nt a priceless gift to the
Celestial and August: a vase imitating the substance of ore-rock, all
aflame with pyritic scintillation,--a shape of glittering splendor with
chameleons sprawling over it; chameleons of porcelain that shifted color
as often as the beholder changed his position. And the Emperor,
wondering exceedingly at the splendor of the work, questioned the
princes and the mandarins concerning him that made it. And the princes
and the mandarins answered that he was a workman named Pu, and that he
was without equal among potters, knowing secrets that seemed to have
been inspired either by gods or by demons. Whereupon the Son of Heaven
sent his officers to Pu with a noble gift, and summoned him unto his
presence.

So the humble artisan entered before the Emperor, and having performed
the supreme prostration,--thrice kneeling, and thrice nine times
touching the ground with his forehead,--awaited the command of the
August.

And the Emperor spake to him, saying: "Son, thy gracious gift hath found
high favor in our sight; and for the charm of that offering we have
bestowed upon thee a reward of five thousand silver _liang_. But thrice
that sum shall be awarded thee so soon as thou shalt have fulfilled our
behest. Hearken, therefore, O matchless artificer! it is now our will
that thou make for us a vase having the tint and the aspect of living
flesh, but--mark well our desire!--_of flesh made to creep by the
utterance of such words as poets utter,--flesh moved by an Idea, flesh
horripilated by a Thought!_ Obey, and answer not! We have spoken."

* * * * *

Now Pu was the most cunning of all the _P'ei-se-kong_,--the men who
marry colors together; of all the _Hoa-yang-kong_, who draw the shapes
of vase-decoration; of all the _Hoei-sse-kong_, who paint in enamel; of
all the _T'ien-thsai-kong_, who brighten color; of all the
_Chao-lou-kong_, who watch the furnace-fires and the porcelain-ovens.
But he went away sorrowing from the Palace of the Son of Heaven,
notwithstanding the gift of five thousand silver _liang_ which had been
given to him. For he thought to himself: "Surely the mystery of the
comeliness of flesh, and the mystery of that by which it is moved, are
the secrets of the Supreme Tao. How shall man lend the aspect of
sentient life to dead clay? Who save the Infinite can give soul?"

Now Pu had discovered those witchcrafts of color, those surprises of
grace, that make the a