vanced three steps, little Don would retreat three. After a brief pause, Ah Q would retreat three steps while little Don advanced, and again there would be a pause. Thus they lumbered back and forth, for about half an hour—there being no clock in the village, it was impossible to tell exactly, perhaps it was twenty minutes—their hair steaming, their foreheads covered with sweat. When Ah Q finally relaxed his hold, little Don immediately relaxed his also. They both stood up straight, backed away and edged out through the crowd.
"Look out next time, your mother's ," Ah Q said, turning around to give little Don a menacing look.
"Your mother's look out next time," Little Don retorted.
Thus this "strife betwixt dragon and tiger" ended without deciding the issue, without, perhaps, giving the onlookers their time's worth, though no one complained or made any comments.
Still no one came to offer him work.
One day it was very warm; the caressing breeze had with it a suggestion of summer. In spite of this, Ah Q felt chilly. This he could bear, but his hunger was more difficult. His quilt, felt cap, and shirt had gone long before; more recently he had sold his padded winter coat. He could not possibly sell the trousers he had on, though they were his; nor would his tattered lined shirt bring anything—it was only good to be given away, or to be cut up and glued together for soles. He dreamed of picking up some money on the street, but such luck persistently eluded him; he fancied coming upon some money in his room, looked sharply as if startled by silver pieces dancing on the floor, but the room was bare and
