"
"That's fair," exclaimed the perverse though well-meaning youth, whom
I was beginning to recognise as the cause of some misunderstanding
among us. "If you don't want any more of his poem--and I don't blame
you--my pal Ho, who is one of the popular Flip-Flap Troupe, offers to
do some trick cycle-riding on his ears. What more can you expect?"
"We expect a policeman very soon," replied another severely. "He has
already been sent for."
"In that case," said the one who had so persistently claimed me as an
ally, "perhaps I can do you a service by directing him here"; and
leaving this person to extricate himself by means of a reassuring
silence and some of the larger silver pieces of the Island, he
vanished hastily.
With some doubt whether or not this deviation into the society of the
professedly virtuous, ending as it admittedly does in an involvement,
may not be deemed ill-starred; yet hopeful.
KONG HO.
THE THREE GIFTS
Related by Kong Ho on the occasion of the all-water
disportment, under the circumstances previously set forth.
BEYOND the limits of the township of Yang-chow there dwelt a rich
astrologer named Wei. Reading by his skilful interpretation of the
planets that he would shortly Pass Above, he called his sons Chu,
Shan, and Hing to his side and distributed his wealth impartially
among them. To Chu he gave his house containing a gold couch; to Shan
a river with a boat; to Hing a field in which grew a prolific
orange-tree.
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