🧚 Opening, part 23

At first they said they could do nothing for him and told him to go away and not disturb them; but Wang Chih would not go, and they found the only way to get rid of him was to give him some really good advice.1

“You must go to the White Hare of the Moon, and ask him for a bottle of the elixir of life.2 If you drink that you will live forever,” said one of them.3

“But I don’t want to live forever,” objected Wang Chih.4 “I wish to go back and live in the days when my wife and children were here.”5

“Ah, well!6 For that you must mix the elixir of life with some water out of the sky-dragon’s mouth.”7

“And where is the sky-dragon to be found?” inquired Wang Chih.8

“In the sky, of course.9 You really ask very stupid questions.10 He lives in a cloud-cave.11 And when he comes out of it he breathes fire, and sometimes water.12 If he is breathing fire you will be burned up, but if it is only water, you will easily be able to catch some in a little bottle.13 What else do you want?”14

For Wang Chih still lingered at the mouth of the cave.15

“I want a pair of wings to fly with, and a bottle to catch the water in,” he replied boldly.16

So they gave him a little bottle and before he had time to say “Thank you!” a white crane came sailing past and lighted on the ground close to the cave.17

“The crane will take you wherever you like,” said the old men.18 “Go now, and leave us in peace.”19

So Wang Chih sat on the white crane’s back, and was taken up and up through the sky to the cloud-cave where the sky-dragon lived.20 And the dragon had the head of a camel, the horns of a deer, the eyes of a rabbit, the ears of a cow, and the claws of a hawk.21

Besides this, he had whiskers and a beard, and in his beard was a bright pearl.22

All these things show that he was a real, genuine dragon, and if you ever meet a dragon who is not exactly like this, you will know he is only a make-believe one.23

Wang Chih felt rather frightened when he perceived the cave in the distance, and if it had not been for the thought of seeing his wife again, and his little boy and girl, he would have been glad to turn back.24

While he was far away the cloud-cave looked like a dark hole in the midst of a soft woolly mass, such as one sees in the sky on an April day; but as he came nearer he found the cloud was as hard as a rock, and covered with a kind of dry, white grass.25

When he got there, he sat down on a tuft of grass near the cave, and considered what he should do next.26

The first thing was, of course, to bring the dragon out, and the next to make him breathe water instead of fire.27

“I have it!” cried Wang Chih at last; and he nodded his head so many times that the little white crane expected to see it fall off.28

He struck a light, and set the grass on fire, and it was so dry that the flames spread all around the entrance to the cave, and made such a smoke and crackling that the sky-dragon put his head out to see what was the matter.29

“Ho!30 Ho!” cried the dragon, when he saw what Wang Chih had done, “I can soon put this to rights.”31 And he breathed once, and the water came out of his nose and mouth in three streams.32

But this was not enough to put the fire out.33 Then he breathed twice, and the water came out in three mighty rivers, and Wang Chih, who had taken care to fill his bottle when the first stream began to flow, sailed away on the white crane’s back as fast as he could go, to escape being drowned.34

The rivers poured over the cloud rock, until there was not a spark left alight, and rushed down through the sky into the sea below.35

Fortunately, the sea lay right underneath the dragon’s cave, or he would have done some nice mischief.36 As it was, the people on the coast looked out across the water toward Japan, and saw three inky-black clouds stretching from the sky into the sea.37

“My word!38 There is a fine rain-storm out at sea!” they said to each other.39

But, of course, it was nothing of the kind; it was only the sky-dragon putting out the fire Wang Chih had kindled.40

Meanwhile, Wang Chih was on his way to the moon, and when he got there he went straight to the hut where the Hare of the Moon lived, and knocked at the door.41

The Hare was busy pounding the drugs which make up the elixir of life; but he left his work, opened the door, and invited Wang Chih to come in.42

He was not ugly, like the dragon; his fur was quite white and soft and glossy, and he had lovely, gentle brown eyes.43

The Hare of the Moon lives a thousand years, as you know, and when he is five hundred years old he changes his color from brown to white, and becomes, if possible, better tempered and nicer than he was before.44

As soon as he heard what Wang Chih wanted, he opened two windows at the back of the hut, and told him to look through each of them in turn.45

“Tell me what you see,” said the Hare, going back to the table where he was pounding the drugs.46

“I can see a great many houses and people,” said Wang Chih, “and streets—why, this is the town I was in yesterday, the one which has taken the place of my old village.”47

Wang Chih stared, and grew more and more puzzled.48 Here he was up in the moon, and yet he could have thrown a stone into the busy street of the Chinese town below his window.49

“How does it come here,” he stammered, at last.50

“Oh, that is my secret,” replied the wise old Hare.51 “I know how to do a great many things which would surprise you.52 But the question is, do you want to go back there?”53

Wang Chih shook his head.54

“Then close the window.55 It is the window of the Present.56 And look through the other, which is the window of the Past.”57

Wang Chih obeyed, and through this window he saw his own dear little village, and his wife, and Han Chung and Ho-Seen-Ko jumping about her as she hung up the colored lanterns outside the door.58

“Father won’t be in time to light them for us, after all,” Han Chung was saying.59

Wang Chih turned, and looked eagerly at the White Hare.60

“Let me go to them,” he said.61 “I have got a bottle of water from the sky-dragon’s mouth, and——”62

“That’s all right,” said the White Hare.63 “Give it to me.”64

He opened the bottle, and mixed the contents carefully with a few drops of the elixir of life, which was clear as crystal, and of which each drop shone like a diamond as he poured it in.65

“Now, drink this,” he said to Wang Chih, “and it will give you the power of living once more in the past, as you desire.”66

Wang Chih held out his hand, and drank every drop.67

The moment he had done so the window grew larger, and he saw some steps leading from it down into the village street.68