The Ill Omen

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 256, 25 July 1936, Page 25

The Ill Omen

(A Bird Story for Animal Page by “Nonnie tiie Gnome” (15), Napier. Tsiiw-Ching squatted in the mudliut beside the river, eating his simple meal of rice and millet. Au old junk glided over the murky waters of 1e Yang-tse-kiaiig and the cheery Chinese boatman waved a greeting to ihe boy The rushes quivered with the touch of the night wind and a niirnle haze drifted over the river-flats. 1 Suddenly there was a beat of wings and a bird passed ovei the hut and glided into a shallow pool. Tsing-Ching caught Ins breath. 'lhe heron again” he whispertul; "the bird of ill-omen." For the last week, at eventide the great white bird had visited the dim pools of the river and the inhabitants of the squalid mudhuts feared that some disaster was to befall them Tsiiw-Ching was the only one who did not really believe this. \u old woman in a faded kimona ambled out of the hut as the bird alighted She caught the boy's sleeve iu alarm. “Tsing-Ching! You saw, you saw?" she whined. , • . ~ The boy nodded “But what can happen.'’ he asked. 55hat u the <bln The woman pointed to the water. “The river." she muttered “The is angry. I tell you that the heron is a warning to us—i wamin iVlien the mountain snows are melted a great yellow wave will bear d. n upon us find we will be drowned—buried iu Hie silt.of the river. Ah. me ■” and, swaying from side to side in grief, the woman hobbled away. Tsing-Ching looked thoughtfully after the departing figure, and then, kneelin- amid the green blades of the rushes lie whispered: ’Oh, God ot tiie River and tiie swamplands, 1 pray that the heron may tins time be to us a bird of good fortune." And the River God heard. . . . The next evening the white wings of the heron were again seena Pu Yang's wail was louder. Just as the bird soared upward Ising-Onu, saw the familiar junk round the bend of the river, the smiling b «“ tm a" standing with his paddle dipping the water. I) hen the boatman san the boy lie beckoned ami waved excitedly. Tsing-Ching went forward and called: “What is it? What do you want?" . The man smiled mysteriously. "Her Imperial Highness the 11 nutss is ill and the Emperor has made it known that tiie one who can make her bappv and well again may have anything that be asks, even----"Yes, yes,” interrupted Tsing-Ching, “but why should this inleiest mi. “You have a reed pipe?” the num replied sagely. , “You mean ? But what will happen to me if I don’t succeed.' “The penalty is death. Those who fail are to be bound and then Hung into the deep water at the mouth of the river. But you will not tail, my bov," the boatman added hastily. , The long, curvey neck of the heron rose above the grasses, and thru the bird swooped over the junk. The boatman’s face turned ashen-grey. 'The bird of ill-omtn. he gasped. “Nay, Tsing-Ching, thou must not come with me to the palace. Tiie bird lias been sent to warn us: take heed of it, my boy!” Tsing-Ching shook his head with determination. “I will come with you,’’ lie”said, “for I hnve faith in the God of the River, ami tiie bird, to me. means good fortune.” ~ , , For two days the man and tiie boy travelled down the Yang-tse, ami the heron flow onward, upward, loading the boat. Sometimes it would pause and alight on the rough deck, but never did Tsing-Ching lose sight of it, and in his heart he knew that his prayer to tiie River God had been answered. , „ When the boy entered the palace the heron rose and flew into the greyness of the morning, while Tsing-Ching played on his reed pipes. ‘ Tiie princess stirred and heard, in the magic echoes, the nightingale dn the palaeo wood, the rush of the river in the narrow gorge, the drone of voices in the temple, the swish of paddles, the rumble of the Pekingese cart, (lie sob of the wind in the mulberry trees, tiie laughter of waves on tiie shore—and the girl was very, very happy. Thus Tsing-Ching’s people left the mudhuts on the shores of the Yang-tse-kiang and found the comfort and luxury of the palace, but the Bird of Good Fortune was winging far. far away above the silent green pools and the singing rushes.