when he got
inside, lo! he saw a long suite of handsome apartments. They then
sat down, and exquisitely perfumed tea and wine were brought; but
the place was so gloomy that there was no difference between night
and day. By and by, the entertainment being over, the guest took his
leave; and on looking back the beautiful rooms and their contents had
all disappeared. The old man himself was in the habit of going away in
the evening and returning with the first streaks of morning; and as
no one was able to follow him, the master of the house asked him one
day whither he went. To this he replied that a friend invited him to
take wine; and then the master begged to be allowed to accompany him,
a proposal to which the old man very reluctantly consented. However,
he seized the master by the arm, and away they went as though riding
on the wings of the wind; and in about the time it takes to cook
a pot of millet they reached a city and walked into a restaurant,
where there were a number of people drinking together and making a
great noise. The old man led his companion to a gallery above, from
which they could look down on the feasters below; and he himself went
down and brought away from the tables all kinds of nice food and wine,
without appearing to be seen or noticed by any of the company. After
a while a man dressed in red garments came forward and laid upon
the table some dishes of cumquats; [36] the master at once requested
the old man to go down and get him some of these. "Ah," replied the
latter, "that is an upright man: I cannot approach him." Thereupon
the master said to himself, "By thus seeking the companionship of a
fox, I then am deflected from the true course. Henceforth I too will
be an upright man." No sooner had he formed this resolution than he
suddenly lost all control over his body, and fell from the gallery
down among the revellers below. These gentlemen were much astonished
by his unexpected descent; and he himself, looking up, saw there was
no gallery to the house, but only a large beam upon which he had
been sitting. He now detailed the whole of the circumstances, and
those present made up a purse for him to pay his travelling expenses;
for he was at Yue-t'ai--a thousand _li_ from home.

The Marriage Lottery

A certain labourer, named Ma T'ien-jung, lost his wife when he was
only about twenty years of age, and was too poor to take another. One
day, when out hoeing in the fields, he beheld a nice-look