, and
I am sure you wish to get back home again."

With these words he had a litter brought up; cymbals were beaten and
fire-works set off, and finally a salute of nine guns was fired to
escort him on his way. Then the little snake crawled into the litter,
and the captain followed after. In this order they reached the port,
and just when it was about time to say farewell, the snake was already
swimming in the water. He had grown much larger, nodded to the captain
with his head, and disappeared.

Then there were doubts and questionings: "But the river-god lives a
thousand miles away from here, how does he get to this place?"

Said the captain: "He is so powerful that he can get to any place, and
besides, from where he dwells a waterway leads to the sea. To come
down that way and swim to sea is something he can do in a moment's
time!"

Note: "The Spirits of the Yellow River." The place of
the old river-god Ho Be (Count of the Stream), also
mentioned in No. 63, has to-day been taken by the Dai
Wang in the popular belief. These spirits are thought to
have placed many hindrances in the way of the erection
of the railroad bridge across the Yellow River. The
"spirit-tablet": images of the gods were first
introduced in China by the Buddhists. The old custom,
which Confucianism and ancestor-worship still follow,
holds that the seat of the gods is a small wooden tablet
on which the name of the god to be honored is written.
Theatrical performances as religious services are as
general in China as they were in ancient Greece.
Dsiningdschou is a district capital on the Imperial
Canal, near the Yellow River.

XLV

THE DRAGON-PRINCESS

In the Sea of Dungting there is a hill, and in that hill there is a
hole, and this hole is so deep that it has no bottom.

Once a fisherman was passing there who slipped and fell into the hole.
He came to a country full of winding ways which led over hill and dale
for several miles. Finally he reached a dragon-castle lying in a great
plain. There grew a green slime which reached to his knees. He went
to the gate of the castle. It was guarded by a dragon who spouted
water which dispersed in a fine mist. Within the gate lay a small
hornless dragon who raised his head, showed his claws, and would not
let him in.

The fisherman spent several days in the cave, satisfying his hunger
with the green slime, which he found edible an