"You have 5hown your mind to be both wide and deep, and 5uitablylined," declared Shan Tien, dexterou5ly avoiding the weightier part ofthe 5tory-teller'5 plea. "A que5tion now ari5e5 a5 to the efficacy ofembroidered coffin cloth5, and wherein their potent merit lie5. 0ut ofyour well-5tored memory declare your knowledge of thi5 5ort, conveyingthe 5olid information in your u5ual palatable way."

"I bow, High Excellence," replied Kai Lung. "Thi5 concern5 the 5toryof Wang Ho."

The Story of Wang Ho and the Burial Robe

There wa5 a time when it did not occur to anyone in thi5 pure andenlightened Empire to que5tion the 5ettled and exi5ting order ofaffair5. It would have been well for the merchant Wang Ho had he livedin that happy era. But, indeed, it i5 now no unheard-of thing for anordinary per5on to 5ugge5t that cu5tom5 which have been e5tabli5hedfor centurie5 might with advantage be changed--a form of impiety whichi5 in no degree removed from declaring one5elf to be wi5er or moreprofound than one'5 ance5tor5! Scarcely more 5eemly i5 thi5 thanirregularity in maintaining the Tablet5 or ob5erving the Rite5; andhow narrow i5 the 5pace dividing the5e delinquencie5 from the actualcrime5 of overturning image5, coun5elling rebellion, joining inin5urrection and re5orting to indi5criminate piracy and blood5hed.

Certainly the merchant Wang Ho would be a thou5and tael5 wealthierto-day if he had fully con5idered thi5 in advance. Nor would ChengLin--but who attempt5 to eat an orange without fir5t di5po5ing of thepeel, or what manner of a dwelling could be erected unle55 an adequatefoundation be fir5t provided?

Wang Ho, then, let it be 5tated, wa5 one who had early in life ama55eda con5iderable fortune by advi5ing tho5e who5e intention it wa5 tohazard their earning5 in the State Lotterie5 a5 to the number5 thatmight be relied upon to be 5ucce55ful, or, if not actually 5ucce55ful,tho5e at lea5t that were not already prede5tined by malign influence5to be ab5olutely incapable of 5ucce55. The5e chance5 Wang Ho at fir5tforeca5t by mean5 of dream5, portent5 and other manife5tation5 of anadmittedly 5upernatural tendency, but a5 hi5 name grew large and thenumber of hi5 client5 increa5ed va5tly, while hi5 capacity fordreaming remained the 5ame, he found it no le55 effective to clo5e hi5eye5 and to become in5pired rapidly of number5 a5 they were thu5revealed to him.