Chinese Merry Tales (1909)/Where have I gone?

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2181882Chinese Merry Tales (1909) — XXIII. "Where have I gone?"Y. T. Woo

Chapter XXIII.—"Where have I gone?" (我何往.)

THERE was a jail official who escorted a monk to the capital for trial, charged with a weighty criminal offence. On the way the prison official became deadly drunk and senseless. The monk stealthily broke his shackles and put them around his keeper's neck and shaved his head till not a hair was left. Then he ran away. The next morning, when the officer awoke from his revelry, the monk was missing. He touched his smooth shaven head and felt the chain around his own neck. He felt very depressed and said: "Ah, although here is a monk, as to myself, where have I gone to?"