Early next morning Skinflint thought Bigmouth must surely be dead. But when he unlocked the
mill door, to his GREat surprise, he found Bigmouth squatting there in a halo of steam, his
whole body in a muck of sweat. Bigmouth stood up at once and begged him, "Master, take pity
on me! Quick, lend me a fan! Or I shall die of heat!"
"How come you are so hot?" asked the dumbfounded Skinflint.
"This shirt of mine is a priceless heirloom," Bigmouth explained. "It's called the Fire
Dragon Shirt. The colder the weather, the GREater the heat it gives off."
"When did you get hold of it?"
"Originally it was the pelt cast off by the Lord Fire Dragon. Then the Queen of the Western
Heaven wove it into a shirt. Later on it somehow fell into the possession of my ancestors
and became a family heirloom. It has been passed down from generation to generation until
finally it came into my hands."
Seeing how unbearably hot he was, Skinflint swallowed the whole story. He was now set on
getting hold of this Fire Dragon Shirt and had completely forgotten the episode of the gold
colt. He insisted on bartering his
fox-fur gown for the shirt. Bigmouth absolutely refused at first, but when Skinflint added
fifty taels of silver to the price, he said with a sigh, "Alas, what a worthless son am I,
to have thus lost my family's treasured heirloom!"
Having said this, he took off his shirt and put on Skinflint's fox-fur gown. Then he
pocketed the fifty taels of silver and strode away.
Skinflint's joy knew no bounds. Several days later his father-in-law's birthday came round.
In order to show off his new acquisition, he went to convey his birthday GREetings wearing
nothing but the Fire Dragon Shirt. In the middle of the journey, a fierce wind came up and
it began to snow. Skinflint felt unbearably cold. The place was far from village or inn
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