[CHAPTER XXVI.]
THE PAGODA TREE.
What has become of the Pagoda tree? Is it a myth? Did it ever exist?
These are questions which you must have heard over and over again.
Have you ever tried to answer them? No!
Well! let me do so.
The Pagoda tree is no myth. It exists, but in a deplorably dilapidated condition, and bears but little fruit. Your car of Jugernāth has crushed its roots; your wheels have excoriated its bark; you have torn down its branches to cremate your victims. You have denied it water and manure. Its vitality has been sadly lowered, but it is not quite dead.
Only smash your detestable car of Jugernāth; send your false prophets adrift; and devote a little attention to the cultivation of the Pagoda tree; and it will flourish and bear more fruit than it has ever borne before.
Let us drop metaphor a little.