Arkansas weekly mansion., 1884-03-22
THE KING OF BEGGARS.
A Chinese story.

Huitt Hoiu- 1oI IL IstltnlS "tIc NtT'
proEd of him, AMI wished him to sue
ceed in life; so they did not give hin
anything else to do. but let him give hi
whole time to study. However, lie dc
not study quite hard enough: for wher
he was examined for his first Ge srce h,
failed Shortly after this his parent
died and he was left alone in the world
Now he did not know how t. manag,
the e-tate at all. He only understoo,
books; SO The crops W. left to tak'
care of themselves. Of course thai wa
not very profitable; so before long the
scholar had to sell house and farm tC
get food. He lived awhile on the price
of the farm: and when this was all eater
up there was nothing for him to do bu
to beg
Some days he fared pretty we'll; tu
sometimes he got but little, and Otter
nothing To eat. Then he suffered from
cold and heat. His body. unused to ex
posurc, could not endure these hard
ships and before lonr he was so i'll h,
could hardly crawl. He crcpt to the
gate of rich man. and lay down there
to die, as he thought
Now this r.ch man CHANGED to be the
King of the Beggars- He is a man who
is commissioned by the Emperor to
makes Il goC amount ~ mon " by sell
ing begging places; but nobody respects
him but the beg@a.s.
v ell this day the Beggar King was
gone out to- look after his army, and
j al left his daughter ut home to keep
house This daughter was very beautl-
full and good Her father was proud OF
her, and vowed she should marry 4
gentleman But the King of Re@gars.
though he had of l-nty money, had not
a very good name in the world, and no
gentleman came a wooing. So, though
the girl was now past twenty, they two
We're living alone together; for her
mother was dead.
To-day, when she had cooked the
rice, she won't to the gate to see if her
father were coming. She saw instead
this wretchcd object at the gate.
She was as good as she was beautiful:
so she stopped down and asked r. :, ,r
lie nau Just enough
life in him to mur nur:
Not i'll, but starving"
She ran quickly into the house, took
up her own bowl of rice, brought it out,
and fed him with her own chop-sticks.
He gained strength enough TO thank
her and give her n -; OH-i0n.' that Is
to knock his head on the ground at her
feet. Then he said:
80, miss, | am so very cold
She remembe ed some old garments
of her fathers and told him to come in
and put them on
just as he had finished, the door
opened and in came the King of Beg
pnrs. When he saw the Young man of
course he was in a towering rage and
scolded his daughter we'll; for, really.
hnI
proper in the ewes of the Chinese
speaking To a young man. When the
storm was somewhat abated the girl
told him some of the circumstances. and
the young man spoke a few words of
apology.
AS soon rs the King of Be@garS heard
the scholar-beggar speak his face
changed and he invited him into his
private office, saying he had an affair to
consult him aboutE. There he asked him
about his parents whether he had Il
wife, then if he was engaged. TO these
he replied in the negative.
"N ell. then," said the King of Beg
gars, ..would you like to be my son-in-
law? | have plenty of money, and |
see from your speech that You are :,
gentleman and worthy of my dear
daughter
To the poor. starving scholar this
seemed Il rare chance, and he accepted
The young couple were married rs
soon as arrangements could be made
Then 4 teacher was engaged and The
Young man resumed his studies.
AT the next examination he passed
Then he studied harder than ever, an
before many years took his second de-
gree. Both THESE examinations are held
in the local di-tricts. But, for the third
and highest degree, scholars GONE from
all parts of the empire to fckln :, once
in three wears, to be examined. BY AND
by he thought himself ready for this cN
animation. His fathcr-in-l.w was Il t
tie anxious ut the thought OF his tax n2
so long Journey alone. 30 he decide,
to place his property in the hands o
relatives, and the three shoulu 90 up Il
Peking together
There he tried and won again. Thos,
who gain This third degree can become
MandarinS. He passed with dis,in
guis ed merit, and after some time Wa
appointed Mandarin in I dStant prov
incc.
The fathec started the couple on thci
way to the new h me, and then wen
down to wind up his own affairs, pre-
paratory to coming and living will
tueHl uS ' N'"pi' '>HN -. -
donkey back, travelling in this way fn
several days, till they reached a iarg'
river. where they took house-bJat-
Now the new Mandarin had chance
to SIT AT leisure. and take in his new sit
uaiion And the devil for the dcvi
can speak Chinese even il other foreign
ers Can'D found some mischi still
He set him a thinking about his hgl
position; and gradually he came T.
think how it would sound to introduce
his father-in-law As the King of Beg
pars. His wife. too; she was beautiful
true; but then she was the daughter O
the King of Beggars. That was to-
shameful. So he. forgot how much h
owed to both of these. who loved hin
SO much, and thought only of contriv
ing some way to get rid of them:
One night, when all on board wer
fast in drunken sleep, the Mandarin
walked the deck alone in the moon
light. All ut once the solution present
ed itself to him. He went down TO hi
wife.
..Come upr' he said. 1.-The moon
lipht is too beautiful TO be wasted
He led her to the dark side of tn
boat
There he SAID. ''just lean over an
see the reflection of the stars in the ws
ter "
She leaned far over the edge OF th
boat. He did 1t almost before he ha
time to think. There was splash; BIT
no one woke. The river was deep.
There - said he That is the las
Of the daughter of the King of Beg
gars."
Then he drew sigh of relief. an
went and called the sailors from tLel
drunken sleep. he was anxious to &c
away from the SPOT.