t he was lost, he in despair
threw his mirror on the floor of the reception-hall.

A minute later, sad and pensive, he stooped to pick it up; what was
his joyful surprise when he saw reflected in it the subterranean room
and the musicians! At once he drew five talismans on yellow paper,
burned them, and ordered his celestial general, Chao Kung-ming, to
take his sword and kill the five musicians. The order was promptly
executed, and the T'ien-shih informed the Emperor, who received the
news with ridicule, not believing it to be true. He went to his seat
and pulled the wire, but all remained silent. A second and third time
he gave the signal, but without response. He then ordered his Grand
Officer to ascertain what had happened. The officer found the five
graduates bathed in their blood, and lifeless.

The Emperor, furious, reproached the Master of the Taoists. "But,"
replied the T'ien-shih, "was it not your Majesty who ordered me under
pain of death to exterminate the authors of this pandemonium?" Li
Shih-min could not reply. He dismissed the Master of the Taoists and
ordered the five victims to be buried.

The Emperor Tormented

After the funeral ceremonies, apparitions appeared at night in the
place where they had been killed, and the palace became a babel. The
spirits threw bricks and broke the tiles on the roofs.

The Emperor ordered his uncomfortable visitors to go to the T'ien-shih
who had murdered them. They obeyed, and, seizing the garments of the
Master of the Taoists, swore not to allow him any rest if he would
not restore them to life.

To appease them the Taoist said: "I am going to give each of you a
wonderful object. You are then to return and spread epidemics among
wicked people, beginning in the imperial palace and with the Emperor
himself, with the object of forcing him to canonize you."

One received a fan, another a gourd filled with fire, the third a
metallic ring to encircle people's heads, the fourth a stick made of
wolves' teeth, and the fifth a cup of lustral water.

The spirit-graduates left full of joy, and made their first experiment
on Li Shih-min. The first gave him feverish chills by waving his
fan, the second burned him with the fire from his gourd, the third
encircled his head with the ring, causing him violent headache, the
fourth struck him with his stick, and the fifth poured out his cup
of lustral water on his head.

The same night a similar tragedy took place in the palac