When he had become so unpopular that no one would speak to him, theemperor heard about it and commanded him to emigrate to America.This suited the mandarin very well; but before he left China hestole the Great Book of Magic that belonged to the wise magicianHaot-sai. Then, gathering up his little store of money, he took shipfor America.
He settled in a city of the middle west and of course started alaundry, since that seems to be the natural vocation of everyChinaman, be he coolie or mandarin.
He made no acquaintances with the other Chinamen of the town, who,when they met him and saw the red button in his hat, knew him for areal mandarin and bowed low before him. He put up a red and whitesign and people brought their laundry to him and got paper checks,with Chinese characters upon them, in exchange, this being the onlysort of character the mandarin had left.
One day as the ugly one was ironing in his shop in the basement of263 1/2 Main street, he looked up and saw a crowd of childish facespressed against the window. Most Chinamen make friends withchildren; this one hated them and tried to drive them away. But assoon as he returned to his work they were back at the window again,mischievously smiling down upon him.
The naughty mandarin uttered horrid words in the Manchu language andmade fierce gestures; but this did no good at all. The childrenstayed as long as they pleased, and they came again the very nextday as soon as school was over, and likewise the next day, and thenext. For they saw their presence at the window bothered theChinaman and were delighted accordingly.
The following day being Sunday the children did not appear, but asthe mandarin, being a heathen, worked in his little shop a bigbutterfly flew in at the open door and fluttered about the room.
The mandarin closed the door and chased the butterfly until hecaught it, when he pinned it against the wall by sticking two pinsthrough its beautiful wings. This did not hurt the butterfly, therebeing no feeling in its wings; but it made him a safe prisoner.
This butterfly was of large size and its wings were exquisitelymarked by gorgeous colors laid out in regular designs like thestained glass windows of a cathedral.
The mandarin now opened his wooden chest and drew forth the GreatBook of Magic he had stolen from Haot-sai. Turning the pages slowlyhe came to a passage describing "How to understand the language ofbutterflies." This he read carefully and then mixed a magic formulain a tin cup and drank it down with a wry face. Immediatelythereafter he spoke to the butterfly in its own language, saying:
"Why did you enter this room?"
"I smelled bees-wax," answered the butterfly; "therefore I thoughtI might find honey here."
"But you are my prisoner," said the mandarin. "If I please I can killyou, or leave you on the wall to starve to death."
"I expect that," replied the butterfly, with a sigh. "But my race isshortlived, anyway; it doesn't matter whether death comes sooner orlater."
"Yet you like to live, do you not?" asked the mandarin.
"Yet; life is pleasant and the world is beautiful. I do not seekdeath."
"Then," said the mandarin, "I will give you life--a long andpleasant life--if you will promise to obey me for a time and carryout my instructions."
"How can a butterfly serve a man?" asked the creature, in surprise.
"Usually they cannot," was the reply. "But I have a book of magicwhich teaches me strange things. Do you promise?"
"Oh, yes; I promise," answered the butterfly; "for even as yourslave I will get some enjoyment out of life, while should you killme--that is the end of everything!"
"Truly," said the mandarin, "butterflies have no souls, andtherefore cannot live again."
"But I have enjoyed three lives already," returned the butterfly,with some pride. "I have been a caterpillar and a chrysalis before Ibecame a butterfly. You were never anything but a Chinaman, althoughI admit your life is longer than mine."
"I will extend your life for many days, if you will obey me,"declared the Chinaman. "I can easily do so by means of my magic."
"Of course I will obey you," said the butterfly, carelessly.
"Then, listen! You know children, do you not?--boys and girls?"
"Yes, I know them. They chase me, and try to catch me, as you havedone," replied the butterfly.
"And they mock me, and jeer at me through the window," continued themandarin, bitterly. "Therefore, they are your enemies and mine! Butwith your aid and the help of the magic book we shall have a finerevenge for their insults."
"I don't care much for revenge," said the butterfly. "They are butchildren, and 'tis natural they should wish to catch such abeautiful creature as I am."
"Nevertheless, I care! and you must obey me," retorted the mandarin,harshly. "I, at least, will have my revenge."
Then he stuck a drop of molasses upon the wall beside thebutterfly's head and said:
"Eat that, while I read my book and prepare my magic formula."
So the butterfly feasted upon the molasses and the mandarin studiedhis book, after which he began to mix a magic compound in the tincup.
When the mixture was ready he released the butterfly from the walland said to it:
"I command you to dip your two front feet into this magic compoundand then fly away until you meet a child. Fly close, whether it be aboy or a girl, and touch the child upon its forehead with your feet.Whosoever is thus touched, the book declares, will at once become apig, and will remain such forever after. Then return to me and dipyou legs afresh in the contents of this cup. So shall all myenemies, the children, become miserable swine, while no one willthink of accusing me of the sorcery."
"Very well; since such is your command, I obey," said the butterfly.Then it dipped its front legs, which were the shortest of the six,into the contents of the tin cup, and flew out of the door and awayover the houses to the edge of the town. There it alighted in aflower garden and soon forgot all about its mission to turn childreninto swine.
In going from flower to flower it soon brushed the magic compoundfrom its legs, so that when the sun began to set and the butterflyfinally remembered its master, the mandarin, it could not haveinjured a child had it tried.
But it did not intend to try.
"That horrid old Chinaman," it thought, "hates children and wishesto destroy them. But I rather like children myself and shall notharm them. Of course I must return to my master, for he is amagician, and would seek me out and kill me; but I can deceive himabout this matter easily enough."
When the butterfly flew in at the door of the mandarin's laundry heasked, eagerly:
"Well, did you meet a child?"
"I did," replied the butterfly, calmly. "It was a pretty,golden-haired girl--but now 'tis a grunting pig!"
"Good! Good! Good!" cried the mandarin, dancing joyfully about theroom. "You shall have molasses for your supper, and to-morrow youmust change two children into pigs."
The butterfly did not reply, but ate the molasses in silence. Havingno soul it had no conscience, and having no conscience it was ableto lie to the mandarin with great readiness and a certain amount ofenjoyment.
Next morning, by the mandarin's command, the butterfly dipped itslegs in the mixture and flew away in search of children.
When it came to the edge of the town it noticed a pig in a sty, andalighting upon the rail of the sty it looked down at the creatureand thought.
"If I could change a child into a pig by touching it with the magiccompound, what could I change a pig into, I wonder?"
Being curious to determine this fine point in sorcery the butterflyfluttered down and touched its front feet to the pig's nose.Instantly the animal disappeared, and in its place was ashock-headed, dirty looking boy, which sprang from the sty and randown the road uttering load whoops.
"That's funny," said the butterfly to itself. "The mandarin would bevery angry with me if he knew of this, for I have liberated one moreof the creatures that bother him."
It fluttered along after the boy, who had paused to throw stones ata cat. But pussy escaped by running up a tree, where thick branchesprotected her from the stones. Then the boy discovered anewly-planted garden, and trampled upon the beds until the seedswere scattered far and wide, and the garden was ruined. Next hecaught up a switch and struck with it a young calf that stoodquietly grazing in a field. The poor creature ran away with piteousbleats, and the boy laughed and followed after it, striking thefrightened animal again and again.
"Really," thought the butterfly, "I do not wonder the mandarin hateschildren, if they are all so cruel and wicked as this one."
The calf having escaped him the boy came back to the road, where hemet two little girls on their way to school. One of them had a redapple in her hand, and the boy snatched it away and began eating it.The little girl commenced to cry, but her companion, more brave andsturdy, cried out:
"You ought to be ashamed of yourself, you nasty boy!"
At this the boy reached out and slapped her pretty face, whereuponshe also began to sob.
Although possessed of neither soul nor conscience, the butterfly hada very tender heart, and now decided it could endure this boy nolonger.
"If I permitted him to exist," it reflected, "I should never forgivemyself, for the monster would do nothing but evil from morning 'tilnight."
So it flew directly into his face and touched his forehead with itssticky front feet.
The next instant the boy had disappeared, but a grunting pig ranswiftly up the road in the direction of its sty.
The butterfly gave a sigh of relief.
"This time I have indeed used the mandarin's magic upon a child," itwhispered, as it floated lazily upon the light breeze; "but sincethe child was originally a pig I do not think I have any cause toreproach myself. The little girls were sweet and gentle, and I wouldnot injure them to save my life, but were all boys like thistransformed pig, I should not hesitate to carry out the mandarin'sorders."
Then it flew into a rose bush, where it remained comfortably untilevening. At sundown it returned to its master.
"Have you changed two of them into pigs?" he asked, at once.
"I have," replied the butterfly. "One was a pretty, black-eyed baby,and the other a freckle-faced, red-haired, barefooted newboy."
"Good! Good! Good!" screamed the mandarin, in an ecstasy of delight."Those are the ones who torment me the most! Change every newboy youmeet into a pig!"
"Very well," answered the butterfly, quietly, and ate its supper ofmolasses.
Several days were passed by the butterfly in the same manner. Itfluttered aimlessly about the flower gardens while the sun shone,and returned at night to the mandarin with false tales of turningchildren into swine. Sometimes it would be one child which wastransformed, sometimes two, and occasionally three; but the mandarinalways greeted the butterfly's report with intense delight and gavehim molasses for supper.
One evening, however, the butterfly thought it might be well to varythe report, so that the mandarin might not grow suspicious; and whenits master asked what child had been had been changed into a pigthat day the lying creature answered:
"It was a Chinese boy, and when I touched him he became a blackpig."
This angered the mandarin, who was in an especially cross mood. Hespitefully snapped the butterfly with his finger, and nearly brokeits beautiful wing; for he forgot that Chinese boys had once mockedhim and only remembered his hatred for American boys.
The butterfly became very indignant at this abuse from the mandarin.It refused to eat its molasses and sulked all the evening, for ithad grown to hate the mandarin almost as much as the mandarin hatedchildren.
When morning came it was still trembling with indignation; but themandarin cried out:
"Make haste, miserable slave; for to-day you must change fourchildren into pigs, to make up for yesterday."
The butterfly did not reply. His little black eyes were sparklingwickedly, and no sooner had he dipped his feet into the magiccompound than he flew full in the mandarin's face, and touched himupon his ugly, flat forehead.
Soon after a gentleman came into the room for his laundry. Themandarin was not there, but running around the place was arepulsive, scrawny pig, which squealed most miserably.
The butterfly flew away to a brook and washed from its feet alltraces of the magic compound. When night came it slept in a rosebush.
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