Ch’un-yue, conscious that he had faithfully filled a high office for many years, felt greatly grieved by these calumnies—­a result which the King could not avoid noticing.  He accordingly sent for Ch’un-yue, and said:  “For more than twenty years we have been connexions, although my poor daughter, unfortunately, has not been spared to be a companion to you in old age.  Her mother is now taking care of her children; your own home you have not seen for many years; return to see your friends; your children will be looked after, and in three years you will see them again.”  “Is not this my home?  Whither else am I to go?” was Ch’un-yue’s reply.  “My friend,” the King said laughingly, “you are a human being; you don’t belong to this place.”  At these words Ch’un-yue seemed to fall into a deep swoon, and he remained unconscious for some time, after which he began to recall some glimpses of the distant past.  With tears in his eyes he begged that he might be allowed to return to his home, and, saying farewell, he departed.

Outside the palace he found the same two officials in purple clothes who had led the way so many years ago.  A conveyance was also there, but this time it was a mere bullock-cart, with no outriders.  He took the same road as before, and noticed the same hills and streams.  The two officials were by no means imposing this time, and when he asked how far was his destination they continued to hum and whistle and paid no attention to him.  At last they passed through an opening, and he recognized his own village, precisely as he had left it.  The two officials desired him to get down and walk up the steps before him, where, much to his horror, he saw himself lying down in the porch.  He was too much bedazed with terror to advance, but the two officials called out his name several times, and upon this he awoke.  The servants were bustling about the house, and his two companions were still washing their feet.  Everything was as he had left it, and the lifetime he had lived in his dream had occupied only a few moments.  Calling out to his two friends, he made them follow him to the locust-tree, and pointed out the opening through which he had begun his journey in dream-land.

An axe was sent for, and the interior of the trunk thrown open, whereupon a series of galleries was laid bare.  At the root of the tree a mound of earth was discovered, in shape like a city, and swarming with ants.  This was the capital of the kingdom in which he had lived in his dream.  A terrace surrounded by a guard of ants was the residence of the King and Queen, two winged insects with red heads.  Twenty feet or so along another gallery was found an old tortoise-shell covered with a thick growth of moss; it was the Tortoise-back Hill of the dream.  In another direction was found a small mound of earth round which was coiled a root in shape like a dragon’s tongue; it was the grave of the King’s daughter, Ch’un-yue’s wife in the vision.  As