Li Ting that he was never known to visit the tombs of his ancestors;
indeed, it was said that he had been heard to mock their venerable
memories, and that he had jestingly offered to sell them to anyone who
should chance to be without ancestors of his own. This objectionable
person would call at the houses of the most illustrious Mandarins, and
would command the slaves to carry to their masters his tablets, on which
were inscribed his name and his virtues. Reaching their presence, he
would salute them with the greeting of an equal, 'How is your stomach?'
and then proceed to exhibit samples of his wares, greatly overrating
their value. 'Behold!' he would exclaim, 'is not this elegantly-moulded
idol worthy of the place of honour in this sumptuous mansion which my
presence defiles to such an extent that twelve basins of rose-water
will not remove the stain? Are not its eyes more delicate than the most
select of almonds? and is not its stomach rounder than the cupolas upon
the high temple at Peking? Yet, in spite of its perfections, it is not
worthy of the acceptance of so distinguished a Mandarin, and therefore
I will accept in return the quarter-tael, which, indeed, is less than my
illustrious master gives for the clay alone.'

"In this manner Li Ting disposed of many idols at high rates, and
thereby endeared himself so much to the avaricious heart of Ti Hung that
he promised him his beautiful daughter Ning in marriage.

"Ning was indeed very lovely. Her eyelashes were like the finest willow
twigs that grow in the marshes by the Yang-tse-Kiang; her cheeks were
fairer than poppies; and when she bathed in the Hoang Ho, her body
seemed transparent. Her brow was finer than the most polished jade;
while she seemed to walk, like a winged bird, without weight, her hair
floating in a cloud. Indeed, she was the most beautiful creature that
has ever existed."

"Now may you grow thin and shrivel up like a fallen lemon; but it is
false!" cried Wang Yu, starting up suddenly and unexpectedly. "At
Chee Chou, at the shop of 'The Heaven-sent Sugar-cane,' there lives a
beautiful and virtuous girl who is more than all that. Her eyes are like
the inside circles on the peacock's feathers; her teeth are finer than
the scales on the Sacred Dragon; her--"

"If it is the wish of this illustriously-endowed gathering that this
exceedingly illiterate paper tiger should occupy their august moments
with a description of the deformities of the very