that it was as it should be, while others knew that it was wrong, but wanted to eat just the same. The latter were more sensitive to my exposure of their plot, so on hearing what I said, they became furious, though they only smiled coldly.
At this point my brother suddenly assumed a fierce air and shouted loudly, "Get out, all of you! What is there to see about a madman?"
Then I discovered another of their clever schemes. They not only would not change their ways, but they had carefully laid their plot so as to stigmatize me as a madman. Then after they had eaten me, they would not only go free but might even be thanked for it. The people of the Wolf Village branded their victim as a wicked man, when they wanted to feast upon him. This was an old trick with them.
Chen Lao-wu also came in glowering with great indignation. But he could not stop me from speaking. I insisted on speaking to these people, and I said, "You must repent, repent from the bottom of your hearts! You must know that there will be no place in the world of the future for man-eating men. If you do not change, you will eat up one another. However fertile you may be, in the end men that are really human beings will annihilate you, as hunters annihilate the wolves! You will be just like the insects!"
The crowd was driven off by Chen Lao-wu. My brother disappeared I knew not where. Chen Lao-wu persuaded me to go back to my room. All was dark in the room. The crossbeam and the rafters shook over me; and after shaking for a while, they grew bigger and piled themselves upon me. They were so heavy that I could not stir. They, too, wanted me to die. I knew their weight was false, and so I wriggled out. I sweated all over. I said, "You must all change at once,
