med mind the conviction that a store of rare and potent
wine lay somewhere concealed within the walls of the enclosure.
Continuously he besought the story-teller to reveal the secret of its
hiding-place, saying: "What an added bitterness will assail your noble
throat if, when you are led forth to die, your eye closes upon the one
who has faithfully upheld your cause lying with a protruded tongue
panting in the noonday sun."

"Peace, witless," Kai Lung usually replied; "there is no such store."

"Nevertheless," the doorkeeper would stubbornly insist, "the cask
cannot yet be empty. It is beyond your immature powers."

Thus it again befell, for despite Kai Lung's desire to escape, Li-loe
chanced to look up suddenly and observed him.

"Alas, brother," he remarked reproachfully, when they had thus
contended, "the vessel that returns whole the first time is chipped
the second and broken at the third essay, and it will yet be too late
between us. If it be as you claim, to what end did you boast of a cask
of wine and of running among a company of goats with leaves entwined
in your hair?"

"That," replied Kai Lung, "was in the nature of a classical allusion,
too abstruse for your deficient wit. It concerned the story of Kiau
Sun, who first attained the honour."

"Be that as it may," replied Li-loe, with mulish iteration, "five
deficient strings of home-made cash are a meagre return for a
friendship such as mine."

"There is a certain element of truth in what you claim," confessed Kai
Lung, "but until my literary style is more freely recognized it will
be impossible to reward you adequately. In anything not of a pecuniary
nature, however, you may lean heavily upon my gratitude."

"In the meanwhile, then," demanded Li-loe, "relate to me the story to
which reference has been made, thereby proving the truth of your
assertion, and at the same time affording an entertainment of a
somewhat exceptional kind."

"The shadows lengthen," replied Kai Lung, "but as the narrative in
question is of an inconspicuous span I will raise no barrier against
your flattering request, especially as it indicates an awakening taste
hitherto unsuspected."

"Proceed, manlet, proceed," said Li-loe, with a final probe among the
surrounding rocks before selecting one to lean against. "Yet if this
person could but lay his hand--"

The Story of Wong Pao and the Minstrel

To Wong Pao, the merchant, pleasurably immersed in the calc