When the sailor awoke the next morning he found the old bonze still at it,—"o-mi-tu-fuh, o-mi-tu-fuh!" and he kept it up all day, repeating the words in a mechanical sort of manner, which at times greatly irritated his companion.
About ten o'clock a woman came, and asked what she should do to obtain luck.
"Bring a dish of boiled rice and some tea, and place them in the road before my cell, as an offering to the evil spirits. Do this daily for a week."
When she had departed another arrived, and the sailor amused himself, and improved his knowledge of the language by listening to their wants. At last one came whose story caused the man to be all ears. It was A-tae's mother, who thus detailed her daughter's symptoms.
"She has devils in her brain, who speak for her, and I fear she will die."
Nan-woo, who had great faith in a youthful constitution, gave the afflicted mother two slips of bamboo, upon one of which was written, "Decline present benefit, and receive greater reward in future," while the other ran as follows; "Ten thousand devils are not as tormenting as a bad heart."
A-tae's mamma read these, and accepted them as the words of an oracle, of course torturing their meaning to suit her daughter's case.
"When A-tae gets well, what shall she do?"
"Bring me every morning, for one month, a basket of fruit and some young tea, then I will assure her perfect health."