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Page 47
"When the father had completed the narrative of how the faint-hearted
youth became in the end a courageous and resourceful leader of bowmen,
Sen looked up, and not in any degree understanding the purpose of the
story, or why it had been set forth before him, exclaimed:
"'Undoubtedly the counsel of the graceful and intelligent Mandarin
Poo-chow was of inestimable service in the case recorded, and this
person would gladly adopt it as his guide for the future, on the
chance of it leading to a similar honourable career; but alas! there
are no tigers to be found throughout this Province.'
"'It is a loss which those who are engaged in commerce in the city of
Hankow strive to supply adequately,' replied his father, who had an
assured feeling that it would be of no avail to endeavour to show Sen
that the story which he had just related was one setting forth a
definite precept rather than fixing an exact manner of behaviour. 'For
that reason,' he continued, 'this person has concluded an arrangement
by which you will journey to that place, and there enter into the
house of commerce of an expert and conscientious vendor of moving
contrivances. Among so rapacious and keen-witted a class of persons as
they of Hankow, it is exceedingly unlikely that your amiable
disposition will involve any individual one in an unavoidably serious
loss, and even should such an unforeseen event come to pass, there
will, at least, be the undeniable satisfaction of the thought that the
unfortunate occurrence will in no way affect the prosperity of those
to whom you are bound by the natural ties of affection.'
"'Benevolent and virtuous-minded father,' replied Sen gently, but
speaking with an inspired conviction; 'from his earliest infancy this
unassuming one has been instructed in an inviolable regard for the
Five General Principles of Fidelity to the Emperor, Respect for
Parents, Harmony between Husband and Wife, Agreement among Brothers,
and Constancy in Friendship. It will be entirely unnecessary to inform
so pious-minded a person as the one now being addressed that no evil
can attend the footsteps of an individual who courteously observes
these enactments.'
"'Without doubt it is so arranged by the protecting Deities,' replied
the father; 'yet it is an exceedingly desirable thing for those who
are responsible in the matter that the footsteps to which reference
has been made should not linger in the neighbourhood of the village,
but should, with all possible speed, turn in the direction of Hankow.'
"In this manner it came to pass that Sen Heng set forth on the
following day, and coming without delay to the great and powerful city
of Hankow, sought out the house of commerce known as 'The Pure Gilt
Dragon of Exceptional Symmetry,' where the versatile King-y-Yang
engaged in the entrancing occupation of contriving moving figures, and
other devices of an ingenious and mirth-provoking character, which he
entrusted into the hands of numerous persons to sell throughout the
Province. From this cause, although enjoying a very agreeable
recompense from the sale of the objects, the greatly perturbed King-y-
Yang suffered continual internal misgivings; for the habit of behaving
of those whom he appointed to go forth in the manner described was
such that he could not entirely dismiss from his mind an assured
conviction that the details were not invariably as they were
represented to be. Frequently would one return in a very deficient and
unpresentable condition of garment, asserting that on his return,
while passing through a lonely and unprotected district, he had been
assailed by an armed band of robbers, and despoiled of all he
possessed. Another would claim to have been made the sport of evil
spirits, who led him astray by means of false signs in the forest, and
finally destroyed his entire burden of commodities, accompanying the
unworthy act by loud cries of triumph and remarks of an insulting
nature concerning King-y-Yang; for the honourable character and
charitable actions of the person in question had made him very
objectionable to that class of beings. Others continually accounted
for the absence of the required number of taels by declaring that at a
certain point of their journey they were made the object of marks of
amiable condescension on the part of a high and dignified public
official, who, on learning in whose service they were, immediately
professed an intimate personal friendship with the estimable King-y-
Yang, and, out of a feeling of gratified respect for him, took away
all such contrivances as remained undisposed of, promising to arrange
the payment with the refined King-y-Yang himself when they should next
meet. For these reasons King-y-Yang was especially desirous of
obtaining one whose spoken word could be received, upon all points, as
an assured fact, and it was, therefore, with an emotion of internal
lightness that he confidently heard from those who were acquainted
with the person that Sen Heng was, by nature and endowments, utterly
incapable of representing matters of even the most insignificant
degree to be otherwise than what they really were.
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