"I have no time to-day. To-morrow I will come to see her."

But the boy had been commanded to bring him back, and to die sooner
than lose him, so he replied:

"It is the absolute wish of the Elder-Sister that you come with me."

Li could not refuse, and followed the messenger.

Once in Shih-niang's presence he stood still, sobbing mo-mo, mo-mo,
without a word.

"How is our plan going?" she asked.

He only answered with a flood of tears; so she insisted:

"Can people have been so hard as to refuse three hundred ounces?"

Stifling his sobs, he answered with this verse:

It is easier to catch a tiger in the mountains
Than to move the world with speech alone.

"I have gone about for these six days, and my hands are empty. Shame
has kept me away from my perfumed companion, and it is only at her
command that I have come back. I have tried my hardest. Alas! such is
the spirit of the century."

"We will say nothing to the ma-ma. Let my Lord stay here for the