ang-ngan.

Then he sat down on the ground to think the matter over, and the
Genii, even his own good-natured Geni, laughed at him again.

"Come!" they said. "If you like to fill the mortar with precious
stones, you may do it. Any man who can carry it empty can carry it
full."

"Because no one can carry it at all," concluded the good-natured Geni,
softly to himself.

Pei-Hang folded his arms, and sat still, and thought, and thought, and
took no notice of their gibes and sneers.

He had not studied three years with the wisest man in Chang-ngan for
nothing, and, besides, he was determined to marry Yun-Ying, and when
young men are very much in love, they sometimes accomplish things
which their friends--and enemies--think are impossible.

At last a light came into his eyes; and he jumped up and asked the
friendly Geni if he would make a little heap of stones at one side of
the mortar.

"I want to be able to look inside it, and I am not tall enough," said
he.

"And why don't you do it yourself?" asked the Geni.

"Because I must go down to the Lake of Gems and collect precious
stones," replied Pei-Hang.

And he ran down to the shore of the lake and gathered diamonds,
rubies, emeralds, pearls, and sapphires, as many as he could carry.

This he did again and again, emptying them into the mortar each time,
until it was quite full, and held gems enough to make Pei-Hang the
richest man in China.

This was exactly what he wanted; for he knew that the yellow-faced
mandarin was only the richest man in Chang-ngan, and that the richest
man in China would have a far greater chance of marrying Yun-Ying.

"Well, what next?" cried the eight Genii, when he had finished. "Will
you take it on your shoulder or on your head?"

"I will just carry it under my arm," replied Pei-Hang, easily.

And he took out his little box, and threw one of his red seeds on top
of the gems.

In a moment the gigantic pestle and mortar shrank into one of the
ordinary size.

Pei-Hang put the pestle in his pocket, and took up the mortar
carefully, because he did not wish to spill the precious stones, and
made a low bow to the Genii.

"Good-bye, and thank you," he said.

They did not laugh this time, but they pursued him with such a roar of
rage that it sounded as if eight lions were waiting for their dinner.

But they did not dare to stop him, knowing that he had the power to
turn the four brooks into four rivers again.

Pei-Hang hurried aw