13 



Shao-lin convent lias been destroyed by fire, was fixed by destiny: but of these men there 

 are still a few who have not yet perished. They shall surely begin something afterwards, and 

 I ought, therefore, to save them, and show them a way to save their lives/' He then chan- 

 ged a yellow and black cloud into a long sandroad, and saved the lives of the remaining 

 monks by leading them along the highroad to a bay near Shih-san-li at Ufan, where the 

 white clou ds joined Heaven. (*) 



They came there together, but only five of them were left, the remainder having perished 

 on the road. At this place they were concealed by two boatmen, called Sieh and Wu. Tang- 

 shing having heard, however, at daybreak, that some of the monks had escaped, ordered his 

 soldiers to pursue and seize them, in order to avert further calamities. These soldiers, ap- 

 proaching the sea, suddenly saw some people before them, whom they quickly pursued. The 

 five monks, having fled some ten miles, looked round and saw, at onee, their pursuers. Before 

 them was the ocean which stopped their further proceeding and they did not see a single chance 

 of escape. What was now to be done? 



The five men then deliberated together, and dropped on their knees before Heaven in order 

 to pray. Loudly they exclaimed: //Great God! Great God! Budha! Budha! We, monks of the 

 Shao-lin convent, have made ourselves meritorious for the Gods of the land! We have served 

 the late prince with the utmost fidelity! Now a traitor has injured us! More than 120 people 

 have been burnt and perished, and there are now only five men remaining, who have not 

 yet perished! Having fled now to this place, there is no escape before us, and behind us pur- 

 suing soldiers are approaching! We pray Thee to have compassion upon us and save us!" 



Having prayed and worshipped, they suddenly saw two genii, Chu-kang ( 2 ) and Chu-khai, {' J ) 

 sitting on the end of a cloud. They pointed with the finger and cried: //Make baste!" 



Then they saw a yellow and black floating cloud which changed into a long sandroad, and 

 also a bridge of two planks. 



The five men immediately feil upon their knees and looking upwards, they said a prayer of 

 thanksgiving. After this prayer they fled on the highroad and went over the bridge. 



When the pursuing soldiers arrived, they saw nobody. They looked around everywhere, but 

 there was no shadow to be fnund of them: so they returned and made a report of their encounter. 



The monks escaped the mouth of the tiger by the road which the two genii showed them. 

 By good fortune Thsai-teh-chmg ( 4 ) had the precious seal upon him during the night that the 



o ï a + h i a i i ^ t i 



(*) IS Wi & The names of the other four are Faug-tai-hung {~)j ^C $^)> Ma-ohao-hing 

 (fl| M &); Hu-teh-ti (-ja fë ft) and Li-sih-kLai (^ fi BB ) 



