It seemed, according to the account given by Ah Q, that the reason for his return was due to his dislike of urbans because they called a long bench a tiao bench and because they used finely shredded scullion as a garnish for fried fish; and added to this, the latest fault he discovered was that the women did not sway at all gracefully in their walking.
But more than that, he had found still another reason which demanded great respect of him; to wit, while the villagers of Weichuang played with thirty-two bamboo dominoes and only the "False Foreigner" could play mah-jong, even the street urchins in the city could play mah-jong with exceeding great skill, and it would only be necessary to place the "False Foreigner" in the hands of these "dark turtles" and he would straightway become the humble shade abasing itself before the King of Hades.10 This part of the tale also made his hearers blush.
"Have you folks ever seen a decapitation?" Ah Q asked. "Whee, it's a fine sight . . . slaughtering the Revolutionists. Whee, an interesting sight, a grand one . . . ," he would continue, his head swaying about, while the spittle from his mouth sprayed across to the cheek of Chao Szu-ch'ên, who was directly opposite him. This part of the account filled his auditors with trembling. Gazing about, Ah Q had suddenly lifted his right
