as 'The Legend of the Willow Plate
Embellishment,' when a company of armed warriors, converging upon
me--"

"Restrain the melodious flow of your admitted eloquence," interrupted
the Mandarin, veiling his arising interest. "Is the story, to which
you have made reference, that of the scene widely depicted on plates
and earthenware?"

"Undoubtedly. It is the true and authentic legend as related by the
eminent Tso-yi."

"In that case," declared Shan Tien dispassionately, "it will be
necessary for you to relate it now, in order to uphold your claim.
Proceed."

"Alas, Excellence," protested Ming-shu from a bitter throat, "this
matter will attenuate down to the stroke of evening rice. Kowtowing
beneath your authoritative hand, that which the prisoner only had the
intention to relate does not come within the confines of his
evidence."

"The objection is superficial and cannot be sustained," replied Shan
Tien. "If an evilly-disposed one raised a sword to strike this person,
but was withheld before the blow could fall, none but a leper would
contend that because he did not progress beyond the intention thereby
he should go free. Justice must be impartially upheld and greatly do I
fear that we must all submit."

With these opportune words the discriminating personage signified to
Kai Lung that he should begin.

The Story of Wong T'sin and the Willow Plate Embellishment

Wong Ts'in, the rich porcelain maker, was ill at ease within himself.
He had partaken of his customary midday meal, flavoured the repast by
unsealing a jar of matured wine, consumed a little fruit, a few
sweetmeats and half a dozen cups of unapproachable tea, and then
retired to an inner chamber to contemplate philosophically from the
reposeful attitude of a reclining couch.

But upon this occasion the merchant did not contemplate restfully. He
paced the floor in deep dejection and when he did use the couch at all
it was to roll upon it in a sudden access of internal pain. The cause
of his distress was well known to the unhappy person thus concerned,
nor did it lessen the pangs of his emotion that it arose entirely from
his own ill-considered action.

When Wong Ts'in had discovered, by the side of a remote and obscure
river, the inexhaustible bed of porcelain clay that ensured his
prosperity, his first care was to erect adequate sheds and
labouring-places; his next to build a house sufficient for himself and
those in attendance round about h