Page:Chinese Fables and Folk Stories.djvu/27

Rh hard for thirty years, but he had not gained riches. He sent Yao-Po to school and served his mother well.

One year there were great rains. The grain all died in the ground and the people of that country had nothing to eat. Yao-Moi had debts which he could not pay, and when his harvest failed he became poorer than ever before.

Then there came a great famine and twenty thousand people died in that land. Yao-Moi killed his oxen to keep his mother and brother from starving. Last of all he killed the horses and mules, for it was yet six months before the time of harvest. Each time when he would kill for meat, the neighbors would come and beg food, and because he was sorry for them, he could not refuse.

One widow came many times until she was ashamed to beg longer from the little that he had. Finally she brought a girl child to him and said, "We are again starving. I will give you this girl for some meat. She is strong and can serve your mother," But Yao-Moi said, "No, I will give you the meat. I can not take your girl from you."

So he gave her meat once more, and she took the meat home to her son. But when it was gone and they were weak and fierce again with the death hunger, the widow said, "We shall all die, unless one dies to save the others. My son can not longer walk. I will