ormorant fisher, Ten-teh
by name, daily followed his occupation. In seasons of good harvest,
when they of the villages had grain in abundance and money with which
to procure a more varied diet, Ten-teh was able to regard the
ever-changeful success of his venture without anxiety, and even to add
perchance somewhat to his store; but when affliction lay upon the land
the carefully gathered hoard melted away and he did not cease to
upbraid himself for adopting so uncertain a means of livelihood. At
these times the earth-tillers, having neither money to spend nor crops
to harvest, caught such fish as they could for themselves. Others in
their extremity did not scruple to drown themselves and their
dependents in Ten-teh's waters, so that while none contributed to his
prosperity the latter ones even greatly added to the embarrassment of
his craft. When, therefore, his own harvest failed him in addition, or
tempests drove him back to a dwelling which was destitute of food
either for himself, his household, or his cormorants, his
self-reproach did not appear to be ill-reasoned. Yet in spite of all
Ten-teh was of a genial disposition, benevolent, respectful and
incapable of guile. He sacrificed adequately at all festivals, and his
only regret was that he had no son of his own and very scanty chances
of ever becoming rich enough to procure one by adoption.

The sun was setting one day when Ten-teh reluctantly took up his
propelling staff and began to urge his raft towards the shore. It was
a season of parched crops and destitution in the villages, when
disease could fondle the bones of even the most rotund and leprosy was
the insidious condiment in every dish; yet never had the Imperial dues
been higher, and each succeeding official had larger hands and a more
inexorable face than the one before him. Ten-teh's hoarded resources
had already followed the snows of the previous winter, his shelf was
like the heart of a despot to whom the oppressed cry for pity, and the
contents of the creel at his feet were too insignificant to tempt the
curiosity even of his hungry cormorants. But the mists of the evening
were by this time lapping the surface of the waters and he had no
alternative but to abandon his fishing for the day.

"Truly they who go forth to fish, even in shallow waters, experience
strange things when none are by to credit them," suddenly exclaimed
his assistant--a mentally deficient youth of the villages whom Ten-teh
chari