named Ming-lin, falling upon his knees and knocking his head three times
on the ground, "if you would only deign to listen to your humble slave,
I would dare to suggest a great gift for which the many people of
Peking, your children, would rise up and bless you both now and in
future generations."

"Only tell me of such a gift and I will not only grant it to the
imperial city, but as a sign of thanksgiving to you for your sage
counsel I will bestow upon you the royal peacock feather."

"It is not for one of my small virtues," replied the delighted official,
"to wear the feather when others so much wiser are denied it, but if it
please your Majesty, remember that in the northern district of the city
there has been erected a bell-tower which as yet remains empty. The
people of the city need a giant bell to sound out the fleeting hours of
the day, that they may be urged on to perform their labours and not be
idle. The water-clock already marks the hours, but there is no bell to
proclaim them to the populace."

"A good suggestion in sooth," answered the Emperor, smiling, "and yet
who is there among us that has skill enough in bell-craft to do the task
you propose? I am told that to cast a bell worthy of our imperial city
requires the genius of a poet and the skill of an astronomer."

"True, most mighty one, and yet permit me to say that Kwan-yu, who so
skilfully moulded the imperial cannon, can also cast a giant bell. He
alone of all your subjects is worthy of the task, for he alone can do
it justice."

Now, the official who proposed the name of Kwan-yu to the Emperor had