le should you kill
me--that is the end of everything!"

"Truly," said the mandarin, "butterflies have no souls, and
therefore cannot live again."

"But I have enjoyed three lives already," returned the butterfly,
with some pride. "I have been a caterpillar and a chrysalis before I
became a butterfly. You were never anything but a Chinaman, although
I admit your life is longer than mine."

"I will extend your life for many days, if you will obey me,"
declared the Chinaman. "I can easily do so by means of my magic."

"Of course I will obey you," said the butterfly, carelessly.

"Then, listen! You know children, do you not?--boys and girls?"

"Yes, I know them. They chase me, and try to catch me, as you have
done," replied the butterfly.

"And they mock me, and jeer at me through the window," continued the
mandarin, bitterly. "Therefore, they are your enemies and mine! But
with your aid and the help of the magic book we shall have a fine
revenge for their insults."

"I don't care much for revenge," said the butterfly. "They are but
children, and 'tis natural they should wish to catch such a
beautiful creature as I am."

"Nevertheless, I care! and you must obey me," retorted the mandarin,
harshly. "I, at least, will have my revenge."

Then he stuck a drop of molasses upon the wall beside the
butterfly's head and said:

"Eat that, while I read my book and prepare my magic formula."

So the butterfly feasted upon the molasses and the mandarin studied
his book, after which he began to mix a magic compound in the tin
cup.

When the mixture was ready he released the butterfly from the wall
and said to it:

"I command you to dip your two front feet into this magic compound
and then fly away until you meet a child. Fly close, whether it be a
boy or a girl, and touch the child upon its forehead with your feet.
Whosoever is thus touched, the book declares, will at once become a
pig, and will remain such forever after. Then return to me and dip
you legs afresh in the contents of this cup. So shall all my
enemies, the children, become miserable swine, while no one will
think of accusing me of the sorcery."

"Very well; since such is your command, I obey," said the butterfly.
Then it dipped its front legs, which were the shortest of the six,
into the contents of the tin cup, and flew out of the door and away
over the houses to the edge of the town. There it alighted in a
flower garden and soon forgot all about its