Page:Strange stories from a Chinese studio.djvu/459

430 CXXXIX. THE BUTTERFLY'S REVENGE , of Ch'ang-shan, was in the habit, when a District Magistrate, of commuting the fines and penalties of the Penal Code, inflicted on the various prisoners, for a corresponding number of butterflies. These he would let go all at once in the court, rejoicing to see them fluttering hither and thither, like so many tinsel snippings borne about by the breeze. One night he dreamt that a young lady, dressed in gay-coloured clothes, appeared to him and said, “Your cruel practice has brought many of my sisters to an untimely end, and now you shall pay the penalty of thus gratifying your tastes.” The young lady then changed into a butterfly and flew away. Next day, the magistrate was sitting alone, over a cup of wine, when it was announced to him that the censor was at the door; and out he ran at once to receive His Excellency, with a white flower, that some of his women had put in his official hat, still sticking there. His Excellency was very angry at what he deemed a piece of disrespect to himself; and, after severely censuring Mr. Wang, turned round and went away. Thenceforward no more penalties were commuted for butterflies.

CXL. THE DOCTOR poor man, named Chang, who lived at I, fell in one day with a Taoist priest. The latter was highly skilled in the science of physiognomy; and, after looking at Chang's features, said to him, " You would make your fortune as a doctor." " Alas ! " replied Chang, " I can barely read and write ; how then could I follow such a calling as that?" "And where, you simple fellow," asked the priest, " is the necessity for a doctor to be a scholar ? You just try, that's all." Thereupon Chang returned home ; and, being very poor, he, simply collected a few of the commonest prescriptions, and set up a small stall with a handful of fishes' teeth and some dry honey-