Page:Mrs. Spring Fragrance - Far - 1912.djvu/358

 mother. She raised her voice, for she wished Choy, her Orchid Flower, also to hear the story.

"Once upon a time, there was a big family of crocodiles that lived in a Rippling River by a beach whose sands were of gold. The young crocodiles had a merry life of it, and their father and mother were very good and kind to them. But one day, the young crocodiles wanted to climb a hill back of the beach of golden sand, and the parents, knowing that their children would perish if allowed to have their way, told them: 'Nay, nay.'

"The young crocodiles thereupon scooped a large hole in the sand and lay down therein. For half a moon they lived there, without food or drink, and when their parents cried to them to come out and sport as before in the Rippling River, they paid no attention whatever, so sadly sulky their mood.

"One day there came along a number of powerful beings, who, when they saw the golden sands of the Rippling River, exclaimed: 'How gloriously illuminating is this beach! Let us build a pagoda thereon.' They saw the hole which the young crocodiles had made, but they could not see the hole-makers at the bottom thereof. So they set to work and filled the hole, and on top thereof they built