The Young Lady of the Tung-T‘Ing Lake

The spirits of the Tung-t‘ing lake[1] are very much in the habit of borrowing boats. Sometimes the cable of an empty junk will cast itself off, and away goes the vessel over the waves to the sound of music in the air above. The boatmen crouch down in one corner and hide their faces, not daring to look up until the trip is over and they are once more at their old anchorage.

[1]: The celebrated lake in Hu-nan, round which has gathered so much of the folk-lore of China.