d which tasted like
rice-mush. At last he found a way out again. He told the district
mandarin what had happened to him, and the latter reported the matter
to the emperor. The emperor sent for a wise man and questioned him
concerning it.

The wise man said: "There are four paths in this cave. One path leads
to the south-west shore of the Sea of Dungting, the second path leads
to a valley in the land of the four rivers, the third path ends in a
cave on the mountain of Lo-Fu and the fourth in an island of the
Eastern Sea. In this cave dwells the seventh daughter of the
Dragon-King of the Eastern Sea, who guards his pearls and his
treasure. It happened once in the ancient days, that a fisherboy dived
into the water and brought up a pearl from beneath the chin of a black
dragon. The dragon was asleep, which was the reason the fisherboy
brought the pearl to the surface without being harmed. The treasure
which the daughter of the Dragon-King has in charge is made up of
thousands and millions of such jewels. Several thousands of small
dragons watch over them in her service. Dragons have the peculiarity
of fighting shy of wax. But they are fond of beautiful jade-stones,
and of kung-tsing, the hollowgreen wood, and like to eat swallows. If
one were to send a messenger with a letter, it would be possible to
obtain precious pearls."

[Illustration: "A FISHERBOY DIVED INTO THE WATER AND BROUGHT UP A
PEARL FROM BENEATH THE CHIN OF A BLACK DRAGON."
--_Page 138_]

The emperor was greatly pleased, and announced a large reward for
the man who was competent to go to the dragon-castle as his messenger.

The first man to come forward was named So Pi-Lo. But the wise man
said: "A great-great-great-great-grandfather of yours once slew more
than a hundred of the dragons of the Eastern Sea, and was finally
himself slain by the dragons. The dragons are the enemies of your
family and you cannot go."

Then came a man from Canton, Lo-Dsi-Tschun, with his two brothers, who
said that his ancestors had been related to the Dragon-King. Hence
they were well liked by the dragons and well known to them. They
begged to be entrusted with the message.

The wise man asked: "And have you still in your possession the stone
which compels the dragons to do your will?"

"Yes," said they, "we have brought it along with us."

The wise man had them show him the stone; then he spoke: "This stone
is on