eeking a distinguished husband for her.

Liu I was content to take her, and the day of the wedding was set. And
when he saw his bride unveiled on the evening of her wedding day, she
looked just like the dragon-princess. He asked her about it, but she
merely smiled and said nothing.

After a time heaven sent them a son. Then she told her husband:
"To-day I will confess to you that I am truly the Princess of Dungting
Sea. When you had rejected my uncle's proposal and gone away, I fell
ill of longing, and was near death. My parents wanted to send for you,
but they feared you might take exception to my family. And so it was
that I married you disguised as a human maiden. I had not ventured to
tell you until now, but since heaven has sent us a son, I hope that
you will love his mother as well."

Then Liu I awoke as though from a deep sleep, and from that time on
both were very fond of each other.

One day his wife said: "If you wish to stay with me eternally, then we
cannot continue to dwell in the world of men. We dragons live ten
thousand years, and you shall share our longevity. Come back with me
to the Sea of Dungting!"

Ten years passed and no one knew where Liu I, who had disappeared,
might be. Then, by accident, a relative went sailing across the Sea of
Dungting. Suddenly a blue mountain rose up out of the water.

The seamen cried in alarm: "There is no mountain on this spot! It must
be a water-demon!"

While they were still pointing to it and talking, the mountain drew
near the ship, and a gaily-colored boat slid from its summit into the
water. A man sat in the middle, and fairies stood at either side of
him. The man was Liu I. He beckoned to his cousin, and the latter drew
up his garments and stepped into the boat with him. But when he had
entered the boat it turned into a mountain. On the mountain stood a
splendid castle, and in the castle stood Liu I, surrounded with
radiance, and with the music of stringed instruments floating about
him.

They greeted each other, and Liu I said to his cousin: "We have been
parted no more than a moment, and your hair is already gray!"

His cousin answered: "You are a god and blessed: I have only a mortal
body. Thus fate has decreed."

Then Liu I gave him fifty pills and said: "Each pill will extend your
life for the space of a year. When you have lived the tale of these
years, come to me and dwell no longer in the earthly world of dust,
where there is nothing but toil