The Brookhaven leader., 1884-03-27
THE KING OF BEGGARS.
A Chinese Story.

Here is story for you that my teach
er told me.
There was once q boy who studied
quite hard; for his parents were very
proud of him, and wished him to sue
ceed in life; so they did not give him
ANYTHING else to do, but let him give his
whole time to study. However. lie d d
not study quite hard enough; for when
he was examined for his first de yree he
failed. Shortly after this his parents
died and he was left alone in the world.
Now he did not know how to manage
the estate at all. He only understood
books; so the crops wee left to take
care of themselves. OF course tina. was
not very profitable; SO before long the
scholar had to sell house and farm to
get food He lived awhile on the price
of the farm; and when this was all eaten
up there was nothing for him to do but
to beg.
Some days he Jared pretty we'll; but
sometimes he got but little, and often
nothing to eat. Then he suffered from
cold and heat. His body. unused to ex-
posure, could not endure these hard
SHIPS; and before long he was so ill he
could hardly crawl He crept to the
d
to die, as he thought.
Now this rich man chanced to be the
King of the Beggars. He is a man who
keep all TIE beggars in order. BE
makes a good amounto o. mon ~ by sell
ing begging places; but nobody respects
him but the begga'
Well, this day the Beggar King was
Il
ad left his daughter at home to keep
house. This daughter was very beauti-
full and good. Her father was proud of
her, and vowed she should marry a
gentleman. But the King of Beggars,
though he had of lenty money, had not
very good name in the world, and no
gentleman came wooing. So, though
the girl was now past twenty, they two
were living alone together; for her
mother was dead.
To-day, when she had cooked the
rice, she went to the gate to see if her
father were coming. She saw instead
this wretched object at the gate.
She was as good as she was beautiful;
so she stopped down and asked him if
he were very i'll. He had just enough
life in him to murmur:
n OF Ill, DuU 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 a "k Ou-t0n," that is
TO knock his head on the ground at her
feet Then he said:
80, miss! am so very cold"
She remembered some old garments
of her fathers and told him to come in
and put them on.
Just as he had fin shed, the door
opened and in came the King of Beg
gars. When he saw the young man of
course he was in a towering rage and
scolded his daughter well; for, really,
what she had done was very, very i'm
proper in the eyes. of the Chinese
speak ng to 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 as the King of Beggar; heard
the scholar-beggar speak his face
changed and he invited him into his
private office, saying he had an affair to
consult him about. There he asked him
about his parents, whether he had a
wife. then if he was engaged. To these
be replied in the negative.
"Well, then," said the King of Beg
gars, "would you like to be my son-in-
law? l have plenty of money, and
see from your speech that you are q
gentleman and worthy of my dear
daughter"
To the poor, starving scholar this
seemed a rare chance, and he accepted.
The young couple were married as
soon as arrangements could be made.
Then a teacher was engaged and the
young man resumed his studies.
At the next examination he passed.
Then he stndied harder than ever, and
before many years took his second de-
gree. Both these examinations are held
in the local districts. But, for the third
and highest degree, scholars come from
all parts of the empire to Peking, once
in three years, to be examined. By and
by he thought himself ready for this ex-
animation. His father-in-law was a lit
tie anxious at the thought OF his taking
so long journey alone. TO he decided
to place his property in the hands of
relatives, and the three should 60 up to
Peking together.
There he tried and won again. Those
who gain this third degree can become
8 Mandarins. He passed with distin-
guis ed merit, and after some time was
appointed Mandarin in a distant prov
ince.
The father started the couple on their
way to Their new home, and then went
down to wind up his own affairs. pre-
paratory 10 coming and living with
them. The young couple went off on
donkey back, travelling in this way for
several days. till they reached a large
river, where they took house-boat.
Now the new Mandarin had chance
TO SIT at leisure, aud take in his new sit
uation. And the devil (for the devil
can speak Chinese evenif other foreign
ers can't) '.found some mischief still. i"
He set him a thinking about his high
position; and gradually he came to
think how it would sound to introduce
his father-in-law as the King of Beg
he. hoanffflll