at whenever she wished to
imprison him in the mountain cavern where he had eaten out his heart
for five hundred years, she could do so with one imperious word of
command.

In this mood of repentance for his past errors, he happened to cast his
eye upon a scroll which hung in one of the rooms of the palace. As he
read the story on it his heart smote him, and from that moment he
determined to hasten back to the post from which he had fled.

The words on the scroll were written in letters of gold and told how on
a certain occasion in the history of the past the fairies determined to
assist the fortunes of a young man named Chang-lung, who had gained
their admiration because of the nobility of character which he had
exhibited in his ordinary conduct in life. He belonged to an extremely
poor family, and so without some such aid as they could give him, he
could never attain to that eminence in the State which would enable him
to be of service to his country. But he must first be tested to see
whether he had the force of character necessary to bear the strain
which greatness would put upon him. Accordingly one of the most
experienced amongst their number was despatched to make the trial.

Assuming the guise of an old countryman in poor and worn-out clothing,
the fairy sat down on a bridge over a stream close to the village where
the favourite of the gods lived. By-and-by Chang-lung came walking
briskly along. Just as he came up to the disguised fairy, the latter
let one of his shoes drop into the water below. With an air of
apparent distress, he begged the young man to wade into the stream and
pick it up for him.

Cheerfully smiling, Chang-lung at once jumped into the water. In a
moment he had returned with the shoe and was handing it to the old man,
when the latter requested him to put it on his foot for him. This was
asking him to do a most menial act, which most men would have
scornfully resented; but Chang-lung, pitying the decrepit-looking old
stranger, immediately knelt on the ground and carefully fastened the
dripping shoe on to his foot.

Whilst he was in the act of doing this, the fairy, as if by accident,
skilfully managed to let the other shoe slip from his foot over the
edge of the bridge into the running stream. Apologizing for his
stupidity, and excusing himself on the ground that he was an old man
and that his fingers were not as nimble as they used to be, he begged
Chang-lung to repeat his kindn