The Chinese tale of Du Dsi Tschun is told in Book 5 of THE RUNIAD (move the pagination bar below the text along to page 115).

x

…….‘Once upon a time there was a man,

One Du Dsi Tschun: a spendthrift who squandered his inheritance.

Fond of wine and idling, he drank and continued to drink,

And when he had run through all his cash, his family disowned him.

A winter’s morning found him walking barefoot through the town.

He’d slept in a sack outside the gate where foreigners come in;

His clothing rags, his stomach starved, his spirit broken down.

x

Evening came. The air was cold. He’d not found any food.

Sad of eye, and whinging with a beggar’s meek respect,

He scoured the closing market for scraps a dog would reject.

As night progressed this reprobate began to grieve aloud.

And then an ancient, white of beard, approached him, leaning on

A cane, who asked him what he lacked since he so bewailed

His fate. ‘No one pities my condition,’ Du Dsi Tschun replied.

x

The old one asked, ‘How much would set you up to live in style?’

‘Fifty thousand copper coins would get me on my feet.’

‘That would not go far.’ ‘Well I guess a million might suffice.’

‘Only for a little while.’ ‘Three million, would be nice.’

‘That’s more what I had in mind!’ Out of his sleeve, the ancient

Fetched a string of a thousand coins. ‘This is for tonight.

Meet me tomorrow noon, young man, in the Persian bazaar!’

x

And so the tale begins.