Page:Leaves from my Chinese Scrapbook - Balfour, 1887.djvu/219

 was, indeed, no other than his fairy benefactress. Tsiu uttered a wild cry of joy and hope. "Fairy, dear fairy," he exclaimed, "if it is really you, extricate me from the dreadful position I am in!"

"Are you so very anxious to escape?" replied the girl, with a smile. Then she stretched forth her hands; and lo! the manacles with which old Tsiu was bound fell clanking to the ground. Up he sprang, and knocked his head three times upon the floor in speechless gratitude. The first thing he did when his transports of joy were over was to ask the fairy who she was. "I am the Protectress of Flowers," replied she, "at the Emerald Pool in Fairyland, where the Royal Mother reigns. I love you because you love flowers; that is the reason I have been assisting you. Now everything that has happened to you came through Destiny; it was your fate, and could not be avoided. To-morrow all your miseries will end! The Spirit of Flowers has taken a strict account of all Chang's villainies, and made a full report of them to God; and God has deprived him of the measure of his years, and is keeping great tribulation in store for his confederates. Continue the cultivation of your heart for a few years longer, and then I will visit you once more for your everlasting good."

Tsiu bowed his head again in wondering gratitude. "And what method am I to adopt," he asked, "for the cultivation of my heart?"

Then the fairy proceeded to explain how, by continuing to love and care for flowers, his heart would undergo a process of constant renovation; and how, by feeding on certain species, and drinking the dew of heaven, he would gradually bring about the sublimation of his body, and