and smiled at him
sideways. Instead of resentment joy now filled the whole house. And
after that time the princess was especially peaceable. Two whole years
passed without an angry word being said.

But the princess had a great dislike for snakes. Once, by way of a
joke, young Sia put a small snake into a parcel, which he gave her and
told her to open. She turned pale and reproached him. Then
Sia-Kung-Schong also took his jest seriously, and angry words passed.

At last the princess said: "This time I will not wait for you to turn
me out. Now we are finally done with one another!" And with that she
walked out of the door.

Father Sia grew very much alarmed, beat his son himself with his
staff, and begged the god to be kind and forgive. Fortunately there
were no evil consequences. All was quiet and not a sound was heard.

Thus more than a year passed. Sia-Kung-Schong longed for the princess
and took himself seriously to task. He would creep in secret to the
temple of the god, and lament because he had lost the princess. But no
voice answered him. And soon afterward he even heard that the god had
betrothed his daughter to another man. Then he grew hopeless at heart,
and thought of finding another wife for himself. Yet no matter how he
searched he could find none who equalled the princess. This only
increased his longing for her, and he went to the home of the Yuans,
to a member of which family it was said she had been promised. There
they had already painted the walls, and swept the courtyard, and all
was in readiness to receive the bridal carriage. Sia was overcome with
remorse and discontent. He no longer ate, and fell ill. His parents
were quite stunned by the anxiety they felt on his account, and were
incapable of helpful thought.

Suddenly while he was lying there only half-conscious, he felt some
one stroke him, and heard a voice say: "And how goes it with our real
husband, who insisted on turning out his wife?"

He opened his eyes and it was the princess.

Full of joy he leaped up and said: "How is it you have come back to
me?" The princess answered: "To tell the truth, according to your own
habit of treating people badly, I should have followed my father's
advice and taken another husband. And, as a matter of fact, the
wedding gifts of the Yuan family have been lying in my home for a long
time. But I thought and thought and could not bring myself to do so.
The wedding was to have been this evening and my f