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011 - Ah Tcha The Sleeper · Shen of the Sea- A Book for Children

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  Speaker 1: Section eleven of Shen of the Sea, A Book for Children.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or a volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Shen of the Sea a Book
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  Speaker 1: for Children by Arthur Bowie Chrisman Acha the Sleeper. Years
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  Speaker 1: ago in southern China lived a boy. Acha by name Ocha,
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  Speaker 1: was an orphan, but not, according to rule a most
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  Speaker 1: peculiar orphan was he. It is usual for orphans to
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  Speaker 1: be very, very poor, that is the world wide custom. Acha,
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  Speaker 1: on the contrary, was quite wealthy. He owned seven farms
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  Speaker 1: with seven times seven horses to draw the plow. He
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  Speaker 1: owned seven mills with plenty of breezes to spin them. Furthermore,
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  Speaker 1: he owned seven thousand pieces of gold and a fine
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  Speaker 1: white cat. The farms of Acha were fertile, were wide,
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  Speaker 1: His horses were brisk in the furrow, His mills never
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  Speaker 1: last for grain or wanted for wind. And his gold
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  Speaker 1: was good, sharp gold, with not so much as a
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  Speaker 1: trace of copper. Surely few orphans have been better provided
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  Speaker 1: for than the youth named dat Ja. And what a
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  Speaker 1: busy person was this? A Cha? His bed was always cold.
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  Speaker 1: When the sun arose early in the morning, he went
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  Speaker 1: from field to field, from mill to mill, urging on
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  Speaker 1: the people who worked for him. The setting sun always
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  Speaker 1: found him on his feet, hastening from here to there,
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  Speaker 1: persuading his laborers to more gainful efforts, and the moon
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  Speaker 1: of midnight often discovered him pushing up and down the
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  Speaker 1: little teak wood balls of a counting board, or else
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  Speaker 1: threading cash, placing coins upon a string. Eight farms, nine
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  Speaker 1: farms he owned, and more stout horses, ten mills, eleven
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  Speaker 1: another white cat. It was Acha's ambition to become the
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  Speaker 1: richest person in the world. They who worked for the
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  Speaker 1: wealthy orphan were inclined now and then to grumble. Their
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  Speaker 1: pay was not beggarly, but how they did toil to
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  Speaker 1: earn that pay, which was not beggarly. It was go
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  Speaker 1: and go and go, said the ancient woman knew Wu,
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  Speaker 1: who worked with a rake in the field.
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  Speaker 2: Our master drives us as if we were a fox,
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  Speaker 2: and he were hairs in the oven, round the field,
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  Speaker 2: and round and round. Harry yell, he's hurry.
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  Speaker 1: Said Hushue, her husband, who bound the grain into sheaves.
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  Speaker 2: Not hairs, but horses.
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  Speaker 1: We are driven like the horses of Lung Kuan. Who
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  Speaker 1: it's a long story, but a cha approaching the murmurers said,
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  Speaker 1: pray be so good as to hurry, most excellent new Wu,
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  Speaker 1: for the clouds gathered blackly with thunder. And to the
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  Speaker 1: scowling husband, he said, speed your work. I beg you,
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  Speaker 1: honorable Hushu, for the grain must be under shelter before
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  Speaker 1: the smoke of evening rice ascends. When Acha had he
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  Speaker 1: in his evening rice, he took lantern and entered the
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  Speaker 1: largest of his mills. A scampering rat drew his attention
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  Speaker 1: to the floor. There he beheld no less than a
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  Speaker 1: score of rats, some gazing at him as if undecided
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  Speaker 1: whether to flee or continue the feast, others gnawing and
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  Speaker 1: who are you? Nibbling and caring not. And only a
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  Speaker 1: few short whisker lengths away sat an enormous cat sleeping
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  Speaker 1: the sleep of a mossy stone. The cat was black
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  Speaker 1: in color, black as a crow's wing dipped in pitch
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  Speaker 1: upon a night of inky darkness that describes her coat.
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  Speaker 1: Her face was somewhat more black. Atcha had never before
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  Speaker 1: seen her. She was not his cat, but his or not.
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  Speaker 1: He thought it a trifle unreasonable of her to sleep
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  Speaker 1: while the rats held high carnival. The rats romped between
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  Speaker 1: her paws, Still she slept. It angered at Cha. The
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  Speaker 1: lantern raised fell on her eyes. Still she slept. Acha
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  Speaker 1: grew more and more provoked. He decided then and there
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  Speaker 1: to teach the cat that this mill was no place
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  Speaker 1: for sleepy heads. Accordingly, he seized an empty grainsack and
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  Speaker 1: hurled it with such exact aim that the cat was
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  Speaker 1: sent heels over head. Dear old couch by the hole,
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  Speaker 1: said Acha, in a tone of wrath, Remember your painting ear,
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  Speaker 1: and be more vigilant. But the cat had no sooner
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  Speaker 1: regained her feet than she changed into new Wu. Changed
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  Speaker 1: into new Wu. The old woman who worked in the
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  Speaker 1: fields a witch. What business she had in the mill
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  Speaker 1: is a puzzle. However, it is undoubtedly true that mills
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  Speaker 1: hold grain, and grain is worth money, and that may
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  Speaker 1: be an explanation. Her sleepiness is no puzzle at all,
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  Speaker 1: No wonder she was sleepy after working so hard in
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  Speaker 1: the field. The day's length through the anger of nu
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  Speaker 1: Wu was fierce and instant. She wagged a crooked finger
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  Speaker 1: at Acha, screeching.
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  Speaker 2: Oh you cruel money grubber. Because you fear the rats
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  Speaker 2: will eat a pennyworth of grain, you must beat me
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  Speaker 2: with bludgeons. You make me work like a slave all day,
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  Speaker 2: and wish me to work all night. You beat me
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  Speaker 2: and disturb my slumber very well. Since you will not
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  Speaker 2: let me sleep, I shall cause you to slumber eleven
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  Speaker 2: hours out of every dozen. Close your eyes.
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  Speaker 1: She swept her wrinkled hand across Acha's face, again, taking
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  Speaker 1: the form of a cat, she bounded downstairs. She had
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  Speaker 1: scarce reached the third step, descending when Acha felt a
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  Speaker 1: compelling desire for sleep. It was as if he had
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  Speaker 1: taken a gum of the white poppy flower, as if
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  Speaker 1: he had tasted honey of the gray moon blossom. Eyes
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  Speaker 1: half clear, he stumbled into a grain bin. His knees
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  Speaker 1: doubled beneath him. Down he went, curled like a dormouse.
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  Speaker 1: Like a dormouse, he slumbered. From that hour began a
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  Speaker 1: change in Acha's fortune. The spell gripped him fast. Nine
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  Speaker 1: tenths of his time was spent in sleep, unable to
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  Speaker 1: watch over his laborers. They worked when they pleased, which
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  Speaker 1: was seldom. They idled when so inclined, and that was
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  Speaker 1: often and long. Furthermore, they stole in a manner most shameful.
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  Speaker 1: Acha's mills became empty of grain, his fields lost their fertility,
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  Speaker 1: his horses disappeared strayed, so it was said. Worse yet,
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  Speaker 1: the unfortunate fellow was summoned to a magistrate's yamen there
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  Speaker 1: to defend himself in a lawsuit. A neighbor declared that
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  Speaker 1: Acha's huge black cat had devoured many chickens. There were
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  Speaker 1: witnesses who soared the deed. They were sure one and
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  Speaker 1: all that Acha's black cat was the cat at fault.
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  Speaker 1: Acha was sleeping too soundly to deny that the cat
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  Speaker 1: was his, So the magistrate could do nothing less than
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  Speaker 1: make the cat's owner pay damages with all costs of
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  Speaker 1: the lawsuit. Thereafter, trials at court were a daily occurrence.
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  Speaker 1: A second neighbor said that Acha's black cat had stolen
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  Speaker 1: a flock of sheep. Another complained that the cat had
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  Speaker 1: thieved from him a herd of fattened bullocks. Worse and
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  Speaker 1: worse grew the charges, and no matter how absurd, Acha,
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  Speaker 1: sleeping in the prisoner's cage, always lost and had to
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  Speaker 1: pay damages. His money soon passed into others hands, his
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  Speaker 1: mills were taken from him. His farms went to pay
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  Speaker 1: for the lawsuits. Of all his wide lands, there remained
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  Speaker 1: only one little acre, and it was grown up in
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  Speaker 1: worthless bushes. Of all his goodly buildings, there was left
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  Speaker 1: one little hut, where the boys spent most of his time,
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  Speaker 1: in which imposed slumber. Now near by, in the mountain
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  Speaker 1: of huge rocks piled lived a greatly ferocious long or,
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  Speaker 1: as foreigners would say, a dragon. This immense beast, from
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  Speaker 1: tip of forked tongue to end of his shadow, was
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  Speaker 1: far longer than a barn. With the exception of length,
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  Speaker 1: he was much the same as any other long. His
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  Speaker 1: head was shaped like that of a camel. His horns
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  Speaker 1: were deer horns. He had bulging, rabid eyes a snake neck.
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  Speaker 1: Upon his many ponderous feet were tiger claws, and the
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  Speaker 1: feet were shaped very like sofa cushions. He had walrus whiskers,
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  Speaker 1: and a breath of red and blue flame. His voice
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  Speaker 1: was like the sound of a hundred brass kettles pounded.
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  Speaker 1: Blackfish scales covered his body. Black feathers grew upon his limbs.
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  Speaker 1: Because of his color, he was sometimes called oolong from
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  Speaker 1: that it would seem that oo means neither white nor pink.
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  Speaker 1: The Black Luong was not regarded with any great esteem.
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  Speaker 1: His habit of eating a man two men, if they
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  Speaker 1: were little, every day made him rather unpopular. Fortunately, he
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  Speaker 1: prowled only at night. Those folk who went to bed
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  Speaker 1: decently at nine o'clock had nothing to fear. Those who
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  Speaker 1: rambled well along toward midnight often disappeared with a sudden
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  Speaker 1: and complete thoroughness. As every one knows, cats are much
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  Speaker 1: given to night skulking. The witch cat knew wo was
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  Speaker 1: no exception. Midnight often found her miles afield. On such
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  Speaker 1: a midnight When she was roving in the form of
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  Speaker 1: a hag, what should she approach but the black dragon. Instantly,
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  Speaker 1: the Luong scented prey, and instantly he made for the
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  Speaker 1: old witch. There followed such a chase as was never
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  Speaker 1: on land or sea, up hill and down dale, by stream,
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  Speaker 1: in wood and fallow. The catwoman flew, and the dragging coursed.
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  Speaker 1: After the witch soon failed of breath, she panted, she wheezed,
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  Speaker 1: She stumbled on a bramble, and a claw slashed through
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  Speaker 1: her garments too close for comfort. The harried witch chained
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  Speaker 1: shape to a cat, and bounded off afresh half a lee.
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  Speaker 1: At every step, thel Wong increased his pace and soon
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  Speaker 1: was close behind, gaining for A most peculiar fact about
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  Speaker 1: thelong is that the more he runs, the easier his
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  Speaker 1: breath comes, and the swifter grows his speed. Hence, it
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  Speaker 1: is not surprising that his fiery breath was presently singing
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  Speaker 1: the witch Cat's back. In a twinkling, the cat altered
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  Speaker 1: form once more, and as an old hag she scuttled
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  Speaker 1: across a turnip field. She was merely an ordinary powerful witch.
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  Speaker 1: She possessed only the two forms cat and hag. Nor
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  Speaker 1: did she have any gift of magic to baffle or
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  Speaker 1: cripple the hungry black law. Nevertheless, the witch was not despairing.
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  Speaker 1: At the edge of the turnip field lay Acha's miserable
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  Speaker 1: patch of thick bushes. So thick were the bushes as
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  Speaker 1: to be almost a wall against the hag's passage. As
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  Speaker 1: a hag, she could have no hope of entering such
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  Speaker 1: a thicket, But as a cat she could race through
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  Speaker 1: without hindrance, and the dragon would be sadly bothered in
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  Speaker 1: following scheming. Thus, the witch dashed under the bushes a cat.
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  Speaker 1: Once more, Acha was aroused from slumber by the most
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  Speaker 1: outrageous noise that had ever assailed his ears. There was
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  Speaker 1: such a snapping of bushes, such an awful bellowed screeching,
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  Speaker 1: that even the dead of a sentry must have heard.
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  Speaker 1: The usually sound sleeping Acha was awakened at the outset.
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  Speaker 1: He soon realized how matters stood or ran. Luckily, he
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  Speaker 1: had heard of the only reliable method for frightening off
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  Speaker 1: the dragon. He opened his door and hurled a red,
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  Speaker 1: a green, and a yellow fire cracker in the monster's path.
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  Speaker 1: In through his barely opened door, the witch cat dragged
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  Speaker 1: her exhausted self.
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  Speaker 2: Ay, don't see why you couldn't open the door sooner.
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  Speaker 1: She scolded, changing into a hag.
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  Speaker 2: I circled the hut three times before you've had the
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  Speaker 2: gumption to let me in. I'm very sorry, good mother,
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  Speaker 2: I was asleep from Acha. Well, don't be so sleepy again,
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  Speaker 2: scowled the witch, or I'll make you suffer. Get me
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  Speaker 2: food and drink again, honored lady. I'm sorry so poor
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  Speaker 2: am I that I only have water for drink. My
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  Speaker 2: food is the leaves and roots of bushes. Now, Mattie
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  Speaker 2: get what you have and quickly. Acha reached outside the
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  Speaker 2: door and stripped a handful of leaves from a bush.
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  Speaker 2: He plunged the leaves into a kettle of hot water
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  Speaker 2: and signified that the meals prepared. Then he lay down
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  Speaker 2: to doze, for he had been awake fully half a
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  Speaker 2: dozen minutes, and the desire to sleep was returning stronger
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  Speaker 2: every moment. The witch soon supped and departed, without leaving
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  Speaker 2: so much as half a thank you. When Acha awoke again,
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  Speaker 2: his visitor was gone. The poor boy flung another handful
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  Speaker 2: of leaves into his kettle and drank quickly. He had
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  Speaker 2: good reason for haste. Several times he had fallen asleep
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  Speaker 2: with the cup at his lips, a most unpleasant situation
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  Speaker 2: and scalding. Having taken several SIPs, Acha stretched him out
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  Speaker 2: for a resumption of his slumber. Five minutes passed, ten minutes, fifteen.
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  Speaker 2: Still his eyes failed the close. He took a few
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  Speaker 2: more SIPs from the cup and felt more awake than ever.
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  Speaker 2: I do believe, said Acha, that she has thanked me
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  Speaker 2: by bewitching my bushes. She has charmed the leaves to.
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  Speaker 1: Drive away my sleepiness, and so she had Whenever Acha
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  Speaker 1: felt tired and sleepy, and at first that was often.
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  Speaker 1: He had only to drink of the bewitched leaves. At
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  Speaker 1: once his drowsiness departed. His neighbors soon learned of the
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  Speaker 1: bushes that banished sleep. They came to drink of the
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  Speaker 1: magic brew. There grew such a demand that Acha decided
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  Speaker 1: to set a price on the leaves. Still the demand continued,
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  Speaker 1: More bushes were planted, money came throughout the province. People
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  Speaker 1: called for the drink of Acha. In time, they shortened
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  Speaker 1: it by asking for Acha's drink, then for Cha's drink,
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  Speaker 1: and finally for Cha. And that is its name at
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  Speaker 1: present Cha or tey or tea as some call it,
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  Speaker 1: And one kind of tea is still called Oolong black dragon.
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  Speaker 1: End of section eleven.