er. In this chamber stood a bed, and a table with
books and clothing, all as though meant for the use of a living
person. Tsin Schi Huang seated himself on the bed and looked down. And
there on the floor stood two shoes of red silk, whose tips were
adorned with a woven pattern of clouds. A bamboo staff leaned against
the wall. The Emperor, in jest, put on the shoes, took the staff and
left the grave. But as he did so a tablet suddenly appeared before his
eyes on which stood the following lines:

O'er kingdoms six Tsin Schi Huang his army led,
To ope my grave and find my humble bed;
He steals my shoes and takes my staff away
To reach Schakiu--and his last earthly day!

Tsin Schi Huang was much alarmed, and had the grave closed again. But
when he reached Schakiu he fell ill of a hasty fever of which he died.

Note: The Kilin is an okapi-like legendary beast of the
most perfected kindness, prince of all the four-footed
animals. The "Watercrystal" is the dark Lord of the
North, whose element is water and wisdom, for which last
reason Confucius is termed his son. Tsin Schi Huang
(B.C. 200) is the burner of books and reorganizer of
China famed in history. Schakiu (Sandhill) was a city in
the western part of the China of that day.

XXVI

THE GOD OF WAR

The God of War, Guan Di, was really named Guan Yu. At the time when
the rebellion of the Yellow Turbans was raging throughout the empire,
he, together with two others whom he met by the wayside, and who were
inspired with the same love of country which possessed him, made a
pact of friendship. One of the two was Liu Be, afterward emperor, the
other was named Dschang Fe. The three met in a peach-orchard and swore
to be brothers one to the other, although they were of different
families. They sacrificed a white steed and vowed to be true to each
other to the death.

Guan Yu was faithful, honest, upright and brave beyond all measure. He
loved to read Confucius's "Annals of Lu," which tell of the rise and
fall of empires. He aided his friend Liu Be to subdue the Yellow Turbans
and to conquer the land of the four rivers. The horse he rode was known
as the Red Hare, and could run a thousand miles in a day. Guan Yu had a
knife shaped like a half-moon which was called the Green Dragon. His
eyebrows were beautiful like those of the silk-butterflies, and his eyes
were long-slitted like the eyes of the Phenix. His face was