Page:The jade story book; stories from the Orient (IA jadestorybooksto00cous).pdf/359

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PESTLE AND MORTAR
343

given her the power of stepping in and out of people's dreams.

Pei-Hang got up and went on his way, thinking of Yun-Ying all the time.

It was still very hot, and he grew so thirsty that he went to a little hut by the roadside, and asked an old woman who was sitting in the doorway to give him a drink.

She called to her daughter to fill their best goblet with fresh spring water, and bring it out to the stranger. Then appeared none other than Yun-Ying herself.

"Oh!" cried Pei-Hang, "I thought that I might never see you again, and I have found you already."

"And who am I?" asked the girl, smiling.

"Yun-Ying," replied Pei-Hang; and the name seemed so musical to him that he said it over and over again.

Yun-Ying was dressed in white underneath, but her overdress was bright blue, embroidered with beautiful flowers which she had worked herself; and she stood in the door of the hut, with a peach tree in full bloom over her head, making such a picture of youth and loveliness that Pei-