600 CHINESE FOLKLOKE AND SOME WESTERN ANALOGIES. 



A-Pao's mother, when she was made aware of these extraordinary 

 events, was quite willing to consent to a marriage; but the father 

 could not endure the idea of having a son-in-law at once poor and 

 demented, and he persisted in refusing. His resistance was overcome 

 by the threat which the young girl made of putting an end to her 

 life. AVhen the youth learned the good news, he became well all at 

 once. 



The following day the wedding was celebrated. 



After three 3^ears of this happ}' union Seng died. A-Pao would not 

 survive him, and sought means to commit suicide so as to follow him 

 into the other world. Fortunatel}'^ those about her prevented her 

 from carrying out this dreadful determination. At the moment when 

 they were putting the dear husband's body into the tomb, what was 

 A-Pao's joy to hear him groan and speak from beneath the grave- 

 clothes! Seiig had come to life again. 



Upon descending into the lower world he had seen the great god 

 there who had already appointed him to some subordinate position, 

 when the steward suddenly announced the immediate arrival of his 

 wife; taking pity upon a love so complete, the god allowed Seng to 

 return to life. 



"That is wh}^ you see me here," he added, pressing A-Pao to his 

 heart. 



It must not bo thought that this insufficient resume exhausts the 

 category of strange resemblances between the folk-lore of the Fai- East 

 and West. It is evident to the most superficial student that critical 

 and scientific work in the field of Farther Asia has only yet been begun. 

 Much remains to be accomplished in the merely preliminar}^ laboi- of 

 collection and classification; after this has been done in every locality 

 there remains the greater task of assimilation and comparison with 

 kindred conceptions found among other races. Hie labor, hie opus 

 est; and no one can well comprehend the magnitude of the operation 

 who has not, whether by choice or by chance, been brought into con- 

 tact with the vast accumidations of material yet imtouched. In this 

 research there await at every turn fascinating opportunities for com- 

 parison with our own familiar nursery and tap-house acquaintances. 

 What shall we say upon discovering in Korea the widow's cruse of 

 Scripture lore — onl}^ that here the miracle is applied to a wine instead 

 of an oil jug? Or to a Japanese version of the medigeval witch's spell 

 laid upon her victim b}" means of a waxen image? Or to AH Baba's 

 open sesame in Tibet; or to Punchinello and all that he implies in the 

 Middle Kingdom '. These are but samples of the rich harvest to be 

 gathered for the sociologist, the mythologist, the student of compara- 

 tive institutions of the future. Though the contribution to science 

 may fall short of expectation, much Avill be effected if we establish 

 thereby the intellectual community of races, the brotherhood of man- 

 kind. 



