Then Pei-Hang told her about the dream, and the red cord, and when he said that he wanted to marry her daughter, the old woman did not look at all pleased. “If I had two daughters, you would be welcome to one of them,” she said.
Pei-Hang was not a bad match, for his parents were well-off, and he was their only child; but Yun-Ying was a very pretty girl and a mandarin of Chang-ngan was anxious to marry her.
“He is four times her age, it is true,” said her mother, explaining this to Pei-Hang, “but he is very rich.”
“He is old and wrinkled, like a little brown monkey,” said Yun-Ying, “and I don’t want to marry him. Besides, the Moon Fairy didn’t tie my foot to his.”
“No, that’s true,” sighed her mother.
She would have liked to send Pei-Hang away, but she knew it would not be safe to do that if the red cord had really been tied to his foot and Yun-Ying’s, so she asked him to come inside, and they would talk it over.
“Now,” said she, “on this stool I pound magic drugs given to me by the Genii, but my pestle and mortar is broken, and I want a new one.”
“That I can easily buy in Chang-ngan,” replied Pei-Hang.
“No, you cannot,” said the old woman, “because it is a pestle and mortar of jade, and you can only get another one from the home of the Genii, which is on a mountain above the Lake of Gems. If you will do that, and bring it back to me, you shall marry Yun-Ying.”
“I will do that, but I must see my parents first,” said Pei-Yang.