The Donkey brayed again in a more terrible voice than before.  “If you
  will accompany me into the wood,” said he, “thou shalt see all animals
  flee from us.”

  The Tiger felt complimented by an association with the animal who had
  gained his voice from the thunder, and shortly they entered the wood.

The animals all fled when they saw them coming—­not from the Donkey, but from the Tiger.  Even the Raven dared not speak, and the Lion slunk back among the rocks; because a Tiger and a Donkey, together, might more than equal his terrifying roar.

  “See,” said the Donkey, “all nature flees before us.  Now walk behind
  me, and I will show you the secret of my power.”

The Tiger stepped behind; and the Donkey very quickly, in a pretty short time, showed him the secret of his power.  He kicked the poor foolish Tiger in the head, breaking his nose, and stunning him.  Then leaving him in the path for dead, he made good his escape.

  “Any one can be great,” said he, “if he knows how to use his power!”
  He was a philosopher.

  When the poor Tiger came to his senses he rubbed his nose with his paw,
  and began to reflect on the lesson that he should learn from his
  association with a Donkey.

  He reflected long and well—­and never said anything about it to anyone.

“In my country,” added little Sky-High, “we think that when one allows himself to get kicked by a donkey a long silence befits him—­he can best show his wisdom in that way.  Do you not think so, O Mandarin Americans?”

The “Mandarin Americans” quite agreed with the conclusion drawn by Sky-High.

It was about this time that little Lucy began to wonder if Sky-High were not a wang indeed.  No common young Chinese could possess so many kinds of wisdom.  He was able to read to her the labels on tea-chests, and to explain the odd figures on the many fans that decorated her playroom.

“How do you know so much, Sky-High?” she asked one day when he had told her the meaning of the pictures on an old Chinese porcelain in the upper hall.

“Many of the porcelains in our country are made to be read,” he said.  “All educated Chinese people can read porcelains.  An American porcelain has no story.”

VI.

The mandarin plate.

Among the heirlooms to be found in the closets of many New England houses is a curious pattern of China plate.  This plate is colored blue-and-white, and in the bowl of each is a picture.  The picture represents a rural scene in China—­a bridge on which are two young people, a man and a woman; a house, and a tree, and two birds of beautiful plumage flying away.  Mrs. Van Buren had such a plate, and a platter with the same rural picture, on her dining-room wall.

It was the delight of Lucy to have Sky-High explain to her the meaning of the pictures on the Chinese vases and on an ornamental Chinese umbrella which hung in the reception-room.  One day when Sky-High was dusting in the dining-room, Lucy’s eye fell on the blue-and-white plate with the picture of the bridge and birds.