n purple robes who had a summons in their
hands. They spoke to him as follows: "The old Dragon of the Milky Way
has complained against the emperor in the Nether World. We beg that
you will have the chariot harnessed!"

Instinctively the emperor followed them, and in the courtyard there
stood his chariot before the castle, ready and waiting. The emperor
entered it, and off they went flying through the air. In a moment they
had reached the city of the dead. When he entered he saw the Lord of
the High Mountain sitting in the midst of the city, with the ten
princes of the Nether World in rows at his right and left. They all
rose, bowed to him and bade him be seated.

Then the Lord of the High Mountain said: "The old Dragon of the Milky
Way has really committed a deed which deserved punishment. Yet Your
Majesty has promised to beg the Highest God to spare him, which prayer
would probably have saved the old dragon's life. And that this matter
was neglected over the chess-board might well be accounted a mistake.
Now the old dragon complains to me without ceasing. When I think of
how he has striven to gain sainthood for more than a thousand years,
and must now fall back into the cycle of transformations, I am really
depressed. It is for this reason I have called together the princes of
the ten pits of the Nether World, to find a way out of the difficulty,
and have invited Your Majesty to come here to discuss the matter. In
heaven, on earth and in the Nether World only the gospel of Buddha has
no limits. Hence, when you return to earth great sacrifices should be
made to the three and thirty lords of the heavens. Three thousand six
hundred holy priests of Buddha must read the sutras in order to
deliver the old dragon so that he may rise again to the skies, and
keep his original form. But the writings and readings of men will not
be enough to ensure this. It will be necessary to go to the Western
Heavens and thence bring words of truth."

This the emperor agreed to, and the Lord of the Great Mountain and the
ten princes of the Nether World rose and said as they bowed to him:
"We beg that you will now return!"

Suddenly Tai Dsung opened his eyes again, and there he was lying on
his imperial couch. Then he made public the fact that he was at fault,
and had the holiest among the priests of Buddha sent for to fetch the
sutras from the Western Heavens. And it was Huan Dschuang, the Monk of
the Yangtze-kiang, who in obedience to thi