e would certainly have endeavoured to obtain double that amount before
consenting. As he was hesitating within himself whether the matter might
not even yet be arranged in a more advantageous manner, he was suddenly
led forward into the most striking and ornamental of the tents, and
commanded to engage the attention of the one in whose presence he found
himself, without delay.

"From the first moment when the inimitable creatures began, at Sen's
spoken word, to go through the ordinary details of their domestic
affairs, there was no sort of doubt as to the nature of the success with
which their well-trained exertions would be received. The dark shadows
instantly forsook the enraptured Emperor's select brow, and from time
to time he expressed himself in words of most unrestrained and intimate
encouragement. So exuberant became the overjoyed Provider's emotion at
having at length succeeded in obtaining the services of one who was
able to recall his Imperial master's unclouded countenance, that he came
forward in a most unpresentable state of haste, and rose into the air
uncommanded, for the display of his usually not unwelcome acquirement.
This he would doubtless have executed competently had not Sen, who stood
immediately behind him, suddenly and unexpectedly raised his voice in
a very vigorous and proficient duck cry, thereby causing the one before
him to endeavour to turn around in alarm, while yet in the air--an
intermingled state of movements of both the body and the mind that
caused him to abandon his original intention in a manner which removed
the gravity of the Emperor to an even more pronounced degree than had
been effected by the diverting attitudes of the insects.

"When the gratified Emperor had beheld every portion of the tasks
which Sen had instilled into the minds of the insects, down even to the
minutest detail, he called the well-satisfied Provider before him,
and addressing him in a voice which might be designed to betray either
sternness or an amiable indulgence, said:

"'You, O Shan-se, are reported to be a person of no particular intellect
or discernment, and, for this reason, these ones who are speaking have a
desire to know how the matter will present itself in your eyes. Which
is it the more commendable and honourable for a person to train to
a condition of unfailing excellence, human beings of confessed
intelligence or insects of a low and degraded standard?'

"To this remark the discriminating