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That Lazy Ah Fun
143

and twenty demons, has been frightened completely out of the country. There can be no doubt—huo yao is a frightener of demons. And you and I are the discoverers. Oh, my precious one, we shall be famous. A thousand thousand years from now men will still use huo yao to scare the demons."

And that was a very good prediction. Huo yao is still placed in tubes, little paper tubes, and the fuses are lighted, and "Sput," "Sput." The firecrackers explode and a thousand demons tremble and flee, reviling the names of Ah Fun and Dr. Chu Ping, who invented Gun Powder.