Page:Shen of the Sea.pdf/171

 "Oh, I am glad to see that you do not weep like the others. Are you a princess from the earth, or from chin hsing (venus)?"

"From the earth," replied Ting Tsun, but he forgot to gentle his voice. The Moon Maiden shrank back.

"You are not a princess," she accused.

"No, I am not a princess. These garments are a deceit. I was Prince Ting Tsun, when upon the earth. Now, I am Chang Pan—your slave."

The Moon Maiden was quickly reassured and entered into talk with Ting Tsun, or humble Chang Pan, as he then called himself. She told the prince that she had lived with her parents on the far side of the moon—until the dragons came. Now she had no parents. And when the feast season of Brightest Light arrived the dragon King (Chao Ya, his name) would make her his bride. She knew the number of dragons—twenty-eight, one for each night in the month, and there was never more than one home at a given time. They could be slain only with the dragon King's sword—a weapon that