Page:The jade story book; stories from the Orient (IA jadestorybooksto00cous).pdf/94

78 leaves with the eggs, so that the silkworms should have plenty of food when they should arrive. And strange to say the worms came, and throve splendidly, much to Chô's disappointment, because he was too mean to wish good-fortune to visit anyone but himself.

He took it as a personal insult that the dead eggs he had let his brother have should hatch so well, so one day, when Musai was out, he went to his home, and cut every silkworm in two.

When Musai returned, he was filled with dismay on seeing all of his silkworms killed, but he didn't think of suspecting his own brother. He had placed a good supply of mulberry leaves for them only the day before, and each piece of worm came to life, and throve.

Now he had twice as many silkworms as before, and they spun double the amount of silk that he had expected; so his brother Chô had really done him a good turn when he tried to ruin him.

Musai began to prosper, much to the disgust of Chô, who proceeded to cut all of his own silkworms in half, thinking that of