soon as these words had been uttered, and begged
the Queen to recall the priest. When the latter had returned, the
King related his dream, and begged the priest to procure for him the
remedy required. "What, after all, is this remedy that I must have
in order to be cured?" he asked.

"There must be the hand and eye of a living person, from which to
compound the ointment which alone can save you," answered the priest.

The King called out in indignation: "This priest is fooling me! Who
would ever give his hand or his eye? Even if anyone would, I could
never have the heart to make use of them."

"Nevertheless," said the priest, "there is no other effective remedy."

"Then where can I procure this remedy?" asked the King.

"Your Majesty must send your ministers, who must observe the Buddhist
rules of abstinence, to Hsiang Shan, where they will be given what
is required."

"Where is Hsiang Shan, and how far from here?"

"About three thousand or more _li_, but I myself will indicate the
route to be followed; in a very short time they will return."

The King, who was suffering terribly, was more contented when he
heard that the journey could be rapidly accomplished. He called his
two ministers, Chao Chen and Liu Ch'in, and instructed them to lose
no time in starting for Hsiang Shan and to observe scrupulously the
Buddhist rules of abstinence. He ordered the Minister of Ceremonies
to detain the priest in the palace until their return.

A Conspiracy that Failed

The two sons-in-law of the King, Ho Feng and Chao K'uei, who had
already made secret preparations to succeed to the throne as soon as
the King should breathe his last, learned with no little surprise
that the priest had hopes of curing the King's illness, and that
he was waiting in the palace until the saving remedy was brought
to him. Fearing that they might be disappointed in their ambition,
and that after his recovery the King, faithful to his promise,
would give the crown to the priest, they entered into a conspiracy
with an unscrupulous courtier named Ho Li. They were obliged to act
quickly, because the ministers were travelling by forced marches,
and would soon be back. That same night Ho Li was to give to the
King a poisoned drink, composed, he would say, by the priest with
the object of assuaging the King's pain until the return of his
two ministers. Shortly after, an assassin, Su Ta, was to murder the
priest. Thus at one stroke both the King and t