Page:Gems of Chinese literature (1922).djvu/240

 night in his clothes. At cock-crow he jumps up, performs his toilette, and gallops off and knocks at the entrance gate. “Who’s there?” shouts the porter angrily; and when he explains, the porter gets still more angry and begins to abuse him, saying, “You are in a fine hurry, you are! Do you think my master sees people at this hour?” Then is the visitor shamed, but has to swallow his wrath and try to persuade the porter to let him in. And the porter, another fee to the good, gets up and lets him in; and then he waits again in the stable as before, until perhaps the great man comes out and summons him to an audience.