Page:Chinese Fables and Folk Stories.djvu/142

138 In a little time the stomach wanted food and said to the hands, "Give me a piece of fish, some rice, and a cup of tea." The hands were quiet and said nothing.

Then the stomach said to the feet, "Will you go out and have Men-Yen bring me a bowl of chop-suey-meen? I am hungry."

The feet answered, "No, sir, we will not work for you any more." And they lay down.

The stomach cried for food, but all said, "We do not care; we will not work for him."

After a while the eyes found they could not see well; and in the theater hall next door the drums drummed hard, but the ears could not hear. The heart-judge said, "How is it now with the stomach?" The brain answered, "We are not working for him, nor helping him any more, and I believe he is going to die. I fear that I, too, will die and that all the others will die. I do not believe we have done right in deserting the stomach. Do you not think it best to tell the feet to go out and bring the stomach some chop-suey-meen? If he had that, he might help us again. We shall all surely die unless we have his aid."

But the unwise judge said, "Let him get his own food; let him do his work for himself."

"He can not do that," said the brain. "He lives in