“Friend Pelou,” continued Tchang, “the beauty who bewitched your son was no other than she whose tomb stands there in ruin before us!  Did she not say she was wedded to Ping-Khang?  There is no family of that name, but Ping-Khang is indeed the name of a broad alley in the city near.  There was a dark riddle in all that she said.  She called herself Sie of Moun-Hiao:  there is no person of that name; there is no street of that name; but the Chinese characters Moun and hiao, placed together, form the character ‘Kiao.’  Listen!  The alley Ping-Khang, situated in the street Kiao, was the place where dwelt the great courtesans of the dynasty of Thang!  Did she not sing the songs of Kao-pien?  And upon the brush-case and the paper-weight she gave your son, are there not characters which read, ’Pure object of art belonging to Kao, of the city of Pho-hai’?  That city no longer exists; but the memory of Kao-pien remains, for he was governor of the province of Sze-tchouen, and a mighty poet.  And when he dwelt in the land of Chou, was not his favorite the beautiful wanton Sie,—­Sie-Thao, unmatched for grace among all the women of her day?  It was he who made her a gift of those manuscripts of song; it was he who gave her those objects of rare art.  Sie-Thao died not as other women die.  Her limbs may have crumbled to dust; yet something of her still lives in this deep wood,—­her Shadow still haunts this shadowy place.”

Tchang ceased to speak.  A vague fear fell upon the three.  The thin mists of the morning made dim the distances of green, and deepened the ghostly beauty of the woods.  A faint breeze passed by, leaving a trail of blossom-scent,—­a last odor of dying flowers,—­thin as that which clings to the silk of a forgotten robe; and, as it passed, the trees seemed to whisper across the silence, “Sie-Thao.”

* * * * *

Fearing greatly for his son, Pelou sent the lad away at once to the city of Kwang-tchau-fu.  And there, in after years, Ming-Y obtained high dignities and honors by reason of his talents and his learning; and he married the daughter of an illustrious house, by whom he became the father of sons and daughters famous for their virtues and their accomplishments.  Never could he forget Sie-Thao; and yet it is said that he never spoke of her,—­not even when his children begged him to tell them the story of two beautiful objects that always lay upon his writing-table:  a lion of yellow jade, and a brush-case of carven agate.

[Illustration:  Chinese calligraphy]

The Legend of Tchi-Niu

     A SOUND OF GONGS, A SOUND OF SONG,—­THE SONG OF THE BUILDERS
     BUILDING THE DWELLINGS OF THE DEAD:—­

Khiu tchi ying-ying.  Tou tchi houng-houng.  Tch[)o] tchi tong-tong.  Si[)o] liu ping-ping.

THE LEGEND OF TCHI-NIU.