Page:The Chinese Boy and Girl.djvu/180

Rh the 'Yellow Springs,' while all records of his departure had long since been forgotten, and he alone remained a relic of the past.

"He wandered up and down inquiring of the oldest people of all the villages, but could discover no link which bound him to the present.

"He returned to the mountain grotto, devoted himself to the study of the occult principles of the 'Old Philosopher' until the material elements of his mortal frame were gradually evaporated or sublimated, and without having passed through the change which men call death, he became an immortal spirit returning whence he came."

Just as the old woman finished this story, my teacher, who always took a nap after lunch, ascended the steps.

"Ah, the story of Wang Chih."

"Do you know any of these stories?" I asked him as I sat down beside him.

"All children learn these stories in their youth," he answered, and then as if fearing I would try to induce him to tell them to me he continued, "but nurses always tell these stories better than any one else, because they tell them so often to the children, for whom alone they were made."