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 to them, so jubilant were they. "Oh, Chueh Chun, awake," they screamed. "Here is your donkey, all hearty and hale—with not so much as a yard of silk missing. What wonderful, wonderful luck."

Chueh Chun said: "I'm afraid, good gracious yes, it's very bad luck. No good can come of this. It's unfortunate as can be. Alas. Alas." Nor was he far wrong. That very morning, while ministering to a wound upon the donkey, that sinful little beast kicked with such violence as to break her master's leg. The somewhat inquisitive neighbors gathered, as bees gather to the blossoming beans. "Oh. Oh. Oh," they screamed. "What is the matter? Did the shameless donkey kick our handsome neighbor?"

"Truly, she did," laughed Chueh Chun. "So hard that I think my leg has come apart." And as he thought, so it was. He could not walk.

The neighbors redoubled their wails, asking each other, "Is not that the extreme height of ill fortune?"

"Not at all," denied old Chueh Chun,