The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-01-25
LUNG HIS GRANDFATHER.
A True Story Told to Consul Bedloe
Lung HI Himself.

bSOlOc, consul 10 annoy, DY MS sam
panman. Though it was told
the doctor in pidgin English its
rendition into purer tone and
classic phrase has taken from it
naught Of truth nor added aught OF
falsehood. BY the souls of the ances-
tors Of Lung Hi, the sampanman, it is
a true tale. and let no man deny it lest
his entrails groan with pain. The sam
panman told it as he sat on the veranda
near the doctors feet one day after
tiffin. He smoked bit of the doctors
good Virginia bright tobacco in pipe
with bowl no bigger than a pea. The
doctor had thrown stone at passing
dog which had shown disposition to
intrude on the porch, and repealed him
with harsh epithets. Lung Hi had
rowed the doctor a good ten miles that
day and was philosophical.
Zone cannot be too careful what one
does or says to an animal" observed
Lung Hi ut possesses the intelligence
of the soul it contains, and may be the
soul of ones grandfather or some other
near relative who should be treated
with respect
Lung Hi drew full breath of smoke
and craftily waited. The doctor
dropped his tobacco pouch near the
sampanman; teaspoonful spilled upon
the spotlessly clean floor of the
veranda. Lung Hi handed back the
pouch and swept the spilled portion
skillfully into his pipe, relit it and con-
tinued:
81 speak thus to the wonderful chin.
thing which happened in my own fam
lily and which 1 shall never forget.
My grandfather was poor coolie and
worked for day wage. But he was am
bilious and wished to rise above his
caste. He earned eight cents a day,
two cents he spent for living and the
other six he saved, until at the end of
the year he had saved SEQ. With that
he bought a sampan and joined the
guild of sampanmen. At this trade he
prospered, and in time bought other
sampans and hired men to row them.
So in time my grandfather became a
very rich man, and when he died he
was the richest man in my native viii
lage-richer than any other two men
in the place. His body was cremated
and his ashes placed in an urn and put
on shelf in my fathers house, where
they remained many years, until after
] was born.
81 remember the urn well. One day
a careless servant in cleaning the room
knocked the urn to the floor and it
broke, scattering my grandfather
ashes all over the room. AS they were
being swept up tiny baby serpent
wriggled out from among them. and
we knew at once that it held my grand
fathers soul. So we put it in box
and fed it daily on new milk, and as it
grew larger on mice and small birds,
until in about a year my grandfather
had become a fine large snake, six feet
long and three inches thick
about that time my mother gave
birth to fine man child. 1t was
splendid baby, and the whole village
sung its praises. My little brother
grew fat and handsome, but in a few
months it sickened, became pale and
thin, and we could not see what was
the matter with it. Finally my father
went to a clairvoyant, who consulted
the stars and the rocks, and said that
vampire came at night and was suck
ing my little brothers life away, and
that he must sit up and beat him off.
$50 that night my father sat in my
mothers room all night long, but moth
ing came: nor was there anything the
next night, but the night following, as
my father sat on the floor half awake
and half asleep, he heard sound which
filed him with terror, but he remained
very quiet and opened one eye slowly.
To his horror he saw my grandfather
wriggle stealthily across the floor,
crawl into my mothers bed, and fasten
his mouth upon her breast. She slept
soundly while the snake drew her milk
In few minutes my little brother be.
gan to whine and rolled toward my
mother. My grandfather coiled his
body around my brother and put the
tip of his tail in my little brothers
mouth to suck while he drew the sus-
tenance which belonged to the child.
After he had filed his stomach he
glided away.
MY father had sat perfectly silent,
but in the morning family council of
war was held and my grandfather was
condemned to death. He was executed
with an AK, his body was thrown to
the pig, and his head was nailed to the
outer wall of the temple, where it
still is"
This was the tale of Lung Hi, the
sampanman. told TO DR.. Bedloe. consul
to Annoy Washington Post