Page:Chinese Merry Tales (1909).djvu/67

53] opinions widely differed, and they could not come to a decision. There was a wood gatherer among the crowd, who said: "I can explain it. As to the distance of the sky from the earth it is about 300 or 400 li. Going from below, walking slowly, it could be reached in four days. If one walks fast, it could be done in three days. In six or seven days, the return journey could be made with time to spare. Why do you all dispute about this and cannot come to a conclusion?" Those who heard what he said were surprised, and they asked him: "According to what you have said, what proof have you?" The wood-gatherer replied: "Do you not all know that on the 23rd of the 12th moon it is customary for every family to worship the God of the Kitchen and send him to heaven. On that day he goes up to heaven and on the 30th we receive him back. From the 23rd to 30th is but seven days. Calculating one-half of the way, it is only 300 or 400 li distant. It is not very far." When they heard his manner of calculation, they could not help laughing heartily. "What you have stated is quite correct, and you are an able debater," they said.

Chapter XCIII.— Dead by Mistake, (^ H y J^.) (TTTHERE was a man, whose mother-in-law had died, who requested a school master to write a posthumous address. The teacher found an old book of miscellaneous literature and copied one page from it. It was a posthumous address to a grandfather-in-law that he gave him. When the man took it over and read it, he said: "It is wrong."

When the teacher heard that it was wrong, he became very angry, and said: "I tell you that posthumous address was copied from a book. There cannot be a single mistake in it, unless the wrong person has died."