THE PESTLE AND MORTAR OF JADE
Once upon a time, so very long ago that even the great-grandfathers of our great-grandmothers had not been born, there lived in the city of Kwen-lu a little Chinese boy named Pei-Hang.
His father and mother loved him dearly, and did all they could to shield him from the power of the evil Genii, or spirits, of whom there were a great many in China. Of course, there were some good Genii too, but most of them were very much the opposite, and Pei-Hang’s mother took every precaution against them.
It is well-known that a wicked Genii will not come near a Chinese boy if he has some red silk braided in with his pigtail, or if he wears a silver chain around his neck, and all of them dread an old fishing-net. So Pei-Hang’s mother made him a little shirt out of an old fishing-net, and she took care that his pigtail should be plaited with the brightest of red silk.
Also she was particular in having his head shaved in just the right way, with a tuft sticking straight up in the luckiest place.
And so Pei-Hang got safely over the troubles of his babyhood, and grew from a baby into a big boy, and then to a tall, handsome youth. Then he left off wearing his fish-net shirt, but still wore the silver chain round his neck and had red silk in his pigtail.
“It is time that Pei-Hang saw a little more of the world,” said his father. “He must go to Chang-ngan and study under the wise men there.”
Chang-ngan was the ancient capital of China, a very large city indeed, and Pin-Too, the teacher to whom Pei-Hang was sent, was the wisest man there.
Pei-Hang soon learned what the world was thinking about, and many other things also. As soon as he was eighteen he took the red silk out of his pigtail and the silver chain from his neck, because grown-up people were supposed to be able to protect themselves against the Genii without the aid of charms.
When he was twenty, Pin-Too said he could not teach him any more, and told him to go back to his parents, and comfort them in their old age.