Page:Chinese Fables and Folk Stories.djvu/125

Rh one thought, 'I have great power; I want what you have, and I will kill you and get it for myself.'

"The snipe saw the bivalve's door open and he thought, 'What nice white meat; I will have it,' and he picked at it. The bivalve shut his doors tight and held the snipe so that he could not get away.

"And they fought; each one trying to kill the other, until the hunter came and caught them both. Then the hunter took the snipe and the bivalve home and said to his wife, 'We will have a good supper to-night.' And his wife looked and was very glad to have two such savory things at one time. The hunter said, 'Cook the bivalve well done, and we will put some Tung-Ku and Cho-Chen-Cho with it. Save the shells and put them away carefully to dry, and I will sell them to the man who makes furniture, for inlaying his tables.

"'The pearls that were in this bivalve will bring me much silver from the jeweler. I will ask my mother to come here for supper. The bivalve is enough for us all, and my mother will be glad. She has never before eaten of a bivalve.

"'The snipe, I will not kill. I will keep him to show to my son and nephew. Give him rice to eat and some