.

When Notscha was seven years old he once ran away from home. He came
to the river of nine bends, whose green waters flowed along between
two rows of weeping-willows. The day was hot, and Notscha entered the
water to cool himself. He unbound his crimson silk cloth and whisked
it about in the water to wash it. But while Notscha sat there and
whisked about his scarf in the water, it shook the castle of the
Dragon-King of the Eastern Sea to its very foundations. So the
Dragon-King sent out a Triton, terrible to look upon, who was to find
out what was the matter. When the Triton saw the boy he began to
scold. But the latter merely looked up and said: "What a
strange-looking beast you are, and you can actually talk!" Then the
Triton grew enraged, leaped up and struck at Notscha with his ax. But
the latter avoided the blow, and threw his golden armlet at him. The
armlet struck the Triton on the head and he sank down dead.

Notscha laughed and said: "And there he has gone and made my armlet
bloody!" And he once more sat down on a stone, in order to wash his
armlet. Then the crystal castle of the dragon began to tremble as
though it were about to fall apart. And a watchman also came and
reported that the Triton had been slain by a boy. So the Dragon-King
sent out his son to capture the boy. And the son seated himself on the
water-cleaving beast, and came up with a thunder of great waves of
water. Notscha straightened up and said: "That is a big wave!"
Suddenly he saw a creature rise out of the waves, on whose back sat an
armed man who cried in a loud voice: "Who has slain my Triton?"
Notscha answered: "The Triton wanted to slay me so I killed him. What
difference does it make?" Then the dragon assailed him with his
halberd. But Notscha said: "Tell me who you are before we fight." "I
am the son of the Dragon-King," was the reply. "And I am Notscha, the
son of General Li Dsing. You must not rouse my anger with your
violence, or I will skin you, together with that old mud-fish, your
father!" Then the dragon grew wild with rage, and came storming along
furiously. But Notscha cast his crimson cloth into the air, so that it
flashed like a ball of fire, and cast the dragon-youth from his
breast. Then Notscha took his golden armlet and struck him on the
forehead with it, so that he had to reveal himself in his true form as
a golden dragon, and fall down dead.

Notscha laughed and said: "I have heard tell that dragon-sinews make
g