he
could hear the faint cries of peddlers crying their midnight wares.

"That's the capital of Shan-shi just below us," said the turtle,
breaking his long silence. "It is almost two hundred miles from here to
your father's house, and we have taken less than half an hour. Beyond
that is the Province of the Western Valleys. In one hour we shall be
above Thibet."

On they whizzed at lightning speed. If it had not been hot summer time
Bamboo would have been almost frozen. As it was, his hands and feet were
cold and stiff. The turtle, as if knowing how chilly he was, flew nearer
to the ground where it was warmer. How pleasant for Bamboo! He was so
tired that he could keep his eyes open no longer and he was soon soaring
in the land of dreams.

When he waked up it was morning. He was lying on the ground in a wild,
rocky region. Not far away burned a great wood fire, and the turtle was
watching some food that was cooking in a pot.

"Ho, ho, my lad! so you have at last waked up after your long ride. You
see we are a little early. No matter if the dragon does think he can fly
faster, I beat him, didn't I? Why, even the phoenix laughs at me and
says I am slow, but the phoenix has not come yet either. Yes, I have
clearly broken the record for speed, and I had a load to carry too,
which neither of the others had, I am sure."

"Where are we?" questioned Bamboo.

"In the land of the beginning," said the other wisely. "We flew over
Thibet, and then went northwest for two hours. If you haven't studied
geography you won't know the name of the country. But, here we are, and
that is enough, isn't it, enough for any one? And to-day is the yearly
feast-day in honour of the making of the world. It was very fortunate
for me that the gates were left open yesterday. I am afraid my old
friends, the dragon and the phoenix, have almost forgotten what I look
like. It is so long since they saw me. Lucky beasts they are, not to be
loaded down under an emperor's tablet. Hello! I hear the dragon coming
now, if I am not mistaken. Yes, here he is. How glad I am to see him!"

Bamboo heard a great noise like the whirr of enormous wings, and then,
looking up, saw a huge dragon just in front of him. He knew it was a
dragon from the pictures he had seen and the carvings in the temples.

The dragon and the turtle had no sooner greeted each other, both very
happy at the meeting, than they were joined by a queer-looking bird,
unlike any that Bamboo had