Page:The jade story book; stories from the Orient (IA jadestorybooksto00cous).pdf/80

64 of the month came, he had a guard of many thousands of warriors stationed all around the house, and also on the roof, for it was his intention to make prisoners of the envoys of the moon, and to prevent the taking away of the Princess, whom the bamboo-cutter and his wife had hidden in an inner room.

Orders were given that no one should sleep, and the strictest watch was to be kept. But the Princess said that all of these measures were useless, for nothing could prevent her people from carrying out their purpose. She told the bamboo-cutter and his wife how very sorry she would be to leave them, and that it was not her wish to leave them. It made her sad to think that she would not be able to make a return for all the love and kindness they had shown her.

The harvest moon arose, and flooded the earth with her beautiful golden light, and still nothing happened. The darkness of night had begun to make way for the gray dawn, and hope came to the anxious watchers; hope that the Princess would not be taken away after all. Then suddenly a dark cloud