span of time."

"Your words are my breath, my father," said the Emperor,
deferentially. "Yet there is one matter which we had reserved for
affectionate censure. It would have spared the feet of one who is
foremost in our concern if you had been content to send the warning by
one of the slaves whose acceptance we craved last year, while you
followed more leisurely by the chariot and the eight white horses
which we deemed suited to your use."

Ten-teh was no longer able to express himself in words, but at this
indication of the Emperor's unceasing thought a great happiness shone
on his face. "What remains?" must reasonably have been his reflection;
"or who shall leave the shade of the fruitful palm-tree to search for
raisins?" Therefore having reached so supreme an eminence that there
was nothing human above, he relaxed the effort by which he had so long
sustained himself, and suffering his spirit to pass unchecked, he at
once fell back lifeless among the cushions of the throne.

That all who should come after might learn by his example, the history
of Ten-teh was inscribed upon eighteen tablets of jade, carved
patiently and with graceful skill by the most expert stone-cutters of
the age. A triumphal arch of seven heights was also erected outside
the city and called by his name, but the efforts of story-tellers and
poets will keep alive the memory of Ten-teh even when these
imperishable monuments shall have long fallen from their destined use.
*

When Kai Lung had completed the story of the loyalty of Ten-teh and
had pointed out the forgotten splendour of the crumbling arch, the
coolness of the evening tempted them to resume their way. Moving
without discomfort to themselves before nightfall they reached a small
but seemly cottage conveniently placed upon the mountain-side. At the
gate stood an aged person whose dignified appearance was greatly added
to by his long white moustaches. These possessions he pointed out to
Hwa-mei with inoffensive pride as he welcomed the two who stood before
him.

"Venerated father," explained Kai Lung dutifully, "this is she who has
been destined from the beginning of time to raise up a hundred sons to
keep your line extant."

"In that case," remarked the patriarch, "your troubles are only just
beginning. As for me, since all that is now arranged, I can see about
my own departure--'Whatever height the tree, its leaves return to the
earth at last.'"