t its melodies could be clearly
distinguished. All that was said, too, the table-talk and orders,
questions and calls, could be quite distinctly heard.

After three courses, he who wore the scarlet hat said: "Quick! Make
ready the nets and lines for fishing!"

And at once nets were thrown out into the saucer which held the water
in which the scholar dipped his brush. And they caught hundreds of
thousands of fishes. The one with the scarlet hat contented himself
with casting a line in the shallow waters of the saucer, and caught a
baker's dozen of red carp.

Then he ordered the head cook to cook the fish, and the most varied
dishes were prepared with them. The odor of roasting fat and spices
filled the whole room.

And then the wearer of the scarlet hat in his arrogance, decided to
amuse himself at the scholar's expense. So he pointed to him and said:
"I know nothing at all about the writings and customs of the saints
and wise men, and still I am a king who is highly honored! Yonder
scholar spends his whole life toiling over his books and yet he
remains poor and gets nowhere. If he could make up his mind to serve
me faithfully as one of my officials, I might allow him to partake of
our meal."

This angered the scholar, and he took his book and struck at them. And
they all scattered, wriggling and crawling out of the door. He
followed them and dug up the earth in the place where they had
disappeared. And there he found an ants' nest as large as a barrel, in
which countless green ants were wriggling around. So he built a large
fire and smoked them out.

Note: This charming tale is taken from the Tang Dai
Tsung Schu.

XLII

THE LITTLE HUNTING DOG

Once upon a time, in the city of Shansi, there lived a scholar who
found the company of others too noisy for him. So he made his home in
a Buddhist temple. Yet he suffered because there were always so many
gnats and fleas in his room that he could not sleep at night.

Once he was resting on his bed after dinner, when suddenly two little
knights with plumes in their helmets rode into the room. They might
have been two inches high, and rode horses about the size of
grasshoppers. On their gauntleted hands they held hunting falcons as
large as flies. They rode about the room with great rapidity. The
scholar had no more than set eyes on them when a third entered, clad
like the others, but carrying a bow and arrows and leading a little
hunting dog the size