Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-04-04

ing to his father, the king, saw a
duck, all of gold, swimming, and"
"Kjing-kjang-king, are you telling
the truth? Let me see your tongue!"
Hsu-sing again interrupted
And he once more nodded his head
and obediently put out his tongue, and
fortunately not the least sign of a
blister were there to be seen. The
duck of pure gold had therefore really
been swimming on the pond belonging
to the king. whose sons name was
only Pi, and the tale could once more
be continued.
"And said to the prince: Dear
Prince PIT"
Gould the duck speak?" asked Hsu-
sing. doubtingly.
Yes, Princess, for it was a magic
duck" answered the StoryTeller-in
Chief
But alas! his good fortune was not
destined to last long, for one fine day a
little blister really appeared on King
Kjang- Kings tongue, it is not known
whether from lying or from eating
some rice pudding too hot, but at any
rate the blister appeared. And as it
was the very day on which he told the
Princess that most wonderful tale
lived in the tail of the
tomcat Mi-au, which had a tail so
lon~ that it could be wound around the
cats body seventeen times and still
leave enough for a big bow to be tied
at the neck. which caused that wisest
of little bodies. Princess Hsu-sing. to
remark: king KjangK King, are you
telling the truth? Just let ME see your
tongue"
The unfortunate Chinaman only just
showed the tip Of his tongue, but the
little Princess, whose sight was excel
lent. could not be deceived. and there
fore at once discovered the little
blister.
Mercy. mercy! Most merciful prin-
cess!' moaned our unhappy friend. IT
is true that Mi-au could only wind his
tail around his body twice, but
"Oh! YOU good for nothing fibber!'
angrily and crying with vexation.
Then you have lied fifteen times
about it shall tell my papa!" And
in another moment she had buckled on
her pink silk balloon and held down
to the throne Of the Emperor, to whom
she related the whole story.
OF course the Emperor was very
angry. for clearly was it not contempt
of royalty to try to make royal
princess believe that there was q TOM
cat in existence who had tail which
was even longer than the most august
nietail of the Emperor? BY the lat
ter's order King changing was at
once seized and roasted on the spot
until he was nice brown color Then
he was put into a mortar where he
was made into powder and was
thoroughly mixed up with clay, to
which water had been added where
upon it was kneaded into a dough.
This resembled his former self as
much as one pea does another. The
whole mass was, then put into mod
crate oven, remaining in it just long
enough for the steam to evaporate,
when it was again put into a hotter
oven. painted with lifelike colors and
again left lone enough to become wa
terproof Now came the last process.
This consisted in being glazed and
then once more subjected to the heat
of a still hotter oven than the two pre-
ceding ones had been, and here. you
may be sure, he was completely cured
OF any lying habits. After being
further improved by being made to
nod his head and stick out his tongue.
Mr.. Chinaman was brought to the
bric-a- brac store to be sold. A foreign
merchant here saw him and bought
him to bring home a s verv wonderful
curiosity. So now you know how he
happened to be standing on the corner
shelf in the parlOr.