when they came
trooping to the temple to make their offerings to the famous God
enshrined within.

Chan was a diligent student, and rarely indulged in recreation of any
kind. Occasionally, when his mind became oppressed with excessive
study he would go for a quiet walk along the hillside; but these
occasions were few and far between, for he made up for every hour he
spent away from his beloved books by still closer application to them
in the hours that followed.

One day he was strolling in an aimless kind of way on the hillside,
when suddenly a party of hunters from the neighbouring city of Eternal
Spring came dashing into view. They were a merry group and full of
excitement, for they had just sighted a fox which Chan had seen a
moment before flying away at its highest speed in mortal dread of its
pursuers.

Prominent amongst the hunters was a young girl, who was mounted on a
fiery little steed, so full of spirit and so eager to follow in the mad
chase after the prey, that its rider seemed to have some difficulty in
restraining it. The girl herself was a perfect picture. Her face was
the loveliest that Chan had ever looked upon, and her figure, which her
trim hunting dress showed off to the utmost advantage, was graceful in
the extreme. As she swept by him with her face flushed with excitement
and her features all aglow with health, Chan felt at once that he had
lost his heart and that he was deeply and profoundly in love with her.

On making enquiries, he found that she was named Willow, that she was
the daughter of the chief mandarin of the town in which she lived, and
that she was intensely fond of the chase and delighted in galloping
over the hills and valleys in the pursuit of the wild animals to be
found there. So powerfully had Chan's mind been affected by what he
had seen of Willow, that he had already begun to entertain serious
thoughts of making her his wife; but while his mind was full of this
delightful prospect he was plunged into the deepest grief by hearing
that she had suddenly died. For some days he was so stricken with
sorrow that he lost all interest in life, and could do nothing but
dwell on the memory of her whom he had come to love with all the
devotion of his heart.

A few weeks after the news of her death, the quiet of the retreat was
one day broken by a huge procession which wound its way along the
mountain path leading to the monastery doors. On looking out, Chan saw
that many o