as before."

Then Kai Lung, neither bound nor wearing the wooden block, was led
into the presence of Shan Tien, and allowed to seat himself upon the
floor as though he plied his daily trade.

"Sooner or later it will certainly devolve upon this person to condemn
you to a violent end," remarked the far-seeing Mandarin reassuringly.
"In the ensuing interval, however, there is no need for either of us
to dwell upon what must be regarded as an unpleasant necessity."

"Yet no crime has been committed, beneficence," Kai Lung ventured to
protest; "nor in his attitude before your virtuous self has this one
been guilty of any act of disrespect."

"You have shown your mind to be both wide and deep, and suitably
lined," declared Shan Tien, dexterously avoiding the weightier part of
the story-teller's plea. "A question now arises as to the efficacy of
embroidered coffin cloths, and wherein their potent merit lies. Out of
your well-stored memory declare your knowledge of this sort, conveying
the solid information in your usual palatable way."

"I bow, High Excellence," replied Kai Lung. "This concerns the story
of Wang Ho."

The Story of Wang Ho and the Burial Robe

There was a time when it did not occur to anyone in this pure and
enlightened Empire to question the settled and existing order of
affairs. It would have been well for the merchant Wang Ho had he lived
in that happy era. But, indeed, it is now no unheard-of thing for an
ordinary person to suggest that customs which have been established
for centuries might with advantage be changed--a form of impiety which
is in no degree removed from declaring oneself to be wiser or more
profound than one's ancestors! Scarcely more seemly is this than
irregularity in maintaining the Tablets or observing the Rites; and
how narrow is the space dividing these delinquencies from the actual
crimes of overturning images, counselling rebellion, joining in
insurrection and resorting to indiscriminate piracy and bloodshed.

Certainly the merchant Wang Ho would be a thousand taels wealthier
to-day if he had fully considered this in advance. Nor would Cheng
Lin--but who attempts to eat an orange without first disposing of the
peel, or what manner of a dwelling could be erected unless an adequate
foundation be first provided?

Wang Ho, then, let it be stated, was one who had early in life amassed
a considerable fortune by advising those whose intention it was to
hazard t