There lived a carpenter named Wang who was so skilful that any piece of furniture that came out of his hands was a masterpiece. Because of this, more and more people came and ordered furniture from him. Every day there was a long line of people and the carpenter had more work than he could handle. One day, Wang was working on a piece of furniture for a young couple who were about to wed. Wang worked till late night and it was already past eleven when he left his studio to go home. He walked hastily but even though he had been walking for a long time, he still had not reach that familiar little alley that led to his house. He stopped and looked around in amazement, "Wow!" Who knows how, he found himself on a desolate spot with no sign of human life around. He shut his eyes and opened them once again, ho0ing that he was just hallucinating. A mild breeze brought him out of stillness, as if waking from a bad dream. He realised that`first of all he should find a house where he could stay overnight, so in the morning he could set off to find his way back home. He hurriedly began to look for a lodging. Suddenly he noticed a flickering light not too far ahead of him. In a short while, the walls of a small dirt hut emerged from the dark. Wang knocked on the door and a weird old man appeared in the doorway. He had a crooked nose, a pointed chin, and green eyes - an image enough to scare the hell out of anyone. "Ah!" a sigh slipped out of Wang. "Erh... I'd like to ... stay over for the night, because... I'm... lost," he stuttered.

The weird old man contemplated for a short time and then nodded. With a chill in his stomach, Wang followed the weird old man inside the house. As the man closed the door, Wang noticed a beautiful young girl facing the wall and silently sobbing. "Is she your daughter?" asked Wang suspiciously. "No, she is my future wife, I am about to marry her," said the weird old man indifferently. "Huh? She is going to be your wife?" raised his voice in bewilderment Wang. The weird old man slammed the table with his hand and said, "No more questions! Go to sleep right now and leave at dawn." Full of doubts, Wang went to sleep. Wang woke up as a cold breeze swept across the room. Since it was almost dawning, he got up and silently slipped out of the house. When he got about half way, he felt that a chill creeping up the back of his head. He touched his head and realised that he forgot his hat at the house. Without thinking, he turned around to fetch his hat. When he got to the spot where he spent the night, the house was gone and there was nothing but a few old tombs. He looked around and noticed his own hat lying on a tomb. Frightened, he picked up the hat and set off running. After having talked to a few people, he came to know that an old man had been buried in one of the tombs. The old man's children thought that their father died lonely so not too long ago they put a deceased girl from a neighbouring village next to him as a companion. en Español © 2000 Logoi.com. All Rights Reserved