Page:The jade story book; stories from the Orient (IA jadestorybooksto00cous).pdf/229

MR. SIN, THE CARP                                213 it, then he came back. He swam to and fro, trying to avoid it, but somehow he couldn't get away from it. The demon of hunger whispered to him, "Eat it; never mind what the old carp said, he knows less than you do. If you are afraid of it, just nibble a little piece off its tail, instead of gulping it all down."

So Sin just pulled off a little piece that was wriggling about, and it tasted so good, that he couldn't resist taking the rest of it, so he greedily swallowed the whole worm.

Quickly was delight turned into pain as the hook, which was hidden in the worm, pierced the roof of his mouth. In terror he tried to swim away, but every movement added to his misery, and soon he found he was being pulled up to the surface. He struggled, but all in vain, and in spite of all he could do, he was drawn out of the water. He looked up, and to his surprise and relief, saw that his captor was one of his own servants.

He spoke to him as well as he could, and said: "Let me go, Chang; I am your master, Sin, and not a fish; take this awful hook out