found that they now gave all their work to little Don.[1] Now this little Don was a poor wretch, skinny and weak, who occupied in Ah Q's eyes a position even beneath that of the Beard. And yet this little thing had taken his rice bowl away from him. Great was Ah Q's indignation. As he walked fuming with rage, he suddenly raised his hand and sang, "With my steel whip I shall smite thee!"
A few days later he encountered little Don in front of His Honor Chien's house. "Foes have a sharp eye for each other," so when Ah Q went toward him, little Don stopped.
"Beast!" Ah Q glared at him, foaming at the mouth.
"I am only a worm. Does that suit you better?" little Don said.
This humility had the effect of further enraging Ah Q. As he had really no steel whip in his hand, he had to content himself with throwing himself at little Don and seizing him by the queue. Little Don, protecting the roots of his hair with one hand, seized Ah Q's queue with the other, thus forcing Ah Q to protect his own hair with his free hand. Ah Q used to consider little Don beneath his notice, but hunger had weakened him and made him just about a match for little Don; and so for more than half an hour the two adversaries were deadlocked and formed a bluish arc against the white wall, with four hands upon two heads and their bodies bent low.
"That will do, that will do," some onlookers said, trying to stop them.
"Bravo! Bravo!" said others, in such a way that it was difficult to tell whether they were trying to stop the fight, to applaud it, or to further incite the fighters.
But the combatants paid no heed to them. As Ah Q ad-
- ↑ The name is so spelled in Latin letters in the original.
