MD3PAD 622-624

[Toby G Levy]

        On the full moon of August 5th,  Mason and Dixon take their very
expensive clock to the visto and time the two hour tree chopping battle
between the mighty Stig and Zepho Beck, the were-beaver. The rules are
that if they chop down the same number of trees in the two hours, then
they will both chop down one more tree and the faster will be declared
the winner.

        Mrs. Eggslap's prostitutes act as cheerleaders and Stig is still
posing before them as Zepho chops his way out of sight.  Stig finally
starts chopping and the first tree to come down hits him on the butt. He
suffers a sprain, but keeps working. He cannot catch up to Zepho. As
night falls and the moon comes out, Zepho comes undone because of a
lunar eclipse. Stig declares the contest void and the bettors are all in
agony.

        Zhang says that in olden days Mason and Dixon would have been
beheaded for not forewarning the company about the eclipse.  The next
evening Zhang tells the company and the Becks the story of Hsi and Ho.
This really is an ancient Chinese folk tale, that was translated into
English by Isaac Newton from a French translation of the original
Chinese rendition.

        Chapter 64, the story of Hsi and Ho, begins on page 623.  On the
first day of Autumn in ancient times an eclipse occurred that was
totally missed by royal astronomers Hsi and Ho, who were carousing when
they should have been studying the skies and making calculations.

        They hurry to the observatory where they are told that they are
now considered enemies of the Emperor and are condemned to death. As the
army approaches to arrest them, Hsi and Ho, up on their high platform in
the observatory decided to try to escape using a gigantic kite.

Toby