The author tells us the origin of the mysterious stone that was sent forth on its pilgrimage through the dusty. world by its incarnation in.the person of the hero of this italo. A Chinese legend states that at the creation. there was a gap in the-heavens in the north-east arf }a.similar deficiency in: the earth in the south-west. Nu-wa, the first woman, (Eve) "attempted to patch the gap. in the heavens. The - do this she eollected—according to this! book-36,501. pieces. of.stone, each, 120 feet: high..and 240 feet broad. Of these she used-36,500 pieces and the odd one was the.stone which the. builder: rejected. It was this stone that became a man whose history is related: in the-story.
The symbolism underlying this legend is not explained but it adds dead. tothe. piquancy-of the tale if it is understood..-Pirst, then, heaven leated by the one that is plus. 120 minus: its cipher is 12, "the number Jof the months, and 240 without the leypher is the 24 solar terms. The Jsummer and winter solstices, the spring and autumn equinoxes, etc. The stone is man, the numbers time, The author is telling us the story, of man as he progresses from the Jeradie to the grave, from the unreal world to the real that lies beyond. Man, as we know him is of the earth earthy, but he was destin. ed for heaven.' Unfortunately he /was: the odd stone.
He was rejected get {from heaven and so: must wander through the days and months and years, all his appointed time till, Jat last, he disappears, as did the hero of this story and the place that once knew him then knows him no
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.