Page:Chinese Fables and Folk Stories.djvu/164

160 of the great Kwung-Lun. And the eagles and the San-Chi birds live always with him.

One day Kwung-Lun spoke to the Tai-San Mountain who lived near, and said, "I am the highest mountain in the world. I am the steepest and most honorable of all the mountains here. The farmers come to me; from the morning until the evening sun they come and cut the great rocks from my base. And from the earliest light, until the darkness gathers about my head, the birds sing for me. I have the San-Chi birds. They wear the most beautiful feather in the world. It shines in the sun and has a different glory for the moon. Man gives more gold for this than for any other feather that is on the earth. The San-Chi is mine. I feed him and he lives always with me.

"Yesterday, a teacher and his scholars came here and I heard him tell them this story about Confucius:—" 'One day, Confucius was talking to the young King Loa-Bai, and he asked the king, "Have you ever been to the Kwung-Lun Mountain?" And the