THE HISTORY OF SILK CULTURE. / 



were conveyed from China to Japan about the middle of the fifth 

 century A.D. 



The rearing of the silkworm became very popular in the East, 

 and was speedily adopted as one of the chief occupations of the 

 Chinese, by whom it was so highly esteemed that they deified 

 the traditional foundress of the art, Se-ling-she, and called her 

 the " Goddess of the Silkworm/' Skill in silk-weaving, also, was 

 regarded as a gift from heaven, as the following Japanese story 

 testifies. There was once a youth named Toung Young, who 

 was not in very flourishing circumstances. When his mother 

 died, the expenses of the funeral appear to have fallen upon him, 

 though the father was still alive, and the bereaved young man, 

 with that filial piety which is esteemed the highest of the virtues 

 among the Japanese, spent his all in procuring a coffin. Before 

 he had time to recover from this drain on his exchequer, his 

 father also died ; but the devoted son, determined not to be 

 deprived of the credit of showing the honour due to the departed, 

 hesitated not to sell himself, having nothing else on which to raise 

 money, to a fellow-citizen, in order that he might procure the 

 means to give his father a respectable funeral. Having accom- 

 plished this, he was on his way to fulfil his bargain with his pur- 

 chaser, when he was met by a girl of remarkable beauty, who, to 

 his unutterable surprise, and somewhat to his discomposure, 

 offered to share his fortunes. He felt that his circumstances 

 were scarcely such as to justify him in accepting such an offer, 

 much as he may have desired to do so. He therefore explained 

 to the lady the straits in which he was placed ; but she was not 

 to be deterred from her purpose, and she volunteered to go with 

 him to his employer and give her services in weaving. This 

 turned out an excellent arrangement, for within a month she wove 

 one hundred pieces of silk of patterns never seen before, but of 

 marvellous beauty; these she offered as a ransom for Toung 

 Young, and needless to say the offer was accepted. The young 

 man thus freed from his contract, started joyfully homewards with 

 the engaging maiden who had done so much for him, dreaming 

 of the domestic bliss that he hoped was in store for him. But 

 on reaching the spot where she had first met him, the young lady 

 coolly bade him farewell, and in explanation of her conduct, 

 revealed to him that she was a heavenly messenger sent to reward 

 his filial devotion, and that, having performed her mission, she 

 had but to return whence she came. She thereupon ascended to 

 the sky. The poor young man, thus rudely awakened from 

 dreamland, returned to his employer and resumed the occupation 

 of silk-weaving. But by carefully imitating the marvellous designs 



