banks of the Yellow River. Come thou with me to witness the splendor of his train, and perchance even to see the great emperor himself and the young Prince Kaou, his son."
"That I will not then," cried the girl, more hotly than before.
"I hate this great emperor, as men do wrongfully call him, and I hate the young Prince Kaou. May Lûng Wang, the god of the dragons, dash them both beneath the Yellow River ere yet they leave its banks this day."
At this terrible wish on the lips of a girl, the good master very nearly forgot even his most valuable precept—never to be surprised. He regarded his defiant young companion in sheer amazement.
"Have a care, have a care, my daughter!" he said at length. "The blessed Saint James telleth us that the tongue is a little member, but it can kindle a great fire. How mayst thou hope to say such direful words against the Son of Heaven[1] and live?"
"The Son of Heaven killed the emperor, my father," said the child.
"The emperor thy father!" Thomas the Nestorian almost gasped in this latest surprise. "Is the girl crazed or doth she sport with one who seeketh her good?" And amazement and perplexity settled upon his face.
- ↑ "The Son of Heaven" is one of the chief titles of the Chinese emperor.
