Page:Leaves from my Chinese Scrapbook - Balfour, 1887.djvu/222

 gleaming group of exquisitely lovely fairies, dressed in bright parti-coloured robes. All the intruders were so dazed with their beauty that not one of them could utter a word; when suddenly a girl in a crimson robe began to speak as follows:—

"Sisters, it is now more than ten years that we have lived here in peace and happiness, thanks to the care and cultivation of good old Mr. Tsiu. Who ever imagined that this mad slave would come to suffocate us with the vulgar odour of his presence, and violate us with his venomous hands? And then he throws Mr. Tsiu into prison for being a wizard, because he is scheming to swallow up his garden! But we have now got our enemy before our eyes; what is to hinder us, sisters, from combining our strength and giving him the thrashing he deserves? Nay, it is our duty; first, out of gratitude to our old friend for his goodness; secondly, to revenge ourselves for the injuries and insults that have been heaped upon us. Is there any reason why we should refrain?"

Then all the other fairies cried with one voice, "You are right! You are right! Let us set about it at once, before any of them have time to escape." Whereupon they all pulled down their long sleeves to serve as whips, and flourished them till the cold produced was like that of a piercing wind which cuts to the very bone. By this time the intruders had taken the alarm; and with the cry, "They're devils! they're devils!" a general stampede took place, everybody looking out for himself, and forgetting all about the plates and dishes on the ground. Some tumbled over the stones; others had their faces torn and scratched by the branches of trees;