were they lidless; not even so much as one of their lashes was lacking.
What marvel had been wrought? In vain he looked for the severed lids
that he had flung upon the ground; they had mysteriously vanished. But
lo! there where he had cast them two wondrous shrubs were growing, with
dainty leaflets eyelid-shaped, and snowy buds just opening to the East.

Then, by virtue of the supernatural power acquired in that mighty
meditation, it was given the holy missionary to know the secret of that
newly created plant,--the subtle virtue of its leaves. And he named it,
in the language of the nation to whom he brought the Lotos of the Good
Law, "_TE_"; and he spake to it, saying:--

"Blessed be thou, sweet plant, beneficent, life-giving, formed by the
spirit of virtuous resolve! Lo! the fame of thee shall yet spread unto
the ends of the earth; and the perfume of thy life be borne unto the
uttermost parts by all the winds of heaven! Verily, for all time to come
men who drink of thy sap shall find such refreshment that weariness may
not overcome them nor languor seize upon them;--neither shall they know
the confusion of drowsiness, nor any desire for slumber in the hour of
duty or of prayer. Blessed be thou!"

* * * * *

And still, as a mist of incense, as a smoke of universal sacrifice,
perpetually ascends to heaven from all the lands of earth the pleasant
vapor of TE, created for the refreshment of mankind by the power of a
holy vow, the virtue of a pious atonement.

[Illustration: Chinese calligraphy]