“I now plainly recognize the futility of my well-intentioned quest. Obviously it is impossible to kill a dragon, and I am thus the sport either of Melodious Vision’s deliberate ridicule or of my own ill-arranged presumption.”
“Set your mind at rest upon that score: each blow was competently struck and convincingly fatal. You may quite fittingly claim to have slain half a dozen dragons at the least—none of the legendary champions of the past has done more.”
“Yet how can so arrogant a claim be held, seeing that you stand before me in the unimpaired state of an ordinary existence?”
“The explanation is simple and assuring. It is, in reality, very easy to kill a dragon, but it is impossible to keep him dead. The reason for this is that the Five Essential Constituents of fire, water, earth, wood and metal are blended in our bodies in the Sublime or Indivisible proportion. Thus although it is not difficult by extreme violence to disturb the harmonious balance of the Constituents, and so bring about the effect of no-existence, they at once re-tranquillize again, and all effect of the ill usage is spontaneously repaired.”
“That is certainly a logical solution, but it stands in doubtful stead when applied to the familiar requirements of life; nor is it probable that one so acute-witted as Melodious Vision would greet the claim with an acquiescent face,” replied Chang Tao. “Not unnaturally is it said: ‘He who kills tigers does not wear rat-skin sleeves.’ It would be one thing to make a boast of having slain six dragons; it would be quite another to be bidden to bring in their tails.”
“That is a difficulty which must be considered,” admitted Pe-lung, “but a path round it will inevitably be found. In the meantime night is beginning to encircle us, and many dark Powers will be freed and resort to these inaccessible slopes. Accompany me, therefore, to my bankrupt hovel, where you will be safe until you care to resume your journey.”
To this agreeable proposal Chang Tao at once assented. The way was long and laborious, “For,” remarked Pe-lung, “in an ordinary course I should fly there in a single breath of time; but to seize an honoured guest by the body-cloth and thus transfer him over the side of a mountain is toilsome to the one and humiliating to the other.”
To beguile the time he spoke freely of the hardships of his lot.
“We dragons are frequently objects of envy at the hands of the undiscriminating, but the few superficial privileges we enjoy are heavily balanced by the exacting scope of our duties. Thus to-night it is my degraded task to divert the course of the river flowing below us, so as to overwhelm the misguided town of Yang, wherein swells a sordid outcast who has reviled the Sacred Claw. In order to do this properly it will be my distressing part to lie across the bed of the stream, my head resting upon one bank and my tail upon the other, and so remain throughout the rigour of the night.”
As they approached the cloudy pinnacle whereon was situated the dragon’s cave, one came forth at a distance to meet them. As she drew near, alternating emotions from time to time swayed Chang Tao’s mind. From beneath a well-ruled eyebrow Pe-lung continued to observe him closely.