Now, everyone knows that, besides the Mountains of Swords and the Pond of Blood, there is also the Valley of Flames and the Sea of Ice, which lie side by side under the dark sky of Jigoku. In turn the devils hurled Tu Tzuchun into each of these, so that his heart was pierced by the cruel swords, his face scourged by the flames, his tongue was wrenched from his throat, his body was skinned and beaten with an iron-pounder, and he was then hurled into a pan of boiling oil. His brain was sucked by venomous serpents, and his eyes were picked out savagely by crested eagles, … but, if we are to describe all the horrible things which befell him, we should never come to the end of our story. But he went through every kind of infernal torture that is too terrible to relate.
Tu Tzuchun, nevertheless, was patient, and with teeth set he bore all these horrible tortures without giving vent to a single sound. The devils themselves were amazed at his obstinacy, and so eventually they flew back again with Tu Tzuchun to the palace of Senlotien. Prostrating themselves as before at the foot of his throne they related all that had happened.
“This sinner never utters a single sound, yet we have put him through every kind of torture.”
Yama thought for a while, and frowned, but presently he hit upon an idea.
“This fellow’s parents, I remember, are living among the animals of Jigoku. Bring them here at once.”
One of the devils who had heard the king’s command instantly flew up into the sky, and came back as a meteor shining through the darkness, and with him he brought the two animals. Upon seeing these animals Tu Tzuchun was very amazed, for they were none other than his own parents. Though their bodies were those of starved-looking horses, they had the faces of his deceased parents.
“Why were you sitting on the top of the mountains of Emeishan? If you do not answer at once, I will put your parents to the torture instead of you.”
Tu Tzuchun did not make any answer to this threat.
“You undutiful wretch! You think, then, that all is well so long as you are happy and unharmed. You do not mind if your parents suffer?”
Then Yama, with a voice so loud and fierce that it shook the very foundations of the palace, cried:
“Beat these two animals, you devils. Beat them until all their flesh and bones are crushed to pulp!”
At his command the devils sprang up and seizing whips made of the hardest iron, began to beat the horses most unmercifully. Their whips whistled as they passed through the air, and the lashes descended upon the poor animals one after another. The animals—his parents who had taken the form of horses—writhed in agony, and shedding tears of blood, they screamed so hideously that it was horrible to hear.
“How now? Won’t you speak?”
Yama ordered the devils to cease their beating for a minute, and again pressed Tu Tzuchun to answer. The two horses lay gasping for breath, and their flesh, cut to the bone, was dripping with blood. Their bones were so broken and crushed that they both lay in a pool of gore at the foot of the throne.
Tu Tzuchun desperately kept his eyes closed firmly remembering the old man’s warning. He remained like this for a few moments, until a very faint voice, as soft as breathing, came to his ears.
“Never worry about us. Our suffering does not matter at all. Nothing could make us more contented than to know that you are happy. If you wish, keep silence, however hard the king may press you.”
The voice that spoke was without doubt the loving voice of his dear mother. Tu Tzuchun involuntarily opened his eyes, and saw that one of the wretched horses lying at his feet had its eyes intensely fixed upon him. The expression on her face showed no sign of anger, even though she had been lashed so cruelly, for, in her great love for him, she had forgotten all her bodily pain. What a heavenly heart! What bravery! How different from the selfishness of the world, and of the people who said pretty things to him when he was rich, and who cut him so cruelly when he was poor. Then Tu Tzuchun, regardless of the old man’s orders, ran to the side of his mother, and took the neck of the dying horse in his arms, and as the tears streamed down his face, he could hold out no longer and he cried:
“Mother! …”
All of a sudden everything seemed to change, and he found himself standing at the western gate of the city of Loyang, gazing absentmindedly at the setting sun. The sky was hazy, and a white new moon shone in the sky above him. Surging past was an incessant stream of men and vehicles … he saw just the same scene as before.
“Young man, do you know that you can never be a magician, even though you become one of my pupils?”
Looking up he beheld the old man with the squint eye. He was smiling.
“No, I cannot, but I am rather glad of it.”
Tu Tzuchun, with tears in his eyes, took the old man’s hands in his and held them. His voice shook with passion:
“It was impossible to keep silent when I saw my dear parents being tortured in the palace of Senlotien, even though I may never become a great magician.”
“If you had kept your silence. …”
Tiehkuantzu looked intently into Tu Tzuchun’s face, and his expression suddenly became very severe.
“If you had kept your silence,” he continued, I would have killed you at once. You don’t wish to be a magician, and to be rich again is distasteful to you. Then, what would you like to be?
“No matter what I become,” he answered, “I intend to
