hin the room was a bed of bamboo, without covers or pillows. The
lamp stood on the ground. The long-bearded general took hold of his
head. It came off and he placed it on the bed. Then Asti took hold of
his arms. These also came off and were carefully placed beside the
head. Then the old general threw himself down on the bed crosswise,
and Asti took hold of his body, which came apart below the thighs, and
the two legs fell to the ground. Then the lamp went out. Overcome by
terror the merchant hurried back to his room as fast as he could,
holding his sleeves before his eyes, and laid down on his bed, where
he tossed about sleepless all night.

At last he heard a cock crow in the distance. He was shivering. He
took his sleeves from his face and saw that dawn was stealing along
the sky. And when he looked about him, there he was lying in the
middle of a thick clump of brush. Round about him was a wilderness,
not a house, not even a grave was to be seen anywhere. In spite of
being chilled, he ran about three miles till he came to the nearest
inn. The inn-keeper opened the door and asked him with astonishment
where he came from at that early hour. So the merchant told him his
experiences and inquired as to the sort of place at which he had spent
the night. The inn-keeper shook his head: "The whole neighborhood is
covered with old battlefields," was his reply, "and all sorts of
supernatural things take place on them after dark."

Note: This tale is taken from the Sin Tsi Hia.

LVI

THE KINGDOM OF THE OGRES

In the land of Annam there once dwelt a man named Su, who sailed the
seas as a merchant. Once his ship was suddenly driven on a distant
shore by a great storm. It was a land of hills broken by ravines and
green with luxuriant foliage, yet he could see something along the
hills which looked like human dwellings. So he took some food with him
and went ashore. No sooner had he entered the hills than he could see
at either hand the entrances to caves, one close beside the other,
like a row of beehives. So he stopped and looked into one of the
openings. And in it sat two ogres, with teeth like spears and eyes
like fiery lamps. They were just devouring a deer. The merchant was
terrified by this sight and turned to flee; but the ogres had already
noticed him and they caught him and dragged him into their cave. Then
they talked to each other with animal sounds, and were about to tear
his clothes from his body and