d my clothes, I rested for a while
in the City of the Dead and fell asleep. And the King-Father of the
East gave me red chestnuts and rosy dawn-juice to eat, and my hunger
was stilled. Then I went to the dark skies and drank the yellow dew,
and my thirst was quenched. And I met a black tiger and wanted to ride
home on his back. But I whipped him too hard, and he bit me in the
leg. And so I came back to tell you about it."

[Illustration: "'AND I CROSSED THE WATER ON THE SHOE.'"
--_Page 91_]

Once more the boy ran away from home, thousands of miles, until he
came to the swamp where dwelt the Primal Mist. There he met an old man
with yellow eyebrows and asked him how old he might be. The old man
said: "I have given up the habit of eating, and live on air. The
pupils of my eyes have gradually acquired a green glow, which enables
me to see all hidden things. Whenever a thousand years have passed I
turn around my bones and wash the marrow. And every two thousand years
I scrape my skin to get rid of the hair. I have already washed my
bones thrice and scraped my skin five times."

Afterward Sky O'Dawn served the Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty. The
Emperor, who was fond of the magic arts, was much attached to him. One
day he said to him: "I wish that the empress might not grow old. Can
you prevent it?"

Sky O'Dawn answered: "I know of only one means to keep from growing
old."

The Emperor asked what herbs one had to eat. Sky O'Dawn replied: "In
the North-East grow the mushrooms of life. There is a three-legged
crow in the sun who always wants to get down and eat them. But the
Sun-God holds his eyes shut and does not let him get away. If human
beings eat them they become immortal, when animals eat them they grow
stupefied."

"And how do you know this?" asked the Emperor.

"When I was a boy I once fell into a deep well, from which I could not
get out for many decades. And down there was an immortal who led me to
this herb. But one has to pass through a red river whose water is so
light that not even a feather can swim on it. Everything that touches
its surface sinks to the depths. But the man pulled off one of his
shoes and gave it to me. And I crossed the water on the shoe, picked
the herb and ate it. Those who dwell in that place weave mats of
pearls and precious stones. They led me to a spot before which hung a
curtain of delicate, colored skin. And they gave me a pil