ser-by who took any notice of her was an
amiable maniac. His dress was made of coloured shreds and patches,
and his general appearance was wild and uncouth. "Whither away,
nun?" he asked. She explained that she was collecting subscriptions
for the casting of a great image of Buddha, and had come all the
way from Shantung. "Throughout my life," remarked the madman, "I was
ever a generous giver." So, taking the nun's subscription-book, he
headed a page with his own name (in very large characters) and the
amount subscribed. The amount in question was two cash, equivalent
to a small fraction of a farthing. He then handed over the two small
coins and went on his way.

In course of time the nun returned to Wei-hai-wei with her
subscriptions, and the work of casting the image was duly begun. When
the time had come for the process of smelting, it was observed that
the copper remained hard and intractable. Again and again the furnace
was fed with fuel, but the shapeless mass of metal remained firm as a
rock. The head workman, who was a man of wide experience, volunteered
an explanation of the mystery. "An offering of great value must be
missing," he said. "Let the collection-book be examined so that it
may be seen whose subscription has been withheld." The nun, who was
standing by, immediately produced the madman's money, which on account
of its minute value she had not taken the trouble to hand over. "There
is one cash," she said, "and there is another. Certainly the offering
of these must have been an act of the highest merit, and the giver
must be a holy man who will some day attain Buddhahood." As she said
this she threw the two cash into the midst of the cauldron. Great
bubbles rose and burst, the metal melted and ran like the sap from
a tree, limpid as flowing water, and in a few moments the work was
accomplished and the new Buddha successfully cast.

The City-god of Yen Ch'eng

The following story of the Ch'eng-huang P'u-sa of Yen Ch'eng (Salt
City) is told by Helena von Poseck in the _East of Asia Magazine_,
vol. iii (1904), pp. 169-171. This legend is also related of several
other cities in China.

The Ch'eng-huang P'u-sa is, as already noted, the tutelary god of a
city, his position in the unseen world answering to that of a _chih
hsien_, or district magistrate, among men, if the city under his
care be a _hsien_; but if the city hold the rank of a _fu_, it has
(or used to have until recently) two Ch'eng-huang P'