Old Dragonbeard

”

“He is a living corpse, in whom the breath of life grows scant,” said the fan-bearer, “and we need not fear him.”

He asked her name, and she said it was Dschang, and that she was the oldest among her brothers and sisters.

And when he looked at her, and considered her courageous behavior and her sensible words, he realized that she was a girl of heroic cast, and they agreed to marry and make their escape from the city in secret. The fan-bearer put on men’s clothes, and they mounted horses and rode away. They had determined to go to Taiyuanfu.

On the following day they stopped at an inn. They had their room put in order and made a fire on the hearth to cook their meal. The fan-bearer was combing her hair. It was so long that it swept the ground, and so shining that you could see your face in it. Li Dsing had just left the room to groom the horses. Suddenly a man who had a long curling mustache like a dragon made his appearance. He came along riding on a lame mule, threw down his leather bag on the ground in front of the hearth, took a pillow, made himself comfortable on a couch, and watched the fan-bearer as she combed her hair. Li Dsing saw him and grew angry; but the fan-bearer had at once seen through the stranger. She motioned Li Dsing to control himself, quickly finished combing her hair and tied it in a knot.

Then she greeted the guest and asked his name.

He told her that he was named Dschang.

“Why, my name is also Dschang,” said she, “so we must be relatives!”

Thereupon she bowed to him as her elder brother.

“How many are there of you brothers?” she then inquired.

“I am the third,” he answered, “and you?”

“I am the oldest sister.”

“How fortunate that I should have found a sister to-day,” said the stranger, highly pleased.

Then the fan-bearer called to Li Dsing through the door and said: “Come in! I wish to present my third brother to you!”

Then Li Dsing came in and greeted him.

They sat down beside each other and the stranger asked: “What have you to eat?