seen to fall: "I am one of the Teachers of the West. I came to cure
the King's illness, and so to glorify the True Doctrine."

The King's Daughter

All who witnessed this miracle exclaimed with one voice: "This priest
is the Living Buddha, who is going back to Heaven!" The note was taken
to King Miao Chuang, who exclaimed: "Who am I that I should deserve
that one of the rulers of Heaven should deign to descend and cure me
by the sacrifice of hands and eyes?"

"What was the face of the saintly person like who gave you the
remedy?" he then asked Chao Chen.

"It was like unto that of your deceased daughter, Miao Shan,"
he replied.

"When you removed her hands and eyes did she seem to suffer?"

"I saw a great flow of blood, and my heart failed, but the face of
the victim seemed radiant with happiness."

"This certainly must be my daughter Miao Shan, who has attained to
perfection," said the King. "Who but she would have given hands
and eyes? Purify yourselves and observe the rules of abstinence,
and go quickly to Hsiang Shan to return thanks to the saint for this
inestimable favour. I myself will ere long make a pilgrimage thither
to return thanks in person."

The King and Queen taken Prisoners

Three years later the King and Queen, with the grandees of their
Court, set out to visit Hsiang Shan, but on the way the monarchs were
captured by the Green Lion, or God of Fire, and the White Elephant,
or Spirit of the Water, the two guardians of the Temple of Buddha,
who transported them to a dark cavern in the mountains. A terrific
battle then took place between the evil spirits on the one side and
some hosts of heavenly genii, who had been summoned to the rescue,
on the other. While its issue was still uncertain, reinforcements
under the Red Child Devil, who could resist fire, and the Dragon-king
of the Eastern Sea, who could subdue water, finally routed the enemy,
and the prisoners were released.

The King's Repentance

The King and Queen now resumed their pilgrimage, and Miao Shan
instructed Shan Ts'ai to receive the monarchs when they arrived
to offer incense. She herself took up her place on the altar, her
eyes torn out, her hands cut off, and her wrists all dripping with
blood. The King recognized his daughter, and bitterly reproached
himself; the Queen fell swooning at her feet. Miao Shan then spoke and
tried to comfort them. She told them of all that she had experienced
since the day when she had be