re. Get on my back."

"Since you have received these instructions," said the girl, "I will
obey, and when I have attained to perfection I will not forget your
kindness."

The tiger went off like a flash of lightning, and in the twinkling
of an eye Miao Shan found herself at the foot of the rocky slopes of
P'u T'o Island.

Miao Shan attains to Perfection

After nine years in this retreat Miao Shan had reached the acme
of perfection. Ti-tsang Wang then came to Hsiang Shan, and was so
astonished at her virtue that he inquired of the local _t'u-ti_ as to
what had brought about this wonderful result. "With the exception of Ju
Lai, in all the west no one equals her in dignity and perfection. She
is the Queen of the three thousand P'u-sa's and of all the beings on
earth who have skin and blood. We regard her as our sovereign in all
things. Therefore, on the nineteenth day of the eleventh moon we will
enthrone her, that the whole world may profit by her beneficence."

The _t'u-ti_ sent out his invitations for the ceremony. The Dragon-king
of the Western Sea, the Gods of the Five Sacred Mountains, the
Emperor-saints to the number of one hundred and twenty, the thirty-six
officials of the Ministry of Time, the celestial functionaries in
charge of wind, rain, thunder, and lightning, the Three Causes, the
Five Saints, the Eight Immortals, the Ten Kings of the Hells--all
were present on the appointed day. Miao Shan took her seat on the
lotus-throne, and the assembled gods proclaimed her sovereign of
Heaven and earth, and a Buddha. Moreover, they decided that it was
not meet that she should remain alone at Hsiang Shan; so they begged
her to choose a worthy young man and a virtuous damsel to serve her
in the temple.

The _t'u-ti_ was entrusted with the task of finding them. While making
search, he met a young priest named Shan Ts'ai. After the death of
his parents he had become a hermit on Ta-hua Shan, and was still a
novice in the science of perfection.

Miao Shan ordered him to be brought to her. "Who are you?" she asked.

"I am a poor orphan priest of no merit," he replied. "From my earliest
youth I have led the life of a hermit. I have been told that your
power is equalled only by your goodness, so I have ventured to come
to pray you to show me how to attain to perfection."

"My only fear," replied Miao Shan, "is that your desire for perfection
may not be sincere."

"I have now no parents," the priest continued, "