--- title: Opening, part 23 — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · full text with trees description: Opening, part 23, «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: At first they said they could do nothing for him and told him to go away and not disturb them; but Wang Chih would not --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/23/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Jade Story Book; Stories from the…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/) / Opening, part 23 # Opening, part 23 Opening, part 23 of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens: the whole text, 143 sentences and 2633 words. The small number after every sentence leads to its own page with its syntax tree and pragmatics, parsed by Mova itself. **1** [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/23/page/2/) At first they said they could do nothing for him and told him to go away and not disturb them; but Wang Chih would not go, and they found the only way to get rid of him was to give him some really good advice.[1](1/ "tree and pragmatics") “You must go to the White Hare of the Moon, and ask him for a bottle of the elixir of life.[2](2/ "tree and pragmatics") If you drink that you will live forever,” said one of them.[3](3/ "tree and pragmatics") “But I don’t want to live forever,” objected Wang Chih.[4](4/ "tree and pragmatics") “I wish to go back and live in the days when my wife and children were here.”[5](5/ "tree and pragmatics") “Ah, well\![6](6/ "tree and pragmatics") For that you must mix the elixir of life with some water out of the sky-dragon’s mouth.”[7](7/ "tree and pragmatics") “And where is the sky-dragon to be found?” inquired Wang Chih.[8](8/ "tree and pragmatics") “In the sky, of course.[9](9/ "tree and pragmatics") You really ask very stupid questions.[10](10/ "tree and pragmatics") He lives in a cloud-cave.[11](11/ "tree and pragmatics") And when he comes out of it he breathes fire, and sometimes water.[12](12/ "tree and pragmatics") If he is breathing fire you will be burned up, but if it is only water, you will easily be able to catch some in a little bottle.[13](13/ "tree and pragmatics") What else do you want?”[14](14/ "tree and pragmatics") For Wang Chih still lingered at the mouth of the cave.[15](15/ "tree and pragmatics") “I want a pair of wings to fly with, and a bottle to catch the water in,” he replied boldly.[16](16/ "tree and pragmatics") So they gave him a little bottle and before he had time to say “Thank you!” a white crane came sailing past and lighted on the ground close to the cave.[17](17/ "tree and pragmatics") “The crane will take you wherever you like,” said the old men.[18](18/ "tree and pragmatics") “Go now, and leave us in peace.”[19](19/ "tree and pragmatics") So Wang Chih sat on the white crane’s back, and was taken up and up through the sky to the cloud-cave where the sky-dragon lived.[20](20/ "tree and pragmatics") And the dragon had the head of a camel, the horns of a deer, the eyes of a rabbit, the ears of a cow, and the claws of a hawk.[21](21/ "tree and pragmatics") Besides this, he had whiskers and a beard, and in his beard was a bright pearl.[22](22/ "tree and pragmatics") All these things show that he was a real, genuine dragon, and if you ever meet a dragon who is not exactly like this, you will know he is only a make-believe one.[23](23/ "tree and pragmatics") Wang Chih felt rather frightened when he perceived the cave in the distance, and if it had not been for the thought of seeing his wife again, and his little boy and girl, he would have been glad to turn back.[24](24/ "tree and pragmatics") While he was far away the cloud-cave looked like a dark hole in the midst of a soft woolly mass, such as one sees in the sky on an April day; but as he came nearer he found the cloud was as hard as a rock, and covered with a kind of dry, white grass.[25](25/ "tree and pragmatics") When he got there, he sat down on a tuft of grass near the cave, and considered what he should do next.[26](26/ "tree and pragmatics") The first thing was, of course, to bring the dragon out, and the next to make him breathe water instead of fire.[27](27/ "tree and pragmatics") “I have it!” cried Wang Chih at last; and he nodded his head so many times that the little white crane expected to see it fall off.[28](28/ "tree and pragmatics") He struck a light, and set the grass on fire, and it was so dry that the flames spread all around the entrance to the cave, and made such a smoke and crackling that the sky-dragon put his head out to see what was the matter.[29](29/ "tree and pragmatics") “Ho\![30](30/ "tree and pragmatics") Ho!” cried the dragon, when he saw what Wang Chih had done, “I can soon put this to rights.”[31](31/ "tree and pragmatics") And he breathed once, and the water came out of his nose and mouth in three streams.[32](32/ "tree and pragmatics") But this was not enough to put the fire out.[33](33/ "tree and pragmatics") Then he breathed twice, and the water came out in three mighty rivers, and Wang Chih, who had taken care to fill his bottle when the first stream began to flow, sailed away on the white crane’s back as fast as he could go, to escape being drowned.[34](34/ "tree and pragmatics") The rivers poured over the cloud rock, until there was not a spark left alight, and rushed down through the sky into the sea below.[35](35/ "tree and pragmatics") Fortunately, the sea lay right underneath the dragon’s cave, or he would have done some nice mischief.[36](36/ "tree and pragmatics") As it was, the people on the coast looked out across the water toward Japan, and saw three inky-black clouds stretching from the sky into the sea.[37](37/ "tree and pragmatics") “My word\![38](38/ "tree and pragmatics") There is a fine rain-storm out at sea!” they said to each other.[39](39/ "tree and pragmatics") But, of course, it was nothing of the kind; it was only the sky-dragon putting out the fire Wang Chih had kindled.[40](40/ "tree and pragmatics") Meanwhile, Wang Chih was on his way to the moon, and when he got there he went straight to the hut where the Hare of the Moon lived, and knocked at the door.[41](41/ "tree and pragmatics") The Hare was busy pounding the drugs which make up the elixir of life; but he left his work, opened the door, and invited Wang Chih to come in.[42](42/ "tree and pragmatics") He was not ugly, like the dragon; his fur was quite white and soft and glossy, and he had lovely, gentle brown eyes.[43](43/ "tree and pragmatics") The Hare of the Moon lives a thousand years, as you know, and when he is five hundred years old he changes his color from brown to white, and becomes, if possible, better tempered and nicer than he was before.[44](44/ "tree and pragmatics") As soon as he heard what Wang Chih wanted, he opened two windows at the back of the hut, and told him to look through each of them in turn.[45](45/ "tree and pragmatics") “Tell me what you see,” said the Hare, going back to the table where he was pounding the drugs.[46](46/ "tree and pragmatics") “I can see a great many houses and people,” said Wang Chih, “and streets—why, this is the town I was in yesterday, the one which has taken the place of my old village.”[47](47/ "tree and pragmatics") Wang Chih stared, and grew more and more puzzled.[48](48/ "tree and pragmatics") Here he was up in the moon, and yet he could have thrown a stone into the busy street of the Chinese town below his window.[49](49/ "tree and pragmatics") “How does it come here,” he stammered, at last.[50](50/ "tree and pragmatics") “Oh, that is my secret,” replied the wise old Hare.[51](51/ "tree and pragmatics") “I know how to do a great many things which would surprise you.[52](52/ "tree and pragmatics") But the question is, do you want to go back there?”[53](53/ "tree and pragmatics") Wang Chih shook his head.[54](54/ "tree and pragmatics") “Then close the window.[55](55/ "tree and pragmatics") It is the window of the Present.[56](56/ "tree and pragmatics") And look through the other, which is the window of the Past.”[57](57/ "tree and pragmatics") Wang Chih obeyed, and through this window he saw his own dear little village, and his wife, and Han Chung and Ho-Seen-Ko jumping about her as she hung up the colored lanterns outside the door.[58](58/ "tree and pragmatics") “Father won’t be in time to light them for us, after all,” Han Chung was saying.[59](59/ "tree and pragmatics") Wang Chih turned, and looked eagerly at the White Hare.[60](60/ "tree and pragmatics") “Let me go to them,” he said.[61](61/ "tree and pragmatics") “I have got a bottle of water from the sky-dragon’s mouth, and——”[62](62/ "tree and pragmatics") “That’s all right,” said the White Hare.[63](63/ "tree and pragmatics") “Give it to me.”[64](64/ "tree and pragmatics") He opened the bottle, and mixed the contents carefully with a few drops of the elixir of life, which was clear as crystal, and of which each drop shone like a diamond as he poured it in.[65](65/ "tree and pragmatics") “Now, drink this,” he said to Wang Chih, “and it will give you the power of living once more in the past, as you desire.”[66](66/ "tree and pragmatics") Wang Chih held out his hand, and drank every drop.[67](67/ "tree and pragmatics") The moment he had done so the window grew larger, and he saw some steps leading from it down into the village street.[68](68/ "tree and pragmatics") **1** [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/23/page/2/) - ← previous: [Opening, part 22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/22/) - next →: [page 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/23/page/2/) - ↑ back to [The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/)