Page:Leaves from my Chinese Scrapbook - Balfour, 1887.djvu/119



a dry ditch, covering it with leaves and sticks. This done, he rejoiced exceedingly. But in a short time he forgot where he had buried it; and thinking that the whole occurrence must have been a dream after all, he turned his face homeward, humming the affair over to himself. It so happened, however, that he was overheard by a passer-by; and this man, taking advantage of what the woodcutter was saying, went and found the deer, and took it. Then he went home and told his wife. " A woodman," he said, "once dreamt he got a deer, but could not remember the place where he had put it; but now I have actually found it myself, so that his dream must have been a true one." "I expect it was you who dreamt about the woodman getting the deer," replied his wife; "how can there be any woodman in the case? It is you who have actually got the deer, so it is you who have had a true dream." "If I've got the deer, what does it matter which of us has been dreaming? " retorted her husband.

Meanwhile the woodcutter went home, feeling considerably put out at the loss of his deer; and that night he had a true dream of the place where he had hidden the carcass, and of the person who had taken it. So he rose with the sun, and hastened, in accordance with his dream, to find him. The upshot was, that the affair was taken into court and argued before a magistrate, who gave the following decision:—"The plaintiff, in the first instance, really did get a deer, and then foolishly said that it was all a dream. He did really dream about the man who afterwards took possession of it, and then foolishly said that his dream was a reality. The defendant really took the deer, and now disputes its possession with the plaintiff. The defendant's wife, again, says her husband only dreamt of the man and the deer; so that, according to her, neither of them got it. However, here we have a deer before us, so I decide that it be equally divided between the contending parties."

When the affair came to the ears of the Prince of Chêng he exclaimed, "The magistrate must have dreamt the whole case himself!" Then he consulted his Prime Minister about it; but the Minister professed himself quite unable to