"Here, son!" she cried at last, as he began to pause between mouthfuls,
"look at my treasure!" And she held out to him the golden beetle.

"First tell me what good fairy of a rich man has been filling our hands
with silver?"

"That's just what I am trying to tell you," she laughed, "for there was
a fairy here this afternoon sure enough, only he was dressed like a bald
priest. That golden beetle is all he gave me, but with it comes a secret
worth thousands of cash to us."

The youth fingered the trinket idly, still doubting his senses, and
waiting impatiently for the secret of his delicious dinner. "But,
mother, what has this brass bauble to do with the dumplings, these
wonderful pork dumplings, the finest I ever ate?"

"Baubles indeed! Brass! Fie, fie, my boy! You little know what you are
saying. Only listen and you shall hear a tale that will open your eyes."

She then told him what had happened, and ended by setting all of the
left-over dumplings upon the floor for Blackfoot and Whitehead, a thing
her son had never seen her do before, for they had been miserably poor
and had had to save every scrap for the next meal.

Now began a long period of perfect happiness. Mother, son, dog and
cat--all enjoyed themselves to their hearts' content. All manner of new
foods such as they had never tasted were called forth from the pot by
the wonderful little beetle. Bird-nest soup, shark's fins, and a hundred
other delicacies were theirs for the asking, and soon Ming-li regained
all his strength, but, I fear, at the same time grew somewhat lazy, for