chieh was
astounded, and thought:

"So these rascally priests have been outraging honest women!"

But she did not stir. The bonze quietly blew out the lamp, came
towards the bed, let fall his robe, and slipped under the blankets.

Mei-chieh pretended to be asleep. She felt him gently move her leg to
one side, and then she made as though to wake saying:

"Who are you who come in the night and insult me?" She pushed him
away, but the bonze embraced her in his arms, and whispered: "I am a
lo-han with a body of gold, and I have come to give you a son."

While speaking, he busied himself in accordance with his salacity.
It must be said that all bonzes have no mean talent in the matter of
cloud and rain; and this one was full of vigorous manhood. Mei-chieh
was a woman of great experience, but she was unable to resist him and
had difficulty, at length, in repressing herself. However, she took
advantage of his arriving at the supreme point of his emotion to dip
her fingers in the box of vermilion and to mark his head without his
perceiving it. After a certain time, the bonze glided from the bed,
leaving the girl a little packet, and saying:

"Here are some pills to assist your prayer. Take three-tenths of an
ounce each day in hot water, and you will have a son."

Weary in body, Mei-chieh was just dimly closing her eyes, when she
was aroused by a fresh touch, and, thinking that the same bonze had
returned, said in surprise:

"What? Are you able to come back again, when even I am so tired?"

But he answered without a pause:

"You are making a mistake! I have but just come, and the saviour of my
comforts is as yet unknown to you."

"But, I am tired...."

"In that case, take one of these pills...."

And he handed her a packet. But she was afraid that it might be poison
and placed it on the bed, contriving in the same movement to dip her
fingers in the vermilion and to stroke the newcomer's head. He
was even more terrible than the former, and did not cease before
cock-crow.

As the old song says:

In an old stone mortar
Where so many pestles have been worn away,
There is need of a heavy copper hammer,
Or the work is lost.

At dawn, another bonze appeared and said to them in a low voice:

"Perhaps you have had your fill. Is not my turn coming?"

The first bonze gave a chuckle, but rose and went out. The other then
got upon the bed, and very gently caressed Mei-chieh.

She pretended to repulse him, bu