med.
But he who thus expressed himself would not exchange with the
other;
For around the identity of each heroine he can entwine the
personality of one whom he has encountered.
And thus she is ever by his side."

"Your uplifted voice comes from an unexpected quarter, minstrel," said
a melodious voice, and the maiden whom he had encountered in the wood
stood before him. "What crime have you now committed?"

"An ancient one. I presumed to raise my unworthy eyes--"

"Alas, story-teller," interposed the maiden hastily, "it would seem
that the star to which you chained _your_ wrist has not carried you
into the assembly of the gods."

"Yet already it has borne me half-way--into a company of malefactors.
Doubtless on the morrow the obliging Mandarin Shan Tien will arrange
for the journey to be complete."

"Yet have you then no further wish to continue in an ordinary
existence?" asked the maiden.

"To this person," replied Kai Lung, with a deep-seated look,
"existence can never again be ordinary. Admittedly it may be short."

As they conversed together in this inoffensive manner she whom Li-loe
had called the Golden Mouse held in her delicately-formed hands a
priceless bowl filled with ripe fruit of the rarer kinds which she had
gathered. These from time to time she threw up to the opening, rightly
deciding that one in Kai Lung's position would stand in need of
sustenance, and he no less dexterously held and retained them. When
the bowl was empty she continued for a space to regard it silently, as
though exploring the many-sided recesses of her mind.

"You have claimed to be a story-teller and have indeed made a boast
that there is no arising emergency for which you are unprepared," she
said at length. "It now befalls that you may be put to a speedy test.
Is the nature of this imagined scene"--thus she indicated the
embellishment of the bowl--"familiar to your eyes?"

"It is that known as 'The Willow,'" replied Kai Lung. "There is a
story--"

"There is a story!" exclaimed the maiden, loosening from her brow the
overhanging look of care. "Thus and thus. Frequently have I importuned
him before whom you will appear to explain to me the meaning of the
scene. When you are called upon to plead your cause, see to it well
that your knowledge of such a tale is clearly shown. He before whom
you kneel, craftily plied meanwhile by my unceasing petulance, will
then desire to hear it from your lips .