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Let it be freely admitted that a really capable narrator of events would have led up to this badly arranged crisis more judiciously and in a manner less likely to distress the harmonious balance of his hearers' feelings. Yet there is a certain fitness in the stress, however ineptly reached, for that august sovereign now involved was so rapidly outlined in all his movements that between his conception of a course and the moment when he embarked upon it there was very little opportunity for those chiefly concerned to engage in preparation. Thus steps into the record Ming Wang, last of his royal line.

When the famine had cankered the land for seven full moons, there appeared before the Palace gate a stranger clad in fur. Without deigning to reply to any man of those confronting him with words of this or that, he loftily took down the brazen trident from among the instruments that hung there and struck on it a loud, compelling note with the fingers of his open hand. At this defiant challenge, in compliance with the Ancient Usage, he was led into the presence of Ming Wang at once.

"Speak without fear," said the sympathetic ruler affably, "for the iron law of Yu protects you."

At the mention of this heroic name, the stranger's expression varied in its tenor, and he drew up the covering of his face a little, although the day was warm.

"In the north and the south, on the east and the west, there is a famine in the land, for the resentful gods withhold their natural moisture," he proclaimed; and it was afterward agreed that the sound of his voice was like the whetting of a sickle on a marble hone. "For seven moons and seven more days has this affliction been, and you who stand regently between the Upper and the Lower Worlds have suffered it to be."

"What you say is very surprising," replied Ming Wang, "and the more so as no appreciable scarcity has been apparent at our royal table for the time you name. Be assured that due inquiry shall be made however."

"Let it be made forthwith and justice measured out," said the intruder sternly, and he turned away and stood so that none might see the working of his complicated thoughts.

"When two minds are agreed, what matter which tongue speaks?" remarked the liberally endowed monarch to the scandalized officials hovering round, and with truly imperial large-handedness he ordered the immediate presence of the four chancellors of the regions named, despite the fact that they were then residing in their several distant capitals. No stronger proof of the efficiency of Ming Wang's vigorous rule need be sought, for no sooner was the command issued than four chancellors immediately appeared.

"It is obligingly reported by an unnamed well-wisher that a scarcity exists in all the corners of our boundless realm," remarked the Illimitable, in so encouraging a voice that the four chancellors began to beat their heads upon the granite floor in an access of misgiving. "Doubtless each has a wholly adequate reply?"

"Omnipotence," pleaded the first, "there has been a slight temporary derangement of transport in the Province of the North, with the unfortunate arisement that here and there a luxury is scarce."

"All-seeing," replied the next, "certain grain in a restricted area of the Province of the South has been consumed by subterranean Beings. Yet what are southern men that they should not turn from rice to millet with a cheerful face?"

"In the Province of the East, Benevolence," declared the third, "a fiery omen shot across the sky, corroding the earth to barrenness that lay within its sphere. To judgments such as this the faithful can but bend an acquiescent neck."

"Father of all mercies," stammered the last, who being slow-witted had no palliation ready to his tongue, "that same blazing menace then passed onward to the Province of the West where it wrought a like disaster."

"Nothing could be more convincing," agreed the Mouthpiece of Wisdom heartily. "We were sure that something of the sort would be at once forthcoming. It will certainly be a fountain of consolation to your sorrowing friends, even in the most poignant moments of their grief, that your crime--despite its regrettable consequence--was purely of a technical description."

"High Majesty?" besought the four in harmony.

"It would appear," explained the Supreme indulgently, "that by withholding all mention of this distressing state of things (doubtless to spare our too warmhearted ears) you have each inadvertently come within the Code of Yao-u and Shun, under the Section: 'Conduct in an official whereby disaffection of the Outer Lands may be engendered.' In that imperishable Statute every phase of misdoing is crystallized with unfailing legal skill into this shining principle of universal justice: one crime, one responsible official. That firmly grasped, the administration of an otherwise complex judicial system becomes purely a matter of elementary mathematics. In this case, as there are clearly four crimes to be atoned, four responsible officials suffer the usual fatal expiation."

"Enough," exclaimed the stranger, emerging from his reverie and confronting Ming Wang again. "In that respect, no doubt, a fit example will be made. But what of the greatest need besetting you, or who will persuade the seasons to resume their normal courses?"

"As to that," replied the Emperor agreeably, "we are waiting to tread in your illuminating footsteps in whatever direction you may indicate."

"He who brings the word is not thereby required to go the way," replied the one who thus described himself. "You, Younger Brother, hold the Line of the Immortal Eight. See to it that you do not fail their now expectant eyes."

"It is one thing to hold the line; it is quite another to obtain a message from the farther end," murmured the Sublime rebelliously, but when he would have again applied for more explicit guidance, it was discovered that the stranger had withdrawn, though none had marked the moment of his going.

"All-knowing," urged a faithful slave who bore the Emperor's cup, "if you seek enlightenment, wherefore are The Books?"

"It is well said," exclaimed the Monarch, casting off his gloom. "What more in keeping with the theme than that a vassal youth should recall what the trusted keepers of our Inner Council have forgot!"

"Revered," returned the spokesman of the Elder Branch, by no means disposed to have their prescience questioned thus, "if we who guard the dark secrets of the Books forebore, it was not that our minds were tardy in your need, but rather because our passionate devotion shrank from the thought of finding what we may."

The Divine made a gesture of reconciliation.

"Your loyalty is clear and deep, Tso Paik, nor has its source yet been reached," he admitted freely. "But what does the somewhat heavily scored music of your genial voice forecast?"

"That is as will presently appear," replied the other sombrely, "for since the day of your great progenitor Shan-ti (who chose self-ending in consequence of what he learned) the restraining cords have not been cut nor the wisdom of The Books displayed."

"Certainly there are strong arguments against doing anything of the sort in an idle spirit," admitted Ming Wang hastily, at the same time spilling the larger portion of his wine upon the kneeling cupbearer. "Perhaps after all--"

"The requirement has gone forth: the issue must be met," pronounced the custodian firmly. "Even the lower-class demons have their feelings in such matters." Then, raising his voice, as his especial office permitted him to do, he called for the attendance of all his satellites and for the bringing of The Books. At this unusual cry, general business of every sort was immediately suspended within the limits of the Palace walls and an interminable stream of augurs, sorcerers, diviners, astrologers, forecasters, necromancers, haruspices, magicians, incantators, soothsayers, charm-workers, illusionists, singers and dancers, thought-readers, contortionists, and the like rallied to his side, bringing with them birds, serpents, fruit, ashes, flat and rounded sticks, cords, fire, entrails, perfumed wax, salt, coloured earth, dung of the sacred apes, crystal spheres, and the other necessary utensils of their enlightened arts. So great was the press that very few ordinary persons gained admittance, and of these only the outspoken and robust. When order was restored, the splendid ceremony of Bringing in The Books was formally observed, the casket opened, and the cords released.

"Ming Wang," pronounced the one who had made himself conspicuous throughout, "this is the Wisdom of The Books and thus stands the passage on the bamboo slip to which my necessarily inspired finger has been led: 'Drought, excessive, to assuage. Should a pestilential drought continue unappeased, a palatable extract may be made of the fermented grain of rice--' "

"Tso Paik," muttered another of the Inner Council, from about his sleeve, "what the Evil Dragon has assailed your mental balance?"

"Imperishable," pleaded Tso Paik in servile confusion, "dazzled by the brilliance of your shining condescension, this illiterate person misread the initial sign and diverged to an inappropriate line. Yet his arresting finger was not deceived, for the jewelled passage that relates appears on the next slip."

"Continue, discriminating Tso Paik," said the Emperor pleasantly. "Nor suffer your finger yet to lose that selfsame place."

"Sublimity, the guidance sought is that entitled: 'Drought, caused by Good or Bad Spirits, to disperse,'" resumed Tso Paik in a less compelling voice. "Thus and thus the message is pronounced: 'He who stands between the Upper and the Lower Planes alone can intervene when the Immortals have so far declared their wrath'--there follows much of a circumlocutory nature connected wit the Inherent Principle of Equipoise, and so forth."

"That can fittingly be served for our leisurely delectation at some future date," put in the Highest. "Insert your chop-stick in the solid meat, Tso Paik. What have we got to do?"

"Putting aside these gems of philosophical profundity, Benign, the nature of your submission is neither palatable nor light." At these foreboding words a thrill of apprehension swayed the vast concourse, but it was widely noticed that the crude Tso Paik's lamentable voice took upon itself a pleasurable shade. "Decked to the likeness of a sacrificial ox, shorn both of hair and rank-denoting nails, and riding in a farmyard cart, it is your unpleasant lot to be taken to the highest point of the sacred Ia-ling range and there confess your sins to Heaven and undertake reform. When this humane sacrifice has been achieved (providing no untoward omen intervenes meanwhile) the healing rain will fall."

At the full understanding of this direful penance, an awestruck silence fell upon the throng. The first to break it was the captain of the Emperor's chosen guard, and although he was incapable of producing more than an attenuated whisper, his words expressed the thoughts of every loyal subject there.

"Sins! Who speaks of sins?" he murmured in a maze. "How can that which is not, be? The Ever-righteous has no sins!"

Never was the profundity of the All-grasping more lucidly displayed than in that exacting pause when, whatever else happened, a popular rising, in one direction or another, seemed inevitable.

"Peace, worthy Sung," he cried, in a voice that carried to the public square outside, where it was rapturously acclaimed, although at that distance it was, of course, impossible to distinguish a word he said; "restrain your generous zeal and whet your docile ears to an acuter edge. The obligation is to confess sins: not to possess them. Admittedly we have no sins, for, little as the censorious credit it, your Unapproachable is often denied what the meanest outcast in his realm can wallow in. Nothing that we may do is, or can be, wrong; but the welfare of the people is our chief concern, and to secure that end there is no catalogue of vice that we shall not cheerfully subscribe to."

So unutterable was the effect produced by this truly regal magnaminity that all who heard its terms were rendered speechless. Those outside, on the contrary, hastily assuming that Ming Wang had said all that he had intended, testified their satisfaction more joyfully than before, and loud cries of "A thousand years!" filled the air.

"In the detail of promising amendment, also, there is nothing to which the most arbitrary need take exception," continued the enlightened Monarch when his voice could once more be heard. "What, after all, is a promise of amendment but an affirmation that the one who makes it will be more worthy of homage tomorrow than today? There is nothing new about that in your Immaculate's career; every day finds him better than before."

"Your words are like a string of hanging lanterns, when the way has hitherto been dark," fervently declared an aged counsellor. "But, Pre ¨

eminence, your polished nails, your cultivated hair--!"

"It is better to lose two spans outward than one span inward," replied the practical-minded Sovereign, dropping his voice for that one's ear alone. "Yet," he continued, turning to Tso Paik again, "in one respect the limit of compliance has been reached, and he who opens a hand so freely on the right may close one as tightly on the left. 'The likeness of an ox,' is doubtless a picturesque analogy, and the similitude is not bereft of a certain massive dignity. But if at the extremity of your prolific mind, Tso Paik, you cherish the questionable ambition of displaying your confiding Ruler to a superstitious though by no means simpleminded populace, wearing horns--"

"Mirror of felicity!" protested Tso Paik, as one who is maligned; "if my crude tongue offends, let it cease. You wear a sword and my head has but a single neck."

"In our romantic land there should be room both for your tongue and my sword to move without any overlapping," reassured Ming Wang. "Proceed, in your sublime office, therefore, to the exactitude of detail, and let harmony prevail."