The curious tales their little serving-man had told, he called Jataka legends—­all of them parables to illustrate the teachings of the divine Buddha. (Also these tales had accounts of mountains that were more than a million miles high, of trees that were a thousand miles tall, and of fishes that were thousands of miles long.)

These tales had enchanted Lucy, though Charlie cared little for them—­he preferred to hear of kites and other Chinese games.  But Lucy seemed to catch their spirit.  And in the evening, when Sky-High sat with them under the trees or in the balconies, she often said, “Now tell us a Jataka story!”

But one night she had said instead, “Now let me tell you a Jataka story!”

The idea that Lucy had a Jataka story seemed to greatly amuse Sky-High.  But the tale itself set his black eyes shining and blinking.  This had been Lucy’s tale: 

“Sky-High, I dreamed that you were a wang and had lived in a palace.”

To-day she sat a long time in the arbor to compose the tale she would tell in the evening when they would be on the veranda, with Sky-High on the stair at their feet.

So in the evening she said, “I have composed another Jataka story.  Would you like to hear it, mother?  Would you, Sky-High?”

IX.

LUCY’S JATAKA STORY.

Now the little Chinaman began his stories with words like these, for most Jataka stories so begin: 

“Once upon a time in the days of Buddha-Atta in Benares.”

To-night Lucy began her tale in nearly the same manner—­the words sounded so fine.

“Once on a time, after the days of Buddha-Atta in Benares, there was a little Chinese boy who was born a wang, which is a king.  And they called him Wang High-Sky.

“And he lived in a palace, and the stairs of the palace were golden amber, and the windows were of crystal, and all the knives and forks were made of pearl and silver.

“And they told little Wang High-Sky that there were countries beyond the water, also.

“And the little Wang High-Sky said, ’Let me go and see.  There may be something I can learn in other lands.  There may be queer people there—­if so, I would never laugh at them.  Let me go and see how they live!’

“And they put him on board a dragon boat, with lanterns of silver and pearls, and with sails of silk, and carried him to the great hotel on the water, that had come from other lands, which was called a ship.  For there truly were people beyond the water.

“And little Wang High-Sky was a very bright boy.  He had a diamond in his brain.  So he found a place to live in an awfully good family, and in the family was a little girl named Lucy.

“And he worked and worked and worked until he could do all things like the good family.

“And one day he thought he would go home to his palace with stairs of golden amber and windows of crystal.