Many stories for this superstition, none of true but all more or less interesting. One of them relaces that in the distant past a certain official held office in Huchow. Near mi tone evening he was returning oficial boat from without the city. He had gone to the front of the boat just as it was entering one of the farchways of the Chao-ying bri when by some mischance stumbled and fell overboard. able to swim he sank in the canal and drowned. A" "beh-yui-cising" (a fish-demon of a sort) noti the dead body maliciously or mischievously determined to make use of it. He therefore reanimated the body with his own. spirit, and swimming to the surface' soon climbed into the boat where he was joyfully received by the boatmen as their master and congratulated upon his escape.
Arriving at the official residence 4 the bogus. mandarin welcomed by the tai-tai as usual. The next he sent for a number of muters, Whom he set to. Work courtyard on the building, Before this building, along air, was completed From this time on it was noticed Wrong Jdecided to make a. personal. investigation. Accordingly one day when the lao-vie had gone into the Duilding she stealthily approached it, and after finding a crack placed and gazed within. No human being was to be seen, but there were several large tanks filled with water, and in one of them was an immense splashing the water over the sides and frequently leaping from one tank to another. Bewildered and terrified at what she had seen the lady hastened back to her apartments, What was the this? What ought she to do? After much considerat she wrote a letter to her father, who held an official position in another city, and sent it to him by private messenger. In due time came van answer stating that a feelebrated Taoist priest possessed lof great magic powers would before Tong be in Huchorr to look into the ease of the suspiciously erratic mandarin, An Indefinite Promise At last the priest came and mak. ing himself known to. the tai-tai began his arrangements, Taking advantage of the siesta the lao-vie ko had the servants empty of water every receptacle in the entire establishment. Then
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.