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Rh giving vent to a single sound. The devils themselves were amazed at his obstinacy, and so eventually they flew back again with Tu Tzuchun to the palace of Senlotien. Prostrating themselves as before at the foot of his throne they related all that had happened.

“This sinner never utters a single sound, yet we have put him through every kind of torture.”

Yama thought for a while, and frowned, but presently he hit upon an idea.

“This fellow’s parents, I remember, are living among the animals of Jigoku. Bring them here at once.”

One of the devils who had heard the king’s command instantly flew up into the sky, and came back as a meteor shining through the darkness, and with him he brought the two animals. Upon seeing these animals Tu Tzuchun was very amazed, for they were none other than his own parents. Though their bodies were those of starved-looking horses, they had the faces of his deceased parents.

“Why were you sitting on the top of the mountains of Emeishan? If you do not answer at once, I will put your parents to the torture instead of you.”

Tu Tzuchun did not make any answer to this threat.

“You undutiful wretch! You think, then, that all is well so long as you are happy and unharmed. You do not mind if your parents suffer?”

Then Yama, with a voice so loud and fierce that it shook the very foundations of the palace, cried: