cheeks were fairer than poppies; and when she bathed in the Hoang Ho,
her body seemed transparent. Her brow was finer than the most polished
jade; while she seemed to walk, like a winged bird, without weight,
her hair floating in a cloud. Indeed, she was the most beautiful
creature that has ever existed."

"Now may you grow thin and shrivel up like a fallen lemon; but it is
false!" cried Wang Yu, starting up suddenly and unexpectedly. "At Chee
Chou, at the shop of 'The Heaven-sent Sugar-cane,' there lives a
beautiful and virtuous girl who is more than all that. Her eyes are
like the inside circles on the peacock's feathers; her teeth are finer
than the scales on the Sacred Dragon; her--"

"If it is the wish of this illustriously-endowed gathering that this
exceedingly illiterate paper tiger should occupy their august moments
with a description of the deformities of the very ordinary young
person at Chee Chou," said Kai Lung imperturbably, "then the remainder
of the history of the noble-minded Yung Chang can remain until an evil
fate has overtaken Wang Yu, as it assuredly will shortly."

"A fair wind raises no storm," said Wang Yu sulkily; and Kai Lung
continued:

"Such loveliness could not escape the evil eye of Li Ting, and
accordingly, as he grew in favour with Ti Hung, he obtained his
consent to the drawing up of the marriage contracts. More than this,
he had already sent to Ning two bracelets of the finest gold, tied
together with a scarlet thread, as a betrothal present. But, as the
proverb says, 'The good bee will not touch the faded flower,' and
Ning, although compelled by the second of the Five Great Principles to