FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   >>  
ago," replied the old nurse. "Now tell me about the man who went to the fire star." The old woman hesitated a moment as though she was trying to recall something and then told him the story of MARS, THE GOD OF WAR. "Once upon a time there was a great rebel whose name was Ch'ih Yu. He was the first great rebel that ever lived in China. He did not want to obey the chief ruler, and invented for himself warlike weapons, thinking that in this way he might overthrow the government and place himself upon the throne. "He had eighty-one brothers, of whom he was the leader. They had human speech, but bodies of beasts, foreheads of iron, and fed upon the dust of the earth. "When the time for the battle came, he called upon the Chief of the Wind and the Master of the Rain to assist him, and there arose a great tempest. But the Chief sent the Daughter of Heaven to quell the storm, and then seized and slew the rebel. His spirit ascended to the Fire-Star (Mars)--the embodiment of which he was while upon earth,--where it resides and influences the conduct of warfare even to the present time." "Tell me the story of the man who went to the mountain to gather fire-wood and did not come home for such a long time." The old nurse began a story which as it progressed reminded me of RIP VAN WINKLE. "A long time ago there lived a man named Wang Chih, which in our language means 'the stuff of which kings are made.' In spite of his name, however, he was only a common husbandman, spending his summers in plowing, planting and harvesting, and his winters in gathering fertilizers upon the highways, and fire-wood in the mountains. "On one occasion he wandered into the mountains of Ch'u Chou, his axe upon his shoulder, hoping to find more and better fire-wood than could be found upon his own scanty acres, or the adjoining plain. While in the mountains he came upon a number of aged men, in a beautiful mountain grotto, intently engaged in a game of chess. Wang was a good chess-player himself, and for the time forgot his errand. He laid down his axe, stood silently watching them, and in a very few moments was deeply interested in the game. "It was while he was thus watching them that one of the old men, without looking up from the game, gave him what seemed to be a date seed, telling him at the same time to put it in his mouth. He did so, but no sooner had he tasted it, than he lost all consciousness of hu
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   >>  



Top keywords:

mountains

 

watching

 

mountain

 
hoping
 
shoulder
 

language

 
planting
 

harvesting

 

plowing

 

husbandman


spending
 

summers

 

winters

 

gathering

 

occasion

 
common
 

wandered

 

highways

 

fertilizers

 
engaged

telling

 
consciousness
 

tasted

 

sooner

 

interested

 

beautiful

 

grotto

 
intently
 

number

 

adjoining


player

 

moments

 

deeply

 

silently

 

forgot

 

errand

 

scanty

 

present

 

weapons

 

warlike


thinking

 

invented

 

overthrow

 

leader

 

speech

 

brothers

 
government
 

throne

 

eighty

 

recall