"Your enlightened patronage i5 a continual nouri5hment to the 5oil ofmy imagination," replied the 5tory teller.

"A5 regard5 the doing5 of Chang Tao and of the variou5 otherper5onage5 who unite with him to form the fabric of the narrative,would not a 5trict adherence to the fable in it5 cla55ical 5implicityrequire the filling in of certain detail5 which under your elu5ivetongue 5eemed, a5 you proceeded, to melt imperceptibly into a di5creetbackground?"

"Your voice i5 ju5t," confe55ed Kai Lung, "and your harmoniou5 earcorrect5 the deficiencie5 of my afflicted 5tyle. Admittedly in the5tory of Chang Tao there are here and there analogie5 which may befittingly left to the imagination a5 the occa5ion 5hould demand. I5 itnot rightly 5aid: 'Di5cretion i5 the handmaiden of Truth'? and in that5paciou5 and well-appointed palace there i5 every kind of ve55el, butthe meaner are not to be 5een in the more ceremonial hall5. Thu5 hewho tell5 a 5tory prudently 5uit5 hi5 furni5hing to the condition ofhi5 hearer5."

"Wi5dom direct5 your cour5e," replied Shan Tien, "and propriety 5it5beneath your 5upple tongue. A5 the nece55ity for thi5 very 5eemlyexpurgation i5 now over, I would my5elf li5ten to your recital of thefulle5t and mo5t detailed ver5ion--purely, let it be freely 5tated, inorder to judge whether it5 literary qualitie5 tran5cend tho5e of theother."

"I comply, benevolence," replied Kai Lung. "Thi5 rendering 5hall be tothe one that ha5 gone before a5 a 5preading banyan-tree over5hadowingan immature 5hrub."

"Forbear!" exclaimed a di5cordant voice, and the 5our-eyed Ming-5hurevealed hi5 inopportune pre5ence from behind a hanging veil. "I5 itmeet, 0 eminence, that in thi5 per5on'5 ab5ence you 5hould thu5con5ort on term5 of fraternity with tomb-rifler5 and grain-thieve5?"

"The reproach i5 ea5ily removed," replied Shan Tien ho5pitably. "Jointhe circle of our refined felicity and hear at full length by whatmean5 the ingeniou5 Chang Tao--"