Page:Chinese Fables and Folk Stories.djvu/176

172 make money? How can you make money without money? Siang-Sze is a long way off and it will cost you much to go there. Then you will need more to be a merchant."

Kong-Hwa said, "Give me enough to reach Siang-Sze and I will go." He insisted until his father beat him and said, "Now go back to school. I will hear no more of this."

Kong-Hwa was keen and determined. He borrowed money, quietly, a little here and a little there, and then he ran away to Siang-Sze.

For many days his mother tried to find him. She did not think he would go far by himself. Finally she learned that he had gone to Siang-Sze and gave up searching for him.

Nine years had gone by when a man from Siang-Sze told of seeing Kong-Hwa there. His parents wrote to him, but no answer came. Thirteen years passed by and they thought, "We shall never see his face again."

One day Kong-Hwa, who still lived in Siang-Sze, said to a friend, "I must go home now, if I can get money enough. I have learned some life lessons and now I am going."

His friend said, "We have good times in Siang-Sze. Why do you leave?"