ly obeyed by the dragons who make clouds and send down the rain.
It will not do for the dragons who guard the pearls of the sea-king."
Then he questioned them further: "Have you the dragon-brain vapor?"

When they admitted that they had not, the wise man said: "How then
will you compel the dragons to yield their treasure?"

And the emperor said: "What shall we do?"

The wise man replied: "On the Western Ocean sail foreign merchants who
deal in dragon-brain vapor. Some one must go to them and seek it from
them. I also know a holy man who is an adept in the art of taming
dragons, and who has prepared ten pounds of the dragon-stone. Some one
should be sent for that as well."

The emperor sent out his messengers. They met one of the holy man's
disciples and obtained two fragments of dragon-stone from him.

Said the wise man: "That is what we want!"

Several more months went by, and at last a pill of dragon-brain vapor
had also been secured. The emperor felt much pleased and had his
jewelers carve two little boxes of the finest jade. These were
polished with the ashes of the Wutung-tree. And he had an essence
prepared of the very best hollowgreen wood, pasted with sea-fish lime,
and hardened in the fire. Of this two vases were made. Then the bodies
and the clothing of the messengers were rubbed with tree-wax, and they
were given five hundred roasted swallows to take along with them.

They went into the cave. When they reached the dragon-castle, the
little dragon who guarded the gate smelled the tree-wax, so he
crouched down and did them no harm. They gave him a hundred roasted
swallows as a bribe to announce them to the daughter of the
Dragon-King. They were admitted to her presence and offered her the
jade caskets, the vases and the four hundred roasted swallows as
gifts. The dragon's daughter received them graciously, and they
unfolded the emperor's letter.

In the castle there was a dragon who was over a thousand years old. He
could turn himself into a human being, and could interpret the
language of human beings. Through him the dragon's daughter learned
that the emperor was sending her the gifts, and she returned them with
a gift of three great pearls, seven smaller pearls and a whole bushel
of ordinary pearls. The messengers took leave, rode off with their
pearls on a dragon's back, and in a moment they had reached the banks
of the Yangtze-kiang. They made their way to Nanking, the imperial
capital, and there