One morning Hoangti and his wife were in the beautiful palace garden. They walked up and down, up and down, talking of their people.
Suddenly the emperor said, "Look at those worms on the mulberry trees, Si-ling. They seem to be spinning."
Si-ling looked, and sure enough, the worms were spinning. A long thread was coming from the mouth of each, and each little worm was winding this thread around its body.
Si-ling and the emperor stood still and watched the worms. "How wonderful!" said Si-ling.
The next morning Hoangti and the empress walked under the trees again. They found some worms still winding thread. Others had already spun their cocoons and were fast asleep. In a few days all of the worms had spun cocoons.
"This is indeed a wonderful, wonderful thing!" said Si-ling. "Why, each worm has a thread on its body long enough to make a house for itself!"

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