ks this time with closed eyes and will, upon mature reflexion,
eat his words."

The silence was broken by a very aged man who arose from among the
bystanders.

"Behold the length of this person's pigtail," he exclaimed, "the
whiteness of his moustaches and the venerable appearance of his beard!
There is no more aged person present--if, indeed, there be such a one
in all the Province. It accordingly devolves upon him to speak in this
matter, which shall be as follows: The noble-minded and proficient Kai
Lung shall relate the story as he has proposed, and the garrulous Wang
Yu shall twice contribute to Kai Lung's bowl when it is passed round,
once for himself and once for this person, in order that he may learn
either to be more discreet or more proficient in the art of aptly
replying."

"The events which it is this person's presumptuous intention to describe
to this large-hearted and providentially indulgent gathering," began
Kai Lung, when his audience had become settled, and the wooden bowl had
passed to and fro among them, "did not occupy many years, although they
were of a nature which made them of far more importance than all the
remainder of his existence, thereby supporting the sage discernment of
the philosopher Wen-weng, who first made the observation that man is
greatly inferior to the meanest fly, inasmuch as that creature, although
granted only a day's span of life, contrives during that period to
fulfil all the allotted functions of existence.

"Unutterably to the astonishment and dismay of this person and all those
connected with him (for several of the most expensive readers of the
future to be found in the Empire had declared that his life would be
marked by great events, his career a source of continual wonder, and his
death a misfortune to those who had dealings with him) his efforts to
take a degree at the public literary competitions were not attended with
any adequate success. In view of the plainly expressed advice of his
father it therefore became desirable that this person should turn his
attention to some other method of regaining the esteem of those upon
whom he was dependent for all the necessaries of existence. Not having
the means wherewith to engage in any form of commerce, and being
entirely ignorant of all matters save the now useless details of
attempting to pass public examinations, he reluctantly decided that he
was destined to become one of those who imagine and write out stories