, \"to give you one more proof\nof the high regard in which they hold you for your devotion to your\nfellow-men.  The Emperor has lost a valuable seal which he is most\nanxious to recover, and he has promised large and liberal rewards to\nthe man who shows him where it may be found.  I want to tell you where\nthe seal is.  It lies at the bottom of the crystal well in the grounds\nbehind the palace.   It was accidentally dropped in there by the\nEmpress-Dowager, who has forgotten all about the circumstance, but who\nwill recollect it the moment she is reminded of it.  I want you to send\nyour own son to the capital to claim the reward by telling where the\nseal is.\"\n\nWhen Chung awoke in the morning, he told his wife the wonderful news of\nwhat had happened to him during the night, and began to make\npreparations for his son to start for the capital without delay, in\norder to secure the honours promised by the Emperor.  His wife,\nhowever, was by no means reconciled to the idea of parting with her\nson, and strongly opposed his going.\n\n\"Why are you so set upon the honours of this life that you are willing\nto be separated from your only child, whom perhaps you may never be\nable to see again?\" she asked her husband, with tears in her eyes.\n\"You are a rich man, you are beloved of the gods, you have everything\nthat money can buy in this flowery kingdom.  Why not then be contented\nand cease to long after the dignities which the State can confer, but\nwhich can never give you any real happiness?\"\n\nJust at that moment Lo-yung came in, and hearing the wonderful story,\nand seeing the distress of the mother, he volunteered to take the place\nof her son and go to the capital in his stead.\n\n\"I have never yet had the chance,\" he said, \"of showing my gratitude to\nmy benefactor for having saved my life, and for the many favours he has\nshowered upon me.  I shall be glad to undertake this journey.   I shall\nhave an audience with His Majesty and will reveal to him the place\nwhere the seal lies hidden, and I shall then insist that all the\nhonours he may be prepared to bestow on me shall be transferred to your\nson, to whom of right they naturally belong.\"\n\nIt was accordingly arranged that Lo-yung should take the place of\nChung's son, and preparations were at once made for his journey to the\ncapital.  As he was saying good-bye to his benefactor, the latter\nwhispered in his ear: \"If you succeed in your enterprise and the\nEmperor makes you one of his royal officers, do not let ingratitude\never enter your heart, so that you may be tempted to forget us here,\nwho will be thinking about you all the time you are away.\"\n\n\"Nothing of the kind can ever happen,\" exclaimed Lo-yung impetuously.\n\"My gratitude to you is too firmly embedded within my heart ever to be\nuprooted from it.\"\n\nOn his arrival at the capital, he at once sought an interview with the\nPrime Minister, who, on hearing that a man wished to see him about a\nstate matter of urgent importance, immediately admitted him to his\npresence.  Lo-yung at once explained that he had come to reveal the\nplace where the lost seal at that moment lay concealed.   \"I am\nperfectly ready to tell all I know about it,\" he said, \"but if possible\nI should prefer to make it known to the Emperor himself in person.\"\n\n\"That can quickly be arranged,\" eagerly replied the Prime Minister,\n\"for His Majesty is so anxious to obtain information about the seal,\nthat he is prepared at any hour of the day or night to give an audience\nto anyone who can ease his mind on the subject.\"\n\nIn a few minutes a eunuch from the palace commanded the Prime Minister\nto come without delay to the Audience Hall and wait upon the Emperor.\nHe was also to bring with him the person who said that he had an\nimportant communication to lay before the Throne.\n\nWhen they arrived they found there not only the King, but also the\nEmpress-Dowager, waiting to receive them.  In obedience to a hasty\ncommand, Lo-yung told in a few words where the seal was, and how it\nhappened to be there.  As he went on with the story the face of the\nEmpress lit up with wonder, whilst a pleasing smile overspread it, as\nshe recognized the truth of what Lo-yung was saying.\n\n\"But tell me,\" said the Emperor, \"how you get all your information and\nhow it is that you have such an intimate acquaintance with what is\ngoing on in my palace?\"\n\nLo-yung then described how the Immortals in the Western Heaven, deeply\nmoved by the loving character of Chung, and wishing to reward him and\nbring honour to his family, had sent a fairy, who appeared to him in a\ndream and told him the secret of the seal.\n\n\"Your home,\" said the Emperor, \"must indeed be celebrated for\nbenevolent and loving deeds to men, since even the fairies come down\nfrom the far-off Heaven to express their approbation.  In accordance\nwith my royal promise, I now appoint you to a high official position\nthat will enrich you for life, for I consider that it will be for the\nwelfare of my kingdom to have a man from a home, which the gods delight\nto honour, to assist me in the management of my public affairs.\"\n\nFrom the moment when the royal favour was bestowed on Lo-yung, it\nseemed as though every particle of gratitude and every kindly\nremembrance of Chung had vanished completely out of his heart.  He cut\nhimself off from the home he had left only a few days ago, as\ncompletely as though it had never existed.\n\nWeeks and months went by, but no news came from him, and the heart of\nChung was wrung with anguish, for he knew that Lo-yung's unnatural\nconduct would in the end bring retribution upon Lo-yung himself.\n\nAt last he determined to send his son, Keng, to the capital to find out\nwhat had really become of Lo-yung.  Attended by one of his household\nservants, the young man reached his journey's end in a few days.  On\nenquiring at his inn about Lo-yung, he was informed that he was a\nmandarin of great distinction in the city, and was under the special\nprotection of the Emperor, whose favourite he was.\n\nHearing this joyful news, Keng, followed by his servant, at once\nhastened to the residence of Lo-yung, and was lucky enough to meet him\nas he rode out on horseback from his magnificent yamen, attended by a\nlong retinue of officers and attendants.\n\nRunning up to the side of his horse, Keng cried out joyfully, \"Ah! my\nbrother, what a joy to meet you once more!  How glad I am to see you!\"\n\nTo his astonishment, Lo-yung, with a frown upon his face, angrily\nexclaimed; \"You common fellow, what do you mean by calling me your\nbrother?  I have no brother.  You are an impostor, and you must be\nseverely punished for daring to claim kinship with me.\"\n\nCalling some of the lictors in his train, he ordered them to beat Keng,\nand then cast him into prison, and to give strict injunctions to the\njailer to treat him as a dangerous criminal.  Wounded and bleeding from\nthe severe scourging he had received, and in a terrible state of\nexhaustion, poor Keng was dragged to the prison, where he was thrown\ninto the deepest dungeon, and left to recover as best he might from the\nshock he had sustained.\n\nHis condition was indeed a pitiable one.  Those who could have helped\nand comforted him were far away.  He could expect no alleviation of his\nsorrows from the jailer, for the heart of the latter had naturally\nbecome hardened by having to deal with the criminal classes.  Besides\nhe had received precise orders from the great mandarin, that this\nparticular prisoner was to be treated as a danger to society.  Even if\nhe had been inclined to deal mercifully with him, he dared not disobey\nsuch definite and stringent commands as he had received from his\nsuperior.\n\nThe prison fare was only just enough to keep body and soul together.\nKeng had no money with which to bribe the jailer to give him a more\ngenerous diet, and there was no one to guarantee that any extra\nexpenses which might be incurred would ever be refunded to him.\n\nAnd then a miracle was wrought, and once more the fairies interfered,\nthis time to save the life of the only son of the man whose fame for\ntenderness and compassion had reached the far-off Western Heaven.\n\nOne morning, as Keng lay weary and half-starved on the blackened heap\nof straw that served him as a bed in the corner of the prison, a monkey\nclimbed up and clung to the narrow gratings through which the light\npenetrated into his room.  In one of its hands it held a piece of pork\nwhich it kept offering to Keng.  Very much surprised, he got up to take\nit, when to his delight he discovered that the monkey was the identical\none which had been picked up by his father on the day of the great\nflood.\n\nThe same thing was repeated for several days in succession, and when\nthe jailer asked for some explanation of these extraordinary\nproceedings, Keng gave him a detailed account of their wonderful\ndeliverance by the fairies, the picking up of the monkey, and the\nrescue of Lo-yung, now the great mandarin, who was keeping him confined\nin prison.  \"Ah!\" muttered the jailer under his breath, \"the lower\nanimals know how to show gratitude, but men do not.\"\n\nA few days after this another messenger of the gods came to give his\naid to Keng.  A number of crows gathered on a roof which overlooked the\nnarrow slits through which the prisoner could catch a glimpse of the\nblue sky.  One of them flew on to the ledge outside, and Keng\nimmediately recognized it as the one which had been saved from the\nfloating branch in the turbid river.  He was overjoyed to see this\nbird, and besought the jailer to allow him to write a letter to his\nfather, telling him of his pitiful condition.  This request was\ngranted, and the document was tied to the leg of the crow, which flew\naway on its long flight to Chung with its important news.\n\nChung was greatly distressed when he read the letter that his son had\nwritten in prison, and with all the speed he could command, he\ntravelled post haste to the capital.  When he arrived there he made\nvarious attempts to obtain an interview with Lo-yung, but all in vain.\nThe mandarin had not sense enough to see that the threads of fate were\nslowly winding themselves around him, and would soon entangle him to\nhis destruction.\n\nVery unwillingly, therefore, because he still loved Lo-yung and would\nhave saved him if possible, Chung entered an accusation against him\nbefore Fau-Kung, the famous criminal judge.\n\nThe result of the investigation was the condemnation of Lo-yung, whose\nexecution speedily followed, whilst Keng was promoted to the very\nposition that had been occupied by the man who had tried to work his\nruin.","title":"Chinese Folk-Lore Tales","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":52729}