"
Thus adjured, the more leisurely-minded drew near to hear the history
of Yung Chang. There was Sing You the fruit-seller, and Li Ton-ti the
wood-carver; Hi Seng left his clients to cry in vain for water; and
Wang Yu, the idle pipe-maker, closed his shop of "The Fountain of
Beauty," and hung on the shutter the gilt dragon to keep away
customers in his absence. These, together with a few more shopkeepers
and a dozen or so loafers, constituted a respectable audience by the
time Kai Lung was ready.
"It would be more seemly if this ill-conditioned person who is now
addressing such a distinguished assembly were to reward his fine and
noble-looking hearers for their trouble," apologized the story-teller.
"But, as the Book of Verses says, 'The meaner the slave, the greater
the lord'; and it is, therefore, not unlikely that this majestic
concourse will reward the despicable efforts of their servant by
handfuls of coins till the air appears as though filled with swarms of
locusts in the season of much heat. In particular, there is among this
august crowd of Mandarins one Wang Yu, who has departed on three
previous occasions without bestowing the reward of a single cash.
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