Children of ChinaBrown, C. Campbell (Colin Campbell)
General
Children of China
Brown, C. Campbell (Colin Campbell)
Children -- China -- Juvenile literature; China -- Social life and customs -- Juvenile literature
One day this regular customer brought a bundle, which he asked Mr So
to keep for him, until he should call for it. Mr So willingly took the
bundle, promising to take good care of it. From that moment the man
came no more to Mr So’s shop. Days passed into months, months became
years, and the familiar customer with his brown bottle was forgotten.
The incident of the bundle had passed out of memory when one day an old
man entered the wine-shop and cast his eyes round the place.
“Are you Mr So?” he asked the owner.
“That is my unworthy name, venerable grand-uncle,” said Mr So. “What
may I do for you?”
“Please give me the bundle which I left with you some time ago,” said
the stranger.
“The bundle! I do not remember your giving me a bundle. When did you
leave it here?”
Mr So started when the stranger mentioned a date years before, and
turned to question his men, none of whom could remember the old man or
his bundle.
The stranger pressed Mr So to have the shop carefully searched, saying
that the package which he had left for safe keeping had some slips of
gold inside it, and it would be a terrible loss to him if they could
not find it.
“We know nothing about the bundle, or what was in it, venerable
grand-uncle, but if you left it here, you shall certainly have it back
again,” said Mr So.
After diligent search the bundle was found upon a shelf in the strong
room at the back of the shop.
The old man’s eyes glittered as he undid the fastenings of the bundle,
now black with dust and cobwebs. Carefully he turned over the things
inside it, laying them one by one upon the counter. There was a clatter
and fall of metal. “The gold is here safe enough,” said the stranger,
taking up the dull yellow slips with his thin fingers. “One, two,
three,” he numbered slowly, “four, five, six,” counting until the full
tale was reached. The old man put back the gold, and did up his bundle
in silence. Then he lifted his head.
“You are an honest man, Mr So,” said he. “You have indeed been faithful
in the trust which I committed to you so long ago.”
“What have I done?” answered Mr So. “The bundle has lain just as you
left it,” and with that he bowed low.
The old man waited. Then he spoke again.
“I have some skill in finding such spots as will bring good fortune to
the children of those who are buried in them,” said he. “You have kept
my gold faithfully. I wish to make you some return for your kindness,
and happily it is in my power to do so. Listen! there is a place
outside the East Gate of the city, so fortunate that if you were to buy
it and use it for your grave, your descendants afterwards would surely
prosper in the world.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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