Page:Chinese Fairy Tales (H. Giles, 1920).djvu/17

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
THE PAINTED SKIN
15

into trouble if they find out she is here?" But her husband laughed at her, and said, they had better keep her a little longer. A short time afterwards, however, as Mr. Wang was walking about in the town, he met a priest, who looked at him very hard indeed "What have you met?" asked the priest. "Nothing in particular," answered Mr, Wang, "What do you mean?" "Why," the priest replied, "you are in the power of a witch; fancy telling me you have met nothing!" And away he walked, not listening to Mr. Wang, but only saying, "What a fool! what a fool! He doesn't know how close he is to dying." Mr. Wang felt frightened when he heard this, and then he remembered the strange girl at his home; but again it seemed to him absurd to think she could be a witch and want to harm him. By this time he had got to his house, and thought he would go to his library, and sit and think it over. But when he tried to open the outside door, he found it bolted; so he had to climb over the wall to get to the inside door, which he also found shut. However, the window was close by, and he crept very softly up to it, and looked through. And there, in full sight, was a hideous witch, with a green face and teeth as jagged as a saw! The witch had spread a girl's skin upon the couch, and she was painting it with a paint-brush. Next moment she threw the paint-brush into a corner, took up the skin and gave it a good shake, threw it over her shoulders, and Mr. Wang saw that it was the girl again!

Off ran Mr. Wang as fast as his shaking legs would allow him, and searched the town from end to end, until he found the priest. He threw