Page:The jade story book; stories from the Orient (IA jadestorybooksto00cous).pdf/361

Rh away, but she knew it would not be safe to do that if the red cord had really been tied to his foot and Yun-Ying's, so she asked him to come inside, and they would talk it over.

"Now," said she, "on this stool I pound magic drugs given to me by the Genii, but my pestle and mortar is broken, and I want a new one."

"That I can easily buy in Chang-ngan," replied Pei-Hang.

"No, you cannot," said the old woman, "because it is a pestle and mortar of jade, and you can only get another one from the home of the Genii, which is on a mountain above the Lake of Gems. If you will do that, and bring it back to me, you shall marry Yun-Ying."

"I will do that, but I must see my parents first," said Pei-Yang.

He had no idea where the home of the Genii was, but Yun-Ying took him out into the garden, and showed him, in the far distance, a range of snow-capped mountains, with one peak towering above all the others.

"That is Mount Sumi," she said, "and it is there the Genii live, sitting on the snow