{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_65206/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_65206","id":"gutenberg_65206","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/65206","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Short Stories","Children's stories","China -- Juvenile fiction"],"text":"[Cover Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n_This book was awarded the John Newbery Medal by the Children\u2019s\nLibrarians\u2019 Section of the American Library Association, for the most\ndistinguished contribution to American Children\u2019s literature during the\nyear 1925._\n\n\n\n\n                            SHEN OF THE SEA\n                         _A Book for Children_\n                                   BY\n                         ARTHUR BOWIE CHRISMAN\n               \u201c_Author of The Wind That Wouldn\u2019t Blow_\u201d\n\n                Illustrated with over Fifty Silhouettes\n\n                                   BY\n\n                            ELSE HASSELRIIS\n\n[Illustration]\n\n                                NEW YORK\n                        E. P. DUTTON & CO., Inc.\n\n\n\n\n                           Copyright 1925 by\n                        E. P. DUTTON & CO., INC.\n\n                         Copyright renewal 1953\n                        by Arthur Bowie Chrisman\n\n                                \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\n\n                 _Thirty-fifth Printing November 1966_\n\n                        Printed in the U. S. A.\n\n\n\n\n                                   To\n\n                                V. T. S.\n\n                               This Book\n\n                              Is Dedicated\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                             ACKNOWLEDGMENT\n\n              I have heard\n              That the Plain of Fat Melons\n              Is more than flat.\n              It is hollowed like a bowl.\n              And my purse\n              Was quite as flat.\n              Then the _Philadelphia North American_,\n              And _What To Do_, of Elgin,\n              Bought some of my stories\u2014\n              Paying good round money\u2014\n              Which the baker was quick to take from me.\n              Furthermore,\n              These papers\n              Have given permission\n              To put the stories in a Book.\n              And the Book\n              Is open before you.\n              The _North American_,\n              And _What To Do_,\n              Have been as kind to me\n              As Wu Ta Lang was\n              To the red cherry tree.\n              And I thank them\u2014\n              Not once\u2014but twice\u2014\n              And twice that\u2014\n              More times than there are leaves\n              In Hu Pei Forest.\n\n\n\n\n                                CONTENTS\n\n\n                                                        PAGE\n             Ah Mee\u2019s Invention......................      1\n             Shen of The Sea.........................     16\n             How Wise were The Old Men...............     32\n             Chop-Sticks.............................     51\n             Buy A Father............................     65\n             Four Generals...........................     79\n             The Rain King\u2019s Daughter................    100\n             Many Wives..............................    115\n             That Lazy Ah Fun........................    129\n             The Moon Maiden.........................    144\n             Ah Tcha The Sleeper.....................    159\n             I wish It would Rain....................    173\n             High as Han Hsin........................    189\n             Contrary Chueh Chun.....................    206\n             Pies of The Princess....................    220\n             As Hai Low kept House...................    235\n\n\n\n\n                         LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n                                                          PAGE\n            Oh, no, not at all. He was very careful not\n              even to think of a dragon. He was a weighty\n              elephant\u2014amid the cabbages.................    5\n\n            Then he seized the plaques and flung them\n              from him...................................   13\n\n            We are the Shen, demons of the sea...........   21\n\n            So the seventh demon sped away taking the sea\n              with him...................................   30\n\n            It was the howl of a wolf....................   36\n\n            Meng Hu could imagine a knife at his throat..   42\n\n            The king crawled under his throne............   62\n\n            The house of Weng Fu was luxurious in the\n              extreme....................................   69\n\n            He kept his forehead tight-pressed to the\n              floor......................................   77\n\n            The king and his generals gazed across the\n              river......................................   90\n\n            More and more sad came the music.............   95\n\n            At that same hour a basket was found in the\n              garden.....................................  103\n\n            So Chai Mi sat beside the river and sewed and\n              wept.......................................  107\n\n            Of course, they wore hideous false faces.....  111\n\n            The first portrait he painted was that of\n              Ying Ning, a monstrous ugly maiden.........  123\n\n            \u201cBroooomp\u201d...................................  137\n\n            Doctor Chu Ping beamed upon him; \u201cAh Lun, my\n              pearl, my jade, my orange tree, it is\n              discovered\u201d................................  142\n\n            By look and action he was a maiden...........  148\n\n            A whanging of wings that lifted . . . Up\n              . . . Higher . . . Swifter.................  151\n\n            When Ah Tcha had eaten his Evening Rice, he\n              took lantern and entered the largest of his\n              mills......................................  162\n\n            How could she make beds when her hair needed\n              burnishing?................................  175\n\n            Tiao Fu snatched up her little-used\n              embroidery scissors. Snip, Snip, Snip......  178\n\n            \u201c. . . And cut leaf-shaped pieces\u201d...........  182\n\n            Han Hsin raised a bridge from island to\n              mainland...................................  191\n\n            \u201cI\u2014I\u2014I\u2014am hungry,\u201d stammered Han Hsin........  198\n\n            Prince Chin Pa tried in vain to hold his\n              followers..................................  202\n\n            Therefore\u2014upon his donkey\u2014the contrary\n              husband started for Tsun Pu................  209\n\n            It was a well-plucked traveler who returned..  213\n\n            This nice large one is for your dinner.......  225\n\n            He made a V of the bowstring.................  244\n\n            The royal generals . . . knelt before Hai Low\n              and bumped their heads in the dust.........  251\n\n\n\n\n                            SHEN OF THE SEA\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n                            SHEN OF THE SEA\n\n\n\n\n                           AH MEE\u2019S INVENTION\n\n\n\u201cA shamelessly rainy day, my honorable Brother Chi.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is truth, esteemed Brother Cha. It rains perfectly hard. There\nwill be plenty of leisure in which to beat the children.\u201d\n\nChing Chi was merely quoting an old Swa Tou saying. Every one knows that\non rainy days old and young are crowded, arm against elbow, in the\nhouse; often to get in each the other\u2019s way\u2014and misunderstandings are\nlikely to arise. Then the bamboo is brought into play\u2014and there are\nwailings. That is how the Swa Tou saying originated. When Ching Chi used\nit, he did so in fun, and, no doubt, to make talk.\n\nBut Ching Cha thought that his brother was speaking with earnestness.\nHis face, made glum by the rain and by secret troubles, brightened at\nsuch a pleasing prospect. \u201cHo. Leisure to beat the children? What an\nutterly excellent idea. I, myself, will cut bamboos for your hand. Ah\nMee is the one to beat. He played at being a mad wild elephant\u2014oh, so\nperfectly wild, and with such trampling\u2014in the midst of my _huang ya\ntsai_ patch.\u201d\n\nChing Chi seemed altogether astonished. His face showed that he thought\nChing Cha must be overstepping the truth. \u201cWhat? What do you say to me,\nhonorable Brother Cha? Ah Mee playing wild elephant in your cabbage\npatch? But I thought that I told him, emphatically, to break no more of\nyour cabbages.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is no blemish upon my lips. It is the truth,\u201d said Ching Cha, sullen\nand hurt because Chi disbelieved. \u201cHe played elephant in my cabbages.\nCome and I will show you.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, no.\u201d Ching Chi shook his head. \u201cIt is raining far too hard. I\u2019ll\nspeak of the matter again to my son.\u201d\n\nChing Cha adjusted his _wei li_ (rain hat) the straighter and shuffled\noff through the downpour. As he went he muttered something that sounded\nlike \u201c_Wou ton meng_.\u201d If that is what he really said, he called Ching\nChi a stupid old noddy.\n\nBut Ching Chi merely laughed. He had no intention of beating Ah Mee, his\n\u201cpearl in the palm,\u201d his son.\n\nNow whether Ching Chi was right or wrong is a pretty question. Some\npersons answer it one way, and some, another. But there is no question\nabout this. . . . Ah Mee was terrible. If anything, he was as bad as\nthat lazy Ah Fun, son of Dr. Chu Ping. Here is their only difference. Ah\nFun never did what he was told to do. Ah Mee always did what he was told\n_not_ to do. But he did it in such manner as to leave a loophole. He\nalways had a perfectly good excuse. Take the matter of his uncle Ching\nCha\u2019s cabbage patch. . . .\n\nOnly a day or so before, Ah Mee had pretended that he was a fierce and\nfurious dragon\u2014a _loong_. As a fierce and furious dragon, he threshed\nthis way and that through Uncle Ching Cha\u2019s very delectable\ncabbages\u2014causing much hurt. Ching Chi, the parent, told Ah Mee never\nagain to play dragon in Uncle Cha\u2019s cabbages. \u201cAh Mee, you must never\nagain play dragon in your honorable uncle\u2019s cabbage patch. If you do, I\nshall speak to you most sharply.\u201d And Ah Mee said, \u201cYes, sir,\u201d and\nobeyed. He pretended to be a ferocious wild elephant. He didn\u2019t play\ndragon again. _Oh, no. Not at all. He was very careful not even to think\nof a dragon._ He was a weighty elephant\u2014amid the cabbages.\n\n[Illustration: Oh, no, not at all. He was very careful not even to think\nof a dragon. He was a weighty elephant\u2014amid the cabbages.]\n\nChing Chi, the fond parent, lived with his wife\u2014her name is\nforgotten\u2014and the son, Ah Mee, and a little daughter, in a neat house\nthat stood in the Street of The Hill Where The Monkey Bit Mang. Ching\nChi was a carver of wood, and ivory, and jade. His bachelor brother\nChing Cha who lived next door, did scrivening\u2014wrote things with a\nblackened brush upon parchment and paper\u2014and the wall, when he had no\npaper. Some people said they were stories, but certainly they brought in\nno money. As for that, neither did Ching Chi\u2019s carvings bring in any\nmoney. Yet Chi was a good carver. His designs were artistic, and his\nknife was obedient to the slightest touch. From an inch block of ivory\nhe could carve seven balls\u2014one inside the other. Howbeit, Chi was\nneither famous nor wealthy. Instead of carving pagodas and trinkets for\nsale in the bazaars, he spent most of his time in carving toys for Ah\nMee\u2014who promptly smote them with an axe, or threw them in the well, or\ntreated them in some other manner equally grievous.\n\nFor six months Ching Chi worked to carve a dragon. When finished, the\n_loong_ was a thing of beauty. In the bazaar it would, perhaps, have\nfetched a bar of silver from some rich mandarin. But fond Ching Chi gave\nit to Ah Mee. And Ah Mee, tiring of it after five minutes of play,\nhurled it through the paper-covered window.\n\nAre windows made to be broken? Are toys fashioned only to be thrown\naway? Certainly not. Papa Chi wagged a finger at Ah Mee and he spoke\nthus, \u201cAh Mee, most wonderful son in the world, you must not throw your\ndragon through the window into the back yard again. What I say, that I\nmean. Don\u2019t throw your dragon into the yard any more.\u201d Having said, he\nproceeded with his work, carving beautiful designs upon teak-wood blocks\n. . . for Ah Mee\u2019s pleasure.\n\nAnd Ah Mee said, \u201cVery well then, _Tieh tieh_ (Daddy), I won\u2019t.\u201d He\nproceeded with his work\u2014which was to pile carven teak-wood blocks high\nas his not-so-long arms could reach. There was one block covered with so\nmuch exquisite carving that it gave little support to the blocks above.\nFor that reason the tower wavered and fell. Ah Mee promptly lost his\ntemper. Made furious beyond endurance, he seized the offending block and\nhurled it through a paper-paneled door.\n\nWho will say that Ah Mee was disobedient? He had been told not to throw\nhis toy dragon through the window. But had his father, Ching Chi, told\nhim not to heave a _block_ through the _door_? Not at all. Ching Chi had\nsaid nothing about blocks, and he had pointed his finger at the window.\nNevertheless, Mr. Ching felt almost inclined to scold his son. He said,\nvery sternly, \u201cAh Mee. . . .\u201d\n\n\u201cWhang. Bang. Bang,\u201d came the sound of sticks on the door frame.\nCrash\u2014the door flew open. In rushed stalwart men, dressed in the King\u2019s\nlivery, and bearing heavy staves. \u201cOh, you vile _tung hsi_ (east\nwest\u2014very abusive talk), you murderer,\u201d screamed the men. \u201cAre you\ntrying to assassinate your King? What do you mean by hurling missiles\ninto the King\u2019s sedan as he is carried through the street? Answer,\nbefore your head falls.\u201d\n\nBut Ching Chi was unable to answer. He could only press his forehead to\nthe floor, and tremble, and wait for the quick death he expected.\nMeantime, Ah Mee pelted the King\u2019s men with various large and small\ntoys\u2014including a hatchet.\n\nKing Tan Ki, seated comfortably in a sedan chair, was being carried\nthrough the Street of The Hill Where The Monkey Bit Mang. He had no\nthought of danger. Peril had no place in his mind. The street seemed a\nstreet of peace. When lo\u2014from a paper-covered door there came a large\nmissile, striking a slave and falling into the King\u2019s lap. Instantly the\nbody-guard rushed to the terrible house and battered in the door. But\nKing Tan Ki felt more curiosity than alarm. He examined the object that\nhad so unceremoniously been hurled into the sedan. At once his interest\nwas quickened. The King knew good carvings\u2014whether they came from old\nmasters, or from hands unknown. Here was a block carved with superlative\nart. Tan Ki wished to know more of the artist who carved it.\n\nChing Chi was still kneeling, still expecting instant death, when the\nKing\u2019s chamberlain rushed in. The Chamberlain uttered a sharp order. The\nbody-guards grasped Ching Chi and hastened him out of the house, to\nkneel at the King\u2019s sedan. Ah Mee fired a last volley of broken toys at\nthe retreating chamberlain. . . . Not especially nice of him, perhaps,\nbut then, no one had forbidden it.\n\nFortune had smiled her prettiest upon the house of Ching Chi. King Tan\nKi was immensely pleased with the old engraver\u2019s work. The odds and ends\nof toys that had been fashioned for Ah Mee, now graced the palace. There\nthey were appreciated. Every day Ching Chi worked faithfully, carving\nplaques and panels and medallions for the King. He was wealthy. Upon his\nlittle skull-cap was a red button. He was a mandarin, if you please.\nOnly mandarins of the highest class may wear ruby buttons on their\ncaps. . . . And Ah Mee was worse than ever.\n\nTo say it again, for emphasis, Ah Mee was worse than ever\u2014if possible.\nHe dabbled in all the hundred-and-one varieties of mischief. All day\nlong it was \u201cAh Mee, don\u2019t do that.\u201d \u201cAh Mee, don\u2019t do the other.\u201d\n\u201cDon\u2019t. Don\u2019t. Don\u2019t.\u201d Papa Ching was so tired of saying \u201cDon\u2019t\u201d that\nhis tongue hurt every time he used the word. Occasionally he changed his\ntalk and said the opposite of what he really meant. Thus he would say,\n\u201cThat\u2019s right, little darling, fill papa\u2019s boots with hop toads and\nmuddy terrapins, and that will make papa happy.\u201d Or, \u201cPray take another\njar, my precious. Eat all the jam you possibly can. Six jars is not at\nall too much.\u201d For Ah Mee doted on jam. It was a passion with him. He\nstarted the day on jam, finished the day on jam. Every time a back was\nturned, his fingers sought the jam pot. Indeed, rather frequently he ate\nso much jam that there were pains . . . and the doctor.\n\nChing Chi took a bird cage from the wall and hung it on his arm. (In\nthat land when gentlemen go for a stroll they usually carry their pet\nlarks, instead of their pet _chous_.) At the door he paused and said to\nAh Mee: \u201cLittle pearl in the palm, please refrain from too much\nmischief. Don\u2019t [there it was again] be any worse than you are really\ncompelled to be. Of course, it\u2019s quite proper for you to put arsenic in\nMother\u2019s tea, and to hit baby sister with the axe again. And you may\nburn the house if you feel so inclined. . . . I want you to have plenty\nof innocent fun. But don\u2019t [again] be bad. For instance, don\u2019t, I beg of\nyou, don\u2019t get in those jars of jam any more.\u201d\n\nOff went Ching Chi with his lark singing blithely.\n\nAh Mee was quite puzzled. \u201cDon\u2019t get in the jars of jam.\u201d How in the\nworld _could_ he get in the little jars? It was silly. He was much\nlarger than any one of the jars. But perhaps _Tieh tieh_ meant not put a\nhand in the jars. That must be it. Ah Mee made a stern resolve to keep\nhis hands out. Not so much as a finger should go in those jars. . . .\n\nObedient Ah Mee arranged several of his father\u2019s carven plaques on the\nfloor, and tilted a jar. The plaques were beautifully decorated flat\npieces of wood, somewhat larger than dinner plates. They made reasonably\ngood dishes for the stiff jam. Surrounded by little mountains of jam, Ah\nMee sat on the floor and . . . how the mountains disappeared. Really, it\nwas fairish tasting jam.\n\nWhen Ching Chi came home and discovered his carvings smeared with black\nand sticky jam, that good soul fell into a passion. First he screamed.\nNext he howled. _Then he seized the plaques and flung them from him_,\nflung them with all his strength. Flinging seems to have been a family\nfailing.\n\n[Illustration: Then he seized the plaques and flung them from him.]\n\nChing Chi was weeping for sorrow, and howling with rage when his brother\nCha entered the room. The quick eyes of Brother Cha soon saw that\nsomething was amiss. He gazed at the wall where the plaques had struck.\nHe gazed at the jam-coated plaques. Then he too howled, but with joy.\n\u201cOh, Brother Chi,\u201d he shouted. \u201cYou have chanced upon a wonderful\ninvention. It is a quick way for making books. What huge luck.\u201d He led\nBrother Chi to the wall and pointed. \u201cSee. For reason of its jam, each\nplaque has made a black impression on the wall. Every line of the\ncarving is reproduced upon the wall. Now do you understand? You will\ncarve my thoroughly miserable stories upon blocks of wood. Ah Mee will\nspread black jam upon the carven blocks. Then I will press the blocks\nupon paper, sheet after sheet, perhaps a hundred in one day. . . . With\nthe laborious brush I can make only one story a month. With the\nblocks\u2014I can make thousands. Oh, what a wonderful invention.\u201d\n\nChing Chi carved his brother\u2019s stories upon wooden blocks. Ah Mee spread\nthe jam thickly\u2014only pausing now and then for a taste. Ching Cha\npressed the blocks upon paper, sheet after sheet. . . . There were the\nstories upon paper\u2014all done in a twinkling, and with little expense.\nThe poorest people in the land could afford to buy Ching Cha\u2019s most\nexcellent stories.\n\nThus was invented _Yin Shu_ (Make Books) or, as the very odd foreign\ndemons call it in their so peculiar language\u2014\u201cPrinting.\u201d Ching Chi, his\nbrother Ching Cha, and Ah Mee, all had a hand in the invention. As a\nmatter of exact truth, Ah Mee had two hands in the invention (or in the\njam), so he is generally given all the credit. His monument reads, \u201cAh\nMee, the Inventor of Printing.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                            SHEN OF THE SEA\n\n\nKua Hai City stands on a plain in northern China. The plain is called Wa\nTien, and it is very smooth and fertile, giving many large melons. . . .\nLife there is good. The plain is likewise extremely low. Any reliable\ngeography will tell you that Kua Hai is below sea level. And that, I\nknow, is a fact, for I, lazily seated in my garden, have often gazed at\nsailing ships, large-eyed\u2014wide-staring-eyed junks as they fetched into\nthe Bay of The Sharp-Horned Moon, and to view them I had to raise my\neyes. It is very true. I had to look up, as one looks up to behold the\nsky-hung eagles of Lo Fan.\n\nI had as often wondered if the sea ever broke through its restraining\nwalls and flooded Kua Hai. A storm coming down from the northeast would\nmost likely thrust billows to overtop the wall. So I said to my\ngardener, Wu Chang: \u201cWu Chang, did fishes ever swim up the Street of A\nThousand Singing Dragons? Did the sea ever come into Kua Hai?\u201d Wu Chang\npaused in his scratching among the _hung lo po_ (the radishes). Since\nthinking it over, I am inclined to believe that he welcomed an\nopportunity to change from the working of his fingers to the working of\nhis tongue. \u201cOnce, and once only, Honorable One, has the sea invaded Kua\nHai. But it can never do so again. Chieh Chung was fooled once, but he\nwas far too clever to be fooled twice. He buried the bottle, perhaps in\nthis very garden, for who knows? He buried it so deep that no ordinary\ndigging shall discover it. And so, the sea may look over the walls of\nKua Hai, but it may not enter.\u201d\n\n\u201cIndeed?\u201d said I. \u201cAnd pray, who _was_ this Chieh Chung? And what was in\nthe bottle?\u201d\n\nSuch astounding ignorance gained me a look of compassion from old Wu\nChang. \u201cThe Honorable One is surely jesting. He, of course, knows that\nChieh Chung was the first King of Wa Tien.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, to be sure,\u201d I interrupted. \u201cIt was Chieh Chung who\ninvented\u2014hum\u2014er radishes.\u201d That was a guess, and a miss.\n\nWu Chang corrected me. \u201cNot radishes, but writing. A mistaken thing to\ndo, in my opinion. But beyond doubt he did a great service when he\nbottled the water demons. Ho. Ho. Ho. He bottled the demons as if they\nwere melon pickles. Ho. Ho. Ho.\u201d\n\n\u201cSit here in the shade, Wu Chang,\u201d said I. \u201cSo Chieh Chung pickled the\nwater demons\u2014and then what?\u201d\n\n\u201cNot pickled, Honorable One, bottled. Chieh Chung bottled the demons.\nHo. Ho. Ho. . . . You must understand that in those days the plain\nhereabouts was much lower than it is now. It had not been built up. And\nthe sea was much higher in those days, for then there were no heavy\nships to weigh it down, and flatten it. The sea was very high\nthen-a-days, far too high for its breadth. On every side the land held\nit back, and it was retarded and had no freedom of motion. So the Shen,\nthe demons of the sea, got them together and took thought. They said:\n\u2018Our sea is far too small. We must have more room. We are mighty, are we\nnot? Then let us take some land and occupy it, so that our sea may\nexpand.\u2019\n\n\u201cAccordingly, the water demons swam along the coast, seeking land to\nconquer. They passed the shores of Fu Sang without stopping, for that\nregion is high and mountainous. They passed the region of San Shen Shan,\nfor in that place lives the powerful land demon named Hu Kung. The water\ndemons were in no great haste to gain Hu Kung\u2019s hatred. They passed\nwithout a second glance. But when the Shen swam up to Kua Hai, it was to\nrejoice. The demons looked over the wall; they smiled down upon Kua Hai\nand said, \u2018This land we shall take for our beloved sea. It is low, and\nsuited to our purpose. Rightfully it is ours. Yes, we shall take Kua\nHai, and all the vast plain hereabout.\u2019 But the ocean demons were\npossessed of decency. They did not dash over the walls, calling on their\nsea to follow, and so drown all the people of Kua Hai. Demons though\nthey be, the Shen that time had mercy in their hearts. While the night\ndew lay upon the fields of Wa Tien, those demons, to the number of\nseven, made their way into Kua Hai. There they waited in the garden of\nthe palace.\n\n\u201cWhen King Chieh Chung, who ruled over Wa Tien, took him to the garden\nfor an early morning stroll, he discovered the demons waiting. He knew\nat once they were no ordinary men. Not once did they _kou tou_ (knock\ntheir heads on the ground) as men should do. Nor did they look like the\nmen of Wa Tien. Their mouths were wide mouths, like those of codfishes.\nTheir bodies were covered with iridescent scales. Nevertheless, Chieh\nChung permitted the Shen to approach. \u2018What manner of men are you?\u2019\nasked the King. \u2018And what is your pleasure?\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018We are the Shen, demons of the sea,\u2019 answered the seven. \u2018We are Shen\nof the ocean, and we come to claim our own.\u2019 \u2018And what is that?\u2019 asked\nthe King, smiling tolerantly upon them, though in truth he felt more\nlike weeping, for he knew what would be the answer.\n\n[Illustration: We are the Shen, demons of the sea.]\n\n\u201c\u2018We have come to possess ourselves of the city and all the low plain\nthat surrounds it. It is our right, and our might\u2014we mean to have it.\u2019\nThen Chieh Chung\u2019s heart dropped down to a level with his sandals. His\nheart was weighted as if with millstones, as if weighted with Mount Tai.\nLong he stroked his beard, pondering, grieving, praying. And the water\ndemons danced in the dew. Jubilant were they, flinging their toes high,\nspattering dewdrops upon the palace roof, and singing the terrible song\nof the ocean.\n\n\u201cFinally the King answered. \u2018Shen,\u2019 said he, \u2018what time do you grant me?\nKua Hai is a large city. In it are half a million souls. It will be\nmoons and moons before I can count my people safely upon the Mountain of\nThe Yellow Ox.\u2019 One of the demons was shaking a _pai shu_ (shaking a\ncypress tree) so that its dew fell upon him and upon his companions, for\nalready the sun was up and they were beginning to feel the day and its\ndryness. \u2018What time?\u2019 said the Shen, taking his answer from the _pai\nshu_. \u2018We shall give you until this tree is in flower. Have all your\npeople gathered upon high ground when this _pai shu_ blossoms, for at\nthat time we shall lead the sea upon Wa Tien, and the sea shall stand\nthree _li_ deep above your palace. That is our answer. And now we must\ngo for the sun has lit his fire.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe Shen made a move as if to depart, but no sooner were they out of\nthe shadows than they halted abruptly, murmuring in displeasure. And\nsmall wonder. The sun had dispelled the dew and there was no moisture\nupon the land. A water Shen cannot exist where there is no moisture. In\nthat respect he is like the _yin yu_ and the _shih pan_ (fishes). So the\nShen turned to Chieh Chung and said, \u2018Is there water here, O King, where\nwe may spend the day hours?\u2019 \u2018There is little,\u2019 said Chieh Chung; \u2018I\ndare say too little for your purpose. But in such quantity as it is, you\nare welcome.\u2019 He pointed to a crystal bowl in which burgeoned a sacred\nlily. There was water in the bowl, water surrounding the lily bulb. Too,\nthere were stones in the bowl\u2014blue lapis lazuli, and green jade, and\nyellow topaz (precious stones, as befitted a palace garden), for that is\nthe way sacred lilies are grown\u2014in bowls filled with water and pretty\npebbles. \u2018You are quite welcome to it,\u2019 reiterated the King. The Shen\nshook their heads half in despair. \u2018It is too little,\u2019 groaned they,\n\u2018far too little.\u2019 \u2018But,\u2019 said Chieh Chung, \u2018you are demons\u2014hence\nmagicians. Why do you not make yourselves smaller? Why not change\nyourselves into red _hung pao shi_h and recline in the bowl amid the\nlily roots? I am sure you would make handsome rubies. Beyond a doubt, my\ncourtiers would say \u201cAh\u201d and \u201cHow lovely\u201d and admire you greatly when\nthey saw you. Of a certainty, you would make resplendent gems, dazzling\nand superb.\u2019 \u2018Well,\u2019 agreed the Shen, somewhat dubiously, \u2018we shall try\nit. If you have no more water it is the only thing we _can_ do.\u2019 And so,\nin a twinkling the Shen were gone, and seven beautiful rubies appeared\nin the crystal bowl.\n\n\u201c\u2018How lovely,\u2019 said Chieh Chung\u2014and deliberately winked at the cypress\ntree, first with one eye and then with the other. He went to a cabinet\nthat stood in his chamber, and from the cabinet took a bottle fashioned\nout of _fei yu_ (a cloudy jade). And the bottle had a wide mouth. Into\nit Chieh Chung poured water. Returning to the lily bowl, he quickly took\ntherefrom the seven red _hung pao shih_ and dropped them into the jade\nbottle\u2014closing the mouth securely.\n\n\u201c\u2018Now,\u2019 exulted the King, \u2018my city is saved. My people may walk in\nsecurity and without fear. The seven water demons are in my keeping, and\nplease Heaven may they never escape my hand.\u2019 And in his joy, King Chieh\nChung ordered that ten thousand catties of rice be given to the poor.\n\n\u201cWeeks lengthened into months. Lengthened the months to years. Still\nlanguished the water demons in the clouded jade bottle. Still broke the\nsea on Kua Hai\u2019s walls\u2014but did not enter. Chieh Chung added to his\nkingdom and ruled with beneficence. His name was heralded throughout the\nlength of the world. Not by the spear, but by wisdom he added to his\ndominions. Peoples of far-distant regions came seeking to place\nthemselves under the rule of Chieh Chung\u2014wisest and best.\n\n\u201cAt length came ambassadors from Wei Chou, yes, even from distant Kou\nPei, offering to give their allegiance to Chieh Chung. Ah, but that was\na great day, a day of all proud days. The ambassadors were a hundred for\nnumber, haughty mandarins all. There was a great stir about the palace,\nyou may well believe, retainers rushing hither and thither to provide\nfood and drink and entertainment for the foreign great men.\n\n\u201cA foolish servant, ransacking cupboard and closet for what victuals and\ndrink he could find, came upon the dusty jade bottle that stood in Chieh\nChung\u2019s cabinet. \u2018Ah,\u2019 said the servant, trying to peer through the\ncloudy jade. \u2018Beyond a doubt, here is something of rare excellence. This\nwill do for the highest of the mandarins, for the red-button mandarins\nwith peacock feathers. It rattles\u2014rock candy in it.\u2019 And the foolish\none removed the stopper. A thousand pities he was not stricken dead\nbefore the seal was broken.\n\n\u201cChieh Chung came into the chamber and saw what had happened. For a\nmoment he was stunned. Then, \u2018Let me have the bottle.\u2019 The bottle was\nempty, all save for a bit of water. \u2018They are gone,\u2019 said the King. \u2018The\nShen have escaped. But even so, I may baffle them, for they promised\nwith binding oaths not to take my kingdom until the _pai shu_ blossoms.\nAnd\u2014in this region the cypress tree never blossoms\u2014it _never_ comes\ninto flower.\u2019 The King smiled in spite of himself.\n\n\u201cMeanwhile, the water demons, having escaped from the bottle, hastened\nthrough the palace toward the garden. They were very angry\u2014were those\ndemons, gnashing their teeth with a noise like that of waves lashing a\nrock-guarded coast. They were determined on vengeance.\n\n\u201cThe Wei Chou ambassadors were encamped in the palace garden. Their\nservants had been washing garments, brilliant-hued garments such as the\nwealthy and noble of that land wear. The garments had been hung on the\ncypress tree to dry. And there the garments hung when the water demons\nappeared. The tree was aflame with color. Instantly the Shen raised a\ngreat shout. \u2018Come billow. Come ocean.\u2019 They shouted in triumph. \u2018The\n_pai shu_ blossoms (the cypress tree blooms)\u2019\u2014for they thought the\ngarments were flowers\u2014\u2018and our promise is ended. Kua Hai is ours.\u2019\n\n\u201cFathoms deep, roaring, grinding, relentless, the sea swept over Kua\nHai, buried the city, buried the plain. The water demons raced before\nit, calling it on. They who had been the people of Kua Hai rode upon\nwhite-crested billows\u2014without life\u2014drowned. Out of all the vast\npopulation perhaps a thousand escaped. And among those who escaped was\nthe King.\n\n\u201cChieh Chung sat under a pine tree on the mountain, grief-stricken,\nheartbroken, gazing upon what had been a city, and now was sparkling\nsea. Hour after hour sat the King, grieving and thinking, meditating a\nway to regain his country. Now and then the seven water demons appeared\nbefore him, mocking, splashing him with spray.\n\n\u201cOne day, having meditated long, Chieh Chung arose and shouted\nexultantly: \u2018I have it. I know how I shall regain my city. I shall go\nimmediately and put the plan in writing, while it is fresh in my mind.\u2019\nHaving said, he walked to the little hut that served for his palace and\nsat down at a table to write. On the table stood a crystal bowl, with a\nlily, and with green, blue, and yellow stones.\n\n\u201cChieh Chung sat writing meaningless stuff upon parchment. All the while\nhe kept an eye on the crystal bowl. Lo. There appeared seven red stones\nat the root of the lily. The demons had come to spy upon the King\u2019s\nwriting. They had come to learn his plan, and so triumph over him. But\nthey, unwittingly, were giving themselves into bondage again. For Chieh\nChung quickly thrust them into a bottle and sealed it against all\nescape. Six of the demons he thus imprisoned. The seventh, who was a\nsmall fellow, Chieh Chung threw back into the sea. \u2018Go,\u2019 said the King,\n\u2018and take your sea with you. Take your sea, and never trouble me again.\nElse I shall most certainly destroy your six brothers. It is a warning.\u2019\n\n[Illustration: So the seventh demon sped away taking the sea with him.]\n\n\u201cSo the seventh demon sped away, taking the sea with him. Then did Chieh\nChung descend to Kua Hai and build up the city, people coming in from\nfar countries. Once more the city was inhabited, and the land was more\nrich, by reason of its flooding.\n\n\u201cAnd the six Shen, the six water demons are buried deep, in a jade\nbottle\u2014perhaps under this very garden.\u201d\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                       HOW WISE WERE THE OLD MEN\n\n\nWith the first splash of ink it should be stated that this, the story of\nMeng Hu, is not intended for those who disbelieve in signs and portents.\nSuch persons will merely say \u201cPish\u201d and \u201cTush\u201d together with other\nhurtful remarks, and remain unconvinced and scornful. But the\nopen-minded\u2014they are the people. They will nod their heads in\nunderstanding.\n\nSo. The history of Meng Hu, a merry rascal and a clever.\n\nUpon the night that Meng Hu was born, in the house of his father Hao\nShou, in the village named Two Roads Meeting, which stands at the foot\nof Mount Chieh Man (meaning: \u201cDo not hurry\u2014it is tremendously steep\u201d),\nin Ping Shan Province, there happened many queer and unseemly\nhappenings. A pack of wolves came down from Mount Chieh Man, and,\nleaping into Hao Shou\u2019s pigsty, carried off a well-fattened\nred-and-black pig, for which Hao Shou had been offered eighty\ncash\u2014every one good. Between the howling of the wolves and the\nsquealing of the red-and-black pig, all Two Roads Meeting Village was\naroused.\n\nThe excitement had scarcely subsided when Hao Shou\u2019s pet monkey, for\nsome reason best known to himself and the Shen of mischief, entered the\nhouse where Hao Shou\u2019s fowls roosted. The disturbance thus created\ncaused Two Roads Meeting Village again to leap from bed.\n\nOnly an hour later a tiger, which some coolies were carrying as a gift\nto the King, escaped from his cage, and with much roaring pounced upon\nHao Shou\u2019s amiable white cow. There was no more sleep in Two Roads\nMeeting Village that night. And no wonder.\n\nNow the village called Two Roads Meeting was much like any other\nvillage, in that it housed some extremely wise men\u2014men who knew\neverything about practically everything. These men gathered and wagged\ntheir beards much. Some of them said: \u201cIt is a sign, an omen. Hao Shou\u2019s\nson, born in the midst of last night\u2019s disturbances, will gain his\nfortune by the agency of animals. With the help of animals he,\nundoubtedly, will become King. . . . He may even become mayor of our\nexcellent village.\u201d Other wise men, however, said to the first: \u201cDo you\nfellows live in a well? (You don\u2019t know much of the world.) To be sure\nit is an omen\u2014but _mei chi_ (a bad one). The son of Hao Shou will be\ndone to death by animals. Mark our words.\u201d Then the old men of the two\nparties fell to fighting and forgot all about Meng Hu, son of Hao Shou,\nthe innocent cause.\n\nHaving lost his pig, his cow, and many of his fowls, the father of Meng\nHu found himself a pauper. He who had been rich was now poor. Worse\nstill, a suit was brought by the tiger\u2019s owner. The great beast had been\ngored while pulling down Hao Shou\u2019s sinful white cow, and its owner sued\nin a court for damages. Being unable to pay, Hao Shou went to jail\u2014and\nlucky he was to escape with his miserable life. For the tiger was being\nsent, a gift, to the King.\n\nThus beset by poverty, the boy Meng Hu was no sooner able to walk than\nhe was bound over to a herder, who immediately put him to work. It was\nMeng Hu\u2019s duty to watch over a flock. Early every morning he drove his\nsheep into the green hills, watching over them throughout the day, and\nwith night\u2019s coming, marshaled them back to the lowland fold. It was\nlonesome work, very. Meng Hu had no companions with whom to play and\nchatter. The solitude oppressed him. He sometimes thought that his mind\nmust surely break\u2014insanity would claim him. A flute, such as the other\nshepherds used to beguile away loneliness, was beyond his means to buy.\nBut he must have something, must do something.\n\n[Illustration: It was the howl of a wolf.]\n\nWhile thinking of a plan to amuse, he became aware that he was making\nstrange noises in his throat. He opened his mouth. A long, weird howl\nechoed between the hills. It was the howl of a wolf\u2014yet it came from\nthe throat of Meng Hu. It came without effort; a perfect wolf cry. The\nboy was quite as surprised as were his sheep. He went away from the\nflock to a secluded valley, where he could practice the cry without\nharm. \u201cOw-w-w-w-wh,\u201d and again \u201cOw-w-w-w-w-wh.\u201d The sound was\nterrifying. Any gray leader of a pack might have been proud of it.\n\nAt last Meng Hu grew tired of making wolf howls. He tried his voice at\nimitating the calls of other animals. A cow\u2014\u201cAm-oo-ooh.\u201d Sun-awakening\nrooster\u2014\u201cCockadoodledoo.\u201d A tiger; Meng Hu gave the buzzing sound of\npleasure, the open-mouthed roar of anger, the coughing \u201cwoof\u201d of pain.\nHe found it easy to give the various calls of _hou erh_ (the monkey). He\nsquealed in a manner most pig-like. He imitated the \u201cOnkee Onkee\u201d of his\nmaster\u2019s donkey. He gave the neigh of a horse.\n\nDay after day Meng Hu practiced in the hills, imitating the calls of\nmany animals, usually in a low voice so that his sheep would receive no\nfright. Lonesomeness no longer oppressed him. He had a toy more\nentrancing than a lute with ivory bands. He was wolf, and tiger, and\nclucking biddy by turns. He knew all cries of the wild.\n\nA train of coolies trudged along the road below. Meng Hu, seeing them,\nthought to have great fun. He placed his hands trumpet fashion to his\nmouth and gave the wolves\u2019 hunting song: \u201cOw-w-w-w-wh.\u201d Instantly the\ncoolies flung down their burdens and ran as fast as men can run to the\nvillage. Those scary fellows had no wish to help fatten a\nfamine-maddened wolf. Naturally, their fright lent great powers to their\nimaginations. Not only had they heard the wolf\u2014they had seen him\u2014as\nlarge as the Emperor\u2019s battle horse. And the flock owners had better see\nabout their sheep. A dozen sheep would be only a trifling morsel for\nthat huge beast. This large\u2014holding their hands high in air.\n\nHow the village hubbubbed with excitement. Such a collection of spears\nand scythes and warlike jingals as rushed to the wolf-haunted hills.\n\nWhen Meng Hu saw half of the village\u2019s population drawing near in a\nglorious gleam of weapons, he realized what had happened. Beyond a\ndoubt, he would be questioned. Had he seen the wolf? They would ask him\nthat. No\u2014he hadn\u2019t _seen_ the wolf, but most certainly he had heard it.\nPerhaps the beast was hiding in the thicket. Then hunt for it. That\nwould prevent suspicion.\n\nThe villagers came up to find Meng Hu bravely poking with his staff in\nthe bushes. Oh, but they praised him. \u201cSee,\u201d said the villagers, \u201cbrave\nMeng Hu all alone hunts the wolf. How courageous is Meng Hu. His heart\nis as bold as the heart of Mi Tze\u2014he who pulled the King\u2019s beard.\nValiant Meng Hu is an added honor to the Village of Two Roads\nMeeting\u2014renowned for its heroic men.\u201d\n\nMeng Hu said nothing\u2014just then. When alone, he brayed like a donkey. It\nwas so funny, so laughably ridiculous. He had fooled the wisest men of\nTwo Roads Meeting Village.\n\nFor the next several days Meng gave the villagers plenty of violent\nexercise. He had them come puffing up the hill at all hours.\n\u201cOw-w-w-w-w-w-wh.\u201d One long-drawn-out howl was sufficient to set scythes\nand spears in motion.\n\nBut the villagers were not so gullible as one might think. They had\neyes. Why was it that they never _saw_ the wolf? Never a glimpse could\nthey catch of the rogue. And there were no tracks to be found. Suspicion\ndawned. Could it be that someone was making sport of Two Roads Meeting\nVillage? Several men hid in the bushes. Meng Hu was seen to climb a rock\nthat overhung the lowland. He raised his hands to form a trumpet.\n\u201cOw-w-w-w-w-wh.\u201d The wolf.\n\n\u201cOho,\u201d said the men, of whom the flock owner was one. \u201cAha. So it was\nyou all the time.\u201d They rushed upon Meng Hu and gave him a good taste of\nbamboo sauce, which is served upon the back, and sounds \u201cSwish, thump.\nSwish, thump.\u201d The flock owner then paid Meng what few cash were due and\nbade him, \u201c_Chu pa_ (Away with you). And don\u2019t dare ever to return.\n_Hsiao tsai tzu_ (You young animal).\u201d\n\nMeng Hu called to his heels for assistance. He ran and ran, till the\nhills were far behind. Every now and again he murmured sadly: \u201cHow wise\nwere the old men. They _said_ that an animal would be my downfall. A\nwolf. A mock wolf was my undoing.\u201d\n\nThe lowland was a pleasant country, with here and there a ripening\nfield, and here and there a forest. Young Meng stood at the edge of a\nwood, casting about for a bed to serve him the night. A clatter of hoofs\nbroke the silence. Some twenty men or more dashed into view. From their\nweapons and general swashbuckling appearance Meng knew them to be\nrobbers. And knowing\u2014he swiftly clambered up a tree.\n\nThe robbers halted and gazed about them right and left. Their chieftain\nsaid: \u201cI thought I saw a man here. If you find him, kill him, for the\npeople hereabouts are fierce enemies. Ho. . . . What\u2019s That in Yonder\nLeafy Tree?\u201d\n\nMeng Hu could imagine a knife at his throat. He shook the tree with his\ntrembling. Nevertheless, his wits worked faithfully. From his lips came\nthe scolding chatter of _hou erh_ (the monkey). It was exceedingly well\ndone. The robber chieftain laughed. \u201cOnly a monkey\u2014and what vile names\nhe seems to call us. Ho. Ho. Ho. Only a silly monkey.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: Meng Hu could imagine a knife at his throat.]\n\nMeng Hu tossed down a ripened fruit from the tree\u2014that being the way of\nall monkeys. The fruit spattered its juices in the chieftain\u2019s eyes.\n\u201cWhat a sweet-tempered old brute,\u201d complained the chief. \u201cHurry on.\nWe\u2019ve no time to waste with a monkey.\u201d\n\nThe robbers rode deeper into the forest and under a spreading tree\ndismounted. Meng Hu, now feeling that he was a match for forty robbers,\nfollowed the trail and spied upon the camp. He saw the knaves divide\ntheir booty\u2014gold and jewels flashing in the firelight. There were bales\nof rich silk; brocades and moires\u2014all rich stuffs. The eyes of Meng\npopped with amazement. He wished that some day he might own such\ntreasure. But why not own it at once\u2014why wait for _some_ day? Could\nthere be any way to take it from the robbers? He shut his dazzled eyes\nand thought.\n\nThe night was at its most eerie hour\u2014the hour when whitened ghosts\nappear\u2014when the _yao mo_ (the ghosts that have no chins) appear. A\nmonkey chattered in frantic warning. The robber chief awoke and said to\nhis men: \u201cDo you hear that sound? Monkeys always make such alarm when\ndanger is near. That monkey warns us\u2014a tiger is near. Get to your\nhorses.\u201d\n\nBefore the thieves could mount their horses, the horror-striking, the\nflesh-chilling roar of a tiger filled the forest. Instantly the horses\ndashed away. Shrieking with fear the brigands followed. Three roars\nemptied the camp. Six roars emptied the forest. Between roars Meng Hu\nfound breath enough to murmur: \u201cHow wise were the old men of the\nvillage. They _said_ that an animal would bring me my fortune. A tiger.\nA pretty tiger am I. Ho. Ho. Ho.\u201d And he roared again for good measure.\n\nMorning\u2019s glow was still faint in the east when Meng rounded up the\nhorses. Those that had strayed too far he ignored. No telling when the\nrobbers would return. Besides, the boy had plenty, in all conscience. As\nblithe as any bobolink he bobbed up and down, pounding the road toward\nChang An, the capital city.\n\nThe fortunate fellow settled down in a comfortable mansion and converted\nhis goods into gold as rapidly as possible. To put the merchants in\nbetter humor and make them more disposed to buy his silks and jewels,\nMeng Hu often howled and mooed and cackled. He gave the buyers much\nentertainment. His strange antics became the talk of Chang An City.\n\nThe upshot was that Lui Tsung, Mightiest King, heard of the youth who\nmade such marvelous noises. His Majesty sent a courier bidding Meng Hu\nappear in the square that fronted the palace, there to entertain. Meng\npromptly appeared, bringing with him a tiger robe, a calf skin, a wolf\nhide, and other disguises. He intended that the performance should seem\nvery real. And so it was, at first. As a wolf, he frightened three\nsoldiers into running. His bawling was so true to life that an old\npeasant rushed to the square, declaring that he recognized the voice of\nhis lost calf, and would someone lend him a rope. Oddly enough, the\ntiger mimicry created no astonishment. It caused neither laughs nor\nscreams. Meng Hu was surprised. Had he not thrown fear into the robbers\u2019\nvery marrow with his tiger noise? Roaring furiously, he rushed at a\nsoldier. The soldier merely yawned. Roaring ten times more furiously,\nthe \u201ctiger\u201d sprang at Lui Tsung, The Mighty King. . . .\n\nNow, of course, Meng Hu was merely a peasant boy. He knew nothing of\nroyalty and its ways. But, is ignorance ever an excuse? Never. Meng Hu\nshould have known better than to spring at his Monarch, and to tooth the\nroyal robes. His Majesty gasped and beckoned to a captain of the guard.\n\u201cSeize this audacious person and imprison him. Hold him until I can\nthink of an utterly new punishment to fit his crime. He merits something\nmore severe than mere sword or fire.\u201d\n\nWith such delightful prospects to ponder, Meng Hu languished behind lock\nand key. Over and over he moaned: \u201cHow wise were the old men. They\n_said_ that I would meet my death because of an animal. A tiger. A\ntiger. _Ai ja_ (Alas).\u201d Though extremely downcast, yet he kept a faint\nhope. His mind fabricated numerous schemes for escape. He had noticed\nthat the Queen seemed extremely fond of a ridiculous little yipping\nChou. (The scamp; with his noise he had frightened the poor dog in a\nmanner most scandalous.) While thinking of the Chou, he hit upon an idea\nthat promised much.\n\nDirectly after the new guards had been posted, Meng Hu began to yelp\ndismally. His yelping was enough to bring tears of pity to the soldiers\u2019\neyes. It was distressing. Presently a voice said: \u201cO soldiers, my dear\nlittle dog is locked up, and I don\u2019t know where. Hasten and open all the\ndoors.\u201d That voice was the Queen\u2019s voice. Every soldier of the guard\nrecognized it. Every soldier hastened along the corridor\u2014slip slap,\nslip slap\u2014opening doors. One and all they hastened to free the Queen\u2019s\ndear little pet Chou.\n\nThe Queen\u2019s voice commanded that the doors be opened. Yet, at that very\nmoment the Queen was in a sedan chair, several miles away, taking her\nevening ride. Perhaps Meng Hu could have explained the mystery\u2014had he\nwaited. But there was no waiting. The guards had not finished opening\nthe farther doors when Meng crawled away. He didn\u2019t even pause to thank\nthe guards. Their kindness went unrewarded.\n\nTo the wall. To the gate. Toward the Great Wall galloped Meng Hu. The\nnight cloaked his hurry. No one hindered. No one pursued. Over the\nmountain\u2014a mile to go. There stood the Great Wall\u2014there the gate.\nThere lay safety.\n\nMeng paused for a breath and turned in his saddle. Far behind appeared a\nstreak of light. That would be a torch\u2014and a King\u2019s man bearing it.\nThey were pursuing\u2014upon the King\u2019s swift horses. Then hasten. Speed. To\nthe gate.\n\nAway galloped Meng Hu. . . . The gate was before him. . . .\nClosed. . . . Closed. _Ai ja_. His escape was blocked by the ponderous\ngate. He would be captured. He would be killed, and alas for it. Ai yu.\nThe gate was closed for the night. It would not be opened till morning\ncame. No ten bags of gold could open it before the morning dawned. Not\neven a royal order could open it.\n\nThe warden of the gate slept peacefully.\n\n\u201cCockadoodledoo.\u201d\n\nThe warden turned in his quilt.\n\n\u201cCockadoodledoo.\u201d\n\nThe warden opened his eyes. \u201cCan it be so late?\u201d\n\n\u201cCockadoodledoo.\u201d\n\n\u201cHeigho. Morning already\u2014and\u2014what a noisy fowl.\u201d\n\n\u201cCockadoodledoo.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, it must be morning. Time to open the gate, so that the early\ncaravans can pass.\u201d\n\n\u201cCockadoodledoo.\u201d\n\nThe key clicked in the lock. The heavy hinges groaned.\n\nClatter, clatter of hoofs that were urged.\n\n\u201cHow wise were the old men of the village,\u201d murmured Meng Hu. \u201cThey\n_said_ that an animal would save my neck some day. A rooster. What a\ntoothsome fowl am I. Ho Ho. Ho.\u201d\n\nHe laughed as his horse took the open road.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                              CHOP-STICKS\n\n\nWhat is better than roast duck with sweet ginger dressing? Is\nanything\u2014anything\u2014in the world and all, superior? Two roast ducks\u2014as\nChing Chung said\u2014are more to be desired? Ah, of a certainty. Two. Two\nroast ducks, with _hong keong_ dressing, and _ling gow_, and _jung yee_,\nand _tou ya_, and _yu chien_ (the very fine tea that grows only in three\ngardens of Ku Miao), and\u2014but really that\u2019s enough for any dinner. More\nmight mean misery.\n\nThose were the dishes that Cheng Chang prepared with matchless\nperfection. Those were the dishes that Ching Chung ate with the utmost\ngusto. Cheng Chang, the very fine cook, and Ching Chung, the extremely\nappreciative master. They were old bachelors, those two worthies. Little\nCheng Chang and large Ching Chung were foot-free, funny, and forty.\nCheng Chang came within an inch of being a dwarf. He was only a mere\ntrifle taller than his own willow-wood ladle. Why, he was nearly as\nshort as Wu Ta Lang, who, as you\u2019ll remember, when standing under his\ncherry tree could not reach the limb, and when on the limb could not\ntouch earth.\n\nBeyond a doubt, Cheng Chang was little\u2014but . . . how he could cook. He\nwas ugly\u2014but . . . how he could cook. He tied his queue with a leather\nstring\u2014but . . . how he could cook. He taught his own grandmother how\nto roast eggs\u2014and that\u2019s something few men could do.\n\nChing Chung was the master. He was a tremendous person. He was nearly as\nlarge as Ho Lan, the giant, who, one day when stretching, burned his\nhand on the hot red sun. Surely no one could ask for more proof that\nChing Chung was quite large. And how the man could eat. He worked hard,\nfrom crow of cock till the owl said \u201cTime for bed.\u201d And how he could\neat. Four roast ducks at a sitting . . . how he could eat. But his voice\nwas so powerful that it often shook the pots from Cheng Chang\u2019s stove.\nThen there was nothing to eat.\n\nChing Chung frequently complimented Cheng Chang upon his so glorious\ncookery. He would say to Cheng Chang: \u201cCheng Chang, this roast duck is\nsimply _tou ming_. If I were king and you my cook, I would make you\nGovernor of Kwang Ting, where the best ducks grow.\u201d And Cheng Chang\nwould say: \u201cTo the Gracious Master I offer my no-account thanks. I\nsorrow that my terrible cooking is not better.\u201d Or, again, Ching Chung\nwould say: \u201cCheng Chang, this exquisite roast duck has infused me with\nnew strength. One more morsel, or maybe two, and I could conquer the\nworld.\u201d And Cheng Chang would reply, \u201cIt is nothing, Honorable Master.\u201d\n\nStrengthened and made bold by Cheng Chang\u2019s roast duck and perhaps by a\nsip of the stuff called _sam shu_ (which is fire and madness in a\nbottle), Ching Chung one day went a-courting. Before a body could say\n\u201c_Chang wang li chao_\u201d (about the same as \u201cJack Robinson\u201d), the\nbeauteous lady, Li Kuan, was pledged to be Ching Chung\u2019s bride. Whereat,\nthe happy groom to be, who had always proclaimed that a bachelor\u2019s life\nwas the only life, promptly changed the burden of his song and declared\nthat all old bachelors should be boiled in rancid bean oil and used as\ncandles to lighten the darkness. And, no doubt, he was very right.\n\nSaid master to cook: \u201cCheng Chang, why don\u2019t you follow the excellent\nexample that I have set and take unto yourself a bride? There\u2019s Pang\nTzu, a buxom lady, and wealthy. Why not marry Pang Tzu?\u201d So Cheng Chang\nanswered, \u201cVery well then, Honorable Master; I\u2019ll do as you advise.\u201d And\nhe did.\n\nWith Ching Chung married and Cheng Chang wed, both of the old bachelors\nwere husbands, and their lives were changed, utterly. For marriage is a\nmost peculiar thing. It promotes the fortunes of some men. Other men go\nfrom bad to worse. The wedding bell has two tongues. One tongue speaks\ngood; the other, evil.\n\nConsider the case of Ching Chung. His wife had no wealth whatsoever. But\nher fifth cousin was a general in the royal army. The general came to\nvisit, riding a handsome donkey, and wearing his two swords. He tasted\nthe roast duck (cooked, mind you, by Cheng Chang), upon Ching Chung\u2019s\ntable, and instantly took a great liking for Ching Chung. He thought his\nhost a most hospitable and excellent man. Nor was he wrong. (But Cheng\nChang had cooked the duck.)\n\nIt was no time till Ching Chung received a commission in the royal and\nbrave army. He became a general. Before one could say \u201c_Chang wang li\nchao_,\u201d he won a great victory. . . . And, the king having died\nmeanwhile, Ching Chung was placed upon the throne. There he was\u2014upon\nthe throne\u2014a king. And hail to King Ching Chung.\n\nOn the other hand, consider Cheng Chang, the cook. Poor Cheng Chang. He\nwas afraid of his wife. Horribly afraid. His wife had but to whisper\n\u201cChang,\u201d and Chang trembled like jelly, spilled on the king\u2019s highroad.\nHis wife had but to say \u201cCheng Chang,\u201d and Cheng Chang fell upon the\nfloor. It often happened that his wife said \u201cChang,\u201d just as the poor\nman seasoned a duck on the stove. Then Cheng Chang would tremble, and\ndrop in too much salt or garlic or ginger, and the dinner would be\nruined. Frequently Cheng Chang had to throw away a dozen ducks, before\nhe dished up one that was really excellent. Of course, his own purse had\nto pay for the loss. Almost before one could say \u201c_Chang wang li chao_,\u201d\nthe timid Cheng Chang was a pauper. A lucky thing for him that his wages\nwere raised as soon as Ching Chung became King.\n\nHow remarkable are the tricks played by fate. She gives the wheel of\nlife a turn. What was top becomes bottom. Strangely enough, what was\nbottom\u2014becomes top. The once mighty eat humble pie. The once lowly sit\nupon gilt chairs, drinking _yu chien_ from cups of egg-shell porcelain,\nand eating birds\u2019 nests. Cheng Chang was at the bottom. And fate gave\nthe wheel a whirl.\n\nThe wife of Cheng Chang went to visit her three brothers, who conducted\na large go-down in Ning Poo. The art of cookery, so nearly lost to Cheng\nChang, once more thrilled in his finger tips. A pinch of this. A mite of\nthat. A dash of something else. Cheng Chang cooked as he had never\ncooked before. The roast duck that he served up for King Ching Chung\nwas\u2014was\u2014was\u2014. There are many words in the language of men, but not\none of them can describe the duck that Cheng Chang presented his King\nand master, Ching Chung. Sublime, delicious, perfect\u2014those words are\nweak and unable. Away with them. The duck must remain undescribed. But,\noh, what a duck it was. King Ching Chung ate half of it. Perhaps he ate\na trifle more than half. He kept his gaze upon the platter. He said\nneither \u201cGood,\u201d nor \u201cBad.\u201d\n\nCheng Chang lingered near by to receive the praise that he felt was due.\nBut the praise was slow in forthcoming. The wondering cook began to fear\nthat he had dropped in too much _chiao fen_. Horrors. Horrors twice.\nSuppose he had? He deserved to be killed.\n\nKing Ching Chung laid his knife aside. He placed his fork in company. He\nraised his eyes and gazed at Cheng Chang. For a full minute he gazed. He\nquestioned, \u201cCheng Chang, did you cook this duck?\u201d Poor Cheng Chang.\nDown he went, kneeling three times. Each time he knelt, his head rapped\nthe floor thrice. \u201cYes, most gracious and forgiving Majesty, I cooked\nthe duck. I, Cheng Chang, alone am guilty. Oh, have mercy.\u201d He could\nalmost feel the headsman\u2019s sword.\n\nSteadily for another minute the monarch stared. Then he spoke. \u201cYou did,\ndid you? Well, all I can say is this. The man who cooked this duck\nshould be King. And, by the teeth of the bobtailed dragon who brings\nfamine, I am going to make him King. I shall abdicate and appoint him to\nrule in my stead. Arise, King Cheng Chang, ruler of the universe\u2014and\nthe best cook that ever roasted a duck.\u201d\n\nSo soon as Cheng Chang\u2019s wife heard of her smaller half\u2019s good fortune\nshe hurried back to the palace. With her she fetched the three brothers,\nfeeling sure that King Cheng Chang would appoint them to high places. If\nhe wouldn\u2019t, _she_ would. She had things planned to the last detail. One\nbrother was to be keeper of the royal and full treasury. What a clever\nidea. He had the largest pockets. Another brother was to be Governor of\nKwang Ting. The third was to be made Commander-in-chief of the royal and\nnever-run army.\n\nAt breakfast, the eldest brother mentioned his desire. \u201cOh,\u201d said King\nCheng Chang, \u201cI can\u2019t make you keeper of the treasury. I\u2019ve already put\nin a man who has no hands.\u201d \u201cWell, what appointment have you saved for\nme?\u201d \u201cFor you? Let\u2019s see. You can be Ambassador to Ho Chung Kuo.\u201d (A\nfar-off country\u2014America, in fact.) \u201cIndeed?\u201d screamed the Queen\u2019s\nbrother in terrible rage. He took his knife from his mouth and lunged at\nthe King. . . . Only a remarkable quickness of foot saved King Cheng\nChang.\n\nHis Majesty, very properly, was much displeased at such unseemly\nbehavior. Who wouldn\u2019t be? \u201cI shall have your eldest brother beheaded,\u201d\nhe told the Queen. \u201cIndeed?\u201d said the Queen. \u201cThen I shall beat you.\u201d So\nthat ended that. He was little and she was large. There was no\nbeheading.\n\nAt dinner the Queen\u2019s second brother remarked in a casual tone: \u201cIt\u2019s an\nexquisite day, isn\u2019t it? I hope it will be this pleasant when I am\ninaugurated Governor of Kwang Ting.\u201d \u201cYou? Governor? I have appointed\nChing Chung to be Governor of Kwang Ting. You can be constable\nat. . . .\u201d \u201cIndeed?\u201d screamed the would-be governor in an ungovernable\nrage. He seized his fork and rushed at the King. Fortunately a mat\nslipped from beneath his feet. His fork tore a deep furrow in the floor.\nThe monarch escaped injury.\n\nNevertheless, King Cheng Chang was highly indignant. Surely that was his\nkingly right. He said to the Queen, \u201cI shall have your brother\nbe. . . .\u201d The Queen interrupted, \u201cIf you do, I shall beat you.\u201d She\nrather had him there. The King crawled under his throne. The subject was\nclosed, and the headsman\u2019s sword was unstained.\n\nSupper had barely begun when the Queen\u2019s youngest brother, a huge brawny\nyokel, remarked that he had already purchased his uniform and would take\nover the army to-morrow. The King was taken back. \u201cYou command the army?\nHuh. I shall make you Minister to Yin Yung.\u201d (A place twenty thousand li\ndistant at the ships sail.) \u201cIndeed?\u201d roared the Queen\u2019s brawny youngest\nbrother. Clutching his soup spoon he leaned across the table and struck\nat King Cheng Chang, \u201cSwish,\u201d with all his might.\n\n[Illustration: The King crawled under his throne.]\n\nThanks to him who made the table, he made it of generous width. The\nQueen\u2019s youngest brother could not quite reach across it. His murderous\nspoon merely parted the King\u2019s beard. It was a most atrocious deed,\nmeriting extreme punishment, but it caused no actual pain. Its main\neffect was upon the King\u2019s dignity. But this time His Royal Mightiness\nsaid nothing of the headsman. He imagined that his wife would most\nlikely raise objections. No. The King said nothing of punishment.\nInstead, he rewarded the Queen\u2019s youngest brother, appointed him\ndirector of the Imperial Gunpowder Factory, with a bed in the\nfactory. . . . And gave him six pounds of smoking tobacco.\n\nThe three attempts upon his life worked havoc with Cheng Chang\u2019s nerves.\nWhen eating breakfast, he could never look at a knife without\nshuddering. Seated at dinner, each time he touched a fork cold chills\nraced down his marrow. At supper, he could scarcely eat because of the\nspoon. Each glance at the spoon wrought from His Majesty a groan of\ndread.\n\nSo King Cheng Chang did a most wise thing. He abolished knives and forks\nand spoons. He ate his rice and duck with the aid of two harmless,\ndelicate, little sticks. There was nothing about the sticks to inspire\nuneasiness. They were incapable of hurt.\n\nThe little sticks used by King Cheng Chang were called Chop-Sticks. Chop\nmeans good.\n\nNaturally enough, all the people in Cheng Chang\u2019s kingdom soon were\nusing chop-sticks. They wished to do as the King did. People are like\nthat. Chop-sticks became, first, fashionable, then, universal. Every one\nused them.\n\nWherefore, today King Cheng Chang is remembered not for his roast\nduck\u2014which was heavenly, and gained him the throne\u2014but for his\nchop-sticks\u2014which are wood, mere wood.\n\n\n\n\n                              BUY A FATHER\n\n\nThe Street of Wang\u2019s Broken Tea Cup lies between Seven Thieves Market\nand the long wharf where ship bottoms from all the world (and, as some\nsay, the moon) discharge their varied cargoes. Queer sights are so\nexcessively common there that the Phoenix bird lighting a match to his\nfeathers would, probably, excite only ordinary interest. Nevertheless,\nthe people _do_ possess eyes, and they _are_ provided with ears. Now and\nagain they can be made to open those eyes, and sharpen those ears into\neager hearing. The ridiculous, in especial, rouses their attention.\nThere was the wit-wandering beggar, Weng Fu, as an instance.\n\nWeng Fu walked in the Street of Wang\u2019s Broken Tea Cup, bearing a great\nbundle of bamboo switches upon his back, and shouting\nthunderously. . . . \u201cWho\u2019ll buy? Who\u2019ll buy? What young man wishes to\nbuy him a father?\u201d Whereat, several persons gathered, laughing. \u201cI, Weng\nFu, will sell myself as a father to any young man for only five cash.\u201d\nThe crowd and the laughter increased. \u201cWho\u2019ll buy a pretty father? An\norphan may have me for only one cash. A most excellent father I\u2019ll be to\nmy son. I promise to beat him twice each day. Of every hundred cash he\nearns I\u2019ll take only ninety-nine and he may keep one. I\u2019ll even let him\nsleep upon warm ashes in the bed-stove. Ho\u2014young men, come buy\u2014come\nbuy.\u201d\n\nThe shopkeepers left their stalls unguarded as they gathered round Weng\nFu to mock and express their not-flattering opinions. \u201cSurely,\u201d said\nthey, \u201cthis is the oddest fellow we have had in a long while. He must\nthink our young men are silly as Ko Chih, who scrabbled in the deep snow\nof January, searching for plums. Ho. Ho. Ho. Was there ever anything\nmore ridiculous? A pretty father he would make. Pretty indeed.\u201d A crowd\nof boys assembled to have sport with the fantastic beggar. \u201cHere, most\nhonorable Father\u2014here is five cash, and I will be your dutiful son.\u201d A\nrichly dressed youth held out some money to Weng Fu. But when Weng Fu\ngrabbed at it, the boy shut his hand and ran away swiftly, cackling in\nwell-pleased laughter. After him plunged the greedy beggar, his tattered\nclothing flapping like strings on a scarecrow. A bystander put out a\nfoot. The old man tripped heels over head in the deep black mud. Then\nthe crowd slip-slapped on, mildly interested in a fight between Wan the\nhunchback who had only one leg, and a blackamoor who had no arms.\n\nThe boy Ah Tzu, an orphan, approached Weng and tugged to assist him. The\nbeggar\u2019s rags tore away by the handful. A train of laden donkeys labored\ndown the street. \u201cHo. Good man, you must get out of this,\u201d shouted Ah\nTzu, pulling. \u201cThe donkeys will shred your flesh from the bones. Come.\u201d\n\u201cWill you buy me for a father?\u201d \u201cCertainly. Now see if you cannot\narise.\u201d Ah Tzu pulled manfully, and the contrary old beggar moved his\nlimbs in helping. The two staggered aside just in time to avoid being\ntrampled. \u201cWhere shall we go\u2014Father\u2014where is your house?\u201d asked Ah\nTzu. \u201cIn the Street of The Place Where The Cow Lost Her Horn,\u201d answered\nWeng Fu. \u201cAnd don\u2019t walk so fast, my son, else I shall beat you.\u201d\n\nThe house of Weng Fu was luxurious in the extreme. A goat could have\nleapt through any one of a dozen holes in the walls. The roof was made\nof straw, so thin that the rain demon, Yu Shih, laughed at it, and the\nstars peered in nightly. There was no _kang_ (bed-stove), no table.\nChairs were lacking. For furniture it had a heap of bean straw in a\ncorner, a dozen bricks in another corner, a cupboard on a wall\u2014thus was\nthe house of Weng Fu furnished.\n\n[Illustration: The house of Weng Fu was luxurious in the extreme.]\n\nWeng Fu sat upon the earthen floor and bade Ah Tzu do likewise. \u201cMy\nson,\u201d said the beggar, \u201cthis is your future home\u2014and excellent it is.\nThis is your home\u2014provided you prove worthy. But I warn you, I am hard\nto please. A son of mine must be as prompt as Ching Chi, as devoted as\nWei Sheng, as brave as Meng Feu. Faithful and honest must my son be. You\nmust ask no questions and do as I say. Otherwise, I shall beat you, and\nturn you out in the street. . . . Open the cupboard and bring me a\nbundle of straw.\u201d Ah Tzu obeyed. His new father continued: \u201cBraid this\nstraw into a pair of sandals. Work swiftly and have them finished by the\ntime I return. And give me what money you have so that I may purchase\nfood.\u201d Ah Tzu turned over his tiny bag of money. Then his fingers worked\nnimbly, braiding the straw.\n\nWeng Fu returned in a very few minutes. His face was purple. His voice\npitched high. \u201cWhat? _Ya shu_ (idle rascal). Are you not finished? Well,\nyou shall get no dinner till you complete the sandals.\u201d With that he put\ndown a silver tray and began to eat. On the tray was roast duck. There\nwas celery and tea-soaked eggs and rice and bean sprouts and brine-aged\ncabbage and almonds and garlic and many another dish of equal goodness.\nWeng Fu\u2019s teeth clicked busily. Every few seconds he grunted his\nsatisfaction. Ah Tzu braided straw.\n\nThe silver tray was emptied long before Ah Tzu completed his task.\nFinally, \u201cHere, my father, are the sandals, and I hope they will be to\nyour liking,\u201d Weng Fu gazed. \u201cThey are not very well braided. But\nperhaps in time you will learn. Reach in the cupboard and get a bean\ncake for your dinner.\u201d Ah Tzu searched in the cupboard and found a\nsmall, hard, dry bean cake. \u201cHere, give me half of it,\u201d ordered the\nqueer father. \u201cI am still hungry.\u201d The old fellow took at least\nthree-fourths of the cake\u2014all but a portion that had been nibbled by\nmice. Then he put on his new sandals, took up the tray and departed. \u201cDo\nnot go out,\u201d he admonished Ah Tzu. \u201cStay here and guard the house\nagainst thieves.\u201d The door closed behind him. Just what a thief could\nhave desired in that house would be hard to decide. Nevertheless, Ah Tzu\nstayed close at home, that night, and the following day, and the night\nthat came after.\n\nDuring the second night three men came to the door and tried to gain\nentrance, saying that they must have gold. Ah Tzu fanned about him so\nearnestly with a cudgel that all three were piled in a heap on the\nthreshold. They went away limping and howling, one holding his hands to\nhis pate, as if troubled with _nao tai teng_ (as if troubled with head\naching badly).\n\nThe next day saw Weng Fu\u2019s return. He asked Ah Tzu many questions, and\nAh Tzu answered them. But the boy showed no inquisitiveness about the\nlarge bandage round Weng Fu\u2019s head, nor did he ask questions about\nWeng\u2019s bundle. The beggar finally opened his bundle and from it took\nfood. He shared the food with his son\u2014and this time he himself ate\nlittle. This time Ah Tzu had sufficient.\n\nWhen the meal was finished, the beggar again opened his bundle and\ndisclosed garments such as very young babies wear. \u201cPut on these\ngarments, my son. They will make you look many years younger. And I,\nseeing my son so young, will feel the years drop from my shoulders and\nbe again in the prime of my manhood\u2014at least ten years younger.\u201d Ah Tzu\ndid as he was told. \u201c_Cha, Tieh tieh_ (Certainly, Papa).\u201d On went the\nsmall garments. \u201cNow, Ah Tzu, we\u2019ll go for a walk. Here is a calabash\nfor you to rattle.\u201d\n\nThey went into the street. Ten steps and a crowd gathered. Such jeering.\nSuch laughter. \u201cHo. Ho. Ho. Here is old _back of the hands turned down_\n(a beggar) and his infant son. What a pretty baby. _Tieh tieh_, has your\nbaby cut his teeth?\u201d Ah Tzu rattled his calabash and tried hard to keep\nfrom blushing. Weng Fu sauntered on in utter unconcern. When they\nreached Seven Thieves Market, all shopkeepers boarded up their stalls,\nthinking a mob had come to plunder.\n\nAt home once more, Weng Fu produced more food and told Ah Tzu to eat.\nThen he cupped his hand to his ear as if listening. \u201cI thought I heard\nsomeone shout my name. There it is a second time.\u201d He dashed out. At the\ndoor a bag fell from his girdle. The bag flew open and from it rolled\nrubies and pearls, to a value of at least ten bars of gold. Ah Tzu\ncalled to his father, but receiving no answer, he hastily gathered up\nthe baubles and hid them.\n\nNight came, but with it no father. When the moon had been set for an\nhour, a noise brought Ah Tzu to his feet. The thieves? Let them come.\nThe boy was expecting some such visitation. He had a stouter club and a\nkettle of hot water in readiness. . . . There was little short of murder\ndone in the Street of The Place Where The Cow Lost Her Horn. Ah Tzu had\neaten strengthening food that night. Though he wore the clothes of an\ninfant, that is no sign that his arm was the arm of an infant. Such\nhowling.\n\nOld Weng Fu merely grunted when he received the bag of rubies and\npearls. Counting them he said, \u201cI thought there were fifty large\npearls.\u201d And he gazed keenly at Ah Tzu. If he expected to see a guilty\nflush, he was disappointed. \u201cI did not count them, my father. All that I\nfound I put in the bag.\u201d The beggar grunted. \u201cSo\u2014here is the missing\none. . . . But perhaps there were fifty-one. Look outside the door. You\nmay find another.\u201d\n\nAs Ah Tzu sifted the earth, his nostrils told him of a smoke. Even as he\nstraightened up Weng Fu rushed from the house. No need to yell \u201cFire.\u201d\nFlames were darting like dragons\u2019 tongues out of the thatch, out of the\nwalls. The old beggar ran in a circle, screaming: \u201cNow what shall I\ncrack nuts on? What? What? Oh. Oh. Oh. Ah Tzu, my son, get me the brick\nthat lies on the floor in the northeast corner. The brick. The brick.\u201d\nAh Tzu thought it strange that his father should set such high value on\na brick. But strange or not strange, an order was an order\u2014to be\nobeyed. Shielding his face with a sleeve he entered the house. Wisps of\nburning straw fell upon him. Smoke seared his eyes. Smoke griped his\nthroat, periling his life. Straight he went to the farthest corner. He\nstooped. A quick dash. He was safe, beyond the door. Ah Tzu\u2019s task had\nbeen accomplished. He handed to his father a brick . . . a worthless\nyellow brick . . . a chipped and fissured brick. For that he had been\nmade to risk his life.\n\nWeng Fu spoke no word of praise. He did not so much as look at Ah Tzu.\nOnly a close observer could have noticed that his lips quivered ever so\nslightly. Finally he said: \u201cI have one more errand for you, my son, then\nyou may rest. See\u2014I have lost the string that bound my queue. Go you to\nthe Emperor and ask His Majesty for an old ribbon. Tell the Emperor you\nwish to borrow a queue ribbon for Weng Fu, the beggar.\u201d\n\nSadly troubled, Ah Tzu hastened toward the palace. He had every reason\nfor thinking that his impudent request would gain him not a ribbon for\nWeng Fu but a rope for his own neck . . . and death for Weng Fu.\n\nIt was the hour when Shang Tien Hao, The Emperor, sat in public\naudience. Any citizen might approach the throne. The aspen leaves never\ntremble so violently as Ah Tzu trembled, kneeling before his monarch.\nWith much stammering, he stated the business that brought him. All the\ntime his forehead was tight pressed to the floor.\n\n[Illustration: He kept his forehead tight-pressed to the floor.]\n\nStrangely enough, the Emperor made no beckon to the executioner.\nInstead, he smiled and said: \u201cNo, my son, I sha\u2019n\u2019t give you a ribbon\nfor old Weng Fu. He no longer exists. However, I shall give you ribbons\na-plenty and fine clothing for your own wear. You must learn that I,\nbeing without heir, dressed as a beggar and wandered the streets to find\nme a son brave as Meng, pure as Pao Shu, and devoted as Wei. Such I\nfound in you. No longer are you Ah Tzu, the orphan. Henceforth you are\nLieh Shih\u2014hero\u2014and beloved son of Shang Tien Hao, The Emperor.\u201d\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                             FOUR GENERALS\n\n\nPrince Chang petitioned his father, the King. \u201cMy Honored Parent, give\nme permission to make a journey throughout the kingdom. I would learn\nhow the people live, and note wherein they are contented and\ndiscontented. Thus I shall be prepared against the time when I ascend\nthe throne.\u201d The King nodded approval. \u201cYour plan is good, my son. I\nshall immediately order that new gold tires be put upon the royal\ncarriage, and summon ten troops of cavalry to guard you.\u201d But the prince\nwould not listen to such arrangements. \u201cOh, no, sire, I mean to go alone\nand in disguise. Instead of the carriage, a stick will serve for my\nvehicle. Instead of the troops, that selfsame stick will guard me.\u201d\n\nWhereat, the King was greatly troubled, and the prince was put to much\nargument before he won his point. \u201cThen do as you wish, my only and much\nbeloved son,\u201d said the King, grudgingly. \u201cBut it behooves you to observe\nextreme care. Disorder is rife in all the provinces. Go, and may your\nstick be as strong as the magic mace of Sun How Erh.\u201d\n\n\u201cFarewell, my royal father.\u201d\n\n\u201cFarewell, my noble son.\u201d\n\nNow it must be remembered that Prince Chang was no graybeard. In years\nhe was nearing thirteen. Is it, after all, such a great wonder that\nhomesickness caused his heels to drag, and his eyes to need the\nkerchief? He had walked all of twenty li. That, he began to imagine, was\njourney enough for the present. To the edge of Hu Pei Forest he\ncontinued. At the edge of the forest he stopped. The woodland was so\ndark . . . so dark. The wolves howled \u201cOo-o-o-o-o-wh\u2014We starve.\u201d And\nsuch a futile little stick with which to enter the forest of Hu Pei.\n\u201cOo-o-o-o-owh.\u201d What wolves. . . .\n\nThe prince had turned his face toward home when a merry voice hailed\nhim. \u201cHo. Brother, I\u2019m glad you are come. Tell me if my fiddle be in\ntune.\u201d A comical fellow hopped down from a stump and chinned his fiddle\nwhile Prince Chang stared. \u201cEek. Eek. Eeek.\u201d \u201cHow does it sound, little\nbrother?\u201d \u201cI dare say it\u2014\u2014\u201d But the fiddler was not waiting for an\nanswer. His bow arm fell to sawing while his legs and voice joined in\nthe tune\u2014\u201cA beggar asked the King to dine.\u201d And that\u2019s a foolish song.\nPrince Chang thought he had never before heard or seen anything so funny\nby half. The more he laughed the greater his need for laughter. Such a\ncomical beggar and how he could play and sing.\n\nFrom one end of Hu Pei Forest to the other Prince Chang laughed while\nthe beggar capered and fiddled. No wolves at all appeared. Homesickness\nwas a thing of the past\u2014forgotten. \u201cLet me give you a copper cash,\nmerry stranger,\u201d said Chang, when they came to a Y of the road. \u201cNot\nnow,\u201d said he of the fiddle and bow. \u201cI judge you are poorer than I.\u201d\n\u201cIndeed?\u201d laughed the prince. \u201cWhen I am King (he forgot himself there),\nI shall reward you handsomely.\u201d \u201cHo. Ho,\u201d shrieked the beggar. \u201cWhen you\nare King. When you are King, I\u2019ll accept a reward. Make me a general in\nyour army.\u201d \u201cIt shall be done,\u201d said Chang. \u201cWhat is your very nice\nname?\u201d \u201cMy pitiful name is Tang\u2014Tang, the fiddler. Farewell, my little\nKing, who rides a bamboo horse.\u201d So, they parted, both merry.\n\nSad to relate, Prince Chang\u2019s merriment was to be of brief duration. A\nband of robbers sprang up from the roadside and surrounded him,\npummeling him without mercy\u2014all striking at one time. They took his\nstick and his clothing and the little bag of coins that hung from his\nneck. They left him in the road for dead. A sorry ending, that, to his\njourney. . . .\n\nShortly, another traveler chanced by, and he was a man of warm heart. He\nrevived Prince Chang and took him on his shoulder, carrying him to a\nvillage. There he set out food and clothing and bade the prince ask for\nwhat more he desired. Chang was deeply thankful. \u201cHow can I ever repay\nyou?\u201d \u201c_Ya ya pei_ (Pish tush),\u201d said the man. \u201cIt is nothing. What is a\nbit of food? And what is a gift of clothing? Besides, you must know that\nI am a tailor and will charge my next customer double. \u2018A tailor\u2014a\nrogue,\u2019 says the proverb.\u201d \u201cI do not believe it,\u201d exclaimed Chang, \u201cand\nwhen I become King\u2014\u2014\u201d (There he forgot himself again.) \u201cHo. Ho. Ho,\u201d\nroared the tailor. \u201cWhen you become King. Ho. Ho. When you are King, you\nmay reward me. You may make me a general in your army.\u201d \u201cIt shall be\ndone,\u201d declared Chang. \u201cWhat is your honorable name?\u201d \u201cWang is my\nmiserable name. Wang, the tailor. Farewell, and good luck be with you,\nmy future King.\u201d So they parted, merrily enough\u2014each laughing at the\nexcellent jest.\n\nPrince Chang continued his journey. For three days he saw no man of\nflesh and bone, nor came upon a dwelling. At the end of the third day he\nwas weak and unsteady from hunger. His stick broke beneath his weight\nand he lay beside the road, waiting for death to come. Instead of death,\nthere came a shepherd with sheep and goats. The shepherd picked up Chang\nand saw that the boy was far spent. It was quite plain that hunger had\nused him evilly. Promptly the quick-witted fellow slung Chang on his\nshoulder and carried him off to a cave. Milk in bottles of leather hung\non the cavern walls. Also, there were cheeses. Chang was made to drink\nof the milk\u2014a little at first\u2014only enough to moisten his throat. With\nthe return of strength, he drank greedily, completely emptying a\ngoatskin. And the emptier the bottle grew, the more he thanked the\nshepherd. \u201cYou have done me a great service,\u201d said Chang. \u201cIf I had\nmoney I\u2014\u2014\u201d \u201c_Ya ya pei_ (Pish tush),\u201d said the shepherd. \u201cIt is\nnothing. I fed you with no thought of reward.\u201d \u201cNevertheless,\u201d declared\nChang, \u201cwhen I am made King I\u2014\u2014\u201d The shepherd was like to strain his\nthroat with guffawing. \u201cHo. Ho. Ho. When you are made King. What a merry\nchap you seem to be. Very well, when you are King you may reward me.\nMake me a general in your army. Ho. Ho. Ho.\u201d \u201cI shall. I shall.\u201d The\nprince was emphatic. \u201cWhat is your honorable name?\u201d \u201cMy paltry name?\nMost folk call me Mang\u2014Mang, the shepherd. And here, you must carry\nsome food with you, for the nearest house is thirty li distant. Take\nthis cheese\u2014and may good luck be your companion, my King of the\nwandering road.\u201d\n\nBurdened as he was, Prince Chang made slow work of getting over the\nmountain. He had begun to think seriously of dropping the cheese when a\ntroop of soldiers clattered up the road behind him. \u201cHow fortunate,\u201d\nsaid Chang. \u201cHere are my father\u2019s soldiers. They will take me on their\nhorses to the next village.\u201d But the soldiers halted with a \u201cWho are\nyou, and what brings you here?\u201d queried most fiercely and with scowls.\nThe prince stammered that he was sometimes called Chun, a most\nunfortunate invention, for Chun was the name of a local bandit. The\nsoldiers\u2019 frowns turned to pleased smiles (there was a reward offered),\nand the captain said: \u201cSo you are Chun, and you have just robbed some\npoor person of a new suit and a cheese. Off with his head, my braves.\u201d\nChang now saw that he was indeed in a tangle. A bold face seemed the\nonly escape. He put on a stern look, saying: \u201cHow dare you execute men\nwithout a trial? Do you not know that I am Prince Chang, son of your\nnoble King?\u201d The captain bowed in mock humility. \u201cYour Highness seems\nlarge for such a tender age. I happen to know that King Yen Chi\u2019s eldest\nson is only two years old. Let your swords drink, men.\u201d\n\nThe terrible truth was made plain to Chang. He had wandered across the\nborder of his father\u2019s kingdom. He was in a neighboring and hostile\ncountry. . . .\n\nThe swords were lifted to strike, when\u2014swish\u2014came an arrow. After it,\nquickly, another, and another. Each found its mark. For each arrow a\nsoldier crumpled. The others dug heels in their horses galloping\npell-mell for their lives.\n\nA stalwart youth stepped out from a pine. \u201cYou had better go quickly,\u201d\nhe said to Chang. \u201cThe border of our own country lies a full mile back.\u201d\n\u201cI thank you with all my heart,\u201d declared Prince Chang, \u201cand shall\nreward you fittingly when\u2014\u2014\u201d \u201cWhen you are King?\u201d finished the other.\n\u201cI heard what you said to the soldiers, and wondered at your daring.\nVery well. Make me a general when you become King, and that will be\nample reward.\u201d \u201cIt shall be done,\u201d vowed the prince. \u201cWhat brave name do\nyou bear?\u201d \u201cName? Oh, you may call me Lang. Lang, the very indifferent\narcher. And now you must go, for more soldiers will come, and my arrows\nare few.\u201d\n\nPrince Chang was not long returned from his journey when the King passed\naway in an illness. Immediately the crown was placed on Chang\u2019s brow,\nand all the people burned much incense of _la ka_ wood, crying \u201cHail.\u201d\nAnd almost with their next breath they shouted \u201c_Kou chou_ (The Enemy).\u201d\nAn enemy was marching upon Ku Hsueh. The new King had barely seated\nhimself upon the heighty throne before he found it necessary to see\nabout raising an army. There were two great troubles with the old army.\nIt was dwarfish small and it boasted more generals than bowmen. Of\ncourse, the generals never fought. They did nothing but plan\u2014usually\nwhat they\u2019d have for dinner, and which sword they\u2019d wear to the King\u2019s\nnext reception. Yet, King Chang added more generals to the army.\n\nThe first complaint raised against King Chang by his people was that he\nhad added four more generals to the army. His new generals were named\nTang, Wang, Mang, and Lang\u2014though doubtless, such information is hardly\nnecessary. They were old friends of the King. The four arrived at the\ncapital in time to see a huge army of hostiles encamp on the far side of\nthe river that bordered the city. By great good fortune, the river was\npast fording, so holding the enemy in check. The King and his generals\ngazed across the river. Said he: \u201cIt is easily seen that the enemy has\ntwenty men for every one we muster. What are your plans?\u201d Of all his\ngenerals, only Wang seemed to have so much as the shadow of a plan. Wang\nsaid, \u201cGive me all the tailors in the city, and all the cloth stored in\nthe royal go-downs.\u201d \u201cTake them,\u201d said King Chang. \u201cIf you don\u2019t, the\nenemy will.\u201d\n\nThroughout the night General Wang and his tailors slaved needle and\nthread. The click of thimbles made a continuous humming sound. The\nhostiles on the farther shore heard, and wondered what strange warlike\nengines King Chang might be preparing.\n\nWith day\u2019s coming, Chang moved all his troops\u2014he had only a thousand.\nThe thousand men marched in parade along the river\u2019s brim. Their\nuniforms were old and dowdy. The words, \u201cWe are brave,\u201d that adorned\ntheir tattered jackets seemed a poor and weak boast. They were\nragamuffins. They marched as if weary. The enemy jeered.\n\n[Illustration: The king and his generals gazed across the river.]\n\nBut, lo. The first thousand had no sooner disappeared than another\nthousand circled past the river\u2014stepping smartly, smartly uniformed in\ncloth of gold, the words \u201cVery brave\u201d embroidered upon their fronts. The\nenemy was not so quick to jeer.\n\nFollowing the second thousand came a thousand men in trig red uniforms.\nUpon their breasts were broidered \u201cExtremely brave.\u201d They stepped it\nbriskly, shouting dares across the river. The enemy replied with little\nheart.\n\nAnother thousand followed. Jade green uniforms clothed them.\nRumbledumblededum sang their drums, and their steps kept perfect time.\nUpon their breasts were the words \u201cStill braver,\u201d and upon their lips\ngreat threats. The enemy said little.\n\nNow came men in crow\u2019s-wing black. Upon their breasts were the words\n\u201cBraver by far.\u201d Their taunts were hard to bear. Yet, the enemy remained\nsilent.\n\nA thousand men in pink, the same number in blue. Came white-clad men and\norange-clad men. Violet uniforms replaced uniforms of brown. . . . The\nenemy thought it hardly fair. King Chang, evidently, had a million\nsoldiers. . . . How could they fight against a million? The tents came\ndown and the enemy vanished.\n\nGeneral Wang continued to sew until the last hostile disappeared. He and\nhis tailors were terribly tired. But the thousand soldiers were even\nmore tired. All day long they had marched and changed uniforms, then\nmarched again. They had changed from red to green, to black, to every\ncolor in the spectrum. They were color blind and weary. But King Chang\nmerried much and blessed the day that had sent him General Wang, the\ntailor.\n\nIn a month or so King Chang\u2019s happiness turned to gloom. The enemy had\nlearned of Wang\u2019s clever trick, and resolved to march again. The army of\nChang was scarcely larger than before. To come off victorious each man\nwould have to whip a dozen of the enemy. There was no time to increase\nthe royal army. And the enemy lay on the other side of Ku Hsueh River,\nwaiting for the waters to lower.\n\nKing Chang rode with his generals to the river. Said he: \u201cThere lies the\nenemy. The depth of the river lessens with each minute. Who has a plan?\u201d\nSome of the generals stroked their beards. Others twisted their\nmustachios. All wrinkled their brows. Not one of them parted his lips.\n\u201cCome. Come, my doughty generals. Have you no plan? General Tang?\u201d Tang\nbowed his head the three times required by law and courtesy. \u201cSire, with\nyour permission, I have a small scheme that may serve.\u201d \u201c_Chen hao_\n(Very good); spare no expense. Draw on the treasury for whatever you may\ndesire\u2014silk, tailors, fans, or false faces\u2014anything except more\nsoldiers, for soldiers we have not.\u201d \u201cThen, please, Your Majesty,\u201d said\nTang, \u201cmay I ask you to sign an order on the treasury for one ounce of\npine resin.\u201d Then the King thought Tang jesting. His first impulse was\nto strike off his head. Instead of doing so, however, he signed the\norder for two cents\u2019 worth of resin.\n\nAt night General Tang sat upon a crag that towered above the river. He\nfondled his precious violin. A little breeze sprang up at his back. Tang\nthe general was no more, but Tang the musician lived and thrilled. Bow\nswept strings with a magic sweetly sad. The breeze caught up the melody.\nThe river was its sounding board. The soldiers on the farther shore\nturned in their blankets to listen. Than home there is no spot\ndearer\u2014and the violin sang of home. More and more sad came the music.\nThe musician wept. Across the river ten thousand eyes grew moist. The\nsoldiers wept and were unashamed. Why had they left their warm\nhearthstones\u2014to die in an alien land? Fierce resolve faded, and a\nlonging took its stead, a longing for home and the loved ones it\nsheltered.\n\nMorning saw the hostile camp deserted. Soldier after soldier had stolen\naway in the darkness, thinking only of home. Not one remained to\nthreaten Ku Hsueh City.\n\n[Illustration: More sad and more sad came the music.]\n\nKing Chang assembled his generals and spoke high praise of Tang. Then he\ndiscussed the need of preparation for the future. He knew very well that\nthe enemy would return. \u201cHave any of you, my trusty generals, a plan for\nhumbling the enemy in his next invasion?\u201d General Mang, the former\nshepherd, voiced a plan. \u201cI would suggest that all horses be replaced by\nlean sheep of the mountain.\u201d General Lang, the archer, said, \u201cI would\nsuggest that all cases at law be settled by trial with bow and arrow.\u201d\n\u201cSo be it,\u201d said the King, \u201cI grant both requests.\u201d\n\nThe enemy soon marched upon Ku Hsueh in greater numbers than before.\nGrasshoppers in the August fields were never thicker. It was plain that\nonly a miracle could save the city. All eyes were turned to General\nMang, turned beseechingly, and rather doubtfully. Could a mountain\nshepherd save Ku Hsueh?\n\nThat night the question was answered. Mang herded his sheep in a\ntremendous body toward the enemy camp. At the proper moment he raised a\ngreat din and startled the animals into flight. Through the camp of the\nenemy they rushed, and instantly the camp was confusion. The soldiers\nhad fared none too well on their march. They were hungry. And here was\ngood food to be had for the catching. Away went sheep. Away went\nsoldiers. Thoroughly frightened, the lean-limbed sheep sped their\nfastest. Thoroughly desirous, the hungry soldiers followed at their\nfastest.\n\nWhile the camp was empty, Mang and a score of daring men darted from\ntent to tent. In their hands were torches. Behind them rose a flare of\never-spreading flame. \u201cTo roast their meat when they catch it,\u201d said\nMang. The wind was a helpful friend, scattering brands with a will. The\ndestruction was soon finished. What had been a white encampment became a\nred and rolling flame. The tents were burned, and the spears and the\nbows. Nothing was spared. A thoroughly discomfited enemy stole away from\nKu Hsueh that night.\n\nSo far, General Lang had done nothing of a warlike nature\u2014nothing at\nall\u2014unless stepping upon the toes of a citizen be considered warlike.\nLang had done that. Naturally, the citizen was incensed. He wished to\nsee justice done and went to a court of law. The judge said: \u201cTake this\nbow and shoot five arrows in yonder target. He who shoots best has the\nright on his side.\u201d The young citizen shot first, and his marksmanship\nwas poor to say the least. Whereupon, Lang drew the bow. Oddly enough,\nhis aim was no better than that of the citizen. With that the judge\ndeclared the suit undecided and set a future date for its retrial.\nGeneral Lang left court well pleased. The young citizen went home to\nspend many hours in practice with bow and arrow.\n\nThereafter the courts were flooded with lawsuits. From morn till night\nthe bow strings twanged. It appeared that all the men of Ku Hsueh had\ngrievances to be settled. And they who were wise spent much time in\narchery practice ere they went to court. Many became quite expert with\nthe bow and arrow. . . .\n\nKing Chang impressed all of them into his army. At last he had a large\nforce, a force that would give pause to any foe. Long the King waited\nfor his enemy\u2019s return. But he waited in vain. Spies had watched the men\nof Ku Hsueh at practice with the bow. They sent messages that Ku Hsueh\nwas prepared. So the country was troubled no more by alarms of hostile\narmies.\n\nThus, without loss of a man, was the kingdom saved for Chang, by Wang,\nTang, Mang, and Lang\u2014a thousand years ago all this, but very learned\nmen still dispute as to which was the greatest, Lang, Mang, Tang, or\nWang\u2014which of the four generals.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                        THE RAIN KING\u2019S DAUGHTER\n\n\nThe people of Shen Su were starving. A famine blighted all the land.\nRice swamps yielded only empty husks. The millet fields were barren. The\n_ti tan_ patches, for all their blossoms, produced no earth eggs\u2014no\npotatoes. The _chu_ groves gave no tender stalks. . . . And the people\nstarved.\n\nEvery astrologer and wise man in the kingdom was summoned to King Ta\nLang\u2019s palace. \u201cTell us, wise men, why we starve. Why is food denied\nus?\u201d Thus the King questioned the graybeards, and they, the learned,\nconsulted their charts, and sand trays, and crystal globes. One said:\n\u201cThe Shen of Falling Water, Yu Shih, is angry. We have burned no incense\nto him within a year.\u201d \u201cIt is a rat. A rat is eating our food,\u201d said\nanother. The others, for the most part, echoed approval. \u201cYes,\u201d said\nthey, \u201cit is a rat.\u201d\n\n\u201cA rat? Where is the rat?\u201d\n\n\u201cThere, the mountain. The mountain we have called Che Chou.\u201d\n\nKing Ta Lang gazed in a line with their pointed fingers. At first, he\nsaw merely a mountain. A longer look disclosed that the mountain was\nshaped like a crouching rat. \u201cTrap the rat, and Shen Su will once more\nabound with food,\u201d declared the wise men.\n\n\u201cYes, we must kill the rat,\u201d said King Ta Lang. \u201cHo, you carpenters,\nconstruct a giant _mu mao_ (wooden cat) in the path of this terrible\nrat.\u201d\n\nA huge wooden rat-trap was built at the end of the mountain. Yet, the\nfamine continued. Food became more and more scarce. The wise men\nannounced that the trap was not properly built. The rat would not enter.\nThey advised that a spear be thrust through his heart. Forthwith, King\nTa Lang ordered that a great spear be driven through the heart of the\nmountain. A spear would surely kill the rat. But not so. Beneath the\nearth of the mountainside was flint-iron hard flint. A thousand soldiers\nthrusting could not drive the spear deeper than its point.\n\nWhile the soldiers struggled vainly to pierce the flinty core, a little\nblaze leaped from dry pine needles. Their iron had brought sparks from\nthe stone. The little blaze leaped from the needles to a bush, and from\nthe bush to a tree. Then it was a large blaze. Soon a whole acre of\nmountainside blazed fiercely. The soldiers ran away. At first, they were\nbadly frightened, thinking the King would be angry. But the King said:\n\u201cThat is splendid. Why didn\u2019t my wise men think of it? The rat will be\ngrandly singed. Ho. Ho. Ho. He will be burned to his death.\u201d\n\nThere was good reason for thinking as King Ta Lang thought. The fire\nspread up and down till the whole mountain blazed. The mountain was a\nsolid wall of flame, and above it spread a vast sea of smoke. Only an\nextremely hardy rat could live through such intense heat and suffocating\nfumes.\n\nNow there is no telling why the heavens opened. Perhaps the heat of\nblazing Mount Che Chou burned a hole in the sky. Perhaps the Rain Shen,\nYu Shih, imagined the people had burned incense to his honor. However\nthat may be, it is certain that the heavens _did_ open. Upon burning\nMount Che Chou, the rain leaped down in cataracts and the lightning\nplayed continuously. Over the plains of Shen Su also the waters fell,\nbut there the rain was gentle, though persistent.\n\nFor seven days the skies dripped. Then, the grass was green as jade. The\ncattle filled their so-loose coats. Quick-growing vegetables sprang up\nin every garden. There was life. All the people of Shen Su said: \u201cThe\nrat has been singed by the fire. The rat has been drowned by the waters.\nHis head has been cleft by the lightnings. Now he is dead and cannot\nsteal our food.\u201d And that was their belief. \u201cThe rat is no\nmore\u2014therefore, we have food and life.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: At that same hour a basket was found in the garden.]\n\nWhile the rain still plashed on the roof tiles, new life came to the\npalace. A son was born to King Ta Lang. At that same hour a basket was\nfound in the garden. In the basket was a tiny girl. No one had been seen\nto place the basket. Here was mystery. Again King Ta Lang summoned his\nsoothsayers. He wished to learn what the coming years held in store for\nhis son. Further, he wished to learn the past as well as the future of\nthat chubby little girl so mysteriously cradled in his garden.\n\nThe wise men consulted book and glass and table. All in good time Ta\nLang learned that his son must be named Tou Meng (Give Thanks) and that\nhe would remain great so long as he remained thankful. The girl must be\nnamed Chai Mi (Enables Us to Live). Chai Mi was a daughter of the Rain\nKing, Yu Shih, who had given her to become the wife of Tou Meng.\n\nKing Ta Lang was well pleased. Evidently the rain monarch meant to be\nfriendly. Prince Tou Meng and the wee Princess Chai Mi were betrothed by\nroyal decree. They played with the same golden calabash. They drank from\nthe same porcelain bowl. Each cried because of the other\u2019s terrible\nmisfortunes\u2014toes will get bumped and favorite toys go astray, even in\nthe royal nursery. Each laughed when the other was gay. In short, they\nplayed and laughed, and bickered and made up, much like brothers and\nsisters the wide world over.\n\nQuickly sped the years. The prince added inch after inch to his stature.\nThe height of the princess increased in proportion. If she was not so\ntall, she seemed equally strong and daring. She played ball with the\nprince. She climbed trees and rode donkeys. She could place her arrow in\nthe target\u2019s eye, and she could swim where few would venture. More, the\nprincess could \u2019broider, and sew, and dance most gracefully\u2014not in the\ndepraved and shameless manner of today; she danced the olden dances. And\nChai Mi was a discreet maiden. She took good care not to excel Prince\nTou Meng. If the prince\u2019s arrow struck the second ring, then her arrow\ncame no inch closer to the mark. When swimming, the prince always won\nhis races by the slightest margin. They were often in the water, those\ntwo. The river Lan cut its swift way through the palace grounds. Each\nsummer day it felt the strokes of Chai Mi and Tou Meng.\n\nIn the river, Princess Chai Mi found a roll of parchment, written upon\nwith characters she did not know. She took it to the King. Then there\nwas excitement intense, with soldiers gathering from all directions. For\nthe letter that the river had given to Chai Mi was a secret letter\nwritten by an enemy. It disclosed that the enemy was marching on Shen\nSu. \u201cHere,\u201d said the wise men, \u201cis fresh proof that the king of rains is\nour friend. He has disclosed our terrible enemy\u2019s perfidy.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: So Chai Mi sat beside the river and sewed and wept.]\n\nThe drums sounded a continuous call as King Ta Lang mustered his army.\nPrince Meng buckled on a sword that dragged the earth. But Chai\nMi\u2014sewed. \u201cYou cannot go, Thousand Pieces of Gold,\u201d they told her. \u201cYou\nhave done more than well in discovering the danger, but you cannot\nfight.\u201d So Chai Mi sat beside the river and sewed and wept, while the\nsound of drums grew fainter and fainter.\n\nThen there was silence. Shen Su City was peopled only by women. Not only\nthe women wept, but the skies. For three days it rained without ceasing\nand the river Lan became fat with much water; too large for its bed. It\nrose above its banks and there was no crossing. Its voice was loud,\nthreatening\u2014the voice of Yu Shih, master of waters, shouting defiance.\n\nDown to the river by cover of night hurried a silent army. At the\nwater\u2019s edge it halted. No mortal man could dare that snarling current\nand live. No soldier with spear and shield could hope to swim such a\nmaddened torrent. And boats, there were none\u2014Yu Shih had torn them from\ntheir ropes, had carried them down to the sea. The army must wait. Let\nit rest in the mud and await Yu Shih\u2019s permission to cross.\n\nWhen day came, the women of Shen Su City beheld an immense army on the\nriver\u2019s far side. It was the hostile army that King Ta Lang had marched\nto intercept. Beyond a doubt, the King had taken a wrong road. The enemy\nhad eluded him, slipped past him unseen. Only Lan River in flood\nprevented the hostiles from entering Shen Su. And the river could sink\nas suddenly as it rose.\n\nNow when King Ta Lang marched away, he went in haste and lightly\nburdened. All heavy armor was left behind, all heavy spears and shields.\nThis was known to the Princess Chai Mi. She thought of the empty armor,\nthought of the long-shafted spears. With men to hold them, those spears\ncould save the city. But\u2014there were no men\u2014only a few who were unable\nto march.\n\nHowever, there were women, many of them badly frightened, some who were\ncalm and unafraid. Chai Mi quickly made known her plan. Then Shen Su\nCity awoke from its silence. Hammers clashed on armor, making the rivets\nsecure.\n\nIn the enemy camp appeared a man who knew no fear of the river. He swam\nthe raging Ho Lan and drew himself up on the other shore. Girdling his\nwaist was a rope. The rope was soon tied to a willow stump. After that\nthe passage was much easier. One at a time, bearing only their bows, the\nenemy crossed. Their chieftain, to set an example, was among the first.\nThus, by aid of the rope, a number of the enemy swarmed over. They felt\nperfectly safe from attack. Their information was that Ta Lang had taken\nall his soldiers with him. Shen Su would be an easy prey. Five hundred\nmen should be sufficient. And that many had crossed the river.\n\n[Illustration: Of course, they wore hideous false faces.]\n\nFrom Shen Su City marched a thousand braves, clad in glistening armor,\nbearing those tremendously long spears called _chang chiang_. Of course,\nthey wore hideous false faces. That was the custom of all eastern\nsoldiers. Behind the spear bearers marched a thousand archers. The wall\nof Shen Su suddenly bristled with spears, a thousand more. The enemy\ncould not retreat. There was the river to hinder. To advance seemed\nutter folly. What effect could little arrows have on weighty armor? And\nhow could five hundred prevail against six times and more their number?\nTo surrender seemed the only course, and that is what they did. But it\nwas grievous hard. Their leader was of royal blood. No worse disgrace\ncould have been his lot.\n\nThose on the shore beyond were made to cast their weapons in the river.\nWith their royal leader a prisoner, they dared not disobey, for fear he\nwould be slain. Their captors looked quite capable of such action. The\ncrestfallen enemy had no faintest dream that those captors were . . .\ngirls . . . led by Chai Mi. How could they know? The deceit was well\nconcealed. An ancient little tailor did the talking, and he, proud of\nhis chance to swagger, talked with a terrible voice\u2014violently\nthreatening. But Chai Mi, resplendent in the King\u2019s golden armor, told\nhim what to say. And the other maids clashed their spears upon the river\nstones, as if angry at being deprived of living targets.\n\nKing Ta Lang in his swan-shaped sampan was crossing Lan River when he\nheard of Chai Mi\u2019s stirring deed. He could scarce believe his ears. The\ncouriers vowed that they spoke no exaggeration. Convinced at last, the\nKing said: \u201cThen Chai Mi has done us a great service. She shall receive\nhonors without stint.\u201d But the King\u2019s chief general was more than\njealous because Chai Mi had succeeded where he had failed. This general\nsaid, \u201cHas Your Majesty forgotten the law?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat law?\u201d asked King Ta Lang.\n\n\u201cThe law made by your illustrious ancestor, Liu Ti. The law of Liu Ti\nsays that no woman may put on the habiliments of a King. Death is the\npenalty for so doing. The maiden put on Your Majesty\u2019s armor.\u201d\n\nThe King heard with grief. He said: \u201cThat is truth. There is such a law,\nand laws, good or bad, must be enforced. By the law of my noble\nancestor, the maiden Chai Mi must lose her head by the sword.\u201d\n\nAnd the jealous general said, \u201cHere is a death warrant for your\nsignature.\u201d\n\nNow whether the King would really have beheaded Chai Mi, no man can say.\nHis boat suddenly disappeared beneath the waters and was seen no more.\nThe wise men said that he had excited the wrath of Yu Shih, Master of\nWaters, and father of the maiden. That may, or may not, be true. Again,\nno man can say.\n\nBut this can be said, without fear of dispute. King Meng and his Queen\nruled over Shen Su for many a year, and there was neither flood nor\nfamine\u2014only a great tranquillity.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                               MANY WIVES\n\n\nThis is the story that Kung Lin tells, hour after hour, in the peaceful\nshade of Bell that Rings Often Temple. The people have relish for Kung\nLin\u2019s favorite story and give him much money. The tattered old fellow\nsometimes receives as much as five cents\u2014in a single day. So\noutrageously fortunate is Kung Lin, the teller of tales. He does no work\nof any kind whatsoever, merely sits in the shade and talks, and hears\nthe tinkle of coins in his bowl, and hears the people saying: \u201cIt is\nwell told, Kung Lin. Here is some money\u2014and I hope you find it as good\nas your story.\u201d Not all makers of yarns find such sympathetic hearers.\n\nAs the story is given by Kung Lin, there once lived a maiden named\nRadiant Blossom, and she was still more lovely than the loveliest\nmaiden. The face of Radiant Blossom was shaped like a seed of the melon.\nIt was regularly oval, wide at the brow, small as to chin. The maiden\u2019s\neyebrows were like a leaf of the willow. Her eyes resembled the heart of\nan apricot. Her lips in color made cherries seem pale. Her feet were\nthree-inch golden lilies. And when she walked she swayed as a poplar\nsways in summer zephyrs.\n\nFurthermore, she was skilled in embroidery. Her fingers coaxed sweetest\nmusic from flute and lute. Her voice had its only rival in a fountain of\nthe palace, where water plashes on tuneful silver keys. A brief\ndescription, this, but even so\u2014where within the Province of Many\nRivers, journeying by boat of two sails, or three, could one look for a\nmaiden to surpass Radiant Blossom, daughter of Ming Chi, red-button\nmandarin and proud?\n\nHear now of the reigning Emperor, Wong Sing. That illustrious monarch\nwas having a fine time in the ruling of his realm. He dined in heavy\narmor and slept with a saddle for pillow. It was war here, and battle\nthere, and fighting in between. A dozen of his generals were in revolt.\nNo sooner was a rebellion put down than two new ones, and worse, took\nits place. And there was trouble elsewhere\u2014outside the empire. Fierce\nBarbarians, led and inspired by their haughty chieftain, Wolf Heart,\ngrew every day more impudent and threatening. Wolf Heart openly boasted\nthat with the coming of pleasant weather he intended to leap his horse\nover the Great Wall. Is it any wonder that Wong Sing\u2019s noble beard soon\ntook on a hue like that of the lime which boys splash on fences?\n\nBut Wong Sing was no weakling monarch, to lose his crown and his head,\nsaying: \u201cIt was willed by the Fates. What else could I do?\u201d He called in\na fearless old councillor known as Ching Who Speaks Only Enough. Said\nthe Emperor: \u201cGood Ching, although you are ever up to your ears in a\nbook, perhaps you have heard of my numerous troubles\u2014a new one, I\nthink, every day. What, wise Ching, is the cure?\u201d\n\nChing Who Speaks Only Enough replied, \u201cMarriage.\u201d\n\nThe Emperor raised his eyebrows. \u201cMarriage?\u201d He could hardly believe it.\n\u201cMarriage to put down rebellion?\u201d A pause. \u201cHuh.\u201d\n\nChing repeated, and a trifle louder, \u201cMarriage.\u201d\n\nStill the Emperor doubted. \u201cWhat? Marriage? Will marriage cause Wolf\nHeart to sheathe his sword? Marriage to tame the Barbarian? It is\nfoolishness. But surely I misunderstand your words.\u201d\n\nBut indeed he did not. And there was only one word. \u201cMarriage.\u201d That was\nall the advice most mighty Wong Sing could get from word-stingy old\nChing Who Speaks Only Enough.\n\nHowever, is not enough always enough? Is not a word to the wise like\nmelon seeds planted in fertile ground? A little study soon convinced the\npuissant Wong Sing that old Ching had given good advice. Immediately he\nacted upon it. He wrote to every mandarin of any consequence within the\nbounds of his empire. The letters are too long to quote, but the sum of\nthem was this: \u201cI, Wong Sing, Ruler of the Earth, and the Moon, and\nthree-fourths of the Sun, will consider it a favor to receive your\nbeauteous Thousand-pieces-of-gold in marriage.\u201d\n\nEvery mandarin replied by sending to the palace a daughter. No magic\ncould have stopped the rebellions quicker. Revolt was at an end. Could a\nrebel leader, no matter how determined, continue to rebel, when all of\nhis colonels and majors and half of his captains were fathers-in-law to\nthe Emperor? It was impossible. The fighting was over in a twinkling.\nMarriage had done it.\n\nFor months came damsels to the royal palace. And what damsels they were.\nShort and tall, lean and stout, young and old, perfect beauties and\nperfectly horribles, they came and came and came. It is hard to number\nthem with exact figures. Some histories say that five thousand maids\ncame to Wong Sing, his wives to be. Others vow to ten thousand. But why\nquarrel over a difference of a few thousand wives. The point is that\nthey were numerous. Wong Sing was out of pocket several tons of gold for\nthe construction of a wing to the palace for housing them all. Probably\nfifteen thousand was the correct figure.\n\nSurely, the worst guesser in the world would in time conclude that the\nbeautiful Radiant Blossom was among the Emperor Wong\u2019s twenty thousand\nwives. Of a certainty she was. Radiant Blossom came to the palace in the\nmonth of Ripening Apricots. It was midwinter before she so much as\nglimpsed her lord and master, the Emperor. And then she saw him only for\na moment, at a distance.\n\nFor Wong Sing was very like the old man\u2014or was it a woman\u2014who lived in\na sandal\u2014or whatever it was. He had so many wives he scarce knew what\nto do. And is it any wonder? Imagine a staid and settled old bachelor\u2019s\nsudden gain of five or thirty thousand\u2014or more\u2014wives. Poor Wong\nadmitted a few dozen of them to a reception, and in less time than it\ntakes to tell, all of the palace physicians were busily binding ice to\nhis fevered brow. They thought his mind was shattered.\n\nAfter that experience the Emperor was more careful. He summoned the\ncourt artist, one Loh Yang, and said: \u201cLoh Yang, I desire you to paint\ntruthful portraits of all my wives. When the paintings are finished,\nbring them to me, that I may decide which maid is most beautiful. Her I\nshall take as my really truly bride.\u201d\n\nNow Loh Yang was an artist of ability, and no denying. But he was a\nscamp and a half. The first portrait he painted was that of Ying Ning, a\nmonstrous ugly maiden. But Ying Ning was quite rich\u2014and liberal. She\ngladdened Loh Yang\u2019s dishonest palm with gold. And he portrayed her as\nmarvelously beautiful. Of all Loh Yang\u2019s paintings, the portrait of Ying\nNing is most sightly. Yet she was the very ugliest of Wong Sing\u2019s many\nwives.\n\nBy and by it came Radiant Blossom\u2019s turn to sit for a portrait. Loh Yang\nsuggested that for a moderate weight of gold\u2014say ten pounds\u2014he could\nmake his brush fairly outdo itself. Radiant Blossom refused, with\nindignation. \u201cBribe you? To paint me as I am not? Never.\u201d Loh Yang\nbegged for pardon. He seemed extremely penitent. He vowed that he would\ndo his best work. But when the portrait was finished, it was enough to\nfrighten the blind. The shameless rascal had made of lovely Radiant\nBlossom a gruesome crone, a witch, a slattern. Upon beholding it, the\nEmperor covered his eyes with a sleeve. \u201cHorrors. Horror of horrors.\nRemove it instantly. Go. Go. Take it away. Such repulsive ugliness.\u201d\n\nIt is a mere waste of words to add that Radiant Blossom was Not chosen\nto be Wong Sing\u2019s own, really truly, and well-beloved bride.\n\n[Illustration: The first portrait he painted was that of Ying Ning, a\nmonstrous ugly maiden.]\n\nThe braggart Barbarian chief failed of his promise to leap over the\nGreat Wall. Knowing that Wong Sing\u2019s armies were united and staunch,\nWolf Heart boasted no more, and his impudence was hushed. He thought it\njust as well to keep the peace. And when Wong Sing doubled-doubled his\narmies, the Barbarian sent thick letters in which every line told of his\nlong-felt love and respect for the Emperor. He had the audacity to ask\nWong for a wife\u2014from the Imperial Palace. Of course, that was purest\nimpudence, in a way, though Wolf Heart probably thought that he was\nbeing extremely nice.\n\nThe Emperor read in amaze. For a moment it seemed that his face would\nburst into flame, so red it got. Then he smiled. \u201cA wife? To be sure I\nwill send him a wife. Chancellor, what is the name of that maiden whose\npicture is so terrible? Radiant Blossom? Bid Radiant Blossom prepare for\na long journey. I am sending her to the Barbarian to be his wife. Ho.\nHo. Ho. What a jest. I should like to hear Wolf Heart\u2019s rage when he\nviews her. Ugh. I shudder when I think of that horrible crone.\u201d\n\nThe maiden Radiant Blossom heard her sentence without the faintest stir\nof emotion. There came no pallor to her cheeks. No tremble moved her\nlips. Seemingly, it mattered not at all to her. And while the other\nmaidens wept for her fate, she smiled and brushed the string of her\nlute, humming, \u201cButterfly that pleasured yesteryear.\u201d\n\nA few hours more and Radiant Blossom was seated in a gilt and lacquered\nsedan chair, borne by poles on the shoulders of royal slaves traveling\nin haste toward the setting sun. Poor Radiant Blossom, hastening into\nexile, pressing toward her doom, to become the bride of a vandal. Not\ndew, but tears from the darkness descended. The nightingale\u2019s song was a\nsobbing of pity. The very trees that lined the road soughed deep\ndespair. To the river. To the river, where on the farther shore waited\nWolf Heart, the slaves hurried through the night.\n\nHis Majesty, Wong Sing, dressed him in rough clothing, and by another\nhighway made even greater speed to the river. He wished to be near when\nthe Barbarian greeted his bride. He wished to gloat over Wolf Heart\u2019s\nsurprise and furious resentment. Expecting a youthful and lotus-like\nmaiden, how the Barbarian would rave to behold a withered hag. His\nMajesty, The Emperor, expected to receive more than a little pleasure to\npay him for the adventure.\n\nThe light sedan that bore Radiant Blossom sped down to the river. A\nflower-hung sampan was waiting. The slaves put down their burden. Oars\nsplashed. The shore sprang back. The swifting current was deep\nbeneath. . . .\n\nDid the curtains of the gilt sedan flutter aside?\n\nWas it a spirit that glided so quickly from the royal sedan?\n\nA slave shouted warning. His cry was taken up by the others. The oars\nstopped short in stroke. Torches flared. The boat listed heavily on its\nside as men swarmed to the railing. They talked in frightened squeaks.\n\u201cWhere?\u201d squeaked one. \u201cThere,\u201d from another. And \u201cI see nothing.\u201d \u201cShe\nis gone.\u201d \u201cDrowned.\u201d \u201cThe river took her to be his bride.\u201d \u201cDrowned\u2014and\nour necks will pay.\u201d\n\nWolf Heart uncovered his wrath in all its blackness. He spoke with such\nfury that Wong Sing became frightened, and offered to send another\nbride\u2014a dozen brides. The Barbarian refused to accept brides. He\ndemanded gold\u2014much of it. Gold, he said, could not leap into the river.\nAnd even if it did leap from a boat it would not necessarily be lost.\n\nFor that matter, a maiden may leap from a boat and not necessarily be\nlost. Radiant Blossom had passed her early days in the Province of Many\nDivers. Her home had been a river. She knew the waters as a friend.\n\nHaving leaped from the boat, Radiant Blossom permitted the river to hide\nher for long. Deeply she swam and the clouded current was a veil. At\nlast, when she knew that the torches were far behind, she arose. The\nnight was another veil.\n\nTo the hut of a fisherman went Radiant Blossom. She received coarse\nclothing that made of her, in look, a different maiden. Thus clad, she\njourneyed to the home of her father.\n\nSome time later a portrait was brought to His Majesty, The Emperor Wong\nSing. The portrait was that of a beautiful maid. It bore no words. Wong\nSing offered much gold to any person who could tell him the name of one\nso beautiful. The maiden would make him a superlative wife. He wished to\nfind her. But he never did.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                            THAT LAZY AH FUN\n\n\nDoctor Chu Ping was a good man. He was clever and industrious, and wore\nhis pigtail long. No one knows why he was cursed with such an indolent\noffspring as that lazy Ah Fun. Perhaps the vice was inherited, with a\nskip, from Grandfather Chu Ping Fu. They do say in Lao Ya Shen that\nGrandfather Chu Ping Fu was too lazy even to burn yellow paper on New\nYear\u2019s Eve, or to beat a copper pan in order to scare away the demons.\nBut no matter about Chu Ping Fu. Let nothing more be said of him. Not\nChu Ping Fu, but his graceless grandson is herein to be held up for\nscorn.\n\nThat lazy Ah Fun\u2014for such everyone called him\u2014was nothing if not a\nsluggard, and so he had been from the cradle. What a shameless creature\nhe was\u2014a snail\u2014a lame snail at that. Dr. Chu Ping sent him with a\nbamboo tube of brick dust to the house of Chang Chi, where Mrs. Chang\nlay sick with a fever, and greatly in need of the medicine. And did Ah\nFun hasten on his errand? No. A thousand times, no. He dawdled. He took\nhis own, his very own time, that lazy Ah Fun. Poor Mrs. Chang, may she\ngo to a good reward, was three days dead and in her paper coffin before\nAh Fun finally arrived with the medicine that was meant to save her.\n\nNow that is but a single instance, and a sad one, of the way in which Ah\nFun was wont to dilly and to dally. Here is another illustration. Dr.\nChu Ping despatched his son to the pasture land, there to find the cow\nand fetch her home for milking. Dr. Chu Ping knew the boy\u2019s habit, so he\nsent him when the sun was highest, at noon, in order that he might get\nthe cow home before darkness came. But Ah Fun went nowhere near the\npasture. He sat in the shade, playing the noisy game of \u201cguess fingers\u201d\nwith a comrade in idleness. And when night came, he went to the yard of\nLow Moo, his next-door neighbor, and drove the Low cow into his own\nyard. It was so much easier than walking way down to the pasture land\nfor his own cow.\n\nDr. Chu Ping had milked the cow and the cow had kicked the bucket over\nbefore Low Moo came in tears, declaring that he had been greatly wronged\nand that Ah Fun should be whipped with a bamboo. The other neighbors\ngathered round, and without exception they said: \u201cThat lazy Ah Fun; he\nis no good. He should be beaten.\u201d But the doctor said that Ah Fun meant\nno harm\u2014he was merely too tired to go to the pasture, and that some\nday\u2014(here he thumped vigorously on the bucket, rum tum tum\u2014one always\nmakes a noise to scare the demons, when saying complimentary\nthings)\u2014some day Ah Fun would be a very famous man, and have a monument\nhalf a li in height, covered with much carving to tell his praise.\n\nThen the neighbors said \u201cHumph,\u201d and the way they said it was with the\ncorners of their mouths turned down, sneeringly. Clearly, they\ndisbelieved. And one said, \u201cThere was never a hyena that didn\u2019t think\nhis own son fairer than the King\u2019s child.\u201d The good doctor laughed\nheartily at that. He turned to Ah Fun and said (pounding on the bucket):\n\u201cAh Fun, treasure of my miserable heart, take you the bucket, and going\nto the well, fetch us home some water, for there is no milk, the\nterrible cow having kicked it over. Hence we can have only water with\nour Evening Rice. And be sure, my chiefest comfort, (rum dum, went the\nbucket), to rinse the bucket thoroughly, twice at least.\u201d\n\nSo Ah Fun took the _shui tung_ (the bucket), and pretended he was going\nto the well. But the well was a li, a third of a mile distant. The ditch\nwas only a few steps distant. That lazy Ah Fun stopped at the ditch and\nfilled his _shui tung_. He came home with a bucket half full of green\nditch water. And in the water was an old shoe, a discarded shoe, a shoe\nthat someone had thrown away as wornout and utterly useless. Nor had the\nbucket been rinsed.\n\nBut Dr. Chu Ping, instead of scolding Ah Fun, scolded the excellent\npeople of Lao Ya Shen, saying: \u201cThis town is getting very very bad. One\ncannot walk decently and in peace from the well to one\u2019s house, but that\nsome scamp must toss an old shoe in the water bucket.\u201d What a deluded\nman was that Dr. Chu Ping.\n\nWhen the spring rains were at their heaviest, Dr. Chu Ping was called\nfrom this house to that house to visit the ailing. The rains caused much\nsickness, and the doctor was out at all hours, no matter how foul the\nweather. In consequence, he was more often wet than dry, and the wetness\nworked against his health. One night he came home dripping water from\nevery thread of his garments, and his teeth were chattering, upper\nagainst lower. He crawled upon the _kang_, which is both stove and bed,\nsaying, as well as he could: \u201cAh Fun, my blessing most cherished, build\na fire under the _kang_. Your so miserable old father has a chill that\nno doubt will end his wholly useless existence. Build a tremendous fire,\nAh Fun, my precious jewel. _Ai ya_, I am cold and ill.\u201d\n\nAh Fun tore a few leaves of paper from a medicine book, and inserting\nthem under the _kang_, struck fire to them. Then he resumed his play.\nAfter a while Dr. Chu Ping raised the quilt from his head and hoarsely\nwhispered, \u201cI\u2014I\u2014I am still shivering, Ah\u2014Ah Fun. M\u2014m\u2014more\nw\u2014w\u2014wood.\u201d Ah Fun looked about, but he saw no firewood. And he was too\nlazy to go in search. However, the doctor\u2019s gold-crested cane stood in a\ncorner. Well, why not? It was bamboo. It would burn. Into the _kang_\nwent the cane, and right pleasantly did it crackle. But after a time Dr.\nChu Ping again uncovered his head and begged weakly, \u201cM\u2014m\u2014more\nw\u2014w\u2014wood, Ah\u2014Ah Fun!\u201d Once more Ah Fun looked round the room. There\nwas positively no firewood in sight. However . . . upon a shelf lay half\na hundred bamboo cylinders, tubes that contained medicines. In one\nbamboo was cuttlefish-bone. In another was _ko fen_ (powdered oyster\nshell). The doctor had used that on old Mrs. Fuh Lung\u2019s rheumatism, with\ngood effect, too. In a third were salt and _chieh tzu_. A fourth held\n_chen pi_ and _shih hui_ (orange-peel and lime). The fifth contained\n_chang nao_ (camphor, and ashes) . . . all good medicines and valuable\nindeed.\n\nBut . . . what did Ah Fun do? He chucked the first bamboo tube into the\n_kang_, and the tube crackled as the flames bit through. Presently, he\ncast in the second tube. Followed the third and fourth. Tube after tube,\nmedicines and all, went into the _kang_, atop which lay Dr. Chu Ping.\n\nNow it so happened that the fiftieth tube contained _huo yao_\u2014(_the_\nmedicine)\u2014and _huo yao_ is made of sulphur, saltpetre, and\ncharcoal\u2014those three, the very three that combine to make Gun\nPowder\u2014as we call it\u2014nothing less.\n\nDr. Chu Ping lay upon the _kang_, all a-twitch with the chill that had\nworsted him. His son, Ah Fun, threw into the _kang_ a large tube of _huo\nyao_. The fire crackled smartly, eating the tube. . . . Then. . . .\n\u201cBROOOOMP.\u201d\n\nOh, that terrible Ah Fun. He has blown up the bed-stove. To say nothing\nof his honorable father.\n\n[Illustration: \u201cBroooomp.\u201d]\n\nIt was raining heavily, but just the same Mrs. Low Moo came out and\nupbraided the doctor unmercifully for coming down in, and utterly\nhavocking, her patch of _huang ya tsai_ (her tender, pretty cabbages).\nShe told him her every thought upon that subject, with such words as\n\u201c_Hun chang tung hsi_ (Stupid, blundering old thing you).\u201d But Dr. Chu\nPing merely gazed sheepishly at the destroyed cabbages, and at the hole\nin the room through which he had been blasted, and murmured, \u201cKai tan\n(Ah me, what a pity).\u201d\n\nAnd again came the other neighbors, the very kind people who loved Dr.\nChu Ping and wished to help him in his troubles. These well-wishing\nneighbors came and said: \u201cBeyond a doubt, that boy is to blame.\nHonorable doctor, why do you not break many stout bamboos upon the back\nof that boy\u2014that lazy, good-for-nothing Ah Fun? He will be the disgrace\nof, and the death of you yet.\u201d But Dr. Chu Ping rubbed his shoulder and\nsaid: \u201cWhat? Beat Ah Fun? Why he is a good boy and a comfort. He just\nbuilt me an excellent fire in the _kang_.\u201d\n\nThen the doctor limped into his house and awoke Ah Fun, asked him what\nhad happened. Ah Fun, though he was bad\u2014goodness knows, terribly\nbad\u2014yet was truthful. Reluctantly, we must give him credit for that. He\ntold of all that had happened: how he placed tube after tube in the\n_kang_\u2014being unable to discover any firewood\u2014and how the last tube had\nexploded, hurling his father through the roof.\n\nDr. Chu Ping wrinkled his brow till it was all hills and hollows. He\npulled his long and neatly braided hair in a highly meditative manner.\nHe felt first his right shoulder, then his left shoulder. He rolled his\neyes upward to the limit of their travel. He gazed at the hole in the\nroof, where still fluttered a fragment of clothing on a jagged edge. He\nrolled his eyes downward and scrutinized the ruined _kang_. He felt of\nhis two ears that still reverberated with the enormous explosion. Then\nhe spoke. \u201cMy son,\u201d said he, \u201cit strikes me that we are on the verge of\na great discovery. One of those medicines\u2014though gracious knows which\none\u2014seems to be more than a medicine. It is good for something\nelse\u2014though dear knows what. Perhaps to grow wings, so that men may\nfly. It certainly enabled me to fly. We must make more medicines, and\nexperiment.\u201d\n\nThe next day Dr. Chu Ping opened his book of instructions for the\ncompounding of medicines\u2014a book which he himself had written. Beginning\nat the very beginning\u2014which, of course, was on the last page, good Dr.\nChu studied the first formula. \u201cRed pepper, and alum, and toad claws,\u201d\nso he read. The three ingredients were found and mixed in the specified\nproportions. The mixture was poured into a bamboo tube and the tube was\nplaced in a fire. For an hour Dr. Chu Ping stirred the fire and fanned\nit into furious blazing. Nothing but much heat and much smoke resulted.\nThere was no noise and no flying. Clearly, the combination of pepper,\nalum, and toad claws was quite worthless\u2014except in the treatment of\nscarlet fever, for which it is intended. The doctor made a careful\nwriting of the experiment and turned another page.\n\nNext came oyster shell and ginseng. Worthless that, also. Shark fins and\nturmeric. Dr. Chu Ping marked that likewise worthless. So the\nexperimenting continued, day after day. It took a great deal of time.\nThe doctor was a most thorough man, as well as brilliant. One couldn\u2019t\nfind a more thorough or brilliant in all Kiang Su, or Kiang Si, or even\nin Kuang Si. Methodically he tried his medicines in the fire\u2014by one and\none he tried them\u2014and thus he came to the mixture _huo yao_, which, to\nrepeat, is sulphur, and saltpetre, and charcoal, and which the Fan Kwei,\nor Foreign Devils, with their white faces call Gun Powder. Dr. Chu Ping\nplaced a long tube of _huo yao_ in the fire. He leaned over it, fanning\nvigorously. For a moment the tube lay on the coals, sizzling and\nswelling, seeming to gather its breath for a supreme effort. . . .\nZzzzzzz. . . . Zeeeee. . . . BROOOOMP.\n\nAnd up went Dr. Chu Ping.\n\nNow it so chanced that a moment before the explosion, old man Low Moo\nwas milking his cow. A moment after the explosion, he was _not_ milking\nhis cow. He was running for dear life in a northerly direction. His cow\nwas running for dear life in a southerly direction. And Dr. Chu Ping\nsprawled upon the flattened bucket and the smashed stool, where he had\nfallen.\n\nThe doctor came to in five minutes. Old Mr. Low Moo came back in half an\nhour. The cow has never since been seen. It is doubtful if she will ever\nreturn.\n\nNo sooner did Dr. Chu Ping revive than he hobbled into the house, where\nAh Fun sat calmly playing with a _pan pu tao_, a little toy man who has\nround feet, and always regains an upright position, no matter how often\nhe is knocked over. \u201cWhat happened, my father?\u201d asked Ah Fun. Dr. Chu\nPing beamed upon him. \u201cAh Fun, my pearl, my jade, my orange tree, it is\ndiscovered. _Huo yao_ is the great medicine. And it is good for scaring\ndemons. Old man Low Moo, as everyone knows, is possessed of a demon\u2014and\nhe was frightened horribly. And his unkind cow, which is guided by at\nleast four and twenty demons, has been frightened completely out of the\ncountry. There can be no doubt\u2014_huo yao_ is a frightener of demons.\nAnd, you and I are the discoverers. Oh, my precious one, we shall be\nfamous. A thousand thousand years from now men will still use _huo yao_\nto scare the demons.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: Doctor Chu Ping beamed upon him; \u201cAh Fun, my pearl, my\njade, my orange tree, it is discovered.\u201d]\n\nAnd that was a very good prediction. _Huo yao_ is still placed in tubes,\nlittle paper tubes, and the fuses are lighted, and \u201cSput,\u201d \u201cSput.\u201d The\nfirecrackers explode and a thousand demons tremble and flee, reviling\nthe names of Ah Fun and Dr. Chu Ping, who invented Gun Powder.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                            THE MOON MAIDEN\n\n\nKing Chan Ko was more than a monarch. He was one of the best soothsayers\nin all the discovered world, having studied under no less a master than\nthe famous Chai Lang. Even the most sceptical, then, will admit that\nChan Ko as a geomancer must have stood far above the average. Chai Lang\nwas particular in the selection of his pupils.\n\nOnce each week, at its beginning, His Majesty was accustomed to cast the\nsigns, so that he might know what to expect. Thus, if rain was due on a\nWednesday he was forewarned, and fore-umbrellaed. And if war was\npredicted for Friday, he was forearmed and ready to give two blows for\none. He knew of the third flood a whole week before it happened, and,\nyou may be sure, had a palatial boat provisioned and ready\u2014laden with\nrice and musical instruments\u2014a good three days before the waters came.\n\nRather unexpectedly, it became imperative for King Chan Ko to take horse\non an urgent journey. Despite the call for great haste, he refused to\nmake one step before casting the signs\u2014though to do so made necessary\nan hour\u2019s labor. On his plane Chan Ko scribed the three circles with\ntheir bisecting lines. He drew the sun, moon, and stars in their\nrelative places, gazed for a moment . . . and groaned. \u201c_Ai yu,_\u201d and\n\u201c_Hai ya_.\u201d\n\nWell might he groan. There was no error in the work. No other reading\nwas possible. Upon the following night a dragon would swoop down from\nthe moon and carry off the Princess Yun Chi. That was the reading, and\nthere could be no doubting its truth. It may be imagined that gray hairs\nmade quick appearance in the monarch\u2019s beard. His journey was highly\nnecessary. No postponement could be arranged. Yet, the Princess Yun Chi,\nhis daughter, was well beloved and not to be given up so long as sword\nhad temper and javelin was sound of shaft. But\u2014who was to wield sword,\nwho to thrust javelin? Who indeed? Who if not the four score and ten\nvaliant young princes of the realm, who even then deplored a dearth of\ndaring deeds to be performed. No sooner the thought, than King Chan Ko\nsummoned the princes into audience. Briefly he described the peril that\nthreatened\u2014told of the dragon\u2019s cunning, of his strength that increased\nwith every blow, given or received. Not a pleasant picture King Chan Ko\ndrew\u2014at first. But when in conclusion he stated the reward, every\nprince in the chamber drew sword, and wished that the dragon might come\nforthwith. For, said Chan Ko, \u201cIf all of you together slay the _loong_,\nthen if she so pleases, the princess may make her choice of you. But if\nany prince, unaided, slays the _loong_, then I say to you that such\nvictorious prince and none other shall wed the Princess Yun Chi.\u201d\n\nThere was such a clanking of armor that the magpies clustering the\npalace roof made off on wing. There was such a testing of newly strung\nbows that the sky rained arrows for a whole day.\n\nPrince Ting Tsun, as comely warrior youth as ever twirled sharp steel,\ntook to himself a notion that his sword alone must blood the dragon. He\ncan hardly be censured. Anyone is likely to be greedy when a royal\nprincess is in danger, and her hand awaits an heroic defender. But Ting\nTsun, with his bravery mixed sagacity. To himself he reasoned thus:\n\u201cSuppose I do succeed in killing the moon dragon? Will his infuriated\nbrothers not come seeking vengeance? Without doubt they will. My only\nhope is to slay them all\u2014now\u2014and their ruler with them. Then the\ndanger will be removed forever, and I can eat rice in comfort, without\nthe need of a sword on the table. I must kill all of the moon _loongs_.\u201d\n\nWith such an ambitious plan in mind, Prince Ting Tsun visited a sewing\nwoman and had her make him a cloak precisely like that worn by the\nPrincess Yun Chi. He shaved his promising beard and put whiting upon his\ncheeks, painted his eyebrows, and practiced a willowy walk. All in all\nhe made a fairish pretty maiden, and quite deceiving to the eye.\n\n[Illustration: By look and action he was a maiden.]\n\nWhen the sun had snuggled down behind the mountains, Prince Ting Tsun\nwalked in the palace gardens, taking those paths most favored by the\nprincess. He fondled the delicate wistaria. He touched his face to the\nwide expanded roses. Beneath the purple flowered paulownia he paused in\nrapture. By look and action he was a maiden, taking her pleasure in the\nflowers.\n\nOut of the calm evening air came a mighty and horrendous whistling roar.\nNo need to tell the prince its cause. In his early days he had heard\nsilly nurses attempt such a whistling, trying to frighten him into being\n\u201ca good boy. If you don\u2019t, the _loong_ will get you.\u201d He had laughed at\nthe affronted nurses. But now . . . his face was crinkled with grim\nlines, serious lines that spelled determination. Not a trace of laughter\nthere. The whistling changed to a hissing. The air became noxious with\nhot breath. Four tremendous, padded talons enfolded Prince Ting Tsun. A\nscream of terror. A whanging of wings that lifted. . . . Gone. . . .\nVanished.\n\nA scream of terror? No, that is not true. It was a scream of mock\nterror. Can you think the prince was frightened? Prince Ting Tsun? He\nscreamed merely to make his deception doubly sure. The prince to casual\ngaze was a maiden, and maidens are supposed to scream when snapped up by\na dragon. Small blame to them for that.\n\nUp. . . . Higher. . . . Swifter. . . . Up through the uncharted, the\nstar-littered spaces, swept Prince Ting Tsun, borne by the dragon. The\nwind shrieked past him. Higher, still higher. The little stars twinkled\nabove. Higher. . . . The little stars twinkled below. The air grew thin\nand cold. Prince Ting grew faint, for his breathing was of no\nconsequence. There was no air to breathe. There was nothing but space\nand star-dust.\n\nThe _loong\u2019s_ mouth went wide in a whinnying whistle. From close by came\nan answer. The prince opened his eyes. He saw a tapering streak of\nflame. On earth he would have named it \u201ccomet.\u201d But stretching his eyes\nwider, he perceived that it was merely another dragon, its fiery breath\ntrailing, far spread.\n\n[Illustration: A whanging of wings that lifted . . . Up . . . Higher\n. . . Swifter.]\n\nOther _loongs_ appeared; Ting Tsun imagined that he must be approaching\ntheir lair. He prayed that his arm might be strong.\n\nWith another scream the dragon folded his wings and dropped lightly upon\na silvery plain. The journey was done\u2014the moon under foot.\n\nThe dragon King ruled in a subterranean palace. The entrance was merely\na shining smooth hole, but the interior was luxury itself, with brocaded\ntapestries and jade floorings and translucent moonstone ceilings. In the\nthrone room knelt Ting Tsun before the King\u2014for he still played the\npart of a maiden. He knelt as if seeking mercy.\n\n\u201cHer beauty is not what I expected,\u201d growled the King. \u201cTake her away.\nPerhaps another day she will seem fairer. Let her food be sesame and\ncoriander seeds. Ugh. What a clumsy walk.\u201d\n\nPrince Ting Tsun sat on a couch, turning in his mind a plan by which to\nvanquish his captors. The stillness was dissolved by a music of moving\nsilks. A smiling damsel bowed before His Highness.\n\n\u201cOh, I am glad to see that you do not weep like the others. Are you a\nprincess from the earth, or from _chin hsing_ (venus)?\u201d\n\n\u201cFrom the earth,\u201d replied Ting Tsun, but he forgot to gentle his voice.\nThe Moon Maiden shrank back.\n\n\u201cYou are _not_ a princess,\u201d she accused.\n\n\u201cNo, I am not a princess. These garments are a deceit. I _was_ Prince\nTing Tsun, when upon the earth. Now, I am Chang Pan\u2014your slave.\u201d\n\nThe Moon Maiden was quickly reassured and entered into talk with Ting\nTsun, or humble Chang Pan, as he then called himself. She told the\nprince that she had lived with her parents on the far side of the\nmoon\u2014until the dragons came. Now she had no parents. And when the feast\nseason of Brightest Light arrived the dragon King (Chao Ya, his name)\nwould make her his bride. She knew the number of dragons\u2014twenty-eight,\none for each night in the month, and there was never more than one home\nat a given time. They could be slain only with the dragon King\u2019s\nsword\u2014a weapon that could slay the King himself. But\u2014and the hopes of\nPrince Ting fell as she spoke\u2014the King always kept the sword fastened\nat his waist. Yes, the _loong_ King sometimes slept, but never more than\nonce a day, and never for more than a few minutes. When? Just as the\nmoon went down.\n\nSo Ting Tsun in his spotless maiden garb came upon the King asleep, and\nsnatching up the monarch\u2019s sword, awoke him and slew him. The blade had\nnot yet done its sweep when it cleft the skull of a dragon who should\nhave been guarding his King from harm.\n\nThe prince rejoiced at his success, howbeit rather modestly. His task\nhad but started. There was many a chance for disaster. Death might lurk\nin a faltering blow, a lagging step, a momentary closing of the eyes.\n\nBy day the prince slept. By night he kept his post at the palace\nentrance. As each _loong_ came crawling into his lair Prince Ting Tsun\nreached its heart with the dragon King\u2019s sword. One thrust for each\n_loong_. One thrust each night, until a month had passed. In such manner\nHis Valiant Highness destroyed the whole vile brood. His plans had\ncarried through to triumph. Now he was free to return home and claim for\nhis own the Princess Yun Chi. And a happy day it would be. He was happy\nnow . . . oh, extremely happy. . . . Why shouldn\u2019t he be happy? . . .\nthe prince argued stoutly with himself. Yet his argument was not\nconvincing. He would be compelled to leave the Moon Maiden. So his\nreasoning was hollow. He was not happy. He was sorrowful. He had grown\nfond of the Other World Princess.\n\nBut he must return to his own country. King Chan Ko had promised his\ndaughter to whosoever should slay the dragon. In taking up battle,\nPrince Ting had given agreement to the terms. He was betrothed to the\nPrincess Yun Chi.\n\nThe Moon Maiden was asleep when Prince Ting went to say good-bye. He\nwould not wake her. He would go at once\u2014after a last sad look. The\nsleeping princess stirred in her sleep and murmured. For another instant\nthe royal youth paused. He heard his name murmured. He heard\nmore\u2014enough to amaze him, to weaken his will almost to the changing\npoint. A moment more of listening, and Prince Ting Tsun must inevitably\nhave remained upon the moon. But he would hear no more. He rushed from\nthe palace, ashamed of his weakness, yet thrilled with pride.\n\nThe moon hung low above the eastern ocean when Ting Tsun made his\nfearsome leap. He descended in the cushioning waters, and so took no\nhurt. Fortune was with him in that leap. A vessel, manned by venturesome\nexplorers, chanced upon him. Otherwise, the spot where he fell must have\nbeen his grave, for ships are years apart in that faraway region. The\nsailors drew him aboard their junk and treated him with every respect.\nIt was quite clear in their minds that he must be a god\u2014certainly, he\ncould be nothing less than a great magician.\n\nWhen the ship touched at Ma Kao, Prince Ting Tsun was the first to step\nashore. He found the city celebrating, burning much colored paper to the\nruler of Married Happiness, feasting and making music. Accosting a\nstranger, he asked the cause of such jubilation, explaining that he had\nonly that moment arrived from a far country.\n\nThe stranger answered: \u201cWe celebrate a marriage, your grace; Prince Yen\nhas taken the fairest bride in all the world. From what country do you\ncome?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhom did Prince Yen marry?\u201d asked Ting Tsun.\n\n\u201cWhy, the Princess Yun Chi, of course. What country did you say?\u201d\n\n\u201cIndeed?\u201d exclaimed the prince. \u201cAnd I came from the moon.\u201d Leaving the\nfellow with eyes popped and mouth agape, he hastened on. He was\ncompelled to hasten. His feet would keep step with his tumultuous heart.\nSo the Princess Yun Chi was married. King Chan Ko had broken his word.\nFar better if Prince Ting had remained upon the moon. Upon the moon was\none who. . . .\n\nPausing only for momentary snatches of sleep, Prince Ting journeyed the\nstraightest road to Kwen Lun Mountain. On this mountain lived, and\nlives, the friendly mother demon, Si Wang, a magician of great power. To\nher Prince Ting gave his necessary oath, and in exchange received his\ndesire\u2014wings feathered from the pinions of a Phoenix.\n\nThe way is long. The way is steep. But hearts must be served. With wings\nunfaltering, Prince Ting Tsun cleaves the sky. Between the earth and the\nlighted moon his shadow may be seen\u2014nearing the silvered plain, and the\npalace, and the princess. . . . Prince Ting Tsun returning to his Maiden\nof the Moon.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                          AH TCHA THE SLEEPER\n\n\nYears ago, in southern China, lived a boy, Ah Tcha by name. Ah Tcha was\nan orphan, but not according to rule. A most peculiar orphan was he. It\nis usual for orphans to be very, very poor. That is the world-wide\ncustom. Ah Tcha, on the contrary, was quite wealthy. He owned seven\nfarms, with seven times seven horses to draw the plow. He owned seven\nmills, with plenty of breezes to spin them. Furthermore, he owned seven\nthousand pieces of gold, and a fine white cat.\n\nThe farms of Ah Tcha were fertile, were wide. His horses were brisk in\nthe furrow. His mills never lacked for grain, nor wanted for wind. And\nhis gold was good sharp gold, with not so much as a trace of copper.\nSurely, few orphans have been better provided for than the youth named\nAh Tcha. And what a busy person was this Ah Tcha. His bed was always\ncold when the sun arose. Early in the morning he went from field to\nfield, from mill to mill, urging on the people who worked for him. The\nsetting sun always found him on his feet, hastening from here to there,\npersuading his laborers to more gainful efforts. And the moon of\nmidnight often discovered him pushing up and down the little teak-wood\nballs of a counting board, or else threading cash, placing coins upon a\nstring. Eight farms, nine farms he owned, and more stout horses. Ten\nmills, eleven, another white cat. It was Ah Tcha\u2019s ambition to become\nthe richest person in the world.\n\nThey who worked for the wealthy orphan were inclined now and then to\ngrumble. Their pay was not beggarly, but how they did toil to earn that\npay which was not beggarly. It was go, and go, and go. Said the ancient\nwoman Nu Wu, who worked with a rake in the field: \u201cOur master drives us\nas if he were a fox and we were hares in the open. Round the field and\nround and round, hurry, always hurry.\u201d Said Hu Shu, her husband, who\nbound the grain into sheaves: \u201cNot hares, but horses. We are driven like\nthe horses of Lung Kuan, who . . .\u201d It\u2019s a long story.\n\nBut Ah Tcha, approaching the murmurers, said, \u201cPray be so good as to\nhurry, most excellent Nu Wu, for the clouds gather blackly, with\nthunder.\u201d And to the scowling husband he said, \u201cSpeed your work, I beg\nyou, honorable Hu Shu, for the grain must be under shelter before the\nsmoke of Evening Rice ascends.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: When Ah Tcha had eaten his Evening Rice, he took lantern\nand entered the largest of his mills.]\n\nWhen Ah Tcha had eaten his Evening Rice, he took lantern and entered the\nlargest of his mills. A scampering rat drew his attention to the floor.\nThere he beheld no less than a score of rats, some gazing at him as if\nundecided whether to flee or continue the feast, others gnawing\u2014and who\nare you, nibbling and caring not? And only a few short whisker-lengths\naway sat an enormous cat, sleeping the sleep of a mossy stone. The cat\nwas black in color, black as a crow\u2019s wing dipped in pitch, upon a night\nof inky darkness. That describes her coat. Her face was somewhat more\nblack. Ah Tcha had never before seen her. She was not his cat. But his\nor not, he thought it a trifle unreasonable of her to sleep, while the\nrats held high carnival. The rats romped between her paws. Still she\nslept. It angered Ah Tcha. The lantern rays fell on her eyes. Still she\nslept. Ah Tcha grew more and more provoked. He decided then and there to\nteach the cat that his mill was no place for sleepy heads.\n\nAccordingly, he seized an empty grain sack and hurled it with such exact\naim that the cat was sent heels over head. \u201cThere, old\nCrouch-by-the-hole,\u201d said Ah Tcha in a tone of wrath. \u201cRemember your\npaining ear, and be more vigilant.\u201d But the cat had no sooner regained\nher feet than she changed into . . . Nu Wu . . . changed into Nu Wu, the\nold woman who worked in the fields . . . a witch. What business she had\nin the mill is a puzzle. However, it is undoubtedly true that mills hold\ngrain, and grain is worth money. And that may be an explanation. Her\nsleepiness is no puzzle at all. No wonder she was sleepy, after working\nso hard in the field, the day\u2019s length through.\n\nThe anger of Nu Wu was fierce and instant. She wagged a crooked finger\nat Ah Tcha, screeching: \u201cOh, you cruel money-grubber. Because you fear\nthe rats will eat a pennyworth of grain you must beat me with bludgeons.\nYou make me work like a slave all day\u2014and wish me to work all night.\nYou beat me and disturb my slumber. Very well, since you will not let me\nsleep, I shall cause you to slumber eleven hours out of every\ndozen. . . . Close your eyes.\u201d She swept her wrinkled hand across Ah\nTcha\u2019s face. Again taking the form of a cat, she bounded downstairs.\n\nShe had scarce reached the third step descending when Ah Tcha felt a\ncompelling desire for sleep. It was as if he had taken gum of the white\npoppy flower, as if he had tasted honey of the gray moon blossom. Eyes\nhalf closed, he stumbled into a grain bin. His knees doubled beneath\nhim. Down he went, curled like a dormouse. Like a dormouse he slumbered.\n\nFrom that hour began a change in Ah Tcha\u2019s fortune. The spell gripped\nhim fast. Nine-tenths of his time was spent in sleep. Unable to watch\nover his laborers, they worked when they pleased, which was seldom. They\nidled when so inclined\u2014and that was often, and long. Furthermore, they\nstole in a manner most shameful. Ah Tcha\u2019s mills became empty of grain.\nHis fields lost their fertility. His horses disappeared\u2014strayed, so it\nwas said. Worse yet, the unfortunate fellow was summoned to a\nmagistrate\u2019s _yamen_, there to defend himself in a lawsuit. A neighbor\ndeclared that Ah Tcha\u2019s huge black cat had devoured many chickens. There\nwere witnesses who swore to the deed. They were sure, one and all, that\nAh Tcha\u2019s black cat was the cat at fault. Ah Tcha was sleeping too\nsoundly to deny that the cat was his. . . . So the magistrate could do\nnothing less than make the cat\u2019s owner pay damages, with all costs of\nthe lawsuit.\n\nThereafter, trials at court were a daily occurrence. A second neighbor\nsaid that Ah Tcha\u2019s black cat had stolen a flock of sheep. Another\ncomplained that the cat had thieved from him a herd of fattened\nbullocks. Worse and worse grew the charges. And no matter how absurd, Ah\nTcha, sleeping in the prisoner\u2019s cage, always lost and had to pay\ndamages. His money soon passed into other hands. His mills were taken\nfrom him. His farms went to pay for the lawsuits. Of all his wide lands,\nthere remained only one little acre\u2014and it was grown up in worthless\nbushes. Of all his goodly buildings, there was left one little hut,\nwhere the boy spent most of his time, in witch-imposed slumber.\n\nNow, near by in the mountain of Huge Rocks Piled, lived a greatly\nferocious _loong_, or, as foreigners would say, a dragon. This immense\nbeast, from tip of forked tongue to the end of his shadow, was far\nlonger than a barn. With the exception of length, he was much the same\nas any other _loong_. His head was shaped like that of a camel. His\nhorns were deer horns. He had bulging rabbit eyes, a snake neck. Upon\nhis many ponderous feet were tiger claws, and the feet were shaped very\nlike sofa cushions. He had walrus whiskers, and a breath of red-and-blue\nflame. His voice was like the sound of a hundred brass kettles pounded.\nBlack fish scales covered his body, black feathers grew upon his limbs.\nBecause of his color he was sometimes called _Oo Loong_. From that it\nwould seem that _Oo_ means neither white nor pink.\n\nThe black _loong_ was not regarded with any great esteem. His habit of\neating a man\u2014two men if they were little\u2014every day made him rather\nunpopular. Fortunately, he prowled only at night. Those folk who went to\nbed decently at nine o\u2019clock had nothing to fear. Those who rambled well\nalong toward midnight, often disappeared with a sudden and complete\nthoroughness.\n\nAs every one knows, cats are much given to night skulking. The witch\ncat, Nu Wu, was no exception. Midnight often found her miles afield. On\nsuch a midnight, when she was roving in the form of a hag, what should\napproach but the black dragon. Instantly the _loong_ scented prey, and\ninstantly he made for the old witch.\n\nThere followed such a chase as never was before on land or sea. Up hill\nand down dale, by stream and wood and fallow, the cat woman flew and the\ndragon coursed after. The witch soon failed of breath. She panted. She\nwheezed. She stumbled on a bramble and a claw slashed through her\ngarments. Too close for comfort. The harried witch changed shape to a\ncat, and bounded off afresh, half a li at every leap. The _loong_\nincreased his pace and soon was close behind, gaining. For a most\npeculiar fact about the _loong_ is that the more he runs the easier his\nbreath comes, and the swifter grows his speed. Hence, it is not\nsurprising that his fiery breath was presently singeing the witch cat\u2019s\nback.\n\nIn a twinkling the cat altered form once more, and as an old hag\nscuttled across a turnip field. She was merely an ordinarily powerful\nwitch. She possessed only the two forms\u2014cat and hag. Nor did she have a\ngift of magic to baffle or cripple the hungry black _loong_.\nNevertheless, the witch was not despairing. At the edge of the turnip\nfield lay Ah Tcha\u2019s miserable patch of thick bushes. So thick were the\nbushes as to be almost a wall against the hag\u2019s passage. As a hag, she\ncould have no hope of entering such a thicket. But as a cat, she could\nrace through without hindrance. And the dragon would be sadly bothered\nin following. Scheming thus, the witch dashed under the bushes\u2014a cat\nonce more.\n\nAh Tcha was roused from slumber by the most outrageous noise that had\never assailed his ears. There was such a snapping of bushes, such an\nawful bellowed screeching that even the dead of a century must have\nheard. The usually sound-sleeping Ah Tcha was awakened at the outset. He\nsoon realized how matters stood\u2014or ran. Luckily, he had learned of the\nonly reliable method for frightening off the dragon. He opened his door\nand hurled a red, a green, and a yellow firecracker in the monster\u2019s\npath.\n\nIn through his barely opened door the witch cat dragged her exhausted\nself. \u201cI don\u2019t see why you couldn\u2019t open the door sooner,\u201d she scolded,\nchanging into a hag. \u201cI circled the hut three times before you had the\ngumption to let me in.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am very sorry, good mother. I was asleep.\u201d From Ah Tcha.\n\n\u201cWell, don\u2019t be so sleepy again,\u201d scowled the witch, \u201cor I\u2019ll make you\nsuffer. Get me food and drink.\u201d\n\n\u201cAgain, honored lady, I am sorry. So poor am I that I have only water\nfor drink. My food is the leaves and roots of bushes.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo matter. Get what you have\u2014and quickly.\u201d\n\nAh Tcha reached outside the door and stripped a handful of leaves from a\nbush. He plunged the leaves into a kettle of hot water and signified\nthat the meal was prepared. Then he lay down to doze, for he had been\nawake fully half a dozen minutes and the desire to sleep was returning\nstronger every moment.\n\nThe witch soon supped and departed, without leaving so much as half a\n\u201cThank you.\u201d When Ah Tcha awoke again, his visitor was gone. The poor\nboy flung another handful of leaves into his kettle and drank quickly.\nHe had good reason for haste. Several times he had fallen asleep with\nthe cup at his lips\u2014a most unpleasant situation, and scalding. Having\ntaken several sips, Ah Tcha stretched him out for a resumption of his\nslumber. Five minutes passed . . . ten minutes . . . fifteen. . . .\nStill his eyes failed to close. He took a few more sips from the cup and\nfelt more awake than ever.\n\n\u201cI do believe,\u201d said Ah Tcha, \u201cthat she has thanked me by bewitching my\nbushes. She has charmed the leaves to drive away my sleepiness.\u201d\n\nAnd so she had. Whenever Ah Tcha felt tired and sleepy\u2014and at first\nthat was often\u2014he had only to drink of the bewitched leaves. At once\nhis drowsiness departed. His neighbors soon learned of the bushes that\nbanished sleep. They came to drink of the magic brew. There grew such a\ndemand that Ah Tcha decided to set a price on the leaves. Still the\ndemand continued. More bushes were planted. Money came.\n\nThroughout the province people called for \u201cthe drink of Ah Tcha.\u201d In\ntime they shortened it by asking for \u201cAh Tcha\u2019s drink,\u201d then for \u201cTcha\u2019s\ndrink,\u201d and finally for \u201cTcha.\u201d\n\nAnd that is its name at present, \u201cTcha,\u201d or \u201cTay,\u201d or \u201cTea,\u201d as some\ncall it. And one kind of Tea is still called \u201cOo Loong\u201d\u2014\u201cBlack Dragon.\u201d\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                          I WISH IT WOULD RAIN\n\n\nIt rains and rains in Kiang Sing. And then it rains some more. No sooner\nis one cloud past then another comes treading on its heels. By day and\nby night the raindrops patter, and _ko tzu_ from his lily pad croaks\n\u201cMore rain. More rain.\u201d Old men going to bed wear their _wei li_ (rain\nhats), instead of tasseled nightcaps. Many young people have only a hazy\nidea as to what the word \u201csun\u201d means. Pour and beat and drizzle, drizzle\nand drive with the gale. And that is Kiang Sing.\n\nThree reasons are given by the people of Kiang Sing for their extremely\nweepy climate. Some say that the _shen_ Yu Shih, who lords it over the\nclouds, lives near by on the Daylight Mountain. Others are firm in their\ndeclaration that Moo Yee, the mighty archer, and a naughty fellow\nwithal, shot the sky above Kiang Sing full of arrow holes. Naturally, a\nsky full of arrow holes is bound to leak. There are still others, and\nvery learned folk among them, who declare that Mei Li weeping for her\nlost hero, Wei Sheng, is responsible for the torrents. Dear only knows\nwhich is the correct theory. It may be that all three are to blame. The\nonly certainty is that Kiang Sing has a very heavy rainfall, and that\nTiao Fu lived there and learned to love wet weather. . . . _To love it?_\nShe hated it.\n\nTiao Fu was a very pretty maiden\u2014no gainsaying that. She had the most\nwonderful black long hair in all Kiang Sing. But beauty was her one and\nonly possession. She had no skill with the needle, whether to sew or\nembroider. Her cooking was more than a disgrace. When her fingers\ntouched the _pi pa_, that usually sweet-toned instrument gave out a\ndemon\u2019s wail. She could not even smooth a quilt on the _kang_. The beds\nwere all hills and hollows. How could she make beds when her hair needed\nburnishing? She scarce knew which end of a broom was meant for the\nfloor. How could she sweep when her hair required glossing? New matting\nwould cover the floor\u2019s disarray. Tiao Fu smoothed her hair and dreamed\nof the time when she would marry a rich mandarin and be carried in glory\naway from Kiang Sing and its terrible rains. The hateful rains of Kiang\nSing.\n\n[Illustration: How could she make beds when her hair needed burnishing?]\n\nNo wonder her father, Ching Chi, became so poverty-stricken. Gradually\nhis fortune slipped away until his only property was the large and\npoorly furnished, extremely ill-kept house in which he lived. Even so,\nthis house when viewed from the street appeared superior to its fellows.\nIt was the handsomest and most considerable _yamen_ in Pin Jen Village.\n\nThe size and appearance of the _yamen_ accounts for what happened. One\nfiendish night, in a mighty drumming of rain, there came a more noisy\ndrumming of maces upon Ching Chi\u2019s door. \u201cOpen, in the King\u2019s name,\u201d\ncommanded voices outside. Forthwith Ching Chi flung open the door. He\nbeheld runners dressed in the royal livery, and in their hands the\ngold-banded staves of their authority. \u201cPrepare to receive and entertain\nthe illustrious person of Ho Chu the King. His Most Gracious Majesty\nwill arrive _sha shih chien_ (within a slight shower\u2019s time). Therefore\nprepare. It is a command.\u201d\n\nFar from entertaining royalty, old Ching Chi had never so much as\nglimpsed a King. Heart and knees failed him utterly. He could only\ngrovel upon the floor and mutter weakly of his unworthiness. Tiao Fu,\nhowever, was not so deeply affected. A King? Let him enter. Say what you\nplease, kings are mortal men. No food in the house? _Ya ya pei_ (Pish\npooh). And the tradesmen refused all credit? What of it? No tradesman in\nhis senses would refuse a bargain. And what would the bargain be?\n\nTiao Fu snatched up her little-used embroidery scissors. Snip. Snip.\nSnip. Down fell a cataract of her long black hair. Snip. Snip. Again and\nagain. The hair that was her vanity lay upon the floor. Her lustrous\nhair\u2014sacrificed\u2014to make a feast for the King. Hastily donning her\nfather\u2019s _wei li_, she dashed from the house. There was no trouble in\nmaking a bargain. The tradesman\u2019s first offer was almost within reason\nand Tiao Fu had no time to wrangle. She bartered her hair for cooked\nfowls and rice and all that goes to make a dinner.\n\n[Illustration: Tiao Fu snatched up her little-used embroidery scissors.\n Snip. Snip. Snip.]\n\nKing Ho Chu arrived betimes. The weather despite, he was in good spirit.\nHe was such a considerate and jolly monarch that he soon had old Ching\nChi at perfect ease. The dinner was a delight to eye and tongue. It was\nthe best meal that had been served in Ching Chi\u2019s home for many a moon.\nAnd Tiao Fu\u2019s hair bought it.\n\nAfter the cups were turned down, King Ho Chu inquired about his horse.\nTo reiterate, he was a most considerate sovereign. He wished to feel\nsure that his steed was housed from the rain, and shoulder deep in a\nwell-filled manger. Ching Chi beamingly affirmed that the horse had been\nprovided for, lavishly. What else _could_ he say? However, he would make\nsure, doubly sure, by going to the stable again.\n\nOf course, the poor horse had not a mouthful. There was not so much as a\nwisp of hay in the stable, not so much as a bean, or a stalk. Ching Chi\nwas sunken in weepy despair when the girl Tiao Fu appeared with a\nmatting from her bedroom floor. It was a newly made matting, of bright\nclean straw. Tiao Fu tore it into shreds and filled the manger heaping.\nThus was the King\u2019s horse supplied with food\u2014food none too nourishing,\nbut food nevertheless.\n\nThere are many channels through which kings may receive news and rumors\nand tittle-tattle. What with the secret police and the mandarins who\nwish to gain favor and the\u2014the sparrows\u2014the royal palace keeps well\ninformed. (Besides, one historian takes several pages to prove that Tiao\nFu possessed a tongue and could use it to her advantage.) However that\nmay be, the news spread. Within a day King Ho Chu learned how the maid\nTiao Fu had provided a feast at the expense of her hair. He learned all\nabout the shredded matting, and his laughter shook the throne. He\nbestowed more than a passing thought upon Tiao Fu of the quaintly bobbed\nlocks\u2014the maiden a thousand years ahead of her time. And having\nthought\u2014he acted. He said to the Minister of Domestic Affairs, \u201cPrepare\na room with hangings of orange-colored silk.\u201d To the Minister of the\nTreasury he said, \u201cBestow a dozen or so bars of gold upon the mandarin\nChing Chi.\u201d The Minister of Matrimony received his command, \u201cArrange me\na wedding with the maid Tiao Fu, of Kiang Sing.\u201d So all things were\narranged and came to pass.\n\nKing Ho Chu was well pleased. Old Ching Chi was the happiest man living.\nThe maid Tiao Fu was quite content\u2014for a space. She had gowns of\ngorgeousness undreamed. She had slaves to kneel and knock their heads\nwhenever she beckoned. She had priceless jewels and food of the rarest.\nIncidentally, she had in the King a doting husband. She had\neverything\u2014everything\u2014except rain. . . .\n\nIs it not hard to believe that Tiao Fu grew homesick for the rains of\nKiang Sing? It is a strain upon belief, yet it is true, indubitably.\nTiao Fu longed for the rains of her drenched and soggy much be-drizzled\nKiang Sing. Did the King present her with a new necklace\u2014she threw it\npetulantly away, exclaiming that she wanted rain\u2014\u201cOh, I wish it would\nrain,\u201d said Tiao Fu. \u201cWhy don\u2019t you make it rain?\u201d \u201cThen I will,\u201d said\nthe King. He installed a myriad high-spouting fountains, at no slight\ndrain to the treasury. \u201cAre you pleased, my beauteous Tiao Fu?\u201d \u201cNo,\u201d\nfretfully. \u201cIt is not like the rains of Kiang Sing. Why are the trees\nnot green? The trees are bare and brown. Oh, I wish it would rain\u2014a\ngreen-bringing rain.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: \u201c. . . And cut leaf-shaped pieces.\u201d]\n\nThe trees might very well be bare and brown. Winter\u2019s greedy fingers had\nstripped them thoroughly. King Ho Chu gazed at the barren limbs for a\nlengthy period before his mind hit upon a scheme for bringing back the\ngreen. At length he summoned the royal tailor and to him said: \u201cTake\nmany bales of green-colored silk and cut leaf-shaped pieces. Dip the\npieces in wax; then sew them upon those bare branches. And use such\nartistry that no eye can discover they are not true leaves. _Tsu po_ (be\nquick).\u201d The _cheng i_ (make clothes) hastily employed all the city\u2019s\nmaster workmen, some cutting and many sewing. Overnight the trees took\non a color. Indeed, the tailor went beyond his orders, for on the peach\ntrees he sewed lovely pink blossoms. And some blossoms he tacked to the\nground\u2014as if in their ripeness they had fallen.\n\nFor a few days Tiao Fu was in somewhat better humor. Once she actually\nsmiled. But all too soon those few days were over and her crossness\nreturned. \u201cWhat now, my pearl of southern seas?\u201d said the King. \u201cHave\nthe leaves lost their freshness? Do they no longer please?\u201d \u201cOh [pout],\nit isn\u2019t the leaves. They are quite homelike. It\u2019s the wind that I miss.\nI long to hear the shrieking wind of Kiang Sing, hurling its rain\nagainst my lattice. Oh, I wish it would rain.\u201d\n\nPoor King Ho Chu was hard put. Wind? Wind? . . . By the uprooted pine\ntree of Mount Tai, how was he to produce the wind. A good half\nhour\u2014sixty minutes in that land\u2014passed before he had an inspiration.\nAgain he called for the royal tailor. \u201cProcure,\u201d he told the tailor,\n\u201cmany bales of the stoutest silk. Then place some of your brawniest men\noutside yonder lattice, and have them rip the silk, tear it into\nstrips\u2014with all the noise possible.\u201d With which King Ho Chu entered the\ntreasury to see how his gold was dwindling.\n\nHuge-armed stalwarts stood outside Tiao Fu\u2019s window. Their hands\nclutched the woven silk. A pull. \u201cSh-r-r-r-r-iek. Pull. Sh-r-r-r-iek.\u201d\nFor two days the brow of Tiao Fu was smooth and untroubled. She actually\nspoke kindly to the King. He, poor soul, didn\u2019t hear it. He was too busy\nwondering what the next task would be, and how expensive.\n\nScarcely a hundred bales of silk had been torn when Tiao Fu hurled her\ncrown across the room and began to weep. \u201cMy dear, what\u2019s the trouble?\nWhat _is_ the trouble?\u201d questioned Ho Chu. \u201cIs the wind too violent?\u201d\n\u201cOh, no. The wind is natural enough, and it pleases me. I miss\u2014oh, how\nI _do_ miss the rumbling thunder of Kiang Sing, and the fall of\nlightning-shattered trees. I miss them and oh, I wish it would\nrain\u2014real rain.\u201d The tears fell faster with each word.\n\nNow King Ho Chu had a tremendous army encamped on the palace grounds. He\nsummoned General Chang and explained matters\u2014with an order. No sooner\nordered than accomplished. The soldiers in their heaviest shoes marched\nponderously beneath the latticed window. \u201cBoom. Boom. Bru-u-u-um.\nBru-u-u-um. Bru-u-u-u-ump.\u201d And how do you like our thunder? Little\ndrums and great, they rattled and roared. \u201cRap-p-p. Boom. Boom. . . .\u201d\nIn endless line the soldiers marched. One day. Two days. Three days.\nFour. Some of them slept while the others marched. Boom. Boom. Boom. The\nsun on their spears blazed and flickered\u2014the lightning. By night there\nwere flashing fires.\n\nIt is gratifying to relate that Tiao Fu was moderately pleased. Her\nappetite returned and the tears were withheld. She spoke to the King\nwith kindness\u2014several times. All might have gone well had not some\nmalcontents down Kan Su way started a rebellion. Off went the\narmy\u2014General Chang waving his sword, and the smallest drummer boy\nthumping with glee. That was at midnight.\n\nThe dawn was at its breaking when beacons along the line of march flared\nup. \u201cHalt\u201d was the signal. The army halted. Again the beacons flared.\nThey spelled the word \u201cReturn.\u201d\n\nTiao Fu was not so well. She longed for the roll of the drums to remind\nher of Kiang Sing\u2019s thunder. What could the poor King do but recall his\narmy? The rebellion in Kan Su continued merrily. And General Chang, who\nwas an old-time soldier, expressed his opinion\u2014rather explosively\u2014to a\nsympathetic staff officer. But never mind that. Let the drums sound.\n\nWhen the rebellion spread to Kan Si, the King felt that things had gone\nquite far enough. It was time to teach those rebels a lesson. Away went\nthe army again.\n\nA whole day passed and no return order was signaled. Night came and the\narmy tramped onward. . . . A pillar of flame shot up from a hilltop. It\nwas a beacon. \u201cReturn,\u201d said the beacon. \u201cNot I,\u201d said General Chang;\n\u201cI\u2019ve had enough of the Queen\u2019s whims. Besides, it\u2019s raining right now.\nForward. March.\u201d\n\nThe army entered Kan Su and there encountered the rebels. It is better\nthat the fight go undescribed. Here suffice it to say that if so much as\none rebel escaped, he took pains to keep the fact secret. There is no\nmention of him in the books.\n\nGeneral Chang was jubilant. Surely the King would be highly pleased. The\nKing\u2014good gracious\u2014King Ho Chu, himself, on a breathless steed,\nstumbled across the battlefield. \u201cWhy didn\u2019t you return?\u201d panted the\nKing. \u201cI\u2014I\u2014I\u2014\u2014\u201d stammered General Chang. But the King said more.\n\u201cThe Tartars swooped down just a few hours ago, carrying off my Queen,\nraiding my treasury (though it was empty), and forcing me to flee for my\nlife. They carried off the Queen.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow terrible,\u201d exclaimed General Chang, looking into his sleeve. \u201cAnd\nmy army is so tired that it can\u2019t march a step\u2014besides the roads will\nsoon be _pu neng chu_ (can\u2019t go) with the rain.\u201d\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                            HIGH AS HAN HSIN\n\n\nHan Hsin was not at all high as to stature. He was short, short as a day\nin the Month of Long Nights. But as a leader of bow-drawing men, his\nplace is high. As inventor of the world\u2019s first kite, he rose very high\nindeed, and that accounts for the saying, \u201cHigh as Han Hsin.\u201d\n\nThe night that saw Han Hsin\u2019s birth was no ordinary night. It was a\nnight of fear and grandeur. The Shen who places the stars in the sky had\na shaking hand that eve. His fingers were palsied and could not hold.\nStar after star dropped down toward earth, and the people prayed and\nwept, the while they exploded firecrackers. It\u2019s a sinister sign when\nthe stars tumble out of the sky. This the people knew. Therefore, they\ntrembled.\n\nBut, amid the falling stars, was one that rose, as if the Shen had\ntossed it, as if the Shen had thrown it high. One large star mounted\nhigher and higher the while its companions fell. Wise men, astrologers,\nthey who scan the heavens, said: \u201cThe stars that fall\u2014are mighty men\nwho die. The star that rises\u2014that is the star of a future great\nman\u2014born this night.\u201d\n\nThe wise men of the village kept careful watch over Han Hsin. He had\nbeen born on the night of the Rising Star. They thought perhaps he might\nbe the ward of the Star. They watched closely for signs to strengthen\ntheir belief. But for some years Han Hsin disappointed them. He rattled\nhis calabash in an extremely ordinary manner. There was no hint of\ngreatness in the way he bounced a ball. Yet the astrologers held to\ntheir faith and watched\u2014and finally were rewarded.\n\nThere came a rain, not a hard rain, nevertheless a wetting rain,\nsufficient to drive the villagers under shelter. But Han Hsin remained\nin the open where quick drops pelted. A foolish villager noticed him and\nsaid, laughing: \u201cLook you at our future great man. He knows not enough\nto seek cover from the storm. Ho. Ho. Ho. How wise.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: Han Hsin raised a bridge from island to mainland.]\n\nAn old astrologer said: \u201cHush, _Chieh Kuo_ (Dunce), do you not see that\nthe youth makes a bridge? Come with me.\u201d They went closer to have a more\ncomplete view. The flowing water had formed a little island in the\nstreet. Upon the island were many ants. As the water rose, the island\ngrew smaller\u2014and the number of ants grew smaller, many being swept away\nto their death. Han Hsin raised a bridge from island to mainland. The\nants quickly discovered his bridge and crossed to safety. \u201cIt is a\nsign,\u201d said the old astrologer, \u201c_Chi li_ (a good omen). He has\nbefriended the ants. The ants will remember. Some day they will do him\nan equal service\u2014helping him to become great.\u201d\n\nHan Hsin discovered in the King\u2019s paved road a hatchet of better than\nfair metal. None of the villagers could prove ownership. Little Han was\npermitted to keep his treasure. Quite soon a spirited chopping was\nheard\u2014steel ringing upon stone. A foolish villager said: \u201cLook. Han\nHsin uses his fine hatchet to chop the old millstone\u2014thus demonstrating\nhis great genius. Ho. Ho. Ho. He uses valuable edged steel to chip\nstone.\u201d\n\nThe old astrologer said, \u201cHush, _Sha Tzu_ (Imbecile), come with me, and\nbehold.\u201d A wornout millstone lay at the edge of the road. Through the\nhole in its center grew a bamboo tree. The hole was small. Already it\nhindered the tree\u2019s growth. Retarded as it was, the bamboo could never\nreach a full growth. Han Hsin belabored the stone till it split in two\npieces. Then there was plenty of room for the tree. There was nothing to\n\u201cpull its elbow.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is good,\u201d asserted the astrologer. \u201cHe saves the bamboo from\ndeath. Some day the bamboo will reward him\u2014help him to become great.\u201d\n\nShortly afterward, the astrologer gave Han Hsin a note of recommendation\nto the King. Han went to the King, seeking employ. He wished a command\nin the army. But His Majesty was in a sulky mood and would not see the\nboy. Therefore, Han continued his journey into Chin Chou, a neighboring\ncountry. He went to the ruler, Prince Chin, and exhibited his note. The\nprince read\u2014and laughed. \u201cYou are too small to serve in my army. My\nsoldiers are giants, all\u2014very strong. You\u2014are _Ko Tsao_ (Little\nhopping insect). No.\u201d Han solemnly declared that his strength was that\nof a river in flood, and begged for a trial. \u201cWell, if you are\ndetermined,\u201d said the prince, \u201ctake my spear and raise it above your\nhead.\u201d The prince\u2019s spear was solid iron from point to heel, and longer\nthan the mast of a sea-venturing junk. Furthermore, it had been greased\nwith tiger fat to prevent rust. Han grasped the spear to raise it. His\nfingers slipped. Down crashed the heavy weapon. \u201cTake whips and lash him\nout of the city\u2014clumsy knave that he is,\u201d Prince Chin roared in a great\nvoice\u2014angrily. The spear had missed His Royal Person by the merest\nmite.\n\nAn old councillor spoke. \u201cYour Highness, surely it cannot be that you\nintend to let the rogue live? He will some day return with an army to\ntake revenge.\u201d \u201cNonsense,\u201d said the prince. \u201cHe is no more than an\nant\u2014and idiotic besides. How could such a fellow secure an army?\u201d\n\u201cNevertheless, I fear the ant will work your downfall. He must be\nkilled.\u201d The councillor insisted. He argued so strongly for Han\u2019s death\nthat, rather than hear more, the prince consented. \u201cIt is useless. But\ndo as you wish. Send a squad of horse to overtake him and fetch back his\nhead.\u201d\n\nWhen Han Hsin beheld the soldiers approaching at top speed, there was no\ndoubt in his mind as to what harsh errand brought them. He knew they\nintended to have his head. But Han, having lived so long with his head,\nhad become fond of it, and preferred to keep it on his shoulders. But\nhow? How could it be saved? There was no escape by running. There was no\nplace to hide. The boy must use his wits.\n\nHastily tying a cord to his bamboo staff, he threw the staff into a\ntiny, shallow puddle of water that lay beside the road. The soldiers\ngalloped up to find him seated on the bank\u2014fishing\u2014and weeping. \u201cAnd\nwhat ails you, simpleton?\u201d a soldier asked. \u201cHave you lost your nurse?\u201d\nBetween sobs Han answered, \u201cI am hungry and I can\u2019t catch any fish.\u201d\n\u201cWhat a booby,\u201d said another soldier. \u201cHe fishes in a puddle no larger\nthan a copper cash.\u201d \u201cLook,\u201d said yet another, \u201che throws in the pole,\nand holds the hook in his hand. What a _chieh kuo_; as foolish as Nu Wa,\nwho melted stones to mend a hole in the sky.\u201d \u201cDo you suppose this is\nthe creature we were told to kill?\u201d He was answered: \u201cNonsense. Prince\nChin doesn\u2019t send his cavalry to kill an ant. Spur your horses.\u201d\n\nWhen the troops returned and reported their lack of success, there was\nmuch talk. The councillor raged, offering to resign. He was positive\nthat so long as Han Hsin lived the government would be in danger. He was\nbitter because the troops had mistaken Han\u2019s cunning for imbecility.\nMerely to humor the councillor, Prince Chin mounted a horse and galloped\naway with his troops.\n\nHan Hsin put his best foot foremost, hurrying toward the border. He\nlonged to trudge the turf of his own country once more. It was not that\nhomesickness urged his steps. Han felt reasonably sure that his friends,\nthe soldiers, would shortly take the road again. The next time they\nmight not be so easily deluded. Therefore, he hastened. But it was\nuseless. His own country was still miles distant when he beheld the dust\nof men who whipped their horses.\n\nIt is not pleasant to have one\u2019s head lopped off. At times it is almost\nannoying. Han thought quickly. Near by was a melon patch. The melons\nwere large in their ripeness. Upon a huge striped _hsi kua_ the boy sat\nhim down and wept. The tears coursed down his cheeks, and his body shook\nwith sobbing. Undoubtedly, his sorrow was great.\n\n[Illustration: \u201cI\u2014I\u2014I am hungry,\u201d stammered Han Hsin.]\n\nPrince Chin stopped his steed with a jerk. \u201c_Ai chi_\u2014such grief. Are\nyou trying to drown yourself with tears?\u201d \u201cI\u2014I\u2014I am hungry,\u201d stammered\nHan Hsin. \u201cHungry? Then why don\u2019t you eat a melon?\u201d \u201cI would, sire, but\nI\u2019ve lost my knife. So I must s-s-starve.\u201d The prince was well assured\nthat he had met with the most foolish person in the world. \u201cWhat? Starve\nbecause you have no knife? . . . Strike the melon with a stone. . . .\nSuch a dunce. It would never do for me to behead this fellow. The Shen\nwho watches over imbeciles would be made angry.\u201d A trooper slashed a\ndozen melons with his sword. Surely, a dozen would save the idiot from\nstarvation. Oh, what an idiot.\n\nHan Hsin sat on the ground, obscuring his features in the red heart of a\nmelon as the prince and his men departed. His lips moved\u2014but not in\neating. His lips moved in silent laughter.\n\nHan Hsin bothered no more Kings with notes setting forth the argument\nthat he had been born under a lucky star, and so deserved well. Quite\ncasually, he fell in with King Kao Lin\u2019s army. He received no pay. His\nname was not on the muster. He hobnobbed with all the soldiers and soon\nbecame a favorite. The boy had a remarkable memory. He learned the name\nof every soldier in the army. Further, he learned the good and bad\ntraits of each soldier, knew who could be depended upon and who was\nunreliable. He knew from what village each man came, and he could\ndescribe the village with exactness. All from hearing the soldiers talk.\n\nA fire destroyed the army muster-roll. Han Hsin quickly wrote a new\nlist, giving the name of each man, his age, his qualities, his parents,\nand his village. King Kao Lin marveled. Shortly afterward, he added\nHan\u2019s name to the list\u2014a general.\n\nPrince Chin made war upon King Kao Lin. He marched three armies through\nthe kingdom, and where the armies had passed there was desolation, and\nno two stalks of grain remained in any field. Han Hsin moved against the\nsmallest of the three armies. The enemy waited, well hidden above a\nmountain pass through which Han must march. It was an excellent\nambush\u2014there was no other passage. The mountain was so steep no man\ncould climb it.\n\nHan caused his soldiers to remove their jackets and fill them with sand,\nafterward tying bottom and top securely. The sand bags were placed\nagainst a cliff, to form a stair way. Up went Han and his men, to come\nupon the enemy from behind and capture the whole army\u2014cook and general.\n\nThe second hostile army retreated to the river Lan Shui. It crossed the\nriver, then burned all boats and bridges. So safe from pursuit felt the\nhostile general, he neglected to post sentries. Instead, he ordered all\nthe men to feast and make pleasure. Han Hsin ordered his men to remove\nthe iron points from their spears. The hollow bamboo shafts of the\nspears were lashed together, forming rafts. Armed only with light bows\nthe men quickly crossed Lan Shui River and pounced upon their unready\nenemy. The feast was eaten by soldiers other than those for whom it had\nbeen intended.\n\nPrince Chin led the third and largest army. He had far more braves than\nHan commanded. There could be no whipping him in open battle. In\nstrategy lay the only hope. Han Hsin clothed many thousand scarecrows\nand placed them in the battle-line\u2014a scarecrow, a soldier\u2014another\nscarecrow, another soldier. In that manner, to all appearance, he\ndoubled his army. Forthwith, he wrote a letter demanding\nsurrender\u2014pointing out that since his army was so much larger than Chin\nPa\u2019s, to fight would be a useless sacrifice.\n\nPrince Chin took long to decide upon his course. So long it took him\nthat Han grew impatient and sat down to write again. While he wrote, a\nstrong wind broke upon the camp. The papers on Han\u2019s table were lifted\nhigh in air. Higher and higher they swirled, higher than an eagle\u2014for\nthe Shen of Storms to read. Han\u2019s golden knife, resting on a paper, was\nlifted by the wind, transported far over the foeman\u2019s camp.\n\nImmediately an idea seethed in the leader\u2019s mind. If a small piece of\npaper could carry a knife, might not a large piece carry the knife\u2019s\nowner? Especially, when that owner happened to be not much more weighty\nthan a three-day bean cake? It seemed reasonable. Again the little\ngeneral took spears from his soldiers. The iron points were removed and\nthe long bamboo shafts were bound together in a frame. Over the frame\nwas fastened tough bamboo paper in many sheets. Away from prying enemy\neyes, the queer contrivance was sent into air. It proved sky-worthy,\nlifting its maker to a fearsome height. Thus was the _feng cheng_\ninvented. Thus was the kite, little brother of the aeroplane, invented\nby Han Hsin.\n\n[Illustration: Prince Chin Pa tried in vain to hold his followers.]\n\nThe night showed no moon. Not a star had been lighted. The wind blew\nstrong, with an eerie whistling. It was such a night as demons walk\nabout their mischief, and honest men keep under their quilts. Out of the\nsky above the enemy camp came a great flapping sound. Could it be a\ndragon? All eyes peered upward through the darkness. . . . Two red eyes\nappeared. . . . Nothing more could be seen. . . . Only the two evil\neyes. A voice came from the sky. \u201cReturn to your homes,\u201d boomed the\nvoice. \u201cThe battle is lost. Return to your homes, ere they too are\nlost.\u201d The men of Chin shook with their fear. The Shen of the sky had\nspoken. They had heard his voice. They had heard the flapping of his\nwings. They had seen his red and terrible eyes. How could the men of\nChin know that the words they heard were uttered by Han Hsin? How could\nthey know that the flapping was caused by a man-made thing, later to be\nnamed \u201c_feng cheng_\u201d (kite)? And how could they know that the eyes were\nmere bottles filled with insects called \u201cBright at night (Fireflies)\u201d?\nThe men of Chin could not know. They loosened the ropes of their\ntents\u2014and the tents came down.\n\nPrince Chin tried in vain to hold his followers. No longer followers\nwere they. They were fugitives, fleeing to their homes. Only a few\nhundred remained true to their prince. Doubly armed with the weapons\nthat had been thrown away, they ascended a steep and rocky hill, there\nto make their last great fight.\n\nBut Han Hsin had anticipated just such action, and had prepared for it.\nUnseen, he had slipped through the enemy lines and climbed the hill.\nWith a brush dipped in honey he wrote words upon a stone. As he wrote,\ncame hungry ants. The ants came\u2014to aid\u2014and to feast. Soon the stone\nwas black with a crawling multitude.\n\nPrince Chin scaled the hill to its summit. Ten thousand swords could not\ndislodge him from those rocks. He would make the enemy pay a red price\nfor success. . . . His gaze fell upon the rock. . . . He saw a host of\nants forming characters that read \u201cThe Battle is Lost.\u201d His men also\nbeheld, and they said, \u201cThe ant is wisest of all animals. Let us crawl\nin the dust, for we are conquered.\u201d\n\nSo, Han Hsin victored over the three hostile armies. His country was\ninvaded no more. In time it became really his country, for he ruled\nit\u2014as a King\u2014ruled it well. But now his wise rule is forgotten. He is\nremembered as the man who first made kites.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                          CONTRARY CHUEH CHUN\n\n\nThe most contrary man that ever drew a full dozen breaths was Chueh\nChun, living in Tien Ting Village, thirty minutes by donkey, by up and\ndown very bad road, north of the Great Wall, the far-famed Chinese Wall.\n\nQueer Chueh Chun had been named Ma Tzu by his honorable parents. He had\nbeen named Ma Tzu, which means Face Rather Ugly. He, himself, changed\nhis name to Chueh Chun, which means Absolutely Beautiful.\n\nThe good people of Tien Ting Village lived tidily in made houses, above\nground. Chueh Chun lived in a cave, a deep and winding fox den, below\nground. Such of the neighbors as were permitted by law to wear hats,\nwore little round hats, on their heads. Chueh Chun wore hats on his\nfeet. Moreover, he wore straw hats in winter, fur in summer. On his head\nperched an ancient sandal. He pretended that the arrangement was\nexcellent. The sandal shaded his eyes, yet permitted his head to remain\ncool.\n\nThe neighbors when going upon long journeys commonly rode their shaggy\nmountain ponies. Chueh Chun when setting forth on an arduous trip\u2014say\nfifty miles\u2014was most likely to walk. But to go from his fox lair home\nto the nest of his speckled hen, he invariably rode a little donkey.\n\nYu Yuch Ying, aunt to Chueh Chun, willed her obstinate nephew thirty\nthousand cash, just when his purse was at its flattest. The neighbors\ngathered round Chueh Chun to congratulate and envy him. Said they: \u201cWhat\na fortunate person are you, dear Chueh Chun. The thirty thousand cash\nthat your late lamented Aunt Yu Yuch Ying left will set you up in noble\nstyle. A most opportune windfall was that. Plenty of luck you have.\u201d\n\nBut Chueh Chun nodded his head. He always nodded his head to show that\nhe differed. \u201cQuite the contrary,\u201d said Chueh Chun, \u201cI fear me,\nhonorable neighbors, that my aunt\u2019s bequest is an ill thing altogether.\nIt is luck the worst. Thirty thousand cash are so heavy that I shall be\ncompelled to make at least two trips to fetch them. Besides, the beggars\nwill be annoying me without let-up from break of day till I break their\nheads. And think of thieves. The money will bring me ill, I am sure.\u201d\nAnd Chueh Chun laughed heartily, for that was his way of expressing\nsorrow.\n\nHowever, Chueh Chun\u2019s excellent wife knew how to manage him. She said:\n\u201cQuite right. If I were you, I wouldn\u2019t dream of going for the fortune.\nAnd I wouldn\u2019t once think of riding the donkey, not once.\u201d And she spoke\nas if she meant her words.\n\nTherefore\u2014upon his donkey\u2014the contrary husband started for Tsun Pu,\nwhere his beloved aunt had lived and left riches. Immediately outside\nTien Ting Village the traveler was forced to cross a river. The current\nwas swift and it washed the hat-shoes from Chueh Chun\u2019s feet. Down the\nstream swirled the hats, with their owner in splashy pursuit. The\nneighbors, who had gathered to bid old Contrary a fine journey, were\nloud in lamentation over his loss. They exclaimed, beating their\nbreasts: \u201cOh, Chueh Chun, we are so sorry that you have lost your\nhat-shoes, so utterly sorry. With our eyes we weep for you and cry\n\u2018alas.\u2019 What terrible luck. It is demon-sent luck in truth.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: Therefore\u2014upon his donkey\u2014the contrary husband started\nfor Tsun Pu.]\n\nBut Chueh Chun paused in his splashing and answered them: \u201cWhy, no. I\ndare say it is not bad luck at all. Quite the opposite, my esteemed\nneighbors, it may be very fortunate indeed.\u201d He wept to show that he was\nwell pleased.\n\nMeanwhile, the onward swept hat-shoes disappeared from view. Chueh Chun\nraced along the bank, calling, and anxiously scanning the water for a\ntrace of his lost property. The neighbors, too, hurried after, one\nleading the donkey. Rounding a willow-draped elbow of the river, Chueh\nChun stumbled over a boat that had drifted ashore. He fell headlong and\nheavily, his chin plowing a prodigious furrow in the sand. Up panted the\nneighbors, shouting: \u201cAlas, likewise alack. What woe. Such woe. Poor\nChueh Chun, how we ache for you. Our own bones pain out of sympathy.\nWhat a horrible calamity.\u201d\n\nChueh Chun stretched out a hand to pick up his two hat-shoes, drifted\nagainst a willow bough. Said he, rather indistinctly because of the sand\nin his mouth: \u201cNothing of the kind, greatly respected neighbors. My fall\nwas most beneficial, for it placed me nearly atop my lost shoes.\nOtherwise I might never have found them.\u201d He sobbed to prove his joy.\n\nIt is doubtful if the others heard. They, inquisitive fellows that they\nwere, had hands and eyes and tongues busy as they investigated the boat\nthat had caused Chueh Chun\u2019s downfall. Lifting a drab and unpromising\nrain-cloth, they discovered underneath a cargo of precious tribute\nsilks\u2014only the best\u2014stuffs such as are sent in tribute to His Majesty,\nThe Emperor. There were bales of silk and sewn garments of silk. There\nwere reds and greens and purples, brown and black and gold. Orange,\nblue, and pink, they surpassed the rainbow in vivid hue. \u201cHow\nmarvelous,\u201d gasped the neighbors. \u201cYour fortune is made, Chueh Chun.\nWhat stupendous good luck. We who have always been your truest friends,\naiding you with turnips and money in time of need, now rejoice with\nyou.\u201d\n\nChueh Chun nodded. \u201cI must beg leave to disagree on that,\u201d was his\ncontradiction. \u201cIt is no very good luck. I would sooner have stepped on\na fretful tiger. Really, it is terrible\u2014finding this boat.\u201d\n\nThe neighbors squinted eyes at each other and spoke. \u201cA pity that you\nwon\u2019t take of the find. Howbeit\u2014good for us. We can make profitable use\nof these things.\u201d They were silly to say that.\n\nChueh Chun promptly loaded his donkey with silks, a burden worth, even\nin a beggars\u2019 market, double or more the thirty thousand cash left by\nhis aunt. He donned a most sightly lilac-colored coat and departed.\n\nThus with his donkey laden and his own back resplendent, Chueh Chun\nfared onward toward Tsun Pu. Scarce had he gone two li when a band of\nbrigands espied him. \u201cThere goes old Chueh Chun,\u201d said a brigand. \u201cHe is\ntoo poor to rob. That donkey of his is older than my own dear\ngreat-grandfather, and possesses a most deplorable temper.\u201d But the\nrobber chief spoke. \u201cNonsense, you shallow pate. Look at his lilac robe.\nLook at the silks upon his beast. We could scarcely have better fortune\nthough we opened sacks within our noble Emperor\u2019s treasury.\u201d So the\nrobbers fell upon Chueh Chun and stripped him of his stuffs. His donkey,\nhis robe, his purse, all they took.\n\nIt was a well-plucked traveler who returned to Tien Ting Village and\nrelated his misadventure. The villagers, to a man, sympathized greatly.\n\u201cOur hearts go out to you, most excellent Chueh Chun,\u201d they condoled.\n\u201cUndoubtedly, you have suffered. How you must grieve. And we also\ngrieve. It is all pleasure swept away.\u201d\n\nStubborn Chueh Chun could not agree. Said he: \u201cWho knows but that it was\ngood luck? Had I continued through the mountains I might have been\nkilled by falling rocks. Think of that. Beyond doubt the robbers saved\nmy life. Yet you, my supposed friends, say it was bad luck.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: It was a well-plucked traveler who returned.]\n\nEarly next morning, Chueh Chun\u2019s ancient donkey returned to the village.\nShe had broken loose from the brigands and ambled home with all her load\nof silks intact. How the neighbors rejoiced. A person might easily have\nthought that the little donkey belonged to them, so jubilant were they.\n\u201cOh, Chueh Chun, awake,\u201d they screamed. \u201cHere is your donkey, all hearty\nand hale\u2014with not so much as a yard of silk missing. What wonderful,\nwonderful luck.\u201d\n\nChueh Chun said: \u201cI\u2019m afraid, good gracious yes, it\u2019s very bad luck. No\ngood can come of this. It\u2019s unfortunate as can be. Alas. Alas.\u201d Nor was\nhe far wrong. That very morning, while ministering to a wound upon the\ndonkey, that sinful little beast kicked with such violence as to break\nher master\u2019s leg. The somewhat inquisitive neighbors gathered, as bees\ngather to the blossoming beans. \u201cOh. Oh. Oh,\u201d they screamed. \u201cWhat is\nthe matter? Did the shameless donkey kick our handsome neighbor?\u201d\n\n\u201cTruly, she did,\u201d laughed Chueh Chun. \u201cSo hard that I think my leg has\ncome apart.\u201d And as he thought, so it was. He could not walk.\n\nThe neighbors redoubled their wails, asking each other, \u201cIs not that the\nextreme height of ill fortune?\u201d\n\n\u201cNot at all,\u201d denied old Chueh Chun, perhaps a trifle grumpily. \u201cIn my\nopinion it may be a blessing. It, no doubt, will save me from something\nworse. Besides, it convinces me that my donkey is very strong, despite\nher age.\u201d\n\nBy darkest midnight the Khan of the warlike Tartars, with fifty thousand\nmen, swooped down to raid such villages as had, rather foolishly, been\nbuilt outside the Great Wall. Tien Ting suffered. Every able-bodied man\nwas taken prisoner. Only the very young, the extremely ancient, the\nlame, the blind, and the bedridden were left in their homes. Chueh Chun\nwas one of those thus spared. Lameness and age were in his favor. By\ntorchlight a toothless, grinning old neighbor dropped into Chueh Chun\u2019s\ncave to say that the danger was no more. \u201cThe Tartars are gone, my\nadmirable friend, Chueh Chun\u2014and so are all of our young men, and our\ngoods, even to house chimneys. I think you and I are about the only ones\nspared. How fortunate we are.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt may be all very fortunate for you,\u201d put in Chueh Chun, \u201cbut as for\nme, I have a feeling that things could be much better, and still be not\nso good. I wish the Tartars had carried me into captivity astride my own\npoor lost donkey.\u201d For, of course, his donkey was gone again.\n\nWith the dawning, His Majesty, The Emperor Ching Tang, entered the\nvillage to learn of its losses. He was told that all of the men, save\nhalf a dozen, Chueh Chun among them, had been carried off. \u201cWhy wasn\u2019t\nsuch a one taken?\u201d asked the Emperor. He was told: \u201cA cripple for ninety\nyears and a day.\u201d \u201cWhy wasn\u2019t Chueh Chun taken?\u201d asked the Emperor.\n\u201cBecause, Noble Majesty,\u201d answered a villager, kneeling three times and\nknocking his head on the ground thrice with each kneeling, \u201cbecause,\nmost gracious light of the sun and beauty of the moon, lord of the earth\nand sea and sky, Chueh Chun was kicked by his own donkey, and I well\nremember his saying at the time that it was extremely fortunate his leg\nwas broken\u2014a blessing\u2014those were his words. And they were true.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat say you?\u201d thundered the Emperor \u201cA blessing\u2014to be crippled? Why\nthen this Chueh Chun must have known beforehand that the Tartars were\ncoming to carry away my people. He must have known it, and knowing, gave\nus no warning. Bid this traitorous fellow appear. Soldiers\u2014go.\nHeadsman\u2014draw your sword.\u201d\n\nFortunately, Chueh Chun\u2019s wife heard the Emperor\u2019s command. Swiftly she\nran home. As she entered the cave Chueh Chun sneezed. \u201cKou Chu.\u201d The\nsneeze led to an excellent idea. Said the wife: \u201cAha. Aha,\u201d with much\nemphasis. \u201cYou were out in your boat on the river last week, and now you\nhave a cold.\u201d Adding with proper severity, \u201cDon\u2019t you dare go near the\nriver again. Do you hear?\u201d She knew very well what would happen. \u201cMy\nhusband\u2014come back.\u201d\n\nLame as he was, Chueh Chun promptly left the cave and got into his boat.\nThe good wife smiled and screamed, \u201cDon\u2019t row with such vigor.\u201d\n\nSoldiers ran to the bank of the stream and called, \u201cCome back.\u201d And\nlouder they shouted, \u201cCome back.\u201d That was extremely foolish of them.\nThey should have said, \u201cGo on.\u201d\n\nContrary to the last, Chueh Chun sat the wrong way in his boat and rowed\nfor dear life.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                          PIES OF THE PRINCESS\n\n\nThree plump mandarins hid behind a single tiny rose bush. The chancellor\ncrawled under a chair. All courtiers fell upon their chins, and\nshivering, prayed that soft words might prevail.\n\nFor no slight reason did they shiver and hide and pray. King Yang Lang\nwas angry. And he was an old-fashioned monarch, living in the long ago.\nNowadays, any greasy kitchen lout may tweak a King\u2019s beard, and go forth\nto boast of his bravery. But then-a-days, Kings were Kings, and their\nswords were ever sharp.\n\nKing Yang Lang was such a ruler\u2014and more angry than is good to see. His\nface was purple, and his voice boomed like a battle drum. \u201cKeeper of the\nTreasury, has all my gold been used to make weights for fishing lines?\u201d\n\nTime after time the treasurer knocked his head against the paving. \u201cMost\nGlorious and Peaceful Monarch, your gold is so plentiful that seven\nyears must pass before I can finish counting the larger bars\u2014ten years\nmore for the smaller.\u201d\n\nThat was rather pleasant news. The King\u2019s voice lost some of its\nharshness. \u201cWhat of ivory? Has all my ivory been burned for firewood, a\npot to boil?\u201d\n\nThe treasurer continued to knock his Head. \u201cSupreme Ruler of The World\nand The Stars, your ivory completely fills a hundred large and closely\nguarded vaults.\u201d\n\nThe King hadn\u2019t dreamed that his wealth was so vast. His voice was not\nmore moderately furious as he asked: \u201cFor what reason have you disposed\nof my jade? Do you mean to say that my jade has been used to build a\nstable for donkeys?\u201d\n\nTap, tap, tap, went the treasurer\u2019s head on marble paving: \u201cOh, Powerful\nPotentate, the store of green jade grows larger each day. Your precious\nwhite jade is worth more than green, and gold, and ivory combined. It is\nall quite safe, under lock and key and watchful spears.\u201d\n\nThe King was astonished and put in somewhat better humor. His voice was\nno louder than thunder as he again questioned the treasurer. \u201cThen why,\ntell me why is my daughter, the Princess Chin Uor, not given suitable\ntoys. If the treasury holds gold and ivory and jade, why is my daughter\ncompelled to use toys of common clay?\u201d\n\nThe treasurer could not explain: \u201cMonarch whose word compels the sun to\nrise, we have pleaded with the wee Princess Chin Uor. We have given her\na thousand dolls of solid gold, with silver cradles for each, cradles\nset with rubies\u2014and the dolls have eyes of lustrous black pearl. For\nthe princess we have made ivory cats, and ivory mice for the cats to\ncatch\u2014two thousand of each. For the princess we have fashioned from\njade, lovely tossing balls, wonderful dishes, and puppy dogs that bark\nand come when called. Yet, the princess ignores these things . . . and\nmakes mud pies\u2014Mud Pies. Mightiest Majesty, I do not know why, unless\nit may be that the princess is a girl, as well as a princess.\u201d\n\nA trifle relieved, King Yang Lang passed into the garden. Beside the\nriver bank he found his daughter, the Princess Chin Uor, or Princess\nMany Dimples\u2014for that is the meaning of Chin Uor. Nurses standing near\nkept watch upon wheelbarrows spilling over with golden dolls. But Chin\nUor had no thought for such toys. Her royal hands shaped the tastiest of\nmud pies. Very pretty pies they were\u2014made of white clay.\n\nThe King said: \u201cLittlest and most beautiful daughter, the golden dolls\nare longing for your touch. Why do you not please them? It is not seemly\nfor a princess to dabble in clay. Then why do you make pies?\u201d\n\nThe princess had a very good answer ready. \u201cBecause, Daddy, I want to\nmake pies. This nice large one is for your dinner.\u201d\n\nThe King was so shocked that he could say nothing more. Mud pies for a\nKing\u2019s dinner? Such nonsense. His Majesty was scandalized at the\nthought. He departed in haste.\n\nBut the Princess Chin Uor smiled and kneaded more and more pies. And\nwhen she had made enough she placed them in a wheelbarrow and trundled\nthem to the palace.\n\nAnd now the story changes. Far away to the west, in a mountain named\nHuge Rocks Piled, the famous dragon, Oo Loong, made his home. This\nfierce dragon was a creature of consuming greed. He was ever hungry and\nanxious to dine. A rabbit or an elephant\u2014nothing was too large, nothing\ntoo small. A turtle or a jellyfish\u2014nothing was too hard, nothing too\nsoft. A man he considered fine eating. Boys he liked somewhat better.\nGirls? Girls were far superior to boys\u2014in the dragon\u2019s opinion.\n\n[Illustration: This nice large one is for your dinner.]\n\nMuch sorrow this ferocious _loong_ had created in His Majesty\u2019s kingdom.\nA reward of one hundred silver pieces had been offered for the dragon\u2019s\nhorns, two hundred for his ears. Magicians had worked charms to slay\nhim\u2014only themselves to be slain. Hunters had loaded their jingals with\nyellow paper, and had fired where the dragon was thickest, fired where\nhe was thinnest\u2014only to be eaten\u2014their guns with them. Made angry by\nthe loss of so many people, King Yang Lang marched an army into the\nMountain of Huge Rocks Piled. And the army was well armed with thumping\ndrums and fifes and smoking guns.\n\nThen the dragon became doubly furious and ferocious. To punish King Yang\nLang, he resolved to visit the palace. That, he knew, would cause the\narmy to be withdrawn. Accordingly, at the hour of deepest slumber,\ndarksome mid of night, he prowled round Yang Lang\u2019s palace, seeking\nentrance. He had no easy task. Upon the King\u2019s door were pictures, also\nthe word \u201cChi,\u201d written in gold. And so that door was well protected.\nThe Queen\u2019s door likewise was dragon proof. It was covered with whole\nsentences taken from the black book of Hu Po, master magician. The door\nthat led to where Princess Chin Uor slept was made strong by magic words\nand symbols. More of Hu Po\u2019s sorcery. Useless to prowl there. Dangerous\nto prowl there. The dragon was a knowing beast and prudent. The signs\nwere against him. Hence, he tarried not, but crawled down the hallway in\nleaving.\n\nA wheelbarrow stood in his path. He could not pass to the right. To the\nleft he could not pass. Nor could he leap over the obstruction. But the\ndragon was not one to be baffled by such a weak and wooden contrivance.\nHis huge mouth opened and his white hot breath rushed forth. In a\ntwinkling the wooden barrow vanished. Like a butter cake dropped upon\nthe summer sun it melted, burned to a cinder of nothingness.\n\nNow the wheelbarrow thus destroyed was property of the little Princess\nChin Uor. In it had been golden dolls, dolls of the princess. The dolls\nwere dolls no longer. Under the dragon\u2019s fiery breath they changed to a\npool of liquid gold. The hard gold became soft and flowing.\n\nIn the barrow had been pretty mud pies, pies of the princess. Under the\ndragon\u2019s burning breath they were changed to discs of stony hardness.\nThe soft clay took on a hardness as of flint. The princess had wished\nher pies to dry. And her wish had been granted.\n\nNext morning, the palace, from presence room to pantry, buzzed with\nexcitement. Oo Loong had dared intrude within the royal dwelling. It\ncould not be doubted. He had left his footprints in the molten gold, and\nthe gold, in hardening, had preserved his tracks.\n\nWitches and wizards came to make more able charms. Messengers galloped\naway to summon the distant army. The King raged and roared. Said His\nMajesty: \u201cLet that reprobate dragon return, if he dares. If he dares,\nlet that reprobate dragon return.\u201d The courtiers trembled and gasped:\n\u201cPray may the wicked _loong_ never return. Never, never return.\u201d But\nlittle Princess Many Dimples played with her pies and was happy. Her\npies had been baked to a queen\u2019s taste\u2014or rather to the taste of a\nprincess. Beside the river she worked faithfully in wet white clay. Such\nbeautiful pies. \u201cI do hope that the nice _loong_ will return,\u201d said\nPrincess Chin Uor. \u201cHe is such a fine oven. I shall make a hundred more\npies for his baking.\u201d\n\nPie after pie. Even the nurses helped. Instead of saying, \u201cPlease, will\nyour Royal Highness not play with this lovely doll?\u201d they said, \u201cPlease,\nis this one rounded enough?\u201d and \u201cPlease, shall I scallop the edges a\ntrifle deeper?\u201d and \u201cShall I imagine that this one contains cherries, or\nradishes?\u201d or whatever it may be that makers of pies would say in a\nroyal kitchen. So, a hundred pies were made and wheeled to the palace.\nIn reality, they numbered a hundred and one, but the odd one was so\nthick that it must be called a cake. Howbeit, that is not so important\nas you might think.\n\nNight followed day\u2014a habit that most nights have. The soldiers\nslept\u2014as they had been ordered not to do. The hour approached when\nclock hands point to the highest sky. Midnight came, and with it the\nmountainous mountain _loong_. Unseen by those whose duty was seeing, the\ndragon entered King Yang Lang\u2019s courtyard. And there he was perplexed\nand paused. The King\u2019s door was a hodgepodge of magic signs, plastered\nwith yellow paper. Vain to think of entering there. The Queen\u2019s door was\nupside down\u2014best charm of all. To think of entering was vain. The door\nthat led to Princess Chin Uor\u2019s sleeping chamber was written thick with\nwords to still a dragon\u2019s heart, circles to dizzy his head. Say what you\nplease, the witches and wizards had done good work upon that door. Their\ncharms were written with clearness and force. The _loong_ dared not take\na second glance. He felt his limbs grow weak. Wisely hastened he from\nthe spell-guarded threshold.\n\nNow in the reign of the Emperor Ming, a crazed and knavish fellow, known\nto the world as Wing Dow, invented a contrivance called by him\n\u201cLook-through-the-wall,\u201d but which we of today call a \u201cWindow.\u201d His\ninvention gave the Emperor Ming a severe cold, and Wing Dow came within\na sword\u2019s width of losing his ears\u2014but more of that later. Here it is\nnecessary to say only that Look-through-the-walls became popular, and\nmany such were to be found in King Yang Lang\u2019s palace. In the Princess\nChin Uor\u2019s room were many wing-dows (or windows), and\u2014hard to\nbelieve\u2014those wing-dows were unguarded either by charm or by apple wood\nbeam, which is as good as a charm. Could the dragon pass by such a fine\nchance? Could he pass the wing-dow and not have a try? When he had come\nwith purpose to do harm? It is easy to imagine the thing that happened.\nAnd yet not so easy as may seem.\n\nThe dragon\u2019s lumpish head entered the wing-dow. His deer horns, his\nrabbit eyes, his snake tongue, all entered, and easily enough. A\nponderous sofa-cushion foot he placed upon the window ledge. . . .\n\nCrash, and smash, and clatter. . . .\n\nThe nurses awoke and screamed, \u201cSave us.\u201d\n\nThe Princess Chin Uor awoke and said, \u201cShoo.\u201d\n\nSoldiers in the courtyard awoke and lighted green fires as they smote\ntheir drums, saying: \u201cCome if you dare. Help. Help.\u201d\n\nThe dragon was already awake\u2014awake to the danger. Promptly he vanished.\nSuch noise he could not abide.\n\nKing Yang Lang came with a golden torch. Greatly he was pleased that the\n_loong_ had been routed.\n\nBut Princess Chin Uor was far from pleased. Indeed, she was fretful.\nFrom the floor she took a sliver of flint-hard clay. \u201cMy pies are all\nbroken. All. All are broken,\u201d mourned Princess Many Dimples. \u201cI had\nplaced them in the wing-dow. And the dragon knocked them down and broke\nthem.\u201d And beyond doubt so had he done. There were the pieces.\n\nStill the King remained cheerful. His little daughter\u2019s sadness passed\nunnoticed. His Majesty said: \u201cYour pies, my daughter, are excellent\nfood\u2014let no one deny it\u2014but even better are they to give warning of\nthe dragon\u2019s nearness. Your pies have provided me with a wonderful idea.\nHereafter we need have no more fear of the _loong_. . . . Ho. General.\nAwaken your soldiers again. Let them march to the river.\u201d\n\nFor a week the King\u2019s army did no other labor than make mud pies. And\nliked it. The pies were given heat in giant ovens, were baked into stony\nhardness. Then they were placed throughout the palace, in windows, upon\ntables, chairs, upon chests and shelves, high and low and everywhere.\nEven on the chimney tops were rows of glistening pies. The slightest\nmisstep by a prowling dragon would have caused a din most tremendous.\n\nThe royal dining table was a shining whiteness, covered with mud pies.\nSo numerous were the pies of the princess that no room remained for\nfood. But that was no cause for worry. The King merely ordered that his\nrice be placed upon a baked clay pie. Mandarins who visited the palace\nwere much surprised at what they saw\u2014a King eating from common clay.\nNevertheless, their own tables were soon covered with Princess Chin\nUor\u2019s pies. For the King, of course, set all fashions.\n\nAnd so, we modern peoples speak of our plates and cups and saucers as\n\u201cChina.\u201d China? Is it? Yes, and no. China is merely our way of\npronouncing Chin Uor. Our plates are merely thin copies of Princess Chin\nUor\u2019s pies.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                         AS HAI LOW KEPT HOUSE\n\n\nAfter weary years of saving, a few cash each calendar, Hai Lee removed\nfrom the mountains, where nothing ever happens, and bought a tiny house\nthat stood near Ying Ling toll road, which is the King\u2019s road, and where\nstrange sights are seen. In that region the people have a saying, \u201cHe\nwho lives on the King\u2019s road has seen the whole world.\u201d\n\nWith him the newcomer brought his little brother, Hai Low. Hai Low was\nto keep house, while Hai Lee worked in field and forest. The new house\nwas no larger than two by twice, and poorly furnished. Nevertheless, Hai\nLee and Hai Low imagined it to be grand. For they had always lived in a\nmountain cave.\n\nMany times Hai Lee cautioned his brother to take good care that no harm\ncame to their magnificent house. And Hai Low promised faithfully to\nguard. His eyes would be unblinkingly open. Have no fear.\n\nUpon the very first day, as Hai Low kept house, a fox dashed under the\nflooring. A band of hunters soon appeared. The hunters said, \u201cWe hope\nyou enjoyed a tasty dinner.\u201d That by way of greeting. \u201cOur fox has\nhidden beneath your house. He is a very damage-doing fox, and we desire\nhis ears. For permission to dig we will thank you a thousand times\u2014and\nmore if the fur be of good quality.\u201d\n\nHai Low thought of his brother\u2019s warning. Whereupon he replied to the\nhunters: \u201cYour digging might injure the house, and my honorable brother\nhas told me to keep all harm away. Therefore, excellent huntsmen, I\nmust, in sorrow, give you no. Dig you cannot, for the house might fall.\u201d\n\nWith soft voices the hunters wheedled. Hai Low said no. With harsh\nvoices the hunters blustered and threatened. Hai Low said no. Money the\nhunters offered. Hai Low said no. His mind was fixed and nothing could\nmove it. No once. No twice. No thrice. And again no. The hunters\ndeparted. The fox remained. And Hai Low believed he had done well for\nhis first day of housekeeping. He imagined that his brother would praise\nhim.\n\nThe opposite came to pass. Hai Lee frowned. \u201cThat was wrong and stupidly\ndone, Small Brother. A little digging could have given no hurt. The fox\nis an evil enemy. He will catch all of our fowls, even to the last\nspeckled hen. We must get rid of that scamp. If any more hunters\ncome\u2014tell them to dig.\u201d\n\nUpon the next day, as Hai Low kept house, he beheld two men with\ncrossbows. In joy he rushed to greet them. With much bowing and scraping\nhe said: \u201cI hope that your rice was well cooked, and you had plenty of\nit. Will you not come to the house and dig?\u201d\n\nOne of the men said, \u201cThis fellow reminds me of the way Wu Ta Lang got\nout of the cherry tree\u2014it was quite simple.\u201d But the other, who was\nmore crafty, squinted an eye to say, \u201cBe quiet.\u201d Then, using his tongue,\nhe spoke to Hai Low: \u201cFor nothing else we came. With all our hearts will\nwe dig. Only open the door. Our rice was well cooked.\u201d He entered the\nhouse and began to tear up stones from the hearth. Hai Low said, \u201cDo you\nnot think the fox will be alarmed and try to escape through the hole by\nwhich he entered?\u201d The hunter replied: \u201cA wise question, truly. What\nshall we do? Can you not sit with your back to the entrance? Then the\nfox will be unable to depart.\u201d Hai Low readily agreed to aid. He went\noutside and sat with his back to the wall. The hunters struck many blows\nupon the hearth, laughing all the while. Presently they each said, \u201cOh,\u201d\nand stopped digging. \u201cHave you got it?\u201d asked Hai Low. \u201cWe have,\u201d the\nelder huntsman answered. \u201cWe have it in a sack. How fortunate that you\ninvited us in. Our digging was most successful.\u201d He was greatly pleased.\nThe other hunter seemed equally as well pleased. Hai Low, too, was\ndelighted. A very fine thing he thought it that the fox had been\ncaptured. He felt sure that his brother would speak words of praise.\n\nBut such was far from being. Hai Lee tossed a sack upon the table and\nsaid, \u201cOh, my Little Brother, a sad mistake you made this day. Not\nhunters, but thieves were those men. Not a fox, but all of our money\nthey carried off in the sack. By chance alone, I regained it. But such\ngood luck rarely happens a second time. Now heed my words. Never again\npermit strangers to enter the house. Never.\u201d\n\nNext day, as Hai Low kept house, the door shook with a great knocking.\nThe boy peeped from a window. He beheld an old man, beating the door.\nSaid Hai Low: \u201cI hope you relished your dinner\u2014but you must go away. My\nbrother says that I am to admit no strangers. Go away. You cannot\nenter.\u201d\n\nThe old man remarked, in a loud tone, that Hai Low spoke nonsense. \u201cOpen\nthe door that I may enter, you who deserve a bamboo upon your back. Is\nthis any way to treat your own flesh and blood?\u201d Hai Low repeated his\ncommand. \u201cYou cannot enter. Go away hurriedly\u2014else I shall pour hot\nwater.\u201d He tilted a kettle and began to pour. Whereupon the old man took\nto his heels, for the water steamed, hot from a fire. Hai Low was well\npleased with himself. Beyond doubt, he would receive great praise from\nhis brother.\n\nBut Hai Lee came home in a huff. Angry, dismayed, was the big brother.\n\u201cOh, you wrong-doing Little Brother, you have ruined our future. The man\nwhom you chased away was Grandfather Hai Ho, wealthy and about to make\nus his heirs. Now he says he will leave us not so much as one cash, not\none. For pity\u2019s sake, Small Brother, be more tactful. We have another\nrich grandfather. When the next stranger comes, ask him if he is your\ngrandfather, before you pour heated water.\u201d\n\nNext day, as Hai Low kept house, the door rattled and banged. Someone\nwished to come in. At least, it seemed probable. Hai Low peered from a\nwindow. He beheld a man, well dressed and round, at the door. Behind the\nimpatient one were many slaves. At once Hai Low thought of his other\nrich grandfather. Said he: \u201cI hope your rice was served on a golden\ndish. Are you my grandfather?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat?\u201d roared the stranger. \u201cWhat? What impudence were you saying?\u201d Hai\nLow used a full breath to shout, \u201cI asked, are you my grandfather. My\nGrandfather.\u201d At that the large stranger tottered. His slaves made a\ntremendous breeze with fans, seeking to revive him. Still fanning, they\ncarried him away. Hai Low was somewhat puzzled. And puzzled he remained\nuntil his brother came home.\n\nThe brother was frightened, likewise angry. \u201cOh, dear me, Small Brother,\nwhy were you so rude to the Governor? You have insulted the Governor,\nand will be lucky if you escape with your life. Even if you are not\nbeheaded, you will have to pay a fine of a thousand large coins. All\nbecause of your foolish questions. I beseech you, don\u2019t ask visitors any\nmore questions. Don\u2019t open your mouth to a stranger.\u201d\n\nNext day, as Hai Low kept house, he chanced to glance at the stable. The\nstable door was open. Before the boy could close it, a stranger came\nout, leading Hai Lee\u2019s fine donkey. Hai Low began to imagine that\nmischief was being done. Thrice he opened his mouth, but each time he\nremembered his brother\u2019s instruction to ask no questions. So he remained\nsilent. The donkey was soon saddled. Away it went, with the stranger\nastride.\n\nWhen big brother returned home for Evening Rice, he spoke harshly to Hai\nLow. \u201cGoodness, gracious me, Very Small Brother, you will ruin us yet.\nNow you\u2019ve let a rogue take my trotting donkey, and only by a lucky\naccident was I able to recover the beast. Really, your housekeeping is a\nbad thing altogether. Never let another stranger approach the stable. He\nmight take our milking cow. If another stranger goes near the\nstable\u2014shoot him.\u201d\n\nNext day, as Hai Low kept house, he sat upon the door step. In his hand\nhe clenched a bow. Again and again he glanced toward the stable. No\nperson should take the milking cow. Not without regret. Beware, rogues,\nor suffer.\n\nA traveler came down the road. He was a rich man and wore a hat that was\nhigh and covered with feathers. It was such a hat as the wind demons\nlove for a toy. A sudden breeze lifted the traveler\u2019s hat and whirled it\nfast and far. It came to earth in front of the stable. Of course, the\nstranger followed it, running, to the stable door.\n\nHai Low remembered his brother\u2019s command. He made a V of the bow string.\nHis hurried arrow went seeking a mark. The traveler gave up all thought\nof recovering his hat. Down the road he dashed madly, shouting that he\nhad been killed. However, he was a traveler, and travelers are noted for\nstories hard to believe. Hai Low sat on the steps and had practice with\nhis bow. No man should take the milking cow, without taking an arrow\nalso. A thief had best wear clothes of iron.\n\n[Illustration: He made a V of the bowstring.]\n\nWhen Big Brother Hai Lee came home, his voice was doleful. \u201cOh, Brother,\nmy Brother, you have put us into vast trouble. Why on earth did you\nshoot an arrow into the traveler\u2019s quilted coat? He is a foreign\nambassador and says that his country will instantly declare war upon us.\nThink of the sadness your act will cause. I beg of you be not so rash in\nfuture. The next time you see a stranger lose his hat, don\u2019t shoot.\nInstead, be polite, and chase the hat.\u201d\n\nNext day, as Hai Low kept house, he noticed a great company of men\napproaching. Gong beaters led. Behind them came carriers of banners;\ntablet men; keepers of the large umbrellas; warriors; more gong\nmusicians; fan carriers; incense swingers\u2014a long procession it was. Hai\nLow knew that it must be the marching train of a truly great man. He\nhoped that he might behold the high and mighty one. And so he did. As\nthe gilded sedan chair was borne past, a breeze threshed its curtains. A\nhat soared out of the sedan. Carried by the wind demons, it rolled\nacross turnip patch and radish. Hai Low dashed away in chase. He thought\nhimself being polite and useful\u2014to rescue the great one\u2019s hat.\n\nAlas, a hundred bludgeon men and spear wavers rushed after him. They\nshouted that he must stop and be killed for his sin. Hai Low had no idea\nwhy they wished to slay him. Neither had he the faintest idea of\nstopping. He lifted his heels with such rapidity that he gained a\nthicket three leaps ahead of the foremost warrior men. In the heavy\ngrowth of briers and bushes he was safe, for he knew the tangle in all\nits winding ways. To follow was folly.\n\nWhen late, the boy reached home, he found his brother waiting. Hai Lee\u2019s\ndespair was shown in tears and quavering words. \u201cOh, Brother of mine, I\nfear that your life is worth less than a withered carrot. Why did you\nlay hands upon His Majesty\u2019s right royal hat? Do you not know that death\nis the penalty for so doing? Soldiers have sought you high and low. If\nthey find you\u2014I cannot bear to say what will happen. Now please have\nregard for my words, Little Brother. Go into the house, and crawl under\na bed\u2014and stay there. Stay there.\u201d\n\nNext day, as Hai Low kept house, he kept it beneath a bed. So still he\nlay that a mouse took a nap at his side. Soldiers came and emptied the\npantry, eating and drinking as only King\u2019s men can. None of them thought\nto glance under the bed. And that was just as well\u2014just as well for Hai\nLow. It was for him that they had come to search.\n\nSoon after the soldiers had departed, an odor of burning filled the air.\nThe house was afire. Hai Low coughed, but he dared not crawl from his\nshielding bed. He had no doubt the fire had been set in an effort to\nrout him from hiding.\n\nThe door flew open and in rushed big brother Hai Lee. Hai Lee flung\nwater upon the flames, then pulled little brother from beneath the bed.\nHe was greatly exasperated. \u201cMy word and all, not very large Brother,\nwould you let the house burn and not fling a bucket? The soldiers were\ngone. Why didn\u2019t you arise and douse the flames? Now hear what I speak,\nLittle Brother. The next time you see flames\u2014pour on water. Pour on\nwater.\u201d\n\nNext day, as Hai Low kept house, he chanced to gaze down the road. A\nbrisk fire burned in the open. With two filled buckets the boy hastened\nto obey his brother\u2019s order. In no time he wetted the fire out of\nburning.\n\nScarce had he entered the house when Big Brother Hai Lee entered. Hai\nLee had his tongue on edge for scolding. \u201cMy very own Brother, why must\nyou be always at mischief? What in all the green earth and the blue sky\nmade you throw water upon that fire? A traveler was boiling his\nrice\u2014and you with water put out his fire. It was outrageous. Now then,\nto atone for your impishness, take this stick of dry wood to the\ntraveler so that he can boil his rice. And, as you give him the stick,\nbe sure to apologize. Ask for pardon.\u201d\n\nAway went Hai Low at his fastest, bearing a huge bamboo. The traveler\nbeheld him, and promptly mounted a horse. Many robbers made misery in\nthat region. The traveler had gained saddening experience of them. He\nimagined that Hai Low must be a robber\u2014else why did the fellow wave a\nlong bamboo? So the traveler put heels to his horse and galloped. But\nHai Low was not to be left far behind. He followed swiftly, shouting\nwords that mean stop, wait, hold on, tarry. And the more he shouted, the\nmore determined grew the traveler never to stop until he had found\nprotection in a camp of soldiers.\n\nSeveral young men let curiosity lead them to follow Hai Low. They wished\nto discover why he pursued the traveler. As they raced through a\nvillage, other men joined. Another village gave a dozen more. A town\nfurnished twice as many. Soon Hai Low had an enormous crowd at his\nheels. Dust hung above in a blinding curtain. The trample of feet and\nthe excited shouts could be heard for distant miles. More dust and more,\nmore men and more. At first they asked, \u201cWhat\u2019s it all about?\u201d Later,\n\u201cCatch him,\u201d and \u201cKill him,\u201d they cried.\n\nHai Low had long since lost sight of the fast fleeing horseman. But he\nreasoned that the traveler would enter Ying Ling, the capital city.\nHence, he too, leading his curious host, entered Ying Ling. He was\ndetermined to do as his brother had bidden.\n\nNow it chanced that King How Wang was a most unpopular ruler. Threats\nhad been made against him. A prince from the north was said to be\nraising an army of rebels. Hence, when King How Wang beheld Hai Low\u2019s\napproach at the head of a vast army, he imagined Hai Low to be the\nnorthern prince. Hai Low\u2019s curious rabble he thought a rebel army. So\nthinking, he called for his horse. . . . And what became of him no one\ncan say. He vanished, for good and all.\n\nThe royal generals, instead of ordering a fight, promptly knelt before\nHai Low and bumped their heads in the dust. Said they, \u201cWe bow unto our\nnew King.\u201d The palace soldiers said, \u201cHail to our new King.\u201d And the\nbreathless mob shouted, \u201cLong live our new King.\u201d The crown was placed\nupon astonished Hai Low\u2019s head. The mace of authority was placed in his\nhand. And \u201cHail,\u201d and \u201cHail,\u201d and \u201cHail.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: The royal generals . . . knelt before Hai Low and bumped\ntheir heads in the dust.]\n\nThus did Hai Low, in chase of an unknown traveler, become King upon a\nthrone. His days of housekeeping were ended. And so is the book . . .\nended.\n\n[Illustration]\n                                THE END\n\n                           TRANSCRIBER NOTES\n\n    Misspelled words and printer errors have been corrected. Where\n    multiple spellings occur, majority use has been employed.\n\n    Punctuation has been maintained except where obvious printer\n    errors occur.\n\n    Illustrations have been relocated in some instances to enhance\n    text flow and remove broken paragraphs.","title":"Shen of the Sea: A Book for Children","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":39388}