foreign school; thence, he went to Japan; how, it was not known. He returned to his home half a a year later; his legs had become straight and his queue was not to be seen. His mother wailed loudly more than ten times; his wife jumped into the well three or four times. Wherever his mother went thereafter, she would say: "His queue has been cut off by some evil companions after making him drunken with wine. By right, he could have been a great official; now there is no other course excepting to let his queue grow again before we say any more." But Ah Q was loath to believe a word of this and purposely dubbed him "False Foreigner" and accused him of acting as a spy for foreigners. As soon as he saw him, he would, without fail, curse him under his breath.
Ah Q also deeply hated and cut off all relations with him on account of his false queue. Now if the queue were not real, the person in question did not have the requisite qualifications of a human being; and if his wife had not jumped into the well the fourth time, she would not have been a good woman. The "False Foreigner" drew nearer.
"Bald pate! Ass!" Ordinarily Ah Q would have muttered under his breath, not allowing his words to become audible; but on this occasion, because he was in the heat
