nd no one
ventured to harm them. Sia Kung-Schong alone was young and showed no
consideration. When he was in good spirits he did not bother them, but
when he got out of sorts he knew no mercy, and purposely stepped on
them and killed them.

In general his young wife was modest and obedient; yet she easily lost
her temper. She could not approve her husband's conduct. But Sia would
not do her the favor to give up his brutal habit. So she scolded him
because of it and he grew angry.

"Do you imagine," he told her, "that because your parents can visit
human beings with misfortune, that a real man would be afraid of a
frog?"

His wife carefully avoided uttering the word "frog," hence his speech
angered her and she said: "Since I have dwelt in your house your
fields have yielded larger crops, and you have obtained the highest
selling prices. And that is something after all. But now, when young
and old, you are comfortably established, you wish to act like the
fledgling owl, who picks out his own mother's eyes as soon as he is
able to fly!"

Sia then grew still more angry and answered: "These gifts have been
unwelcome to me for a long time, for I consider them unclean. I could
never consent to leave such property to sons and grandsons. It would
be better if we parted at once!"

So he bade his wife leave the house, and before his parents knew
anything about it, she was gone. His parents scolded him and told him
to go at once and bring her back. But he was filled with rage, and
would not give in to them.

That same night he and his mother fell sick. They felt weak and could
not eat. The father, much worried, went to the temple to beg for
pardon. And he prayed so earnestly that his wife and son recovered in
three days' time. And the Frog Princess also returned, and they lived
together happily and contented as before.

But the young woman sat in the house all day long, occupied solely
with her ornaments and her rouge, and did not concern herself with
sewing and stitching. So Sia Kung-Schong's mother still had to look
out for her son's clothes.

One day his mother was angry and said: "My son has a wife, and yet I
have to do all the work! In other homes the daughter-in-law serves her
mother-in-law. But in our house the mother-in-law must serve the
daughter-in-law."

This the princess accidentally heard. In she came, much excited, and
began: "Have I ever omitted, as is right and proper, to visit you
morning and evening?