Then they told her what they had seen, and at last it was plain to the
beautiful woman that, after all these years, Fox Sprite had left her
body. She was herself once more. For a long time she could not make the
people believe her story; they all said that she must have lost her
mind; that the gods had saved her life, but had punished her for her
wickedness by taking away her reason.

But that night, when her maids were undressing her in the palace, they
saw her feet, which had once more become their natural size, and then
they knew she had been telling the truth.

How Ta-ki became the wife of a good nobleman who had long admired her
great beauty is much too long a story to be told here. Of one thing,
however, we are certain, that she lived long and was happy ever
afterwards.




THE TALKING FISH

[Illustration]


Long, long before your great-grandfather was born there lived in the
village of Everlasting Happiness two men called Li and Sing. Now, these
two men were close friends, living together in the same house. Before
settling down in the village of Everlasting Happiness they had ruled as
high officials for more than twenty years. They had often treated the
people very harshly, so that everybody, old and young, disliked and