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diff --git a/old/37766-8.txt b/old/37766-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5909e29 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/37766-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3536 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Strange Stories from the Lodge of Leisures, by Unknown + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Strange Stories from the Lodge of Leisures + +Author: Unknown + +Translator: George Soulié + +Release Date: October 16, 2011 [EBook #37766] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STRANGE STORIES FROM THE *** + + + + +Produced by David Starner, Matthew Wheaton and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + + + STRANGE STORIES + FROM THE + LODGE OF LEISURES + + TRANSLATED FROM THE CHINESE BY + GEORGE SOULIÉ + OF THE FRENCH CONSULAR SERVICE IN CHINA + + + BOSTON AND NEW YORK + HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY + 1913 + + PRINTED BY + HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD., + LONDON AND AYLESBURY, + ENGLAND. + + + + +PREFACE + + +The first European students who undertook to give the Western world an +idea of Chinese literature were misled by the outward and profound +respect affected by the Chinese towards their ancient classics. They +have worked from generation to generation in order to translate more and +more accurately the thirteen classics, Confucius, Mengtsz, and the +others. They did not notice that, once out of school, the Chinese did +not pay more attention to their classics than we do to ours: if you see +a book in their hands, it will never be the "Great Study" or the +"Analects," but much more likely a novel like the "History of the Three +Kingdoms," or a selection of ghost-stories. These works that everybody, +young or old, reads and reads again, have on the Chinese mind an +influence much greater than the whole bulk of the classics. +Notwithstanding their great importance for those who study Chinese +thought, they have been completely left aside. In fact, the whole of +real Chinese literature is still unknown to the Westerners. + +It is a pity that it should be so. The novels and stories throw an +extraordinary light on Chinese everyday life that foreigners have been +very seldom, and now will never be, able to witness, and they illustrate +in a striking way the idea the Chinese have formed of the other world. +One is able at last to understand what is the meaning of the _huen_ or +superior soul, which leaves the body after death or during sleep, but +keeps its outward appearance and ordinary clothes; the _p'aï_ or +inferior soul which remains in the decaying body, and sometimes is +strong enough to prevent it from decaying, and to give it all the +appearances of life. The magicians of the Tao religion, or Taoist +priests, play a great part in these stories, and the Buddhist ideas of +metempsychosis give the opportunity of more complicated situations than +we dream of. + +Among the most celebrated works, I have chosen the "Strange Stories from +the Lodge of Leisures," _Leao chai Chi yi_. It was written in the second +half of the eighteenth century by P'ou Song-lin (P'ou Lieou-hsien), of +Tsy-cheou, in the Chantong province. + +The whole work is composed of more than three hundred stories. I have +selected twenty-five among the most characteristic. + +This being a literary work, and having nothing scientific to boast of, I +have tried to give my English readers the same literary impression that +the Chinese has. _Tradutore traditore_, say the Italians; I hope I have +not been too much of a traitor. + +A translation is always a most difficult work; if it is materially +exact, word for word and sentence by sentence, the so-called scientific +men are satisfied, but all the charm, beauty, and interest of the +original are lost. Very often, too, such translation is obscure and +unintelligible. Each nation has an heirloom of traditions, customs, or +religion to which its literature constantly refers. If the reader is not +acquainted with that literature, these references will convey no meaning +to his mind, or they may even convey a false one. In Chinese, this +difficulty is greater than in any other language; the Far Eastern +civilisation has had a development of its own, and its legends and +superstitions have nothing in common with the Western folklore. The +Chinese mind is radically different from ours, and has grown, in every +generation, more different by reason of a different training and a +different ideal in life. The Chinese writing, moreover, has strengthened +those differences; it represents the ideas themselves, instead of +representing the words; each Chinese sign may be rightly translated by +either of the three or more words by which our language analytically +describes every aspect of one same idea. The sign which is read _Tao_, +for instance, must be, according to the sentence, translated by any of +the words: direction, rule, doctrine, religion, way, road, word, verb; +all of them being the different forms of the same idea of direction, +moral or physical. + +Some French sinologists, aware of this difficulty, now translate the +texts literally, and try to explain the meaning by a number of notes, +which sometimes leave only one or two lines of text in a page. This +method seems at first more scientific; it explains everything in the +most careful way, and is very useful for the translation of inscriptions +or of certain obscure passages in historical books. But for real +literature, it is the greatest possible error, leaving out, as it does, +all the impression and illusion the author intended to convey. Besides, +the necessity of going, at every word, down the page in order to find +the meaning in a note, tires the reader and takes away all the pleasure +he should derive from the book. + +One may even say that a materially exact translation is, in reality, a +false one; the words we use in writing and speaking being mere technical +signs by which we represent our ideas. For instance, the word +"cathedral" will certainly not convey the same idea to two men, one of +whom has only seen St. Paul's, and the other only Notre-Dame de Paris; +for the first, cathedral means a dome; for the other it means two towers +and a long ogival nave. Below the outward appearance of the words there +lie so many different images that it is absolutely necessary to know the +mentality of a nation in order to master its language. In fact, a true +translation will be the one that, though sometimes materially inexact, +will give the reader the same impression he would have if he were +reading the original text. + +Since I first went to China, in 1901, I have had many opportunities of +acquainting myself with all the superstitions of the lower classes, with +all the splendid mental and intellectual training of the learned. My +experience has helped me to perceive what was hidden beneath the words; +and in my translation I have sometimes supplied what the author only +thought necessary to imply. In many places the translation is literal; +in other places it is literary, it being impossible for a Western writer +to retain all the long and useless talking, all the repetitions that +Chinese writing and Chinese taste are equally fond of. + + GEORGE SOULIÉ. + + + + + CONTENTS + + + THE GHOST IN LOVE + THE FRESCO + THE DWARF HUNTERS + THE CORPSE THE BLOOD DRINKER + LOVE REWARDED + THE WOMAN IN GREEN + THE FAULT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES + DECEIVING SHADOWS + PEACEFUL-LIGHT + HONG THE CURRIER + AUTUMN-MOON + THE PRINCESS NELUMBO + THE TWO BROTHERS + THE MARBLE ARCH + THE DUTIFUL SON + THROUGH MANY LIVES + THE RIVER OF SORROWS + THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND + THE SPIRIT OF THE RIVER + THE-DEVILS-OF-THE-OCEAN + UNKNOWN DEVILS + CHILDLESS + THE PATCH OF LAMB'S SKIN + LOVE'S-SLAVE + THE LAUGHING GHOST + + + + +_Strange Stories from the Lodge of Leisures_ + + + + +_THE GHOST IN LOVE_ + + +On the 15th day of the First Moon, in the second year of the period of +"Renewed Principles," the streets of the town of the Eastern Lake were +thronged with people who were strolling about. + +At the setting of the sun every shop was brightly lit up; processions of +people moved hither and thither; strings of boys were carrying lanterns +of every form and colour; whole families passed, every member of whom, +young or old, small or big, was holding at the end of a thin bamboo the +lighted image of a bird, an animal, or a flower. + +Richer ones, several together, were carrying enormous dragons whose +luminous wings waved at every motion and whose glaring eyes rolled from +right to left. It was the Fête of the Lanterns. + +A young man, clothed in a long pale green dress, allowed himself to be +pushed about by the crowd; the passers-by bowed to him: + +"How is my Lord Li The-peaceful?" + +"The humble student thanks you; and you, how are you?" + +"Very well, thanks to your happy influence." + +"Does the precious student soon pass his second literary examination?" + +"In two months; ignorant that I am. I am idling instead of working." + +The fête was drawing to a close when The-peaceful quitted the main +street, and went towards the East Gate, where the house was to be found +in which he lived alone. + +He went farther and farther: the moving lights were rarer; ere long he +only saw before him the fire of a white lantern decorated with two red +peonies. The paper globe was swinging to the steps of a tiny girl +clothed in the blue linen that only slaves wore. The light, behind, +showed the elegant silhouette of another woman, this one covered with a +long jacket made in a rich pink silk edged with purple. + +As the student drew nearer, the belated walker turned round, showing an +oval face and big long eyes, wherein shone a bright speck, cruel and +mysterious. + +Li The-peaceful slackened his pace, following the two strangers, whose +small feet glided silently on the shining flagstones of the street. + +He was asking himself how he could begin a conversation, when the +mistress turned round again, softly smiled, and in a low, rich voice, +said to him: + +"Is it not strange that in the advancing night we are following the same +road?" + +"I owe it to the favour of Heaven," he at once replied; "for I am +returning to the East Gate; otherwise I should never have dared to +follow you." + +The conversation, once begun, continued as they walked side by side. The +student learned that the pretty walker was called "Double-peony," that +she was the daughter of Judge Siu, that she lived out of the city in a +garden planted with big trees, on the road to the lake. + +On arriving at his house The-peaceful insisted that his new friend +should enter and take a cup of tea. She hesitated; then the two young +people pushed the door, crossed the small yard bordered right and left +with walls covered with tiles, and disappeared in the house.... + +The servant remained under the portal. + +Daylight was breaking when the young girl came out again, calling the +servant, who was asleep. The next evening she came again, always +accompanied by the slave bearing the white lantern with two red +peonies. It was the same each day following. + +A neighbour who had watched these nocturnal visits was inquisitive +enough to climb the wall which separated his yard from that of the +lovers, and to wait, hidden in the shade of the house. + +At the accustomed hour the street-door, left ajar, opened to let in the +visitors. + +Once in the courtyard, they were suddenly transformed, their eyes became +flaming and red; their faces grew pale; their teeth seemed to lengthen; +an icy mist escaped from their lips. + +The neighbour did not see any more: terrified, he let himself slide to +the ground and ran to his inner room. + +The next morning he went to the student and told him what he had seen. +The lover was paralysed with fear: in order to reassure himself he +resolved to find out everything he could about his mistress. + +He at once went outside the ramparts, on the road to the lake, hoping +to find the house of Judge Siu. But at the place he had been told of +there was no habitation; on the left, a fallow plain, sown with tombs, +went up to the hills; on the right, cultivated fields extended as far as +the lake. + +However, a small temple was hidden there under big trees. The student +had given up all hope; he entered, notwithstanding, into the sacred +enclosure, knowing that travellers stayed there sometimes for several +weeks. + +In the first yard a bonze was passing in his red dress and shaven head; +he stopped him. + +"Do you know Judge Siu? He has a daughter----" + +"Judge Siu's daughter?" asked the priest, astonished. "Well--yes--but +wait, I will show her to you." + +The-peaceful felt his heart overflowing with joy; his beloved one was +living; he was going to see her by the light of day. He quickly +followed his companion. + +Passing the first court, they crossed a threshold and found themselves +in a yard planted with high pine-trees and bordered by a low pavilion. +The bonze, passing in first, pushed a door, and, turning round, said: + +"Here is Judge Siu's daughter!" + +The other stopped, terrified; on a trestle a heavy black lacquered +coffin bore this inscription in golden letters: "Coffin of Double-peony, +Judge Siu's daughter." + +On the wall was an unfolded painting representing the little maid; a +white lantern decorated with two red peonies was hung over it. + +"Yes, she has been there for the last two years; her parents, according +to the rite, are waiting for a favourable day to bury her." + +The student silently turned on his heel and went back, not deigning to +reply to the mocking bow of the priest. + +Evening arrived; he locked himself in, and, covering his head with his +blankets, he waited; sleep came to him only at daybreak. + +But he could not cease to think of her whom he no longer saw; his heart +beat as if to burst, when in the street he perceived the silhouette of a +woman which reminded him of his friend. + +At last he was incapable of containing himself any longer; one evening +he stationed himself behind the door. After a few minutes there was a +knock; he opened the door; it was only the little maid: + +"My mistress is in tears; why do you never open the door? I come every +evening. If you will follow me, perhaps she will forgive you." + +The-peaceful, blinded by love, started at once, walking by the light of +the white lantern. + + * * * * * + +The next day the neighbours, seeing that the student's door was open, +and that his house was empty, made a declaration to the governor of the +town. + +The police made an inquest; they collected the evidence of several +people who had been watching the nightly visitors the student had +received. The bonze of the temple outside the city walls came to say +what he knew. The chief of the police went to the road leading to the +lake; he crossed the threshold of the little edifice, passed the first +yard and at last opened the door of the pavilion. + +Everything was in order, but under the lid of the heavy coffin one could +see the corner of the long green dress of the student. + +In order to do away with evil influences there was a solemn funeral. + + * * * * * + +Ever since this time, on light clear nights, the passers-by often meet +the two lovers entwined together, slowly walking on the road which leads +to the lake. + + + + +_THE FRESCO_ + + +In the Great Highway of Eternal Fixity, Mong Flowing-spring and his +friend Choo Little-lotus were slowly walking, clothed in the long light +green dress of the students. + +They had both just passed with success their third literary examination, +and were enjoying the pleasures of the capital before returning to their +distant province. + +As they were both of small means, they were looking now (and at the same +time filling their eyes with the movement of the street) for a lodging +less expensive than the inn where they had put up on arriving at Pekin. + +Leaving the Great Highway, they strolled far into a labyrinth of lanes +more and more silent. They soon lost themselves. Undecided, they had +stopped, when they spied out the red lacquered portal of a temple of the +Mysterious-way. + +Pushing the heavy sides of the door, they entered; an old man with his +hair tightly drawn together in a black cap, majestic in his grey dress, +stood behind the door and appeared to be waiting for them. + +"Your coming lightens my humble dwelling," he said in bowing. "I beg you +will enter." + +"I do not dare! I do not dare!" murmured the two students, bowing in +their turn. + +They nevertheless entered, crossing the yard on which the portal opened, +which was closed, at the end, by the little temple in open woodwork +close under the mass of roofs of green tiles. + +They went up three steps, then, pushing a narrow and straight door, they +entered. In the half-shadow they distinguished on the white altar a +statue of Tche Kong The-Supreme-Lord, with a golden face and griffins' +feet like the claws of an eagle. + +The walls on each side of the altar were painted in frescoes; on the +wall on the right you saw goddesses in the midst of flowers. One of +these young girls, with a low chignon, was gathering a peony and was +slightly smiling. Her mouth, like a cherry, seemed as if it were really +opening; one would have sworn that her eyelids fluttered. + +Mong Flowing-spring, his eyes fixed on the painting, remained a long +time without moving, absorbed in his admiration of the work of art, and +disturbed beyond expression by the beauty of the goddess with the low +chignon. + +"Why is she not living?" said he. "I would willingly give my life for a +moment of her love!" + +Suddenly he started; the young goddess raised herself upright, bursting +with laughter, and got down from the wall. She crossed the door, went +down the staircase, stepped over the yard and left the place. + +Flowing-spring followed her without reflecting. He saw her going away +with a light step, and turn down the first lane; the young student ran +behind her. + +As he turned the corner, he saw her stop at the entrance of a small +house. She was gracefully waving her hand, and, with sly glances, made +him signs to come. + +He hastened forward and entered in his turn. In the silent house there +was nobody, no one but the goddess standing in her long mauve dress and +nibbling the flower that she had picked and that she still held in her +hand. + +"I bow down," said the student, who knelt to salute her. + +"Rise! you exceed the rites prescribed," she replied. + +"I bend my head, not being able to bear the splendour of your beauty." + +As she did not seem to be discontented he continued telling her his +admiration and his desire. He approached, touched her hand; she started, +but did not draw back. He then took her in his arms; she did not make +much resistance. + +The moments passed rapidly. They spoke to each other in a low voice, +when, suddenly in the street, a noise of heavy boots resounded; steps +stopped before the door; the lock was shaken; oaths were heard. + +The young girl grew pale; she told Flowing-spring to hide himself under +the bed. The student felt his heart become quite small; he crouched down +in the shadow, not even being able to breathe. From the depth of his +hiding-place, he saw an officer enter, his face in black lacquer, +covered with a golden cuirass and surrounded by a troop of young girls +in long dresses of bright colours. + +"I smell an odour of human flesh!" grumbled the officer, walking heavily +and going round the room. + +"Hide yourself well!" the goddess murmured to her lover, raising herself +from the bed and white with terror. "If you can escape from him, wait +till we have left, and open the little door at the end of the garden; +then run away quickly!" + +"There is a man here! I smell him! He must be delivered to me! If not, +I shall punish the person who has hidden him." + +"We know nothing!" all the young women said together. + +"Very well! Let us go out." + +Then, following the gracious troop which the goddess had joined, he +crossed the threshold. + +Flowing-spring, hidden under the bed, waited till the noise of the boots +had gone away. Then he glided with caution from his refuge. + +Half bent, listening with anxiety in fear of being surprised, he flew +from the room and crossed the garden. + +During this time Choo Little-lotus, having remained in the temple, had +not remarked the departure of his friend. But, turning round and not any +longer seeing him, he questioned the old magician. + +"Your friend is not far off," he replied. + +Then, showing him the wall, he said: + +"Look! here he is!" + +And, indeed, in the centre of the fresco, the image of Flowing-spring +was painted; he was crouched in among the flowers, straining his ear. +The image moved, and, suddenly, the student separated himself from the +wall and advanced, looking sad and anxious. + +Choo Little-lotus, terrified, was looking at him. The other told him his +adventure. As he spoke a terrible clap of thunder was heard. The two +friends instinctively shut their eyes; when they opened them, their +glance fell on the fresco: the goddesses had taken their places there +again, in the midst of the flowers; but the young girl with the low +chignon was no longer there. + +The magician smiled at Flowing-spring: + +"Love has touched her. She has become a woman and is waiting for you in +your village." + + + + +_THE DWARF HUNTERS_ + + +The heavy summer in the South is particularly hard to bear for those who +are ill. The damp heat keeps them awake, and thousands of insects +trouble their rest. + +Wang Little-third-one, stretched on his bed made of bamboo laths, where +a low fever kept him, complained of it to all those who came to see him, +especially to his friend the magician officiating priest of the little +temple situated in the neighbouring crossway. + +The magician knew something of medicine; he prescribed a calming potion +and retired. + +When Little-third-one had drunk the potion, his fever fell and he was +able to enjoy a little sleep. He was awakened by a slight noise; night +had come on; the room was lighted by the full moon, which threw a bright +gleam by the open door. + +All the insects were moving and flying hither and thither; white ants +who gnaw wood, bad-smelling bugs, enormous cockroaches, mosquitoes, +innumerable and various flies. + +As Little-third-one was looking, his attention was drawn by a movement +on the threshold: a small man, not bigger than a thumb, advanced with +precautious steps; in his hand he held a bow; a sword was hanging at his +side. + +Little-third-one, on looking closer, saw two dogs as big as +shirt-buttons running before the man with the bow; they suddenly +stopped: the archer approached, held out his weapon, and discharged the +arrow. A cockroach who was crawling before the dogs made a bound, fell +on its back, moved again, then remained motionless; the arrow had run +through it. + +Behind the first huntsman others had come; some were on horseback, armed +with swords; some on foot. + +From that time it was a pursuit without intermission; hundreds of +insects were shot. At first the mosquitoes escaped; but as they cannot +fly for long, every time that one remained still it was transpierced by +the huntsmen. + +Soon nothing was left of all the insects who broke the silence with +their buzzing, their gnashing of teeth, or their falling. + +A horseman then was seen galloping over the room, looking from right to +left. He then gave the signal; all the huntsmen called their dogs, went +towards the door, and disappeared. + +Little-third-one had not moved, in order not to disturb the hunt. At +last he peacefully went to sleep, henceforth sure of not being awakened +by a sting or a bite. He awoke late the next day almost cured. + +When his friend the magician came to see him, he told him his +experience: the other smiled. Wang understood that the mysterious +hunters came from the little temple. + + + + +_THE CORPSE THE BLOOD-DRINKER_ + + +Night was slowly falling in the narrow valley. On the winding path cut +in the side of the hill about twenty mules were following each other, +bending under their heavy load; the muleteers, being tired, did not +cease to hurry forward their animals, abusing them with coarse voices. + +Comfortably seated on mules with large pack-saddles, three men were +going along at the same pace as the caravan of which they were the +masters. Their thick dresses, their fur boots, and their red woollen +hoods protected them from the cold wind of the mountain. + +In the darkness, rendered thicker by a slight fog, the lights of a +village were shining, and soon the mules, hurrying all together, +jostling their loads, crowded before the only inn of the place. + +The three travellers, happy to be able to rest, got down from their +saddles when the innkeeper came out on the step of his door and excused +himself, saying all his rooms were taken. + +"I have still, it is true, a large hall the other side of the street, +but it is only a barn, badly shut. I will show it to you." + +The merchants, disappointed, consulted each other with a look; but it +was too late to continue their way; they followed their landlord. + +The hall that was shown to them was big enough and closed at the end by +a curtain. Their luggage was brought; the bed-clothes rolled on the +pack-saddles were spread out, as usual, on planks and trestles. + +The meal was served in the general sitting-room, in the midst of noise, +laughing, and movement--smoking rice, vegetables preserved in vinegar, +and lukewarm wine served in small cups. Then every one went to bed; the +lights were put out and profound silence prevailed in the sleeping +village. + +However, towards the hour of the Rat, a sensation of cold and +uneasiness awoke one of the three travellers named Wang Fou, +Happiness-of-the-kings. He turned in his bed, but the snoring of his two +companions annoyed him; he could not get to sleep. Again, seeing that +his rest was finished, he got up, relit the lamp which was out, took a +book from his baggage, and stretched himself out again. But if he could +not sleep, it was just as impossible to read. In spite of himself, his +eyes quitted the columns of letters laid out in lines and searched into +the darkness that the feeble light did not contrive to break through. + +A growing terror froze him. He would have liked to awaken his +companions, but the fear of being made fun of prevented him. + +By dint of looking, he at last saw a slight movement shake the big +curtain which closed the room. There came from behind a crackling of +wood being broken. Then a long, painful threatening silence began again. + +The merchant felt his flesh thrill; he was filled with horror, in spite +of his efforts to be reasonable. + +He had put aside his book, and, the coverlet drawn up to his nose, he +fixed his enlarged eyes on the shadowy corners at the end of the room. + +The side of the curtain was lifted; a pale hand held the folds. The +stuff, thus raised, permitted a being to pass, whose form, hardly +distinct, seemed penetrated by the shadow. + +Happiness-of-kings would have liked to scream; his contracted throat +allowed no sound to escape. Motionless and speechless, he followed with +his horrified look the slow movement of the apparition which +approached. + +He, little by little, recognised the silhouette of a female, seen by her +short quilted dress and her long narrow jacket. Behind the body he +perceived the curtain again moving. + +The spectre, in the meantime bending over the bed of one of the sleeping +travellers, appeared to give him a long kiss. + +Then it went towards the couch of the second merchant. +Happiness-of-kings distinctly saw the pale figure, the eyes, from which +a red flame was shining, and sharp teeth, half-exposed in a ferocious +smile, which opened and shut by turns on the throat of the sleeper. + +A start disturbed the body under the cover, then all stopped: the +spectre was drinking in long draughts. + +Happiness-of-kings, seeing that his turn was coming, had just strength +enough to pull the coverlet over his head. He heard grumblings; a +freezing breath penetrated through the wadded material. + +The paroxysm of terror gave the merchant full possession of his +strength; with a convulsive movement he threw his coverlet on the +apparition, jumped out of his bed, and, yelling like a wild beast, he +ran as far as the door and flew away in the night. + +Still running, he felt the freezing breath in his back, he heard the +furious growlings of the spectre. + +The prolonged howling of the unhappy man filled the narrow street and +awoke all the sleepers in their beds, but none of them moved; they hid +themselves farther and farther under their coverlets. These inhuman +cries meant nothing good for those who should have been bold enough to +go outside. + +The bewildered fugitive crossed the village, going faster and faster. +Arriving at the last houses, he was only a few feet in advance and felt +himself fainting. + +The road at the extremity of the village was bordered with narrow fields +shaded with big trees. The instinct of a hunted animal drove on the +distracted merchant; he made a brisk turn to the right, then to the +left, and threw himself behind the knotted trunk of a huge +chestnut-tree. The freezing hand already touched his shoulder; he fell +senseless. + + * * * * * + +In the morning, in broad daylight, two men who came to plough in this +same field were surprised to perceive against the tree a white form, +and, on the ground, a man stretched out. This fact coming after the +howling in the night appeared strange to them; they turned back and went +to find the Chief of the Elders. When they returned, the greater part of +the inhabitants of the village followed them. + +They approached and found that the form against the tree was the corpse +of a young woman, her nails buried in the bark; from her mouth a stream +of blood had flowed and stained her white silk jacket. A shudder of +horror shook the lookers-on: the Chief of the Elders recognised his +daughter dead for the last six months whose coffin was placed in a barn, +waiting for the burial, a favourable day to be fixed by the astrologers. + +The innkeeper recognised one of his guests in the man stretched on the +ground, whom no care could revive. + +They returned in haste to find out in what condition the coffin was: the +door of the barn was still open. They went in; a coverlet was thrown on +the ground near the entrance; on two beds the great sun lit up the +hollow and greenish aspect of the corpses whose blood had been emptied. + +Behind the drawn curtain the coffin was found open. The corpse of the +young woman evidently had not lost its inferior soul, the vital breath. +Like all beings deprived of conscience and reason, her ferocity was +eager for blood. + + + + +_LOVE REWARDED_ + + +Lost in the heart of Peking, in one of the most peaceful neighbourhoods +of the Yellow City, the street of Glowing-happiness was sleeping in the +silence and in the light. + +On the right and left of the dusty road was some waste ground, where +several red mangy, and surly dogs were sleeping. Five or six low houses, +their white walls forming a line not well defined, whose low roofs were +covered with grey tiles, bordered the road. + +In the first year of the Glorious-Strength, four hundred years ago, a +young man with long hair tied together under the black gauze cap of the +scholars, clothed in a pink dress with purple flowers, was walking in +the setting sun, stepping cautiously in order not to cover with dust +his shoes with thick felt soles. + +When the first stars began to shine in the darkening sky, he entered one +of the houses. A wick in a saucer, soaking in oil, burning and smoking, +vaguely lighted an open book on the table: one could only guess, in the +shadow, the form of a chair, a bed in a corner, and a few inscriptions +hanging on the whitewashed walls. + +The scholar seated himself before his table and resumed, as he did every +evening, his reading of the Classics, of which he sought to penetrate +the entire meaning. Late passers-by in this lonely thoroughfare still +saw his lamp shining across the trellises of the windows far into the +night. + +Golden-dragon lived alone. Now, on that evening an inexplicable languor +made him dreamy; his eyes followed in vain the text; his rebellious +thoughts were scattered. + +Impatiently at last he was just going to put out his lamp and go to +bed, when he heard some one knocking at the door. + +"Come in!" he cried. + +The door grinding on its hinges, a young woman appeared clothed in a +long gown of bright green silk, gracefully lifting her foot to cross the +threshold, and bowing with her two hands united. Golden-dragon, +hurriedly rising to reply, waved in his turn his fists joined together +at the same height as his visage and said, according to the ritual: "Be +kind enough to be seated! What is your noble name?" The visitor did not +pronounce a word; her large black eyes, shadowed by long eyelashes, were +fixed on the face of her host, while she tried to regain her panting +breath. + +As she advanced, Golden-dragon felt a strange feeling of admiration and +love. + +He did not think such a perfect beauty could exist. As he remained +speechless, she smiled, and her smile had on him the effect of a strong +drink on a hungry man; troubled and dazed, he lost the conscience of +his personality and his acts. + +The next morning the sun was shining when he awoke, asking himself if he +had not been dreaming. He thought all day long of his strange visitor, +making thousands of suppositions. + +Evening coming on, she suddenly entered, and it was as it had been the +night before. + +Two months passed; then the young girl's visits abruptly ceased. The +night covered everything with its black veil, but nobody appeared at the +door. Golden-dragon the first night, waited for her till the hour of the +Rat; at last he went to his couch and fell asleep. Almost immediately he +saw her carried away by two horny _yecha_; she was calling him: + +"My beloved, I am drawn away towards the inferior regions. I shall never +be able to get away if prayers are not said for me. My body lies in the +next house." + +He started out of sleep in the efforts he made to fly to her, and could +not rest again in his impatience to assert what she had said. + +As soon as the sun was up, he ran towards the only house that was next +to his. He knocked; no one replied. Pushing the door, he entered. The +house seemed to be recently abandoned, the rooms were empty, but in a +side hall a black lacquered coffin rested on trestles; on a table the +"Book of Liberation" was open at the chapter of "The great recall." + +Golden-dragon doubted no longer; he sang in a high voice the entire +chapter, shut the book, and returned home full of a strange +peacefulness. + +Every evening from that time, at the hour when she had appeared to him, +he lit a lantern, went to the house next door and read a chapter of the +holy text. + +Years passed by; he got beyond his fiftieth year, grew bent, and walked +with difficulty, but he never missed performing the duty he had imposed +on himself for his unknown friend. + +The house where the coffin was placed had successively been let to +several families; but he had arranged that the funereal room should +never be touched. The lodgers bowed to the scholar when he came, and +talked to him; the whole town was entertained with this touching example +of such everlasting love. + +"So much constancy and such fidelity cannot remain without reward," they +said. + +But time slipped by and nothing came to change the regular life of the +old man. + +On his seventieth birthday, as he went to his neighbours, he remarked a +violent excitement. + +"My wife has just had a child," said the chief of the family, going to +meet him. "Come and wish her happiness; she does not cease to ask for +you." + +"Is it a boy?" + +"No, unhappily, a girl, but such a pretty little thing." + +Followed by the happy father, the scholar with white hair penetrated +into the room; the mother smiled, holding out the baby to him. +Golden-dragon suddenly started; the child held out her arms to him and +on her little lips, hardly formed, hovered the shadow of a disappeared +smile, the smile of the unknown woman. + +And as he looked an extraordinary sensation troubled him; he felt he was +growing younger, more vigorous. Soon, in the midst of the cries of +admiration of the whole family, the bent old man grew straight again; +his grey hair turned black, and the change continued; he became a young +man, a boy, and soon a child. + +When the Bell of the great Tower struck the hour of the Rat, he was a +fat pink baby playing and laughing with the little girl. + +The governor of the town, being informed, personally directed an +inquiry. It was discovered that the coffin had disappeared at the same +hour when the transformation had happened. + +The Emperor, on the report of the governor, ordered the two children to +receive a handsome dowry. + +As to them, they grew up, loved each other, and lived happy and well as +far as the limits of human longevity. + + + + +_THE WOMAN IN GREEN_ + + +At this time, in the Pavilion-of-the-guests, in the +Monastery-of-the-healing-springs, the most celebrated of the Fo-kien +province, lived a young scholar whose name was Little-cypress. + +As soon as the sun rose he was at his work, seated near the trellised +window. When night fell, his lamp still lit the outline of the wooden +trellis. + +One morning a shadow darkened his book; he raised his eyes: a young +woman with a long green skirt, her face of matchless beauty, was +standing outside the window and was looking at him. + +"You are then always working, Lord Little-cypress?" she said. + +She was so bewitching that he knew her immediately for a goddess; but +all the same he asked her where she lived and what was her name. + +"Your lordship has looked on his humble wife; he has known her as a +goddess. What is the use of so many questions?" + +Little-cypress, satisfied with this reply, invited her to enter the +house. She came in; her waist was so small, one would almost have +thought that her body was divided in two. + +He invited her to sit down; they talked and laughed together a long +time. + +He asked her to sing, and, with a low voice, which filled her friend +with rapture, she sang: + + "On the trees the bird pursues his companion; + Oppressed slaves free themselves with love. + How has my Lord lived alone, + Without enjoying all the pleasures of married life?" + +The sound vibrated like a thread of silk; it penetrated the ear and +troubled the heart. As she finished, she suddenly arose. + +"A man is standing near the window, he is listening to us ... he is +going round ... he is trying to see." + +"Since when does a goddess fear a man?" replied Little-cypress, +laughing. + +"I am troubled without knowing why; my heart beats. I wish to go." + +She went to open the door, but abruptly shut it. + +"I do not know why I am thus upset. Will you accompany me as far as the +entrance gate?" + +Little-cypress held her up till they got to the gate; he had just left +her and turned his head, when he heard her call for help in a voice full +of anguish. He hurriedly turned round; no one was to be seen. + +As he was looking for her with stupefaction his eyes fell on a big +cobweb, stretched in the corner of the wall. The ugly and gigantic +insect held in its claws a dragon-fly who was struggling and dolefully +crying. Affected by this sight, he hastened to deliver it. + +The pretty insect immediately flew in the direction of the +Pavilion-of-the-guests. Little-cypress saw it go in at the window and +alight on the stone for grinding the ink. + +Then it arose again and alighted on the paper which was placed on the +table; there it oddly crawled, retracing its steps, returning, +advancing, and stopping. After a moment it took its flight and +disappeared in the sky. + +Little-cypress, much puzzled, approached and looked; on the paper was +written in big strokes the word "Thanks." + + + + +_THE FAULT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES_ + + +When Dawning-colour was on the point of dying, he called his mother to +him. + +"Mother," he said, "I am going to die. I do not wish White-orchid, my +young wife, to feel herself bound to keep the widowhood. When her +mourning will be finished, she will marry again: our son is only three +years old; you will keep him with you." + +Now, the mourning was not yet finished and the coffin was still in the +house waiting for a favourable day, when the young widow began to find +the solitude weigh upon her. + +A rich sluggard of the village, named Adolescent, had several times sent +proposals to her through a neighbour; she at last was unwise enough to +agree to an interview with him. When evening came, Adolescent jumped +over the neighbour's wall and went to her room. + +He had not been there half an hour when there arose a great noise in the +hall where the coffin was; it seemed as if the cover was violently +thrown to the ground. A little slave who was called afterwards as a +witness told how she ran into the yard and saw her master's corpse +brandishing a sword and jumping towards the room where the lovers were +to be found. + +A few instants after, she saw the young widow come out screaming and run +to the garden. Adolescent followed her, covered with blood; he crossed +the threshold and disappeared in the night. + +Now, Adolescent, flying from danger, pushed the first door that he came +across in the street; it was that of a young couple; the husband, named +Wang, was absent and only expected to return the next day. The young +wife, hearing a noise, thought it was her husband returning. + +"Is that you?" she asked, without quite waking up. + +Adolescent, who knew Madame Wang was pretty, answered "Yes" in a low +voice, taking advantage of her error. + +A short time after, at Wang's turn to enter, he struck a light, saw a +man in his room, and, furious, seized a pike. Adolescent tried to hide +himself under the bed, but the husband transpierced him several times. +He wished to kill his wife, but she so much begged him not to that he +spared her. + +The cries and supplications which came from the room had, however, awoke +the neighbours, who came in; they pulled Adolescent's body from under +the bed; he died almost directly. + +There was a silence; the affair was serious. Then one of the assistants +said: + +"The judges won't believe that you were in your right of outraged +husband; you ought to have killed your wife also. As it is, you will be +condemned." + +Thereupon, Wang killed the unhappy woman. + +During this time Dawning-colour's mother, having heard the screams of +her daughter-in-law, thought there was a burglar in the house; she cried +for help and tried to light a lamp, but she was trembling, and her +curtains caught fire. + +Some neighbours arrived in haste; while a few of them extinguished the +fire, the others, armed with crossbows, ran through the house and garden +in search of the thief. + +At the bottom of the orchard they saw a white mass moving at the foot of +the wall. Without waiting to ascertain what it was, they shot several +arrows; everything was still. The archers approached and lit a torch; +they saw the body of White-orchid transpierced in the head and chest. + +Horrified by what they had done, they informed the old woman, who said +nothing. + +But this was not all. The elder brother of White-orchid, furious at the +tragic death of his sister, had a lawsuit with the archers and the old +woman. + +As usual, the judges ruined both parties; they condemned +Dawning-colour's mother and the archers to receive five hundred bamboo +strokes. The latter were not strong enough to bear this punishment, and +died under the stick. And thus the affair ended. + + + + +_DECEIVING SHADOWS_ + + +Night was falling when the horseshoes of the mules of my caravan +resounded on the slippery flagstones of the village. + +Tired by a long day of walking, I directed my steps towards the large +hall of the inn, with the intention of resting a moment while my repast +was being prepared. + +In the darkened room the glimmer of a small opium-lamp lit up the pale +and hollow face of an old man, occupied in holding over the flame a +small ball of the black drug, which would soon be transformed into +smoke, source of forgetfulness and dreams. + +The old man returned my greeting, and invited me to lie down on the +couch opposite to him. He handed me a pipe already prepared and we +began talking together. As ordered by the laws of politeness, I remarked +to my neighbour that he seemed robust for his age. + +"My age? Do you, then, think I am so old?" + +"But, as you are so wise, you must have seen sixty harvests?" + +"Sixty! I am not yet thirty years old! But you must have come from a +long way off, not to know who I am." + +And while rolling the balls with dexterity in the palm of his hand, and +making them puff out to the heat of the lamp, he told me his story. + +His name was Liu Favour-of-heaven. Born and brought up in the capital, +he had been promoted six years before to the post of sub-prefect in the +town on which our refuge was dependent. + +When coming to take his post, he stopped at the inn, the same one where +we were. The house was full; but he had remarked, on entering, a long +pavilion which seemed uninhabited. The landlord, being asked, looked +perplexed; he ended by saying that the pavilion had been shut for the +last two years; all the travellers had complained of noises and strange +visions; probably mischievous spirits lived there. + +Favour-of-heaven, having lived in the capital, but little believed in +phantoms. He found the occasion excellent to establish his reputation in +braving imaginary dangers. + +His wife and his children implored him in vain; he persisted in his +intention of remaining the night alone in the haunted house. + +He had lights brought; installed himself in a big armchair, and placed +across his knees a long and heavy sword. + +Hours passed by; the sonorous noise of the gong struck by the watchman +announced successively the hours, first of the Pig, then of the Rat. He +grew drowsy. Suddenly, he was awakened by the gnashing of teeth. All the +lights were out; the darkness, however, was not deep enough to prevent +his being able to distinguish everything confusedly. Anguish seized him; +his heart beat with violence; his staring eyes were fixed on the door. + +By the half-opened door he perceived a round white mass, the deformed +head of a monster, who, appearing little by little, stretched long hands +with twisted fingers and claws. + +Favour-of-heaven mechanically raised his weapon; his blood frozen in his +veins, he tried to strike the head, whose indistinct features were +certainly dreadful. Without doubt the blow had struck, for a frightful +cry was heard; all the demons of the inferior regions seemed let loose +with this yell; calls were heard from all sides. The trellised frames of +the windows were shaken with violence. The monster gained the door. +Favour-of-heaven pursued him and threw him down. + +His terror was such that he felt he must strike and kill. Hardly had he +finished than there entered, rolling from side to side, a little being, +quite round, brandishing unknown weapons at the end of innumerable small +hands. The prefect, with one blow, cut him in two like a watermelon. + +However, the windows were shaken with growing rage; unknown beings +entered by the door without interruption; the prefect threw them down +one after another: a black shadow first, then a head balancing itself at +the end of a huge neck, then the jaw of a crocodile, then a big bird +with the chest and feet of a donkey. + +Trembling all over, the man struck right and left, exhausted and +panting; a cold perspiration overwhelmed him; he felt his strength +gradually giving way, when the cock crowed at last the coming of the +day. + +Little by little, grey dawn designed the trellis of the windows, then +the sun suddenly appeared above the horizon and darted its rays across +the rents in the paper. + +Favour-of-heaven felt his heart stand still; on the floor inundated with +blood, the bodies lying there had human forms, forms that he knew: this +one looked like his second wife, and this one, this little head that had +rolled against the foot of the table, he would have sworn that it was +his last son. + +With a mad cry he threw away his weapon and ran to open the door, +through which the sun poured in. + +An armed crowd was moving in the yard. + +"My family! my family! where is my family?" + +"They are all with you in the pavilion!" + +But as they were speaking they saw with stupor the hair of the young man +becoming white, and the wrinkles of age cover his face, while he +remained motionless as well as insensible. + +They drew near; he rolled fainting on the ground. "And thus," ended the +sub-prefect in the silence of the dark hall, where only the little light +of the opium-lamp was shining, "I remained several days without +knowledge of anything. When I came to myself, I had to bear the sorrow +of having killed my whole family in these atrocious circumstances. I +resigned my post: I had magnificent tombs built for all those who were +killed this fatal night, and, since then, I smoke without ceasing the +agreeable drug, in order to fly away from the remembrance, which will +haunt me until my last day." + + + + +_PEACEFUL-LIGHT_ + + +In the time when the Shining Dynasty had just conquered the throne, the +eastern coasts of the Empire were ravaged by the rapid junks commanded +by the cruel inhabitants of the Japanese islands, the irresistible _Wo +tsz_. + +Now, it happened that the _Wo tsz_ Emperor lost his first wife; knowing +the beauty of Chinese women, he charged one of his officers to bring +back some of them. + +The officer, at the head of a numerous troop, landed not far from the +town of The-Smoky-wall. No resistance was possible; the population was +given the example of flight by the functionaries, at least it was thus +said in the Annals of the prefecture. + +The country being far from the big centres, the women were not great +coquettes; only one, named Peaceful-light, had always been careful, +since childhood, not to allow her feet to become naturally large; they +were constantly bound up, so much so that she could hardly walk. + +Her large soft eyes were shaded with heavy eyelashes; one of the +literati of the place took delight in quoting the poets of antiquity on +them: + + Under the willow of her eyelashes + The tranquil river of her eyes shines forth. + I bend and see my image reflected in them. + Could she be deceitful like the deep water? + +When the pirates were coming, she begged her family to leave her, and to +fly without the risk of being delayed by her. + +"It is the just punishment for my coquetry," she told them. "Fear +nothing for me, however. I am going to take a strong dose of the paste +extracted from the flowers of Nao-yang which makes one sleep. The +pirates will think I am dead, and will leave me." + +The family allowed themselves to be persuaded, and departed. As to +Peaceful-light, she was asleep almost directly after taking the drug, +and she remained motionless on her bed. + +The pirates, entering everywhere, at last arrived in the house and +remained struck with admiration by her beauty. The officer who was +called, at first thought her dead and was much grieved, but, touching +her hand and finding it warm and limp, he resolved to carry her away. + +When the ravishers were re-embarked, the strong sea-air and the motion +of the boat revived the young girl; she awoke, and was horrified to find +herself surrounded by strangers. The one who seemed the chief spoke to +her in Chinese language in order to reassure her: + +"Fear nothing. No harm will come to you. On the contrary, the highest +destiny awaits you; my Lord The Emperor designs you to the honour of +his couch." + +Seeing that no one troubled her, Peaceful-light was reassured; she +resolved to wait, confident in her destiny, and knowing that she had +still, ready in her sleeve, in case of necessity, a narcotic dose strong +enough to kill her. + +As soon as she landed, she was taken in great haste to the Palace. The +Emperor, greatly satisfied with her beauty, conferred on her at once the +rank of first favourite. + +But all the luxury and love which surrounded her could not make her +forget her family and her country; she resolved to run away. + +In order to manage it, she complained to her master how sad it was for +her never to be able to speak her own language with companions from her +country. The Emperor, happy to be able to please her, gave orders to fit +out a sea-junk, in order to go to the Chinese coast. + +The day when all was ready the young girl found means of pouring into +her master's drink a dose of her narcotic. Then, when he was asleep, she +took his private seal and, going out of the room, she called the +intendant of the Palace and said to him: + +"The Emperor has ordered me to go to China to fetch a magician, a member +of my family, who has great power on water and wind. Here is the seal, +proof of my mission. The ship must be almost ready." + +The intendant knew that a junk had been specially prepared to go to +China; he saw the seal; what suspicion could he have? He had a palanquin +brought as quickly as possible; two hours after, the wood of the junk +groaned under the blows of the unfurling waves. + +Arriving in sight of the coast, on the pretext of not frightening the +population, the young girl begged the officer who accompanied her to +send a messenger to the prefect of the town, bearing a letter that she +had prepared. The officer, without distrust, sent one of his men. + +The letter of Peaceful-light showed a whole scheme to which the prefect +could but give his consent. The messenger returned, bringing to the +officer and to the men an invitation to take part in the feast that was +being prepared for them, their intentions not being bad. + +Peaceful-light retired into her family, who welcomed her with a thousand +demonstrations of joy. + +In the wine that was freely poured out for the strangers they had +dissolved the flowers of Nao-yang. The effects were not long in being +felt; a torpor that they attributed to the table excesses seized them +one after another. They were soon all sleeping deeply. Men arrived with +swords, glided near them, and, a signal being given, cut off their +heads. + +While these events were passing in China, others still more serious were +happening in Japan. Soon after the departure of Peaceful-light, the +Emperor's brother penetrated into the room where the sovereign was left +sleeping. This brother was ambitious; he profited by the occasion, +killed the unhappy Mikado, took possession of the seals of the State, +and, calling his partisans in haste, proclaimed himself Chief of the +State. Only a part of the princes followed him; the others, filled with +indignation by the crime that had been accomplished, united their troops +to crush the usurper; civil war tore the whole of Japan to pieces. + +As to Peaceful-light, by order of the authorities she received public +congratulations and gifts of land which allowed her to marry and be +happy, as she merited. + + + + +_HONG THE CURRIER_ + + +"In the time when the Justice of Heaven was actively employed with the +affairs of the earth, one of my ancestors had an adventure to which we +owe our present fortune, and of which few men of to-day have seen the +equal." + +Thus began my friend Hong; reclining on the red cushions of the big +couch, he fanned himself gracefully with an ivory fan painted all over. + +"Our family, as you know, originally came from the town of +The-Black-chain in the province of The-Foaming-rivers. Our ancestor Hong +The-just was a currier by trade; he cut and scraped the skins that were +entrusted to him. His family was composed only of his wife, who helped +him as well as she could. + +"Notwithstanding this persistent labour, they were very poor; no +furniture ornamented the three rooms in the small house that they hired +in the Street-of-the-golden-flowers. + +"When the last days of the twelfth moon in that year arrived, they found +they were owing six strings of copper cash to ten different creditors. +With all they possessed, there only remained 400 cash. What were they to +do? They reflected for a long time. Hong The-just at last said to his +wife: + +"'Take these 400 cash; you will be able to buy rice to live on. As to +me, as I cannot pay my debts before the first day of the first moon, I +am going to leave the town and hide myself in the mountain. My +creditors, not seeing me, will believe you when you tell them that I +have been to find money in the neighbouring town. Once the first day of +the first moon passed, as law ordains to wait till the following term, +I shall then come back, and we shall continue to live as well as we +can.' + +"It was indeed the wisest thing to do. His wife made him a parcel of a +blanket and a few dry biscuits. She wept at seeing him go away quite +bent, walking with difficulty on the slippery flagstones of the street. + +"The snow was falling in thick flakes and already covered the grey tiled +roofs, when Hong The-just left the city gate and directed his steps to a +cave that he knew of in a lonely valley. + +"He arrived at last, and, throwing his heavy load on the ground, he +glanced around him in order to choose the place where he would sleep. + +"An exclamation of stupor escaped from him when he saw, seated +motionless on a stone, a man clothed in a long sable cloak, with a cap +of the same fur, looking at him in a mournful, indifferent way. + +"'How strange!' at last said Hong, laughing. 'Dare I ask your noble +name and the reason that brings you to this remote refuge? How is it +that you are not with your friends, drinking hot wine and rejoicing in +the midst of the luxuriance of the tables covered with various eatables +and brilliant lights?' + +"'My name is Yang Glow-of-dawn. And you, what is your precious name?' +replied mechanically the first occupant. + +"'I am called Hong The-just, and I am here to escape from my creditors.' + +"'You, also?' sneered Glow-of-dawn. 'The strokes of Fate do not vary +much. As for me, I deal in European goods; my correspondents have not +settled my accounts and I am in want of nearly a hundred thousand ounces +of silver to close the year. None of my friends could advance me the +sum, and here I am, obliged to fly away from my creditors.' + +"'A hundred thousand ounces!' cried The-just. 'With a sum like that I +should pass the rest of my days in plenty. Anyhow, struck by the same +misfortune, we are thus united; let us try to pass cheerfully the last +day of the year, and attempt to imagine that these humble cakes are +refined food.' + +"When they were eating their pastry and drinking water from the near +torrent, Glow-of-dawn suddenly said: + +"'But you, how much do you owe? I have here a few ounces of silver; +maybe you could balance your accounts with them.' + +"'My debts do not exceed six strings of copper cash. But how could I +dare accept your offer?' + +"'Not at all! take these ten ounces; you will pay your debts and bring +me here food and wine; that will help me to wait till the end of the +festivals.' + +"The-just, reiterating his thanks, took the ingots that were offered him +and went down as quickly as possible towards the town. + +"His wife, on seeing him and hearing his story, could not restrain her +joy. She hurried to go and buy provisions of all kinds. Her husband +tried to light the stove, but they had not lit a fire for a long time; +he found the chimney filled with soot and dust. + +"Hong tried to sweep it with a big broom, but the masonry gave way, +filling the room with the bricks and rubbish. + +"'How very annoying!' grumbled the currier. 'Now the stove is destroyed +let us take away what remains, and we will make the fire beneath the +opening in the roof!' + +"When his wife returned, he was still working. She put down her basket +and helped to raise a huge stone that formed the bottom of the hearth. +What was their astonishment in seeing a chest, half-broken, from which +big ingots of gold were falling! + +"'What are we to do with this?' said his wife. 'If we sell this gold, +everybody will think that we have stolen it, and we shall be put in +prison.' + +"'We have only one thing to do,' replied Hong. 'Let us entrust our +fortune to my companion in the cave; he is a good man. We shall save +him, and he will make our money prosper; I will hurry and tell him.' + +"When Hong arrived, it was nearly nightfall; Yang was standing under +flakes of snow at the entrance of the grotto; he received him with +reproaches: + +"'You have come so late that my eyes are sore in looking out for you in +vain!' + +"'Do not abuse me, Old Uncle; drink this wine and eat these cakes that +are still warm, and I will tell you what delayed me.' + +"And while Glow-of-dawn ate and drank, the other told him of his +adventure and of his intentions about the treasure. + +"Surprised and touched, the merchant did not know how to express his +wonder and gratitude. They talked over the best way of proceeding to +bring the gold and settle the business. + +"Then, by the glimmer of a bad lantern, they returned to the town and +entered the merchant's house. There the currier washed himself, did his +hair, and clothed himself in rich garments. A sedan-chair was waiting +for him, followed by sturdy servants; he went away.... + +"The next day Glow-of-dawn's creditors presented themselves at the house +of their debtor. He was standing at the entrance, and bowed in wishing +them a thousand times happiness. They entered; tea was brought in by +busy servants. They at last discussed the settlement of their yearly +accounts. The master of the house found out that he owed 180,000 ounces +of silver. + +"'We have been informed that larger sums of silver are due to you, but +you know the custom; you must settle everything to-day. In order to save +you, we are content to make an estimate of your wealth, your goods and +lands.' + +"'Do not give yourselves such a trouble,' replied the merchant, laughing +and waving his hand. 'I thought you would be relentless, so I have been +to speak to my elder brother, who has an immense fortune; he has put at +my disposal several hundred thousand ounces. But here! I hear the cry of +the bearers; it must be him with the chests of white metal.' + +"The major domo came hurrying in, carrying high in the air the huge red +card with the names and surnames written in black. + +"'The venerable Old Great Uncle The-just has arrived!' + +"'Allow me?' said Yang, getting up, and going towards the door, of which +both sides were open. Hong entered. They made each other a thousand +affectionate greetings, as all brothers do who are animated with right +feelings. + +"'Dear elder brother! here are the gentlemen who have come for the +settlement of my accounts about which I spoke to you.' + +"'Gentlemen!' and the currier bowed, not without a certain grace that +his new fortune had already given him. 'Well! how much is the total +amount? I have brought you ten thousand ounces of gold, which is nearly +350,000 ounces of silver. Will you have enough?' + +"While he was speaking, bearers were trooping in, and laid down on the +ground heavy chests, the lids of which being raised, one could see the +bars of precious metal. + +"The merchants, thunderstruck by all these riches and generosity, +remained silent for a moment; then they bowed low and bade the currier +sit in the place of honour. + +"Many delicate and exquisite dishes were brought in of which The-just +did not even know the names; sweet wines were handed round in small +transparent china cups. + +"At last the secretaries counted the ingots, and they all returned home +paid. When every one had retired, Glow-of-dawn knelt before the currier +and, striking the earth with his forehead, he said: + +"'Now you are my elder brother. You have rescued me, and I henceforth +wish you to live here. My house, my properties, everything I possess +belongs to you. Your wife is my sister-in-law.' + +"The currier hurried to raise him up and, much moved, said: + +"'I do not forget that it is you who saved me when you were still in +misfortune. Your good genius has rewarded you. I am only the instrument +of Fate.'" + + + + +_AUTUMN-MOON_ + + +In the town of Sou-tcheou a young man lived called +Lake-of-the-Immortals; he was wise and generous. His business consisted +in going to fetch goods from neighbouring towns, which he afterwards +brought back to his native city. He was thus obliged to be absent for +lengthy periods, during which he left his house to the care of an elder +brother, a celebrated scholar, who was married, and whom he tenderly +loved. + +Once he had been by the Grand Canal as far as Chen-kiang; the goods he +was going to take not being ready, he waited, and to while away the time +he visited the Golden Island, whose temples with yellow-tiled roofs show +in the verdure above the yellow water of the river, nearly opposite to +the town; he passed the night there, as visitors did usually. + +When he had just fallen asleep, he saw in a dream a young girl, fourteen +or fifteen years old, her visage regular and pure. + +On the second night he had the same dream. Surprised, he awoke; it was +no dream; the young girl was there, near to him. At a glance he saw she +was no human being; he hastened to get up and, saluting, to ask her the +ordinary questions. + +"My name is Autumn-moon," she replied. "My father was a celebrated +magician. When I died, he worked out my future destiny and wrote it down +with powerful incantations; this charm has been put into my coffin, so +that the inferior authorities should not make any mistake. It was +written that, thirty years after my death, I should be called again to +life and marry Lake-of-the-Immortals. There you are, and I have come to +know my husband." + +As she said the last words she slowly vanished in the night. The next +day, as the young man, disturbed and preoccupied by this strange +adventure, was sitting in his room, thinking of her, she appeared +suddenly before his eyes and said: + +"Come quickly! something important for you is going to happen at the +prefect's palace. We have not a minute to lose." + +Lake-of-the-Immortals questioned her, but she would not answer. Then +they both crossed the river and walked as fast as they could up to the +yamen. + +As they arrived at the gate, four soldiers, dragging a prisoner, were on +the point of entering. Lake-of-the-Immortals recognised his elder +brother in the person of the prisoner; he drew near, threw himself on +his neck, and pressed him to his heart. + +"How is it that you are here? why this arrest? And you, soldiers, where +do you take him?" + +"We have orders: what means this interference?" And they pushed the +young man aside. Lake-of-the-Immortals was of a violent temper and had a +strong affection for his brother; he could not let him go, and answered +to the brutality of the soldiers by such a tempest of thumping and +kicking that these honest but prudent soldiers asked no more and fled. + +"What have you done?" said Autumn-moon. "Hitting soldiers is serious; we +must fly." + +And all three, running, arrived at the beach, jumped into a small boat, +and rowed with all their strength. + +When day appeared, they were safely lodged in a small inn, several lis +from Chen-kiang. Lake-of-the-Immortals, exhausted, went to sleep +immediately. When he awoke, his two companions had disappeared. He asked +the innkeeper; nobody had seen them go out. + +Distressed and sad, the young man did not dare to show himself outside. +He remained solitary in his room. When twilight came, his door opened +and a woman entered: + +"I bring you a message from Autumn-moon; she has been arrested. If you +wish to see her, you must follow me; I will show you the way." + +"And my brother? do you know anything?" + +"Your brother is safe in Sou-tcheou now. But come and follow me." + +They started and soon arrived before a wall, which they got over by +helping one another. Through a window giving on the yard they fell in, +the lover perceived Autumn-moon on a bed. Two soldiers were trying to +tease her, saying: + +"What is the use of resisting us, as you will be executed to-morrow +morning?" + +Lake-of-the-Immortals did not hear any more; he rushed into the room, +threw himself on the soldiers, tore a sword from them, and laid them on +the ground. Before the wretched men had time to make a gesture of +defence, he carried away the girl and flew. + +At this moment he started violently, and found himself in his same room +in the Golden Island. A servant entered, bringing the breakfast he had +ordered when arriving for the first time, the night before, on the +island. + +As he was asking himself the meaning of such a vivid dream, he heard a +noise in the courtyard. Going out, he saw several men surrounding the +body of a girl stretched before his door. + +"Where does she come from?" asked some one. + +"We have never seen her!" said another. + +Lake-of-the-Immortals came nearer; it was the body, seemingly senseless, +of Autumn-moon. He had her brought immediately into his room. A doctor +who had been called declared she was still alive, but needed very +careful nursing. + +When she awoke at last she smiled feebly to the young man. + +"No, it is no dream," she replied to his questions. "Your brother was +called before the King of Hells; you saved him. You have saved me also +from eternal disappearance, and I am called again to life; the +prediction of my father was true." + +A fortnight later she was able to get up; they started together and +arrived safely at Sou-tcheou. When they got to his brother's house, his +sister-in-law told them there had been illness in the house; her husband +had been in grave danger of death; he was quite well now. + +When they were all together, Lake-of-the-Immortals told what he had seen +and done. They all listened to him in silence. The family henceforth +lived united and happy. + + + + +_THE PRINCESS NELUMBO_ + + +Gleam-of-day was sleeping; his round face and high forehead denoted the +scholar's right intelligence. + +All of a sudden he saw a man standing before his bed who appeared to be +waiting. + +"What is it?" inquired the sleeper, getting up. + +"The prince is asking for you." + +"Which prince?" + +"The prince of the neighbouring territory." + +Gleam-of-day, grumbling, got up, put on his court dress and followed his +guide. Palanquins were waiting; they started rapidly, and their retinue +was soon passing in the midst of innumerable pavilions and towers with +pointed roofs. + +They at last stopped in the courtyard of the palace; young girls with +bright clothing were seen, and looked inquiringly at the new-comer, who +was announced with great pomp. + +At last Gleam-of-day reached the audience hall. The prince was seated on +the throne; he descended the steps and welcomed his guest according to +the rites. + +"You perfume this neighbourhood," he said. "Your reputation has come to +me, and I wished to know you." + +The servants brought wine; they began to converse nobly and brilliantly. +At last the prince asked: + +"Among the flowers, tell me which one you prefer." + +"The nelumbo," he replied, without hesitating. + +"The nelumbo? it is precisely my daughter's surname. What a curious +coincidence! The princess must absolutely know you." + +And he made a sign to one of the attendants, who at once went out. A few +minutes after, the princess appeared. She was between sixteen and +seventeen years old. Nothing could equal her admirable beauty. + +Her father ordered her to bow to the scholar and said: + +"Here is my daughter Nelumbo." + +Gleam-of-day, looking at her, felt troubled to the depth of his soul. +The prince spoke to him; he hardly heard, and replied awkwardly. When +the princess had retired, the conversation languished; the prince at +last rose and put an end to the interview. + +During all the way back the young man was ashamed at the same time with +his emotion before the girl, as well as his rudeness towards the prince. +He was so much troubled that he ordered his retinue to go back to the +palace. + +When he entered the audience hall, he threw himself to the ground before +the prince and begged to be excused for his rudeness. + +"You need not excuse yourself; the sentiment that I read in your eyes is +powerful and the thought of it is not unpleasant to me." + +While Gleam-of-day, happy with this encouragement, was still excusing +himself, twenty young girls came running: + +"A monster has entered the palace; it is a python ten thousand feet +long. It has already devoured thirteen hundred persons; its head is like +a mountain peak." + +Every one got up; the frightened guard and the courtiers ran hither and +thither, looking where they could hide themselves. The princess and her +maids-in-waiting were crying for help. + +Gleam-of-day at last said to the prince: + +"I have only three miserable rooms in a cottage, but you will be safe in +them. Will you fly there with your daughter?" + +"Let us go as quickly as possible," replied the prince, seizing the +princess by the wrist. + +They all three ran across the deserted streets. When they arrived, +Nelumbo threw herself on the bed, without being able to stop weeping. + +Gleam-of-day was so moved that he suddenly awoke: everything was a +dream. + +Just then he heard a scream in the next room, where his father slept; +there was a struggle, blows, and at last a sigh of satisfaction. + +The door opened, and the old man was seen pushing an enormous serpent at +the end of a stick. When Gleam-of-day turned back to his bed, he found +it covered with bees; on the pillow the queen had alighted. + + + + +_THE TWO BROTHERS_ + + +In the town of Sou-tcheou there lived two brothers. The elder, surnamed +Merchant, was very rich; the younger, named Deceived-hope, very poor. +They lived side by side, and their houses, the paternal inheritance, +were only separated by a low wall. They were both married. + +This year, the harvest having been bad, Deceived-hope could not afford +the necessary rice for his family to live upon. His wife said to him: + +"Let us send our son to your brother: he will be touched and will give +us something, without any doubt." + +Deceived-hope hesitated, but at last decided to take this step which +hurt his pride. When the child returned from his uncle's, his hands +were empty. They questioned him: + +"I told my uncle that you were without rice; he hesitated and looked at +my aunt. She then said to me: 'The two brothers live separately; their +food also is separate.'" + +Deceived-hope and his wife did not say a word; they fetched the bale of +rice that was still in their corn-loft and lived thus. + +Now, in the town, two or three vagabonds who knew the riches of Merchant +broke open his door one night, and tied him up as well as his wife. As +he would not show his treasure, they began burning his hands and feet. +Merchant and his wife screamed for help. Deceived-hope heard them and +got up in order to run to their house, but his wife held him back, and, +approaching the wall which separated them, cried: + +"The two brothers live separately; their food also is separate." + +However, as their cries increased, Deceived-hope could not contain +himself, and, seizing a weapon, leapt over the wall, fell on the +thieves, and dispersed them. Then, when his brother and his +sister-in-law were delivered and quieted, he returned home, saying to +his wife: + +"They are certain to give us a present." + +But, the next day and the days following, they waited in vain! +Deceived-hope could not resist the temptation to relate everything to +his friends. The same thieves heard of it and, thinking that he would +not interfere any more, broke open the door of Merchant the same evening +and began again to torture him as well as his wife. + +Deceived-hope, indeed, did not wish to interfere. However, his heart and +his liver were upset by the painful cries of his brother. He could not +forbear running to his help. + +The brigands, disconcerted, flew again, but this time Merchant and his +wife were severely burnt; they lost the use of their hands and feet. + +The next day Merchant said to his wife: + +"My brother has saved our lives; without him we should be ruined; I am +going to give him a part of what we have." + +"Do nothing of the kind," replied his wife; "if he had come sooner, he +would have saved our hands and feet; now, thanks to him, we are infirm." + +And they did nothing. Deceived-hope, however, wanting money, made an act +of sale of his house and sent it to his brother, hoping that he would be +touched by his misery and would send back the deed with a present. + +In fact Merchant was going to send him some silver ingots, but his wife +stopped him: + +"Let us take his house; we shall be able to make ours bigger, and it +will be much more convenient." + +Merchant hesitated a little, but he ended by accepting the act, and sent +the price agreed on. Deceived-hope went and settled in another part of +the town; with his small capital, he opened a vegetable-shop, which soon +prospered. + +The brigands, having heard that Merchant was now living alone, broke +open his door very quietly, tortured him, and then killed him, taking +away all he had. In leaving the place, they cried all over the town: + +"Merchant's corn-loft is open! Let all the poor go and take the rice!" + +They thus went, one by one, silently, all the poor of the neighbourhood, +taking away as much of the heaped-up rice as they could. Soon there was +nothing left. + +Deceived-hope being informed, wished to revenge his brother; he pursued +the brigands and killed two of them. + +From this time it was he who every day attended to the needs of his +sister-in-law, now in misery. Some months afterwards, exhausted, she +died. + +Deceived-hope came back and was soon settled in the patrimony that he +had recovered. One night he was soundly sleeping, when he saw his +brother. + +"You have saved us twice, and we have been ungrateful. I should not be +dead if I had not acted badly with you. I wish to make amends. Under the +stone of the hearth you will find five hundred ounces of gold that I had +hidden, and of the existence of which my wife was ignorant." + +Deceived-hope started from his sleep; he told his dream to his wife. She +at once got up, drew out the stone of the hearth, and found the mass of +gold. Henceforth, happy and rich, they lived long and were charitable +and friendly with every one. + + + + +_THE MARBLE ARCH_ + + +When the troubles began to break out in Hankow, many families were +alarmed. Those who were not ignorant of the powerful organisation of the +revolutionists left the town as soon as possible, anticipating that it +would soon be plundered and burnt. + +The retired prefect, Kiun, was amongst the first to embark in order to +go down the river. His house was situated at several lis from the river, +on the confines of the suburbs, outside the fortified enclosure. He had +only been married a short time, and was living with his father and +mother. + +When the baggage at last was ready, the bearers fixed it in the middle +of their long bamboos and set off two by two, grumbling under the heavy +load. The two old people followed; Kiun and his young wife, the charming +Seaweed, helped them as well as they could. + +In order to avoid crossing the centre of the town, they followed the +crenellated wall by an almost deserted road. A young man and woman alone +were sauntering in the same direction, carrying parcels on their +shoulders. + +"Where are you going to?" they asked, as it is the custom to do between +travellers. + +"As far as the river," replied Kiun. "And you?" + +"We also," said the young man. "What is your precious name?" + +"My contemptible name is Kiun. But you, deign to inform me about your +family?" + +"My name is Wang The-king. We are flying from the insurrection." + +They thus talked while walking in company. + +Seaweed took the advantage of a moment when the new-comers were a little +in front to bend towards her husband. + +"Do not let us get in the same junk with these strangers. The man has +looked at me several times in a rude way; his eyes are unsteady and +fickle; I am afraid of him." + +Kiun made a sign of assent. But when they had arrived on the quay, Wang +The-king gave himself so much trouble to find a junk and help to embark +the luggage that the prefect, bound by the rites, could not avoid asking +him to get on board the boat with him. + +They unmoored; Wang The-king established himself on the prow with his +wife, near the mariners; he spoke a long time with them while they were +passing the last houses of the large city. + +When night fell, they were in a part of the river where it got broader +to such an extent that you could no longer distinguish the banks. The +wind was blowing rather violently and the unfurling waves projected +heavy showers on the mats which covered the quarter-deck. + +Kiun, uneasy, went to the prow of the boat in order to question the +master. The bright moon was rising, lighting the dark line of the bank. +They approached in order to throw the anchor. + +Wang The-king was on the narrow bridge; when Kiun came to his side, he +coolly pushed the poor prefect overboard. Kiun's father was two paces +behind; Wang ran to him and threw him also into the tumultuous waters of +the rapid current. Kiun's mother, hearing a cry and a struggle, went to +see what was happening, and she also was precipitated into the foaming +river. + +Seaweed, from the cabin, had seen all; but she took good care not to go +outside; she moaned: + +"Alas! my father-in-law and my mother-in-law are dead! My husband has +been killed! I am going to die, too!" + +While she was crying, Wang The-king entered the cabin. + +"Fear nothing," said he; "forget those people who are no more and won't +come back. I am going to take you home to the city of The-Golden-tombs. +There I have fields and houses belonging to me; I will give them to +you." + +The young woman kept back her sobs and said nothing; she thought it wise +not to provoke the murderer. + +Wang The-king, very satisfied with his prospects, went back to the +mariners, gave them the greater part of what his victims had brought in +silver and luggage; then he quietly took his dinner and retired to his +cabin with his wife. The woman had a strange look, but she did not say +anything, and they went to sleep. + +Towards the hour of the Rat, the woman began to groan; then she started +out of her sleep and cried to her husband: + +"Kill me, repudiate me! I can no longer stay with you! Thunder and +lightning will strike you! I have dreamt it; I will no longer be the +wife of a murderer and a thief!" + +Wang, furious, struck her. But as she continued, he took her in his arms +and threw her into the river. + +On the second day the boat arrived at The-Golden-tombs. Wang took +Seaweed to his family. When his old mother asked what he had done with +his first wife, he replied: + +"She fell in the river, and I will marry this one." + +They were soon settled in the house. Wang wished to take liberties with +Seaweed, who gently drove him back. + +"We must not neglect the rites. Do not let us forget to empty first the +marriage cup." + +Wang joyously accepted; and soon, seated opposite each other, they began +exchanging cups of wine in the ritual way. + +Seaweed, however, pretended to drink, and tried to make her lover tipsy; +she contrived this little by little. + +Wang, rendered sleepy by the wine, undressed himself, got on the bed, +and ordered the young woman to put out the lamps and come to him. + +She carefully blew the lamps and said: + +"I will come in a minute!" + +Then she quickly went to her luggage, took out a sword she had hidden +there, and came back. Feeling with her hands in the darkness, she found +the throat of the man and struck him as hard as she could: the man +screamed and tried to get up; she struck again and again: there was a +moaning, a gurgle, and then silence. + +However, Wang's mother, having heard some noise, came with a lantern. +Seaweed killed her before the old woman could even say a word. + +Then the young woman, having avenged her family, tried to cut her own +throat, in order to join her husband. The sword was blunt and she was +only able to scratch herself. She then remembered that, outside the +house, there was a fairly big pond; she ran out and threw herself into +the water. + +Some neighbours saw her and ran to her help; other people came; lanterns +were brought forth; the poor girl at last was taken out of the pond, and +brought back to her house. But, when the new-comers entered the room, +they saw the bodies and the blood. + +"Murder! Murder!" cried they. + +And they immediately sent a boy to call the police. The constables came +and looked all over the room; they soon found in Seaweed's luggage a +note prepared by the unfortunate woman and stating the truth about her +family's death. The assistants were loud in their praise of her act: + +"She avenged her husband; she has been witty enough to beguile the +murderer; and now she has killed herself! Such an act of courage and +virtue has not been heard of for centuries. We must ask the authorities +to build her a marble arch to commemorate her history, and be an example +to future generations." + +While all this was going on, they tried to revive the woman; everything +was done, but in vain. A coffin was then brought in, and the girl +transferred to it, covered with her best garments and jewels. The lid +was screwed on, and everybody left the house. + +We must now come back to the evening when Wang pushed into the water +Seaweed's husband. Kiun was a strong man and a very good swimmer; +surprised by this sudden attack, all he could do at first was to keep +his head out of the tumultuous water. He then thought to go back to the +boat, but, on the foaming expanse nothing was to be seen; the rapid +current had driven him too far. At last the water brought him to a +curving beach, where he was able to land. + +Walking disconsolately on the sand, he saw a human body rolled by the +surge; he approached, and recognised his father; farther on he saw his +mother; both he dragged out of the water. Most uneasy about his wife, he +walked on the river's edge, straining his eyes; the moon was shining; he +saw at last a human being holding a big piece of wood. He swam to her, +pushed her to the beach, and took her he thought was his wife to the dry +sand. He undid the upper garment in order to rub her members; when he +saw she was not so cold, he wiped her hair out of her face. His stupor +was immense in recognising Wang's wife. + +The sun rose at last and warmed them. The young woman sighed, opened +her eyes, and, completely herself again, told Kiun what she had seen: + +"My husband is a murderer. In a dream I saw the King-of-Shadows himself +sitting behind his tribunal and writing his name on the death-list. +Besides, he is in love with your wife. If you wish it, we will go +together straight to The Golden-tombs and do what we can to avenge +ourselves." + +Kiun, seeing a man coming to work in a field not far from there, went to +him and told him in a few words what had happened; the man led them to +his landlord, a rich man, who gave them food and warm dresses, sent men +to bring the drowned bodies to a side house and have them properly +buried. Then he advanced a certain sum of money to Kiun, who agreed to +send it back when he should get to a place where he could find a +correspondent of his bankers. + +Then Kiun and his companion engaged a small boat and went down the +river. When they got to The Golden-tombs, they questioned the people in +the street about Wang. A month had elapsed since the events we have told +of; the first man they questioned looked at them in wonder: + +"How is it you don't know what happened? Wang is dead; he has been +killed by a virtuous woman whose family he had murdered and who killed +herself afterwards. You have only to go on; in the first street to your +right you will see a new marble arch which has just been erected to +commemorate virtuous Seaweed's courageous death." + +Kiun thought his heart would burst; he dragged his companion to the +marble arch and read the inscription. Then he bought a bundle of those +imitations of gold and silver ingots made with paper which people burn +on the tombs in order to send some money to the dead; he went to the +tomb in the place indicated by the inscription. + +There he reverently knelt, and, after having knocked the ground with his +forehead, he burnt the paper-ingots, rose, and went away with Wang's +wife. + +When they were back in their boat, they discussed their plans and +resolved to go down the river to Shanghai. + +They were leaving the harbour, when a small boat crossed their way; two +women sat on the bench. One of them reminded Kiun strangely of his late +wife. The woman had looked up at him and seemed surprised. The retired +prefect, moved by a mysterious strength, pronounced aloud a sentence +which used to make his wife laugh when they were together happy in +Hankow: + +"I see wild geese flying high in the sky." + +Seaweed, when she was alive, used to answer by a phrase which had +nothing to do with the first sentence, and had made them laugh very +often by its stupidity. The woman in the boat said it too: + +"The dog wants the cat's biscuit; you quickly shut it in the house." + +Kiun, wondering whether it was Seaweed's ghost, asked the mariners to go +alongside the other boat; he jumped in it; the woman threw her arms +round his neck, and they wept together. + +"Are you alive? or is it only your ghost I hold in my arms?" asked he. + +"I am alive!" + +Then she told him her adventures; when she was put into the coffin, she +had some jewels on. One of the assistants resolved to steal them; he +waited till everybody was gone and the house empty; then he deliberately +unscrewed the coffin's lid and rifled what he could. He was trying to +take a ring off her hand, when the supposed corpse rose and screamed. + +The poor man thought his last hour had come and did not move. Seaweed, +seeing her jewels in his hands, and seeing the coffin she was in, +grasped the situation at a glance. + +"You want my jewels! Have them if you like; you saved my life, and +without you I would have been stifled in this gruesome box." + +The man at first dared not accept; then he said: + +"In exchange for your kindness, I will tell you something. In the third +house in the first street lives a rich widow; she is alone and would +like to adopt a girl; go to her and tell her everything. She will be +happy to give you a home." + +Then he helped her to get out of the coffin, screwed the lid again, and +disappeared. Seaweed went straight to the house. The widow received her +with the greatest kindness, and asked of her to let everybody believe +she was dead; if not, there would have been a lawsuit. + +Both women, now united by the closest affection, had been out on the +river for pleasure's sake when they saw Kiun's bark. The widow, when the +explanations were finished, opened her arms to Kiun; she called him her +son-in-law. Seaweed asked Wang's wife to be the second wife of her +husband. And they all lived long and happy. + + + + +_THE DUTIFUL SON_ + + +At the foot of the Oriental-Perfume-Mountain, in one of the most +beautiful places of this celebrated district, the passers-by could see a +small lodge. Chou The-favourable lived there with his mother. He was +still young, being only thirty years old, and earned his living in the +way so highly praised by the ancient Classics; he cultivated a small +field by his house, and every week went to the next market to exchange +what he had for what he wanted. + +Both were very happy, when a calamity befell them; the old mother one +morning felt a pain in her right leg. Two or three days afterwards she +had there an ulcer that no remedies could cure; everything was tried and +everything failed. Day and night she was moaning, turning over in her +hard wooden bed. + +The-favourable forgot to drink and eat, in his anxiety to give his +mother the medicines the doctor advised. + +Several months wore on; the ulcer did not heal. The despair of the son +was greater every day; at last, overcome by his fatigue, he fell asleep +and dreamt that he saw his father. The old man told him: + +"You have been a dutiful son. But I must tell you that your mother will +not recover if you can't apply to her ulcer a piece of man's fat." + +Then everything was dissolved like a smoke in the wind. + +The-favourable awoke and, thinking over his dream, he found it very +strange. + +"What can I do?" thought he. "Man's fat is not easily found in the +market. My father would not have appeared to me if this extraordinary +medicine was not really the only thing that will cure my mother. Well, +I will take a piece of fat of my own body; I have nothing else to do." + +Then, rising from his bed, he took a sharp knife, and, pulling the skin +of his side, he cut a large piece off. His pain was not so great as he +had expected it to be, and, what seemed more extraordinary to him, no +blood flowed from the wound. + +He could not see that, from the heaven above, a messenger had come on a +cloud, was recording this noble feat on his life's register, and helped +him by averting all ordinary sufferance. + +The-favourable hastened to put the piece of flesh on his mother's ulcer; +the pain disappeared immediately, and a few days after the old woman +could walk as she used to do; on her leg there remained only a red scar. + +When she asked what medicine had been employed, The-favourable eluded +the answer. But somehow the truth was known in the neighbourhood; the +prefect sent a report to the Throne and came himself with a decree of +the Emperor, giving a title and an allowance to the dutiful son. + + + + +_THROUGH MANY LIVES_ + + +Some people remember every incident of their former existences; it is a +fact which many examples can prove. Other people do not forget what they +learned before they died and were born again, but remember only +confusedly what they were in a precedent life. + +Wang The-acceptable, of the Yellow-peach-blossom city, when people +discussed such questions before him, used to narrate the experience he +had had with his first son. + +The boy, at the time he spoke of, was three or four years old. He did +not say many words, and some people thought he was dumb. One day, +The-acceptable was writing a letter, when he was disturbed by a friend. +He put his writing-brush down on the table and left the room. When he +came back, his letter was finished, and written much more correctly than +he would have believed himself able to do. Besides, he did not remember +having finished it. The puzzle did not trouble him very much. + +Another day the same thing occurred; he left the room, leaving a letter +unfinished on the table; when he came back, the letter was nearly ended. +Nobody but the boy had been in the room. Troubled and suspicious, he +rose and feigned to go away; but he came back immediately and +noiselessly. From the door, he saw his boy kneeling on the stool and +writing the letter. + +The little man suddenly saw his father and asked to be forgiven. The +father of course laughed: + +"We all thought you were dumb; if you are such a learned man, the family +happiness will be great! How could we punish you?" + +From that date he had good lessons given to the boy, who very early +passed successfully his third degree examination and became one of the +most celebrated "Entered among the learned" of his time. + +When his father asked him whether he remembered what he had been before +being what he now was, the boy said that the first life he could +remember was that of a young student; he lived in a monastery to save as +much as he could of his income. When he died, the King-of-the-Darkness +punished him for his stinginess and condemned him to become a donkey in +the same monastery he had lived in. + +He wanted to die, but did not know what to do; the priests loved him and +were very careful. One day he was on a mountain road and was tempted to +throw himself downhill; but he had a man on his back and was afraid of +the punishment the King-of-the-Darkness would inflict upon him if he +killed that man. So he went on. Many years passed; he died at last, and +was born again as a peasant. But, as he had forgotten nothing of his +former lives, he was able to speak a few days after his birth. His +father and mother judged the thing highly suspicious and killed him. + +After that, he was born in the family of Wang The-acceptable. +Appreciating the surroundings, and bearing in mind that he had last been +killed because he spoke too early, he was very careful this time not to +utter a single word. But when he saw the paper and ink he could not +resist his love of literature and finished the letter. + + + + +_THE RIVER OF SORROWS_ + + +Along the path leading to the city of All-virtues, in the obscure night, +a poor coolie, grumbling under a heavy load of salt, was trudging on as +fast as he could. + +"I shall never get there before the hour of the Rat, and my wife will +say again; 'Wang The-tenth has drunk too many cups of wine.' She does +not know the weight of that stuff!" + +As he was thus thinking, two men suddenly jumped from either side of the +road and held him by the arms. + +"What do you want?" cried the poor man. "I am only an unhappy carrier, +and my load is only salt, very common salt." + +"We don't want your salt, and you had better throw it down. We are sent +from the Regions below and we want you to come down with us." + +"Am I dead already?" asked The-tenth. "I did not know. I must tell my +wife. Can't you come again to-morrow night?" + +"Impossible to wait. You must come immediately. But I don't think you +are dead. It is only to work for a few days down below." + +"This is rather strange," replied The-tenth. "With all the people who +have died since the world has been the world you still want living men? +We don't go and ask you to do our work, do we?" + +While thus arguing, he felt himself suffocated by a heavy smell and lost +consciousness. + +When he awoke, he was on the bank of a fairly large river. Hundreds of +men were standing in the water; some of them carried baskets; others, +with spades and different utensils, were dragging out what they could +from the bottom. Soldiers with heavy sticks struck those who stopped +even for a second. + +On the bank several men were standing, and a number of others came from +time to time. A magistrate was sitting behind a big red table, turning +over the pages of a book. At last, he called "Wang The-tenth." + +"Wang The-tenth!" repeated the soldiers. And they threw the poor man +down in a kneeling position in front of the magistrate, who looked on +the book and said: + +"You have been an undutiful son; do you remember the day when you told +your father he was a fool?" + +Then speaking to the soldiers, he said: + +"To the river!" + +The guards pushed the man, gave him a basket, and ordered him to help in +the cleaning of the river. + +The water was red and thick; its stench was abominable; the bodies of +the workmen were all red, and The-tenth discovered it was blood. He +looked at the first basket he took to the bank; it was only putrid flesh +and broken bones. + +Thus he worked day by day without stopping. When he was not going fast +enough, the guards struck him with their sticks, and their sticks were +bones. In the deep places he had to put his head into the water and felt +the filthy stuff fill his nostrils and mouth. + +Among the workers he recognised many people he used to know. A great +number died and were carried away by the stream. + +At last two guards called his name, helped him to the bank, and suddenly +he found himself again on the path leading to the city of All-virtues. + +Now, on the night when The-tenth was taken away, his wife waited for +him. Troubled not to see him, she started as soon as the sun beamed, and +looked for him on the road. She soon found his body lying unconscious. +Trying in vain to revive him, she thought him dead, and wept bitterly. + +Not being strong enough to bring home his body, she came back to town in +order to ask the help of her family. In the afternoon, clad in the white +dress of mourning, and accompanied by her four brothers, she started +again. + +What was her astonishment and fear when, approaching the place where she +had found the body, she saw her husband walking towards her. He was all +covered with blood, and the stench was so strong that everybody pinched +his nose. + +When he had explained what had happened, they all returned to the +village. The-tenth knelt reverently before his ancestors' tablet, +offered butter and rice, and burnt incense. + +This very day he asked a Taoist priest what was the river he had worked +in. The priest explained to him it was called the River-of-sorrows. It +took its source in the outer world in every tear that was shed. The +people that killed themselves out of despair were floated down its +stream to the kingdom of shadows. + +Sometimes the sorrows on earth were so great that people killed +themselves by thousands and did not shed any tears; the blood then was +too thick to wash away the decayed remains, and the river-bed had to be +cleaned lest it should overflow and drown the whole world. Living men +alone were employed in this work, for only living men can cure living +men's sorrows. + + + + +_THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND_ + + +In the beautiful Chu-san archipelago there is a small island where the +flowers never cease blooming, and where the trees grow thick and high. +From the most remote antiquity nobody has been known to live in the +shade of this virgin forest; the ferns, the creepers, are so entangled +that it is impossible for a man to cross this wilderness without +clearing his way with a hatchet. + +A young student named Chang, who lived in the City-over-the-sea, used to +rest himself from his daily labour by going out to sea in a small junk +he managed himself. + +Having heard of the mysterious island, he resolved to explore it, +prepared wine and food, and sailed out on a beautiful summer's morning. + +Towards midday he neared the place where the island was supposed to be. +Soon a delicious perfume of flowers was brought to him by the hot +breeze. He saw the dark green of the trees over the light green of the +sea, and, when still nearer, the yellow sand of the beach, where he +resolved to disembark. + +The junk touched the shore; he tied it to a large fallen tree whose end +dipped into the gentle waves, and proceeded at once to a hearty meal. + +While he was storing again in the boat what remained of his provisions, +he was suddenly startled by a subdued laugh. Turning his head, he saw +among the wild roses of the shore, a young girl covered with a long blue +dress, who looked at him with dark eyes full of flame. + +"Your servant is most happy to see you here. I did not suppose I should +ever have the pleasure of meeting you." + +"Who are you?" asked Chang, forgetting, in his astonishment, the proper +forms of inquiry. + +"I am only a poor singer who has been brought here by +The-Duke-of-the-sea." + +Chang, hearing these words, was afraid in his heart; The-Duke-of-the-sea +was a renowned pirate who used to plunder every village of the coast, +and was reputed to be cruel and vindictive. But the girl was so +attractive that he soon forgot everything in the pleasure of her +chatter. + +Seated at the foot of a big tree, they were laughing, when a noise came +from the forest. + +"It is The-Duke-of-the-sea! It is The-Duke-of-the-sea!" murmured the +girl. "I must be off at once." + +And she disappeared behind the foliage. + +While Chang was asking himself what he should do, he suddenly saw a huge +snake coming straight to him. Its body was as thick as a cask, and so +long that the end was still hidden in the forest, while the head was +balancing over the frightened student. + +Chang could not say a word and dared not move: the snake entwined +himself round a tree and round the man, holding fast its prisoner's +arms. Then, lowering its head, it threw out its tongue, and, pricking +the student's nose, began to suck the blood which came out and fell on +the ground. + +Chang saw that, if he did not immediately free himself, he would +certainly die. Feeling cautiously with his hand round his waist, he took +from his purse a certain poisoned pill that he kept there and intended +to try on wolves and foxes. With two fingers he took the pill and threw +it into the red pool at his feet. + +The snake, of course, sucked it with the blood; it immediately stopped +drinking, straightened its body, and rocked its head to and fro, +knocking the tree-trunks and hissing desperately. + +Chang, feeble and hardly able to stand, dragged himself as fast as he +could out of reach on to the beach and quickly untied his boat. +Nevertheless, before going out to sea, he fetched a sword and went +cautiously into the wood again. The snake did not move. Chang flourished +his sword, and with a mighty stroke cut the head off and ran to his +boat. + +He returned to the City-over-the-sea, went to bed and was ill for a +month. When he spoke of his experience, he always said that, to his +mind, it was the beautiful girl he had seen at first who had come again +in the form of a snake. + + + + +_THE SPIRIT OF THE RIVER_ + + +In a small village along the river Tsz lived a fisherman named Siu. He +started every night with his nets, and took very great care not to +forget to bring with him a small jar of spirits. Before throwing his +cast-net, he drank a small cup of the fragrant liquor and poured some +drops into the slow current, praying aloud: + +"O Spirit-of-the-river, please accept these offerings and favour your +humble servant. I am poor and I must take some of the fishes that live +in your cold kingdom. Don't be angry against me and don't prevent the +eels and trouts coming to me!" + +When every fisherman on the river brought back only one basket of +fishes, he always proudly bore home a heavy charge of two or three +baskets full to the brim. + +Once, on a rosy dawn of early spring, when the sun, still below the +horizon, began to eat with its golden teeth the vanishing darkness, he +said aloud: + +"O Spirit-of-the-river! For many years, every night I have drunk with +you a good number of wine-cups; but I never saw your face; won't you +favour me with your presence? We could sit together, and the pleasure of +drinking would be much greater." + +Hardly had he finished these words when, from the middle of the stream, +emerged a beautiful young man clothed in pink, who slowly walked on the +smooth surface of the limpid water, and sat on the boat's end, saying: + +"Here I am." + +The fisherman, being half-drunk, was not troubled in any way; he bowed +to the young man, offered him, with his two hands, a cup of the strong +wine, and said: + +"Well! I long wished to receive your instructions, and I am very glad to +see you. You must be mighty tired of living in that water; the few drops +of wine I pour every night are quite lost in such a quantity of +tasteless liquid. You had better come up every night; we will drink +together and enjoy each other's company." + +From this day, when darkness closed in, the Spirit waited for the +fisherman and partook of his provisions. As soon as the sun rose above +the horizon he suddenly disappeared. The fisherman did not find that +very convenient; he asked his companion if he could not arrange to stay +with him sometimes in the daytime. + +"Impossible; we can't do such a thing, we spirits and ghosts. We belong +to the kingdom of shadows. When the shadows, fighting the daylight, +bring with them the Night, we are free to go and wander about. But as +soon as the herald of the morn, the cock, has proclaimed the daily +victory of the sun, we are powerless and must disappear." + +On the same day the fisherman was sitting on the bank, smoking a pipe +before going home with his baskets, when he saw a woman holding a child +in her arms and hastening along the river towards a ford some hundred +yards up stream. She was already in the water, when she missed her +footing, fell into the river, and was rolled away by the stream. The +child, by some happy chance, had fallen on the bank and lay there, +crying. + +The fisherman could easily have gone in his boat and saved the woman, +who was still struggling to regain the bank, but he was a prudent man: + +"This woman, whom I don't know, seems to be beautiful," thought he. +"Maybe it is my friend The-Spirit-of-the-river who has arranged all +this, and chosen the girl to be his wife. If I prevent her going down +to his cold lodgings, he will be angry and ruin my fishing. All I could +do is to adopt this boy until somebody comes and asks for him." + +And he did not move, until the poor woman had disappeared in the yellow +stream; then he took the child. Once back in the village, he inquired +about the mother; nobody could tell who she was. The days passed and +nobody asked for the boy. This was strange enough, but, stranger still, +from this day the fisherman never saw The-Spirit-of-the-river again. He +offered him many cups of wine, and his fishing was as good as ever, but +though he prayed heartily, his companion of so many nights did not +appear any more. + +When the boy was three years old he insisted on accompanying his adopted +father in his night fishing. Summer had come; the cold was no more to be +feared. The man consented to take his adopted son with him; they +started together in the twilight. + +As soon as the darkness closed, the boy's voice changed; his appearance +was different. + +"What a silly man you are!" said he. "Don't you know me now? For more +than two years I waited for an opportunity to tell you who I was. But +you always went out at night and you never came back before the sun was +high in the sky. You had never failed to present your offerings; so I +could not resist your prayer when you asked me to stay with you in the +daytime. Now, here I am, till your death; when the sun is up I shall +only be your son, but when the night closes I shall be your companion, +and we will enjoy together what longevity the Fate allows you." + + + + +_THE-DEVILS-OF-THE-OCEAN_ + + +In the twenty-second year of the period Eternal-happiness, the +population of Chao-cheou's harbour, awaking on a bright summer's +morning, were extremely surprised and frightened to see, swaying on the +blue water of the bay, a strange and abnormally huge ship. The three +high masts were heavily loaded with transversal pieces of wood, from +some of which sails were still hanging; another mast projected +horizontally from the prow, and three sails were tightened from this to +the foremast. + +A small boat was lowered from the ship's side and rowed to the quay. +Several hundreds of people were watching the proceedings, asking one +another if it was a human invention or a ship coming from the depths of +hell. + +The small boat stopped at a short distance from the bank; one could see +that, beside the rowers, there were three men seated in the stern; their +heads were covered with extraordinarily long and fluffy grey hair; they +wore big hats with feathers of many colours. A Chinaman was in the boat +and hailed the people: + +"Ha! Please tell the local authorities that high mandarins from the +ocean want to speak to them. We are peaceful. But if you do any harm to +our men or ships, our wrath will be such that we will destroy in one day +the whole town and kill everybody within ten miles' distance." + +Three or four men belonging to the Yamen had heard these words; they ran +to the prefect's palace and came back with an answer they delivered to +the new-comers: + +"His Excellency the prefect consents to receive your visit. If you are +peaceful, no harm will be done to you. But if you steal anything, or +wound or kill anybody, the laws of our country will be enforced upon you +without mercy." + +Then the boat slowly accosted the quay; two of the men with feathered +hats disembarked with the Chinaman, while six of the rowers, leaving +their oars in the boat, shouldered heavy muskets, and cleared the way, +three walking in front of the feathered hats and three behind. The +rowers wore small caps and had long blue trousers and very short blue +coats. + +The prefect, in his embroidered dress, awaited them on the threshold of +his reception-room. He bade the new-comers be seated and asked their +names and their business; the Chinaman translated the questions and the +answers. + +"We come from the other side of the earth." + +"Well," thought the prefect. "I was sure of it, the earth being square +and flat, the other side of it is certainly hell. What am I to do?" + +"We only want to trade with your countrymen. We will sell you what goods +we have brought; we will buy your country's productions, and if no harm +is done we will sail away in a few days." + +"Our humble country is very poor," answered the prefect. "The people are +not rich enough to buy any of the splendid goods you may have brought. +Besides, this country's products are not worth your giving any money for +them. If I can give you good advice, you had better sail away to-day and +get to the first harbour of the northern province; there they are very +rich." + +"We have just come from it; they told us the very reverse. Here, +according to them, we should be able to find everything we want. +Besides, our mind is settled; we will remain here long enough to buy +what we want and to sell what we can. We are very peaceful people as +long as one deals justly with us. But if you try to beguile us, we will +employ all our strength in the defence of our rights. All we want is a +place on shore where we can store and show our goods." + +"Well, well; I never intended to do anything of the sort," said the +prefect. "But the Emperor is the only possessor of the soil. How could I +give you a place even on the shore?" + +"We don't want very much, and the Emperor won't know anything. Give us +only the surface of ground covered by a carpet, and we will be +satisfied." + +Chinese carpets are not more than two or three feet broad and five or +six feet wide. The prefect thought he could not be blamed to authorise +the foreigners to settle on such a small piece of ground; on the other +hand, if he refused, there would ensue trouble and he would certainly be +cashiered. + +"It is only as a special arrangement and by greatly compromising with +the law that I can give you this authorisation." + +And the prefect wrote a few words on one of his big red visiting-cards. +The interpreter carefully perused the document. Then the foreigners went +back to their ship. The same day a proclamation was issued and pasted on +the walls of the public edifices, explaining to the people that +The-Devils-of-the-ocean had been authorised to settle on a piece of +ground not bigger than a carpet and that no harm should be done to them. + +In compliance with these orders, nobody dared oppose the foreigners when +they began unrolling on the shore a carpet ten yards broad and thirty +yards long. When the carpet was unrolled, The-Devils-of-the-ocean put +themselves in ranks with muskets and swords on the carpet; nearly five +hundred men stood there close to one another. + +The prefect, who had personally watched the proceeding, was so angry +against the foreigners for their cunningness that he immediately ordered +troops to drive them out into the water. But the foreigners had a +devilish energy nobody could resist; they killed a great many of our +people, burned the greater part of the city, and occupied for several +years all the northern part of the bay, where they erected a sort of +bazaar and a fortress, which still exist to this day. + + + + +_UNKNOWN DEVILS_ + + +Suen Pure-whiteness was privileged with the possibility of seeing +distinctly all the creatures of the other world, who, for the greater +part of humanity, remain always mysterious and invisible. + +One night he slept in a mountain monastery; he had closed and barred the +door; the full moon illuminated the window; everything was quiet. He had +slept an hour, when he was awakened by the hissing of the wind; the gate +of the monastery seemed to be thrown open; after a while the door of his +room was shaken, the bar dropped down, and the heavy wood turned on its +hinges. + +Pure-whiteness thought at first that it would be better to close his +eyes and to wait; but his curiosity was aroused, he looked intently; +after a few seconds he could see a big devil, so big that he was obliged +to stoop in order not to break his head against the ceiling, and who was +coming slowly towards the bed. His face had the colour and general +appearance of an old melon. His eyes were full of lightning and his +mouth was bigger than a tub. His teeth were at least three inches long +and his tongue kept moving incessantly, while he uttered a sound like +"Ha-la." + +Pure-whiteness was much afraid; but, seeing he had no way of escape, he +took a short sword from under his pillow and, with all his might, thrust +it into the devil's breast; it sounded as if he had struck a stone. + +The devil hissed in a fearful way; he extended his claws to catch the +man. Pure-whiteness jumped on the right side; the devil could only catch +his dress and started; the man hastened to unfasten his dress; he +dropped and remained there on all fours, motionless and mute. When the +devil's steps ceased to be heard he screamed for help; the priests came +with lamps; everything was in order, but in the bed Pure-witeness was +yelling as in a nightmare. + +On another day Pure-whiteness was in the country enjoying the pleasures +of harvest. The golden rice was piled high and everybody was busy. Some +armed men had been posted here and there, according to the custom; +everybody knows that when the rice is ripened in a place, people of the +neighbouring villages are always looking for an opportunity to make the +harvest themselves or to take away what has been cut by the owners. + +Pure-whiteness, tired by the heat, laid down behind a rice-stack; after +a while he heard stealthy steps; raising his head, he saw a big devil +more than ten feet high, with hair and beard of a fierce reddish colour, +who was approaching. Pure-whiteness yelled for help: men with spears +came to the rescue. The devil bellowed like the thunder and flew away. +Pure-whiteness told them what he had seen; nobody would believe him, but +they nevertheless started in pursuit; people working in the fields all +round had not seen anything, so everybody came back. + +The second day Pure-whiteness was among four or five men, when he saw +the same devil. + +"He has come back!" cried he, flying away. + +The other people ran away too. When they came back, everything was +quiet. But they always kept by their side some spears, bows and arrows, +and swords. + +For two or three days, they had no trouble; the rice was being stored in +the granaries, when Pure-whiteness, looking up, screamed: + +"The devil has come back!" + +Everybody ran to his arms. Pure-whiteness fell down; the devil picked +him up, bit his head, threw him down, and went away. + +When the man came back, Pure-whiteness bore the marks of teeth on his +head; he did not know anybody. Taken home and nursed, he remained +unconscious for a few days and died. + + + + +_CHILDLESS_ + + +In the city of The-Great-name lived a rich idler named Tuan +Correct-happiness. He had then attained the age of forty and still he +had no son. His wife, Peaceful-union, was extremely jealous, so that he +dared not openly buy a concubine, as law authorised him, to continue his +lineage. + +When he saw that, at forty, he had no son, he secretly bought a young +girl, whom he carefully left outside his own house. + +A woman is not easily deceived--a jealous woman especially; +Peaceful-union soon discovered the whole truth. She had the girl brought +before her and took advantage of an impertinent answer to have her +beaten a hundred blows; after that, she turned on her husband and drove +him nearly mad with reproaches. What could the poor man do? He sold his +concubine to a neighbouring family named Liu, and peace was restored in +the house. + +The days and years passed on without any change in the situation; the +nephews of Correct-happiness, seeing that he was old already and had no +son, began to fawn upon him, each of them trying to be the one that +would be elected as an adopted son to continue the family cult, as is +the custom. + +Peaceful-union at last began to see her error and regretted bitterly +what she had done. + +"You are only sixty years old," said she to her husband. "Is it too +late? Let us buy two chosen girls who will be your second wives; maybe +one of them will give you a son." + +The old man smiled sadly; he did not entertain any great hope; +nevertheless, the concubines were bought. After a year, to the great +surprise and joy of everybody, both gave birth--one to a girl, the other +to a boy. But both children died a few months after. + +Correct-happiness, when winter set in, caught a cold and was soon in a +desperate state of health. His nephews were always beside him; but, +seeing he would adopt neither of them, they began looting the house; +they found at last the treasure and took it away openly. + +The moribund was too ill even to know what they did. Peaceful-union +tried in vain to stop them. + +"Will you leave me to die of hunger? I am the wife of your uncle. I am +entitled to a part of his riches." + +But they would not hear her. + +"If you had borne a son to our uncle, or if he had adopted one of us, we +would not have touched a single copper cash of his treasure; but, +through your own fault, he has nobody to maintain his rights; we take +what is our own." + +When the day ended, the widow found herself alone in the deserted and +emptied house, crying over the body of her dead husband. + +Suddenly she heard steps outside the door; a young man appeared on the +threshold, his eyes full of tears, covered with the white dress of +mourning. He entered, kneeled beside the corpse, and, knocking the +ground with his forehead, he began the ritual lamentations. + +Peaceful-union stopped crying and looked at him with astonishment; she +did not know him. + +"May I ask your noble name? Who are you to cry over my husband's death?" + +"I am the deceased's only son." + +The widow started with surprise and a pang of her old jealousy; would +her husband have had a son without her knowing it? But the next words +of the young man explained everything. + +Twenty years ago, when she had beaten and sold away the first concubine +of her husband, she did not know the girl bore already the fruit of this +short union. Six months later she had a son, to whom she gave the name +of Correct-sadness; but, bearing in mind the bad treatment she had +received, she asked the Liu family to keep the child as one of their +own. They consented and sent the boy to school with their children. + +When Correct-sadness was eighteen, the chief of the Liu family died; the +family dispersed, and only a small legacy was left to the young man. +Believing he was a member of the family, he could not understand what +happened, and asked his mother; she told him the truth. Resenting the +hard treatment inflicted on his mother, he awaited the death of his +father to make his own identity known. + +Peaceful-union was very happy to hear this story. + +"I am no more without a son," said she. "All that my nephews have taken +away, treasure and furniture, they must bring back again. If not, the +magistrate will send them to die in jail." + +In fact, the nephews refused to give back anything. The widow began a +lawsuit; everything at last was restored to the legal heir. + +Peaceful-union hastened to choose him a wife, and as soon as the +matrimonial festivities were ended she told her daughter-in-law: + +"My dear child, if I were you, I would ask Correct-sadness to buy +immediately one or two good concubines; if you have a son and they have +also, so much the better, but you can't realise how difficult to bear it +is to be childless." + + + + +_THE PATCH OF LAMB'S SKIN_ + + +In the twenty-fourth year K'ang-hsi lived in a remote district of the +western provinces, a man who could remember his former lives. He was now +a "tsin-shi," "entered-among-the-learned," renowned, and much considered +by his friends. + +When speaking of the existences he had gone through, he used to say: + +"As far as I remember, I was first a soldier--it was in the last days of +the Ming dynasty; my regiment was encamped at The-Divided-roads on the +Ten-thousand-miles-great-wall. My remembrances are not very clear as to +whom we fought with, but I remember the joy of striking the enemy, the +hissing of the arrows, the yelling of the charging troops. + +"I was still young when I was killed. After death, of course I was +called before the tribunal of The-King-of-shadows. Closing my eyes, I +can still see the big caldrons full of boiling oil for the trying of +criminals; the Judge in embroidered dress seated behind a red table; the +satellites everywhere, ready to act on the first word,--in fact, +everything exactly the same as in the worldly tribunals, excepting that, +in the eastern part of the hall, there were huge wooden stands from +which hung skins of every description--horse-skins, lambs' skins, dogs' +skins, and human skins of every age and condition; skins of old men, of +fat and important people, of lean and shrivelled men, of boys and girls. + +"The trial began; the souls, according to their deeds, were condemned to +put on one of the skins and to come up again to the Lighted World in +this new shape. + +"When my turn came I was sentenced to put a dog's skin on; and in this +low shape I was thrown again in the stream of life. But as I had not +forgotten my former condition, I was so ashamed, that the first day I +came on earth I threw myself under the wheels of a heavy carriage and +died. + +"The-King-of-shadows was extremely surprised to see me again so soon; +the dogs, as a rule, having no conscience, he could not suppose I had +killed myself, and did not hold me responsible for it. + +"This time, I was born again as a pig. Pigs are valuable, and there are +always people to look after them; so I could not kill myself. I tried to +starve myself to death, but hunger was the strongest, and I had to +endure such a life. Happily, the butcher soon put a speedy end to it. + +"When my name was called to the tribunal of Darkness, the +King-of-shadows looked over the pages of the Book and said: + +"'He must be a lamb now.' + +"The runners took a white lamb's skin, brought it, and began putting it +over my body. While this was going on, the secretary, who was writing +the sentence in the Book, started and said to the Judge: + +"'Your Honour, there is a mistake. Please Your Honour read over again; +this soul has to be a man now.' + +"You know that, on the Big Book of Shadows, all our past deeds are +recorded as well as our future destiny. + +"The Judge looked at it over again and said: + +"'True! Happily, you saw the mistake.' + +"Then, turning to the runners, he ordered them to take off the skin, +which already covered more than half my body. They had to exert all +their strength, and even so, they tore it off into pieces. It hurt me so +much that I thought I could not stand it and I should die; but I was +dead, and I could not die more than that. + +"At last they left me bleeding and panting, and I was born again in my +present condition. But they had forgotten a piece of lamb's skin on my +right shoulder, and I still have it now." + +And he uncovered his arm and shoulder to show a piece of white woollen +hair on his right shoulder. + + + + +_LOVE'S-SLAVE_ + + +In the City-between-the-rivers lived a young student named Lan. He had +just passed successfully his second literary examination, and, walking +in the Street-of-the-precious-stones, asked himself what he would now do +in life. + +While he was going, looking vacantly at the passers-by, he saw an old +friend of his father, and hastened to join his closed fists and to +salute him very low, as politeness orders. + +"My best congratulations!" answered the old man. "What are you doing in +this busy street?" + +"Nothing at all; I was asking myself what profession I am now to +pursue." + +"What profession? Which one would be more honourable than that of +teacher? It is the only one an 'elevated man' _Kiu-jen_ of the second +degree, can pursue. By the by, would you honour my house with your +presence? My son is nearly eighteen. He is not half as learned as he +should be, and, besides, he has a very bad temper. I feel very old; if I +knew you would consent to give him the right direction and be a second +father to him, I would not dread so much to die and leave him alone." + +Lan bowed and said: + +"I am much honoured by your proposition, and I accept it readily. I will +go to-morrow to your palace." + +Two hours after, a messenger brought to the young man a packet +containing one hundred ounces of silver, with a note stating that this +comparatively great sum represented his first year's salary. + +In the evening he knocked at his pupil's door and was ushered into the +sitting-room. The old man introduced him to the whole family: first his +son, a lad with a decided look boding no good; then a young and +beautiful girl of seventeen, his daughter, called Love's-slave. Lan was +struck by the sweet and refined appearance of his pupil's sister. + +"The sight of her will greatly help me to stay here," thought he. + +The next morning, when his first lesson was ended, he strolled out into +the garden, admiring here a flower and there an artificial little +waterfall among diminutive mountain-rocks. Behind a bamboo-bush he +suddenly saw Love's-slave and was discreetly turning back, when she +stopped him by a few words of greeting. + +Every day they thus met in the solitude of the flowers and trees and +grew to love each other. Lan's task with his pupil was greater and +harder than he had supposed; but for Love's-slave's sake, he would never +have remained in the house. + +After three months the old man fell ill; the doctors were unable to cure +him; he died, and was buried in the family ground, behind the house. + +When Lan, after the funeral, told his pupil to resume his lessons, he +met with such a reception that he went immediately to his room and +packed his belongings. Love's-slave, hearing from a servant what had +happened, went straight to her lover's room and tried to induce him to +stay. + +"How can you ask that from me?" said he. "After such an insult, I would +consider myself as the basest of men if I stayed. I have 'lost face'; I +must go." + +The girl, seeing that nothing could prevail upon his resolution, went +out of the room, but silently closed and locked the outer gate. + +Lan left on a table what remained of the silver given him by the old +man, and wrote a note to inform his pupil of his departure. + +When he tried the gate and found it locked, he did not know at first +what to do. Then he remembered a place where he could easily climb over +the enclosure, went there, threw his luggage over the wall, and let +himself out in this somewhat undignified way. + +Before going back to his house, he went round to the tomb of the old man +and burnt some sticks of perfume. Kneeling down, he explained +respectfully to the dead what had happened and excused himself for +having left unfinished the task he had undertaken. Rising at last, he +went away. + +The next morning Love's-slave, pleased with her little trick, came to +the student's room and looked for him; he was nowhere to be found. She +saw the silver on the table, and, reading the note he had left, she +understood that he would never come back. + +Her grief stifled her; heavy tears at last began running down her rosy +cheeks. She took the silver, went straight to her father's tomb, +fastened the heavy metal to her feet, and unrolled a sash from her +waist. Then, making a knot with the sash round her neck, she climbed up +the lower branches of a big fir-tree, fastened the other end of the +coloured silk as high as she could and threw herself down. A few minutes +afterwards she was dead. She was discovered by a member of the family, +and quietly buried in the same enclosure. + +Lan, who did not know anything, came back two or three days after to see +her. The servants told him the truth. Silently and sullenly, he went to +the tomb, and long remained absorbed in his thoughts; dusk was +gathering; the first star shone in the sky. All of a sudden, hearing a +sound as of somebody laughing, he turned round. Love's-slave was before +his eyes. + +"I was waiting for you, my love," she said in a strange and muffled +voice. "Why are you coming so late?" + +As he wanted to kiss her, she stopped him: + +"Oh dear! I am dead. But it is decreed that I will come again to life if +a magician performs the ceremony prescribed in the +Book-of-Transmutations." + +Immaterial like an evening fog, she disappeared in the growing darkness. + +Lan returned immediately to the town, and, entering the first Taoist +temple he saw, he explained to the priest what he wanted. + +"If she has said it is decreed she should come back to life, we have +only to go and open her tomb, while here my disciples will sing the +proper chapters of the Book. Let us go now." + +Giving some directions to his companions, he took a spade and started +with Lan. The moon was shining, so that without any lantern they were +able to perform their gloomy task. + +Once the heavy lid of the coffin was unscrewed and taken off, the body +of the young girl appeared as fresh as if she had been sleeping. + +When the cold night-air bathed her face, she raised her head, sneezed, +and sat up; looking at Lan, she said in a low voice: + +"At last, you have come! I am recalled to life by your love. But now I +am feeble; don't speak harshly to me; I could not bear it." + +Lan, kissing her lovingly, took her in his arms and brought her to his +house. After some days she was able to walk and live like ordinary +people do. + +They married and lived happily together for a year. Then, one day, Lan, +having come back half-drunk from a friend's house, was rebuked by her, +and, incensed, pushed her back. She did not say a word but, fainting, +she fell down. Blood ran from her nostrils and mouth; nothing could +recall her departing spirit. + + + + +_THE LAUGHING GHOST_ + + +Siu Long-mountain was one of the most celebrated students of the +district of Perfect-flowers. Having mastered the mysterious theories of +the ancient Classics, he took a fancy in the researches of the Taoist +magicians, whose temples may be found in the smallest villages of the +Empire. He soon discovered that, for the greater number, they were +impostors; and, being proud of his newly acquired science, he concluded +that none of them possessed any occult power. + +When he came to this somewhat hasty conclusion, he was seated alone in +his library; the night was already advancing; a small oil lamp hardly +illuminated his books on the table he was sitting at. + +"Yes, there is no doubt; nothing exists outside the material +appearances. There is nothing occult in the world, and nothing can come +out of nothingness." + +As he was saying these words half aloud, he was startled by an unearthly +laugh which seemed to come from behind his back. He turned quickly +round; but nothing was to be seen. + +His heart beating, he was listening intently; the laugh came from +another part of the room. + +Long-mountain was brave, but as people are brave who have only met the +ordinary dangers of civilised life, such as barking dogs, insulting +coolies, or angry dealers presenting a long-deferred bill. He tried in +vain to believe it was only a joke imposed on him by some friend; +nothing could prevail upon his growing terror. + +Straining his eyes, he looked at the part of the room the laugh seemed +to come from. At first he could not see anything, but by degrees he +perceived a black shadow moving in a corner, then a strange form with a +horse's head and a man's body, all covered with long black hair; the +teeth were big and sharp as so many mountain-peaks. The eyes of this +dreadful creature began shining so much that the whole room was +illuminated. Then it began moving towards the man. + +This was too much; the student screamed like a dying donkey, and, +bursting the door open, he ran out into the courtyard. + +From an open door in the western pavilion a ray of light crossed the +darkness; four or five men were playing cards, drinking, and swearing. +Long-mountain ran into their room, and, panting, explained his vision. + +The men, being drunk, wanted to see the Thing; holding lanterns and +lamps, they accompanied their visitor back to his studio. When they +passed the doorway, Long-mountain screamed again; the Thing was still +there. He would have run away had not the men, laughing and jesting, +shown him what the Ghost in reality was--a long dress hung in a corner +to a big hook, on which sat a black cat mewing desperately. + +When the men closed the door and left him alone, the student was deeply +ashamed of his terror; shaken by his emotion, he went to bed and tried +to sleep. Sleep would not come; his nervousness seemed to increase. +Starting at the smallest noise, he remained a long time wide awake; then +he lost consciousness. + +In the silence one only heard the cries of the night-birds and the +buzzing of the autumn's insects; the lamp was out, but a brilliant moon +began to pour its silver light through the window. + +The door suddenly creaked; Long-mountain awoke and sat up on his bed; +the door slowly opened, and the same Thing he had seen and heard entered +the room and advanced towards the bed, while the same unearthly laugh +came from the long and unshapely head; the flaming eyes were fixed on +the student. + +When the Thing was near the bed, Long-mountain fell heavily and did not +move any more. + +The Ghost stopped, put his hand on the breast of the man, remained in +that position a moment, then went quickly and silently out of the room. + +A man was standing outside. + +"What did he say?" asked he. + +"Be quiet!" said the Ghost, taking off his horse's head and discovering +a man's very serious face. "The joke was good. But we have done it too +well. I think he is dead of terror; we had better be as silent as a tomb +about all this. The magistrate would never believe in a joke; we would +be held responsible for this death and pay a heavy penalty." + + THE END + + +_Printed by Hazell, Watson, & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury, +England._ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Strange Stories from the Lodge of +Leisures, by Unknown + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STRANGE STORIES FROM THE *** + +***** This file should be named 37766-8.txt or 37766-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/7/6/37766/ + +Produced by David Starner, Matthew Wheaton and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/37766-8.zip b/old/37766-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9b4abf4 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/37766-8.zip diff --git a/old/37766.txt b/old/37766.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..86d6820 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/37766.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3536 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Strange Stories from the Lodge of Leisures, by Unknown + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Strange Stories from the Lodge of Leisures + +Author: Unknown + +Translator: George Soulie + +Release Date: October 16, 2011 [EBook #37766] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STRANGE STORIES FROM THE *** + + + + +Produced by David Starner, Matthew Wheaton and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + + + STRANGE STORIES + FROM THE + LODGE OF LEISURES + + TRANSLATED FROM THE CHINESE BY + GEORGE SOULIE + OF THE FRENCH CONSULAR SERVICE IN CHINA + + + BOSTON AND NEW YORK + HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY + 1913 + + PRINTED BY + HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD., + LONDON AND AYLESBURY, + ENGLAND. + + + + +PREFACE + + +The first European students who undertook to give the Western world an +idea of Chinese literature were misled by the outward and profound +respect affected by the Chinese towards their ancient classics. They +have worked from generation to generation in order to translate more and +more accurately the thirteen classics, Confucius, Mengtsz, and the +others. They did not notice that, once out of school, the Chinese did +not pay more attention to their classics than we do to ours: if you see +a book in their hands, it will never be the "Great Study" or the +"Analects," but much more likely a novel like the "History of the Three +Kingdoms," or a selection of ghost-stories. These works that everybody, +young or old, reads and reads again, have on the Chinese mind an +influence much greater than the whole bulk of the classics. +Notwithstanding their great importance for those who study Chinese +thought, they have been completely left aside. In fact, the whole of +real Chinese literature is still unknown to the Westerners. + +It is a pity that it should be so. The novels and stories throw an +extraordinary light on Chinese everyday life that foreigners have been +very seldom, and now will never be, able to witness, and they illustrate +in a striking way the idea the Chinese have formed of the other world. +One is able at last to understand what is the meaning of the _huen_ or +superior soul, which leaves the body after death or during sleep, but +keeps its outward appearance and ordinary clothes; the _p'ai_ or +inferior soul which remains in the decaying body, and sometimes is +strong enough to prevent it from decaying, and to give it all the +appearances of life. The magicians of the Tao religion, or Taoist +priests, play a great part in these stories, and the Buddhist ideas of +metempsychosis give the opportunity of more complicated situations than +we dream of. + +Among the most celebrated works, I have chosen the "Strange Stories from +the Lodge of Leisures," _Leao chai Chi yi_. It was written in the second +half of the eighteenth century by P'ou Song-lin (P'ou Lieou-hsien), of +Tsy-cheou, in the Chantong province. + +The whole work is composed of more than three hundred stories. I have +selected twenty-five among the most characteristic. + +This being a literary work, and having nothing scientific to boast of, I +have tried to give my English readers the same literary impression that +the Chinese has. _Tradutore traditore_, say the Italians; I hope I have +not been too much of a traitor. + +A translation is always a most difficult work; if it is materially +exact, word for word and sentence by sentence, the so-called scientific +men are satisfied, but all the charm, beauty, and interest of the +original are lost. Very often, too, such translation is obscure and +unintelligible. Each nation has an heirloom of traditions, customs, or +religion to which its literature constantly refers. If the reader is not +acquainted with that literature, these references will convey no meaning +to his mind, or they may even convey a false one. In Chinese, this +difficulty is greater than in any other language; the Far Eastern +civilisation has had a development of its own, and its legends and +superstitions have nothing in common with the Western folklore. The +Chinese mind is radically different from ours, and has grown, in every +generation, more different by reason of a different training and a +different ideal in life. The Chinese writing, moreover, has strengthened +those differences; it represents the ideas themselves, instead of +representing the words; each Chinese sign may be rightly translated by +either of the three or more words by which our language analytically +describes every aspect of one same idea. The sign which is read _Tao_, +for instance, must be, according to the sentence, translated by any of +the words: direction, rule, doctrine, religion, way, road, word, verb; +all of them being the different forms of the same idea of direction, +moral or physical. + +Some French sinologists, aware of this difficulty, now translate the +texts literally, and try to explain the meaning by a number of notes, +which sometimes leave only one or two lines of text in a page. This +method seems at first more scientific; it explains everything in the +most careful way, and is very useful for the translation of inscriptions +or of certain obscure passages in historical books. But for real +literature, it is the greatest possible error, leaving out, as it does, +all the impression and illusion the author intended to convey. Besides, +the necessity of going, at every word, down the page in order to find +the meaning in a note, tires the reader and takes away all the pleasure +he should derive from the book. + +One may even say that a materially exact translation is, in reality, a +false one; the words we use in writing and speaking being mere technical +signs by which we represent our ideas. For instance, the word +"cathedral" will certainly not convey the same idea to two men, one of +whom has only seen St. Paul's, and the other only Notre-Dame de Paris; +for the first, cathedral means a dome; for the other it means two towers +and a long ogival nave. Below the outward appearance of the words there +lie so many different images that it is absolutely necessary to know the +mentality of a nation in order to master its language. In fact, a true +translation will be the one that, though sometimes materially inexact, +will give the reader the same impression he would have if he were +reading the original text. + +Since I first went to China, in 1901, I have had many opportunities of +acquainting myself with all the superstitions of the lower classes, with +all the splendid mental and intellectual training of the learned. My +experience has helped me to perceive what was hidden beneath the words; +and in my translation I have sometimes supplied what the author only +thought necessary to imply. In many places the translation is literal; +in other places it is literary, it being impossible for a Western writer +to retain all the long and useless talking, all the repetitions that +Chinese writing and Chinese taste are equally fond of. + + GEORGE SOULIE. + + + + + CONTENTS + + + THE GHOST IN LOVE + THE FRESCO + THE DWARF HUNTERS + THE CORPSE THE BLOOD DRINKER + LOVE REWARDED + THE WOMAN IN GREEN + THE FAULT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES + DECEIVING SHADOWS + PEACEFUL-LIGHT + HONG THE CURRIER + AUTUMN-MOON + THE PRINCESS NELUMBO + THE TWO BROTHERS + THE MARBLE ARCH + THE DUTIFUL SON + THROUGH MANY LIVES + THE RIVER OF SORROWS + THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND + THE SPIRIT OF THE RIVER + THE-DEVILS-OF-THE-OCEAN + UNKNOWN DEVILS + CHILDLESS + THE PATCH OF LAMB'S SKIN + LOVE'S-SLAVE + THE LAUGHING GHOST + + + + +_Strange Stories from the Lodge of Leisures_ + + + + +_THE GHOST IN LOVE_ + + +On the 15th day of the First Moon, in the second year of the period of +"Renewed Principles," the streets of the town of the Eastern Lake were +thronged with people who were strolling about. + +At the setting of the sun every shop was brightly lit up; processions of +people moved hither and thither; strings of boys were carrying lanterns +of every form and colour; whole families passed, every member of whom, +young or old, small or big, was holding at the end of a thin bamboo the +lighted image of a bird, an animal, or a flower. + +Richer ones, several together, were carrying enormous dragons whose +luminous wings waved at every motion and whose glaring eyes rolled from +right to left. It was the Fete of the Lanterns. + +A young man, clothed in a long pale green dress, allowed himself to be +pushed about by the crowd; the passers-by bowed to him: + +"How is my Lord Li The-peaceful?" + +"The humble student thanks you; and you, how are you?" + +"Very well, thanks to your happy influence." + +"Does the precious student soon pass his second literary examination?" + +"In two months; ignorant that I am. I am idling instead of working." + +The fete was drawing to a close when The-peaceful quitted the main +street, and went towards the East Gate, where the house was to be found +in which he lived alone. + +He went farther and farther: the moving lights were rarer; ere long he +only saw before him the fire of a white lantern decorated with two red +peonies. The paper globe was swinging to the steps of a tiny girl +clothed in the blue linen that only slaves wore. The light, behind, +showed the elegant silhouette of another woman, this one covered with a +long jacket made in a rich pink silk edged with purple. + +As the student drew nearer, the belated walker turned round, showing an +oval face and big long eyes, wherein shone a bright speck, cruel and +mysterious. + +Li The-peaceful slackened his pace, following the two strangers, whose +small feet glided silently on the shining flagstones of the street. + +He was asking himself how he could begin a conversation, when the +mistress turned round again, softly smiled, and in a low, rich voice, +said to him: + +"Is it not strange that in the advancing night we are following the same +road?" + +"I owe it to the favour of Heaven," he at once replied; "for I am +returning to the East Gate; otherwise I should never have dared to +follow you." + +The conversation, once begun, continued as they walked side by side. The +student learned that the pretty walker was called "Double-peony," that +she was the daughter of Judge Siu, that she lived out of the city in a +garden planted with big trees, on the road to the lake. + +On arriving at his house The-peaceful insisted that his new friend +should enter and take a cup of tea. She hesitated; then the two young +people pushed the door, crossed the small yard bordered right and left +with walls covered with tiles, and disappeared in the house.... + +The servant remained under the portal. + +Daylight was breaking when the young girl came out again, calling the +servant, who was asleep. The next evening she came again, always +accompanied by the slave bearing the white lantern with two red +peonies. It was the same each day following. + +A neighbour who had watched these nocturnal visits was inquisitive +enough to climb the wall which separated his yard from that of the +lovers, and to wait, hidden in the shade of the house. + +At the accustomed hour the street-door, left ajar, opened to let in the +visitors. + +Once in the courtyard, they were suddenly transformed, their eyes became +flaming and red; their faces grew pale; their teeth seemed to lengthen; +an icy mist escaped from their lips. + +The neighbour did not see any more: terrified, he let himself slide to +the ground and ran to his inner room. + +The next morning he went to the student and told him what he had seen. +The lover was paralysed with fear: in order to reassure himself he +resolved to find out everything he could about his mistress. + +He at once went outside the ramparts, on the road to the lake, hoping +to find the house of Judge Siu. But at the place he had been told of +there was no habitation; on the left, a fallow plain, sown with tombs, +went up to the hills; on the right, cultivated fields extended as far as +the lake. + +However, a small temple was hidden there under big trees. The student +had given up all hope; he entered, notwithstanding, into the sacred +enclosure, knowing that travellers stayed there sometimes for several +weeks. + +In the first yard a bonze was passing in his red dress and shaven head; +he stopped him. + +"Do you know Judge Siu? He has a daughter----" + +"Judge Siu's daughter?" asked the priest, astonished. "Well--yes--but +wait, I will show her to you." + +The-peaceful felt his heart overflowing with joy; his beloved one was +living; he was going to see her by the light of day. He quickly +followed his companion. + +Passing the first court, they crossed a threshold and found themselves +in a yard planted with high pine-trees and bordered by a low pavilion. +The bonze, passing in first, pushed a door, and, turning round, said: + +"Here is Judge Siu's daughter!" + +The other stopped, terrified; on a trestle a heavy black lacquered +coffin bore this inscription in golden letters: "Coffin of Double-peony, +Judge Siu's daughter." + +On the wall was an unfolded painting representing the little maid; a +white lantern decorated with two red peonies was hung over it. + +"Yes, she has been there for the last two years; her parents, according +to the rite, are waiting for a favourable day to bury her." + +The student silently turned on his heel and went back, not deigning to +reply to the mocking bow of the priest. + +Evening arrived; he locked himself in, and, covering his head with his +blankets, he waited; sleep came to him only at daybreak. + +But he could not cease to think of her whom he no longer saw; his heart +beat as if to burst, when in the street he perceived the silhouette of a +woman which reminded him of his friend. + +At last he was incapable of containing himself any longer; one evening +he stationed himself behind the door. After a few minutes there was a +knock; he opened the door; it was only the little maid: + +"My mistress is in tears; why do you never open the door? I come every +evening. If you will follow me, perhaps she will forgive you." + +The-peaceful, blinded by love, started at once, walking by the light of +the white lantern. + + * * * * * + +The next day the neighbours, seeing that the student's door was open, +and that his house was empty, made a declaration to the governor of the +town. + +The police made an inquest; they collected the evidence of several +people who had been watching the nightly visitors the student had +received. The bonze of the temple outside the city walls came to say +what he knew. The chief of the police went to the road leading to the +lake; he crossed the threshold of the little edifice, passed the first +yard and at last opened the door of the pavilion. + +Everything was in order, but under the lid of the heavy coffin one could +see the corner of the long green dress of the student. + +In order to do away with evil influences there was a solemn funeral. + + * * * * * + +Ever since this time, on light clear nights, the passers-by often meet +the two lovers entwined together, slowly walking on the road which leads +to the lake. + + + + +_THE FRESCO_ + + +In the Great Highway of Eternal Fixity, Mong Flowing-spring and his +friend Choo Little-lotus were slowly walking, clothed in the long light +green dress of the students. + +They had both just passed with success their third literary examination, +and were enjoying the pleasures of the capital before returning to their +distant province. + +As they were both of small means, they were looking now (and at the same +time filling their eyes with the movement of the street) for a lodging +less expensive than the inn where they had put up on arriving at Pekin. + +Leaving the Great Highway, they strolled far into a labyrinth of lanes +more and more silent. They soon lost themselves. Undecided, they had +stopped, when they spied out the red lacquered portal of a temple of the +Mysterious-way. + +Pushing the heavy sides of the door, they entered; an old man with his +hair tightly drawn together in a black cap, majestic in his grey dress, +stood behind the door and appeared to be waiting for them. + +"Your coming lightens my humble dwelling," he said in bowing. "I beg you +will enter." + +"I do not dare! I do not dare!" murmured the two students, bowing in +their turn. + +They nevertheless entered, crossing the yard on which the portal opened, +which was closed, at the end, by the little temple in open woodwork +close under the mass of roofs of green tiles. + +They went up three steps, then, pushing a narrow and straight door, they +entered. In the half-shadow they distinguished on the white altar a +statue of Tche Kong The-Supreme-Lord, with a golden face and griffins' +feet like the claws of an eagle. + +The walls on each side of the altar were painted in frescoes; on the +wall on the right you saw goddesses in the midst of flowers. One of +these young girls, with a low chignon, was gathering a peony and was +slightly smiling. Her mouth, like a cherry, seemed as if it were really +opening; one would have sworn that her eyelids fluttered. + +Mong Flowing-spring, his eyes fixed on the painting, remained a long +time without moving, absorbed in his admiration of the work of art, and +disturbed beyond expression by the beauty of the goddess with the low +chignon. + +"Why is she not living?" said he. "I would willingly give my life for a +moment of her love!" + +Suddenly he started; the young goddess raised herself upright, bursting +with laughter, and got down from the wall. She crossed the door, went +down the staircase, stepped over the yard and left the place. + +Flowing-spring followed her without reflecting. He saw her going away +with a light step, and turn down the first lane; the young student ran +behind her. + +As he turned the corner, he saw her stop at the entrance of a small +house. She was gracefully waving her hand, and, with sly glances, made +him signs to come. + +He hastened forward and entered in his turn. In the silent house there +was nobody, no one but the goddess standing in her long mauve dress and +nibbling the flower that she had picked and that she still held in her +hand. + +"I bow down," said the student, who knelt to salute her. + +"Rise! you exceed the rites prescribed," she replied. + +"I bend my head, not being able to bear the splendour of your beauty." + +As she did not seem to be discontented he continued telling her his +admiration and his desire. He approached, touched her hand; she started, +but did not draw back. He then took her in his arms; she did not make +much resistance. + +The moments passed rapidly. They spoke to each other in a low voice, +when, suddenly in the street, a noise of heavy boots resounded; steps +stopped before the door; the lock was shaken; oaths were heard. + +The young girl grew pale; she told Flowing-spring to hide himself under +the bed. The student felt his heart become quite small; he crouched down +in the shadow, not even being able to breathe. From the depth of his +hiding-place, he saw an officer enter, his face in black lacquer, +covered with a golden cuirass and surrounded by a troop of young girls +in long dresses of bright colours. + +"I smell an odour of human flesh!" grumbled the officer, walking heavily +and going round the room. + +"Hide yourself well!" the goddess murmured to her lover, raising herself +from the bed and white with terror. "If you can escape from him, wait +till we have left, and open the little door at the end of the garden; +then run away quickly!" + +"There is a man here! I smell him! He must be delivered to me! If not, +I shall punish the person who has hidden him." + +"We know nothing!" all the young women said together. + +"Very well! Let us go out." + +Then, following the gracious troop which the goddess had joined, he +crossed the threshold. + +Flowing-spring, hidden under the bed, waited till the noise of the boots +had gone away. Then he glided with caution from his refuge. + +Half bent, listening with anxiety in fear of being surprised, he flew +from the room and crossed the garden. + +During this time Choo Little-lotus, having remained in the temple, had +not remarked the departure of his friend. But, turning round and not any +longer seeing him, he questioned the old magician. + +"Your friend is not far off," he replied. + +Then, showing him the wall, he said: + +"Look! here he is!" + +And, indeed, in the centre of the fresco, the image of Flowing-spring +was painted; he was crouched in among the flowers, straining his ear. +The image moved, and, suddenly, the student separated himself from the +wall and advanced, looking sad and anxious. + +Choo Little-lotus, terrified, was looking at him. The other told him his +adventure. As he spoke a terrible clap of thunder was heard. The two +friends instinctively shut their eyes; when they opened them, their +glance fell on the fresco: the goddesses had taken their places there +again, in the midst of the flowers; but the young girl with the low +chignon was no longer there. + +The magician smiled at Flowing-spring: + +"Love has touched her. She has become a woman and is waiting for you in +your village." + + + + +_THE DWARF HUNTERS_ + + +The heavy summer in the South is particularly hard to bear for those who +are ill. The damp heat keeps them awake, and thousands of insects +trouble their rest. + +Wang Little-third-one, stretched on his bed made of bamboo laths, where +a low fever kept him, complained of it to all those who came to see him, +especially to his friend the magician officiating priest of the little +temple situated in the neighbouring crossway. + +The magician knew something of medicine; he prescribed a calming potion +and retired. + +When Little-third-one had drunk the potion, his fever fell and he was +able to enjoy a little sleep. He was awakened by a slight noise; night +had come on; the room was lighted by the full moon, which threw a bright +gleam by the open door. + +All the insects were moving and flying hither and thither; white ants +who gnaw wood, bad-smelling bugs, enormous cockroaches, mosquitoes, +innumerable and various flies. + +As Little-third-one was looking, his attention was drawn by a movement +on the threshold: a small man, not bigger than a thumb, advanced with +precautious steps; in his hand he held a bow; a sword was hanging at his +side. + +Little-third-one, on looking closer, saw two dogs as big as +shirt-buttons running before the man with the bow; they suddenly +stopped: the archer approached, held out his weapon, and discharged the +arrow. A cockroach who was crawling before the dogs made a bound, fell +on its back, moved again, then remained motionless; the arrow had run +through it. + +Behind the first huntsman others had come; some were on horseback, armed +with swords; some on foot. + +From that time it was a pursuit without intermission; hundreds of +insects were shot. At first the mosquitoes escaped; but as they cannot +fly for long, every time that one remained still it was transpierced by +the huntsmen. + +Soon nothing was left of all the insects who broke the silence with +their buzzing, their gnashing of teeth, or their falling. + +A horseman then was seen galloping over the room, looking from right to +left. He then gave the signal; all the huntsmen called their dogs, went +towards the door, and disappeared. + +Little-third-one had not moved, in order not to disturb the hunt. At +last he peacefully went to sleep, henceforth sure of not being awakened +by a sting or a bite. He awoke late the next day almost cured. + +When his friend the magician came to see him, he told him his +experience: the other smiled. Wang understood that the mysterious +hunters came from the little temple. + + + + +_THE CORPSE THE BLOOD-DRINKER_ + + +Night was slowly falling in the narrow valley. On the winding path cut +in the side of the hill about twenty mules were following each other, +bending under their heavy load; the muleteers, being tired, did not +cease to hurry forward their animals, abusing them with coarse voices. + +Comfortably seated on mules with large pack-saddles, three men were +going along at the same pace as the caravan of which they were the +masters. Their thick dresses, their fur boots, and their red woollen +hoods protected them from the cold wind of the mountain. + +In the darkness, rendered thicker by a slight fog, the lights of a +village were shining, and soon the mules, hurrying all together, +jostling their loads, crowded before the only inn of the place. + +The three travellers, happy to be able to rest, got down from their +saddles when the innkeeper came out on the step of his door and excused +himself, saying all his rooms were taken. + +"I have still, it is true, a large hall the other side of the street, +but it is only a barn, badly shut. I will show it to you." + +The merchants, disappointed, consulted each other with a look; but it +was too late to continue their way; they followed their landlord. + +The hall that was shown to them was big enough and closed at the end by +a curtain. Their luggage was brought; the bed-clothes rolled on the +pack-saddles were spread out, as usual, on planks and trestles. + +The meal was served in the general sitting-room, in the midst of noise, +laughing, and movement--smoking rice, vegetables preserved in vinegar, +and lukewarm wine served in small cups. Then every one went to bed; the +lights were put out and profound silence prevailed in the sleeping +village. + +However, towards the hour of the Rat, a sensation of cold and +uneasiness awoke one of the three travellers named Wang Fou, +Happiness-of-the-kings. He turned in his bed, but the snoring of his two +companions annoyed him; he could not get to sleep. Again, seeing that +his rest was finished, he got up, relit the lamp which was out, took a +book from his baggage, and stretched himself out again. But if he could +not sleep, it was just as impossible to read. In spite of himself, his +eyes quitted the columns of letters laid out in lines and searched into +the darkness that the feeble light did not contrive to break through. + +A growing terror froze him. He would have liked to awaken his +companions, but the fear of being made fun of prevented him. + +By dint of looking, he at last saw a slight movement shake the big +curtain which closed the room. There came from behind a crackling of +wood being broken. Then a long, painful threatening silence began again. + +The merchant felt his flesh thrill; he was filled with horror, in spite +of his efforts to be reasonable. + +He had put aside his book, and, the coverlet drawn up to his nose, he +fixed his enlarged eyes on the shadowy corners at the end of the room. + +The side of the curtain was lifted; a pale hand held the folds. The +stuff, thus raised, permitted a being to pass, whose form, hardly +distinct, seemed penetrated by the shadow. + +Happiness-of-kings would have liked to scream; his contracted throat +allowed no sound to escape. Motionless and speechless, he followed with +his horrified look the slow movement of the apparition which +approached. + +He, little by little, recognised the silhouette of a female, seen by her +short quilted dress and her long narrow jacket. Behind the body he +perceived the curtain again moving. + +The spectre, in the meantime bending over the bed of one of the sleeping +travellers, appeared to give him a long kiss. + +Then it went towards the couch of the second merchant. +Happiness-of-kings distinctly saw the pale figure, the eyes, from which +a red flame was shining, and sharp teeth, half-exposed in a ferocious +smile, which opened and shut by turns on the throat of the sleeper. + +A start disturbed the body under the cover, then all stopped: the +spectre was drinking in long draughts. + +Happiness-of-kings, seeing that his turn was coming, had just strength +enough to pull the coverlet over his head. He heard grumblings; a +freezing breath penetrated through the wadded material. + +The paroxysm of terror gave the merchant full possession of his +strength; with a convulsive movement he threw his coverlet on the +apparition, jumped out of his bed, and, yelling like a wild beast, he +ran as far as the door and flew away in the night. + +Still running, he felt the freezing breath in his back, he heard the +furious growlings of the spectre. + +The prolonged howling of the unhappy man filled the narrow street and +awoke all the sleepers in their beds, but none of them moved; they hid +themselves farther and farther under their coverlets. These inhuman +cries meant nothing good for those who should have been bold enough to +go outside. + +The bewildered fugitive crossed the village, going faster and faster. +Arriving at the last houses, he was only a few feet in advance and felt +himself fainting. + +The road at the extremity of the village was bordered with narrow fields +shaded with big trees. The instinct of a hunted animal drove on the +distracted merchant; he made a brisk turn to the right, then to the +left, and threw himself behind the knotted trunk of a huge +chestnut-tree. The freezing hand already touched his shoulder; he fell +senseless. + + * * * * * + +In the morning, in broad daylight, two men who came to plough in this +same field were surprised to perceive against the tree a white form, +and, on the ground, a man stretched out. This fact coming after the +howling in the night appeared strange to them; they turned back and went +to find the Chief of the Elders. When they returned, the greater part of +the inhabitants of the village followed them. + +They approached and found that the form against the tree was the corpse +of a young woman, her nails buried in the bark; from her mouth a stream +of blood had flowed and stained her white silk jacket. A shudder of +horror shook the lookers-on: the Chief of the Elders recognised his +daughter dead for the last six months whose coffin was placed in a barn, +waiting for the burial, a favourable day to be fixed by the astrologers. + +The innkeeper recognised one of his guests in the man stretched on the +ground, whom no care could revive. + +They returned in haste to find out in what condition the coffin was: the +door of the barn was still open. They went in; a coverlet was thrown on +the ground near the entrance; on two beds the great sun lit up the +hollow and greenish aspect of the corpses whose blood had been emptied. + +Behind the drawn curtain the coffin was found open. The corpse of the +young woman evidently had not lost its inferior soul, the vital breath. +Like all beings deprived of conscience and reason, her ferocity was +eager for blood. + + + + +_LOVE REWARDED_ + + +Lost in the heart of Peking, in one of the most peaceful neighbourhoods +of the Yellow City, the street of Glowing-happiness was sleeping in the +silence and in the light. + +On the right and left of the dusty road was some waste ground, where +several red mangy, and surly dogs were sleeping. Five or six low houses, +their white walls forming a line not well defined, whose low roofs were +covered with grey tiles, bordered the road. + +In the first year of the Glorious-Strength, four hundred years ago, a +young man with long hair tied together under the black gauze cap of the +scholars, clothed in a pink dress with purple flowers, was walking in +the setting sun, stepping cautiously in order not to cover with dust +his shoes with thick felt soles. + +When the first stars began to shine in the darkening sky, he entered one +of the houses. A wick in a saucer, soaking in oil, burning and smoking, +vaguely lighted an open book on the table: one could only guess, in the +shadow, the form of a chair, a bed in a corner, and a few inscriptions +hanging on the whitewashed walls. + +The scholar seated himself before his table and resumed, as he did every +evening, his reading of the Classics, of which he sought to penetrate +the entire meaning. Late passers-by in this lonely thoroughfare still +saw his lamp shining across the trellises of the windows far into the +night. + +Golden-dragon lived alone. Now, on that evening an inexplicable languor +made him dreamy; his eyes followed in vain the text; his rebellious +thoughts were scattered. + +Impatiently at last he was just going to put out his lamp and go to +bed, when he heard some one knocking at the door. + +"Come in!" he cried. + +The door grinding on its hinges, a young woman appeared clothed in a +long gown of bright green silk, gracefully lifting her foot to cross the +threshold, and bowing with her two hands united. Golden-dragon, +hurriedly rising to reply, waved in his turn his fists joined together +at the same height as his visage and said, according to the ritual: "Be +kind enough to be seated! What is your noble name?" The visitor did not +pronounce a word; her large black eyes, shadowed by long eyelashes, were +fixed on the face of her host, while she tried to regain her panting +breath. + +As she advanced, Golden-dragon felt a strange feeling of admiration and +love. + +He did not think such a perfect beauty could exist. As he remained +speechless, she smiled, and her smile had on him the effect of a strong +drink on a hungry man; troubled and dazed, he lost the conscience of +his personality and his acts. + +The next morning the sun was shining when he awoke, asking himself if he +had not been dreaming. He thought all day long of his strange visitor, +making thousands of suppositions. + +Evening coming on, she suddenly entered, and it was as it had been the +night before. + +Two months passed; then the young girl's visits abruptly ceased. The +night covered everything with its black veil, but nobody appeared at the +door. Golden-dragon the first night, waited for her till the hour of the +Rat; at last he went to his couch and fell asleep. Almost immediately he +saw her carried away by two horny _yecha_; she was calling him: + +"My beloved, I am drawn away towards the inferior regions. I shall never +be able to get away if prayers are not said for me. My body lies in the +next house." + +He started out of sleep in the efforts he made to fly to her, and could +not rest again in his impatience to assert what she had said. + +As soon as the sun was up, he ran towards the only house that was next +to his. He knocked; no one replied. Pushing the door, he entered. The +house seemed to be recently abandoned, the rooms were empty, but in a +side hall a black lacquered coffin rested on trestles; on a table the +"Book of Liberation" was open at the chapter of "The great recall." + +Golden-dragon doubted no longer; he sang in a high voice the entire +chapter, shut the book, and returned home full of a strange +peacefulness. + +Every evening from that time, at the hour when she had appeared to him, +he lit a lantern, went to the house next door and read a chapter of the +holy text. + +Years passed by; he got beyond his fiftieth year, grew bent, and walked +with difficulty, but he never missed performing the duty he had imposed +on himself for his unknown friend. + +The house where the coffin was placed had successively been let to +several families; but he had arranged that the funereal room should +never be touched. The lodgers bowed to the scholar when he came, and +talked to him; the whole town was entertained with this touching example +of such everlasting love. + +"So much constancy and such fidelity cannot remain without reward," they +said. + +But time slipped by and nothing came to change the regular life of the +old man. + +On his seventieth birthday, as he went to his neighbours, he remarked a +violent excitement. + +"My wife has just had a child," said the chief of the family, going to +meet him. "Come and wish her happiness; she does not cease to ask for +you." + +"Is it a boy?" + +"No, unhappily, a girl, but such a pretty little thing." + +Followed by the happy father, the scholar with white hair penetrated +into the room; the mother smiled, holding out the baby to him. +Golden-dragon suddenly started; the child held out her arms to him and +on her little lips, hardly formed, hovered the shadow of a disappeared +smile, the smile of the unknown woman. + +And as he looked an extraordinary sensation troubled him; he felt he was +growing younger, more vigorous. Soon, in the midst of the cries of +admiration of the whole family, the bent old man grew straight again; +his grey hair turned black, and the change continued; he became a young +man, a boy, and soon a child. + +When the Bell of the great Tower struck the hour of the Rat, he was a +fat pink baby playing and laughing with the little girl. + +The governor of the town, being informed, personally directed an +inquiry. It was discovered that the coffin had disappeared at the same +hour when the transformation had happened. + +The Emperor, on the report of the governor, ordered the two children to +receive a handsome dowry. + +As to them, they grew up, loved each other, and lived happy and well as +far as the limits of human longevity. + + + + +_THE WOMAN IN GREEN_ + + +At this time, in the Pavilion-of-the-guests, in the +Monastery-of-the-healing-springs, the most celebrated of the Fo-kien +province, lived a young scholar whose name was Little-cypress. + +As soon as the sun rose he was at his work, seated near the trellised +window. When night fell, his lamp still lit the outline of the wooden +trellis. + +One morning a shadow darkened his book; he raised his eyes: a young +woman with a long green skirt, her face of matchless beauty, was +standing outside the window and was looking at him. + +"You are then always working, Lord Little-cypress?" she said. + +She was so bewitching that he knew her immediately for a goddess; but +all the same he asked her where she lived and what was her name. + +"Your lordship has looked on his humble wife; he has known her as a +goddess. What is the use of so many questions?" + +Little-cypress, satisfied with this reply, invited her to enter the +house. She came in; her waist was so small, one would almost have +thought that her body was divided in two. + +He invited her to sit down; they talked and laughed together a long +time. + +He asked her to sing, and, with a low voice, which filled her friend +with rapture, she sang: + + "On the trees the bird pursues his companion; + Oppressed slaves free themselves with love. + How has my Lord lived alone, + Without enjoying all the pleasures of married life?" + +The sound vibrated like a thread of silk; it penetrated the ear and +troubled the heart. As she finished, she suddenly arose. + +"A man is standing near the window, he is listening to us ... he is +going round ... he is trying to see." + +"Since when does a goddess fear a man?" replied Little-cypress, +laughing. + +"I am troubled without knowing why; my heart beats. I wish to go." + +She went to open the door, but abruptly shut it. + +"I do not know why I am thus upset. Will you accompany me as far as the +entrance gate?" + +Little-cypress held her up till they got to the gate; he had just left +her and turned his head, when he heard her call for help in a voice full +of anguish. He hurriedly turned round; no one was to be seen. + +As he was looking for her with stupefaction his eyes fell on a big +cobweb, stretched in the corner of the wall. The ugly and gigantic +insect held in its claws a dragon-fly who was struggling and dolefully +crying. Affected by this sight, he hastened to deliver it. + +The pretty insect immediately flew in the direction of the +Pavilion-of-the-guests. Little-cypress saw it go in at the window and +alight on the stone for grinding the ink. + +Then it arose again and alighted on the paper which was placed on the +table; there it oddly crawled, retracing its steps, returning, +advancing, and stopping. After a moment it took its flight and +disappeared in the sky. + +Little-cypress, much puzzled, approached and looked; on the paper was +written in big strokes the word "Thanks." + + + + +_THE FAULT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES_ + + +When Dawning-colour was on the point of dying, he called his mother to +him. + +"Mother," he said, "I am going to die. I do not wish White-orchid, my +young wife, to feel herself bound to keep the widowhood. When her +mourning will be finished, she will marry again: our son is only three +years old; you will keep him with you." + +Now, the mourning was not yet finished and the coffin was still in the +house waiting for a favourable day, when the young widow began to find +the solitude weigh upon her. + +A rich sluggard of the village, named Adolescent, had several times sent +proposals to her through a neighbour; she at last was unwise enough to +agree to an interview with him. When evening came, Adolescent jumped +over the neighbour's wall and went to her room. + +He had not been there half an hour when there arose a great noise in the +hall where the coffin was; it seemed as if the cover was violently +thrown to the ground. A little slave who was called afterwards as a +witness told how she ran into the yard and saw her master's corpse +brandishing a sword and jumping towards the room where the lovers were +to be found. + +A few instants after, she saw the young widow come out screaming and run +to the garden. Adolescent followed her, covered with blood; he crossed +the threshold and disappeared in the night. + +Now, Adolescent, flying from danger, pushed the first door that he came +across in the street; it was that of a young couple; the husband, named +Wang, was absent and only expected to return the next day. The young +wife, hearing a noise, thought it was her husband returning. + +"Is that you?" she asked, without quite waking up. + +Adolescent, who knew Madame Wang was pretty, answered "Yes" in a low +voice, taking advantage of her error. + +A short time after, at Wang's turn to enter, he struck a light, saw a +man in his room, and, furious, seized a pike. Adolescent tried to hide +himself under the bed, but the husband transpierced him several times. +He wished to kill his wife, but she so much begged him not to that he +spared her. + +The cries and supplications which came from the room had, however, awoke +the neighbours, who came in; they pulled Adolescent's body from under +the bed; he died almost directly. + +There was a silence; the affair was serious. Then one of the assistants +said: + +"The judges won't believe that you were in your right of outraged +husband; you ought to have killed your wife also. As it is, you will be +condemned." + +Thereupon, Wang killed the unhappy woman. + +During this time Dawning-colour's mother, having heard the screams of +her daughter-in-law, thought there was a burglar in the house; she cried +for help and tried to light a lamp, but she was trembling, and her +curtains caught fire. + +Some neighbours arrived in haste; while a few of them extinguished the +fire, the others, armed with crossbows, ran through the house and garden +in search of the thief. + +At the bottom of the orchard they saw a white mass moving at the foot of +the wall. Without waiting to ascertain what it was, they shot several +arrows; everything was still. The archers approached and lit a torch; +they saw the body of White-orchid transpierced in the head and chest. + +Horrified by what they had done, they informed the old woman, who said +nothing. + +But this was not all. The elder brother of White-orchid, furious at the +tragic death of his sister, had a lawsuit with the archers and the old +woman. + +As usual, the judges ruined both parties; they condemned +Dawning-colour's mother and the archers to receive five hundred bamboo +strokes. The latter were not strong enough to bear this punishment, and +died under the stick. And thus the affair ended. + + + + +_DECEIVING SHADOWS_ + + +Night was falling when the horseshoes of the mules of my caravan +resounded on the slippery flagstones of the village. + +Tired by a long day of walking, I directed my steps towards the large +hall of the inn, with the intention of resting a moment while my repast +was being prepared. + +In the darkened room the glimmer of a small opium-lamp lit up the pale +and hollow face of an old man, occupied in holding over the flame a +small ball of the black drug, which would soon be transformed into +smoke, source of forgetfulness and dreams. + +The old man returned my greeting, and invited me to lie down on the +couch opposite to him. He handed me a pipe already prepared and we +began talking together. As ordered by the laws of politeness, I remarked +to my neighbour that he seemed robust for his age. + +"My age? Do you, then, think I am so old?" + +"But, as you are so wise, you must have seen sixty harvests?" + +"Sixty! I am not yet thirty years old! But you must have come from a +long way off, not to know who I am." + +And while rolling the balls with dexterity in the palm of his hand, and +making them puff out to the heat of the lamp, he told me his story. + +His name was Liu Favour-of-heaven. Born and brought up in the capital, +he had been promoted six years before to the post of sub-prefect in the +town on which our refuge was dependent. + +When coming to take his post, he stopped at the inn, the same one where +we were. The house was full; but he had remarked, on entering, a long +pavilion which seemed uninhabited. The landlord, being asked, looked +perplexed; he ended by saying that the pavilion had been shut for the +last two years; all the travellers had complained of noises and strange +visions; probably mischievous spirits lived there. + +Favour-of-heaven, having lived in the capital, but little believed in +phantoms. He found the occasion excellent to establish his reputation in +braving imaginary dangers. + +His wife and his children implored him in vain; he persisted in his +intention of remaining the night alone in the haunted house. + +He had lights brought; installed himself in a big armchair, and placed +across his knees a long and heavy sword. + +Hours passed by; the sonorous noise of the gong struck by the watchman +announced successively the hours, first of the Pig, then of the Rat. He +grew drowsy. Suddenly, he was awakened by the gnashing of teeth. All the +lights were out; the darkness, however, was not deep enough to prevent +his being able to distinguish everything confusedly. Anguish seized him; +his heart beat with violence; his staring eyes were fixed on the door. + +By the half-opened door he perceived a round white mass, the deformed +head of a monster, who, appearing little by little, stretched long hands +with twisted fingers and claws. + +Favour-of-heaven mechanically raised his weapon; his blood frozen in his +veins, he tried to strike the head, whose indistinct features were +certainly dreadful. Without doubt the blow had struck, for a frightful +cry was heard; all the demons of the inferior regions seemed let loose +with this yell; calls were heard from all sides. The trellised frames of +the windows were shaken with violence. The monster gained the door. +Favour-of-heaven pursued him and threw him down. + +His terror was such that he felt he must strike and kill. Hardly had he +finished than there entered, rolling from side to side, a little being, +quite round, brandishing unknown weapons at the end of innumerable small +hands. The prefect, with one blow, cut him in two like a watermelon. + +However, the windows were shaken with growing rage; unknown beings +entered by the door without interruption; the prefect threw them down +one after another: a black shadow first, then a head balancing itself at +the end of a huge neck, then the jaw of a crocodile, then a big bird +with the chest and feet of a donkey. + +Trembling all over, the man struck right and left, exhausted and +panting; a cold perspiration overwhelmed him; he felt his strength +gradually giving way, when the cock crowed at last the coming of the +day. + +Little by little, grey dawn designed the trellis of the windows, then +the sun suddenly appeared above the horizon and darted its rays across +the rents in the paper. + +Favour-of-heaven felt his heart stand still; on the floor inundated with +blood, the bodies lying there had human forms, forms that he knew: this +one looked like his second wife, and this one, this little head that had +rolled against the foot of the table, he would have sworn that it was +his last son. + +With a mad cry he threw away his weapon and ran to open the door, +through which the sun poured in. + +An armed crowd was moving in the yard. + +"My family! my family! where is my family?" + +"They are all with you in the pavilion!" + +But as they were speaking they saw with stupor the hair of the young man +becoming white, and the wrinkles of age cover his face, while he +remained motionless as well as insensible. + +They drew near; he rolled fainting on the ground. "And thus," ended the +sub-prefect in the silence of the dark hall, where only the little light +of the opium-lamp was shining, "I remained several days without +knowledge of anything. When I came to myself, I had to bear the sorrow +of having killed my whole family in these atrocious circumstances. I +resigned my post: I had magnificent tombs built for all those who were +killed this fatal night, and, since then, I smoke without ceasing the +agreeable drug, in order to fly away from the remembrance, which will +haunt me until my last day." + + + + +_PEACEFUL-LIGHT_ + + +In the time when the Shining Dynasty had just conquered the throne, the +eastern coasts of the Empire were ravaged by the rapid junks commanded +by the cruel inhabitants of the Japanese islands, the irresistible _Wo +tsz_. + +Now, it happened that the _Wo tsz_ Emperor lost his first wife; knowing +the beauty of Chinese women, he charged one of his officers to bring +back some of them. + +The officer, at the head of a numerous troop, landed not far from the +town of The-Smoky-wall. No resistance was possible; the population was +given the example of flight by the functionaries, at least it was thus +said in the Annals of the prefecture. + +The country being far from the big centres, the women were not great +coquettes; only one, named Peaceful-light, had always been careful, +since childhood, not to allow her feet to become naturally large; they +were constantly bound up, so much so that she could hardly walk. + +Her large soft eyes were shaded with heavy eyelashes; one of the +literati of the place took delight in quoting the poets of antiquity on +them: + + Under the willow of her eyelashes + The tranquil river of her eyes shines forth. + I bend and see my image reflected in them. + Could she be deceitful like the deep water? + +When the pirates were coming, she begged her family to leave her, and to +fly without the risk of being delayed by her. + +"It is the just punishment for my coquetry," she told them. "Fear +nothing for me, however. I am going to take a strong dose of the paste +extracted from the flowers of Nao-yang which makes one sleep. The +pirates will think I am dead, and will leave me." + +The family allowed themselves to be persuaded, and departed. As to +Peaceful-light, she was asleep almost directly after taking the drug, +and she remained motionless on her bed. + +The pirates, entering everywhere, at last arrived in the house and +remained struck with admiration by her beauty. The officer who was +called, at first thought her dead and was much grieved, but, touching +her hand and finding it warm and limp, he resolved to carry her away. + +When the ravishers were re-embarked, the strong sea-air and the motion +of the boat revived the young girl; she awoke, and was horrified to find +herself surrounded by strangers. The one who seemed the chief spoke to +her in Chinese language in order to reassure her: + +"Fear nothing. No harm will come to you. On the contrary, the highest +destiny awaits you; my Lord The Emperor designs you to the honour of +his couch." + +Seeing that no one troubled her, Peaceful-light was reassured; she +resolved to wait, confident in her destiny, and knowing that she had +still, ready in her sleeve, in case of necessity, a narcotic dose strong +enough to kill her. + +As soon as she landed, she was taken in great haste to the Palace. The +Emperor, greatly satisfied with her beauty, conferred on her at once the +rank of first favourite. + +But all the luxury and love which surrounded her could not make her +forget her family and her country; she resolved to run away. + +In order to manage it, she complained to her master how sad it was for +her never to be able to speak her own language with companions from her +country. The Emperor, happy to be able to please her, gave orders to fit +out a sea-junk, in order to go to the Chinese coast. + +The day when all was ready the young girl found means of pouring into +her master's drink a dose of her narcotic. Then, when he was asleep, she +took his private seal and, going out of the room, she called the +intendant of the Palace and said to him: + +"The Emperor has ordered me to go to China to fetch a magician, a member +of my family, who has great power on water and wind. Here is the seal, +proof of my mission. The ship must be almost ready." + +The intendant knew that a junk had been specially prepared to go to +China; he saw the seal; what suspicion could he have? He had a palanquin +brought as quickly as possible; two hours after, the wood of the junk +groaned under the blows of the unfurling waves. + +Arriving in sight of the coast, on the pretext of not frightening the +population, the young girl begged the officer who accompanied her to +send a messenger to the prefect of the town, bearing a letter that she +had prepared. The officer, without distrust, sent one of his men. + +The letter of Peaceful-light showed a whole scheme to which the prefect +could but give his consent. The messenger returned, bringing to the +officer and to the men an invitation to take part in the feast that was +being prepared for them, their intentions not being bad. + +Peaceful-light retired into her family, who welcomed her with a thousand +demonstrations of joy. + +In the wine that was freely poured out for the strangers they had +dissolved the flowers of Nao-yang. The effects were not long in being +felt; a torpor that they attributed to the table excesses seized them +one after another. They were soon all sleeping deeply. Men arrived with +swords, glided near them, and, a signal being given, cut off their +heads. + +While these events were passing in China, others still more serious were +happening in Japan. Soon after the departure of Peaceful-light, the +Emperor's brother penetrated into the room where the sovereign was left +sleeping. This brother was ambitious; he profited by the occasion, +killed the unhappy Mikado, took possession of the seals of the State, +and, calling his partisans in haste, proclaimed himself Chief of the +State. Only a part of the princes followed him; the others, filled with +indignation by the crime that had been accomplished, united their troops +to crush the usurper; civil war tore the whole of Japan to pieces. + +As to Peaceful-light, by order of the authorities she received public +congratulations and gifts of land which allowed her to marry and be +happy, as she merited. + + + + +_HONG THE CURRIER_ + + +"In the time when the Justice of Heaven was actively employed with the +affairs of the earth, one of my ancestors had an adventure to which we +owe our present fortune, and of which few men of to-day have seen the +equal." + +Thus began my friend Hong; reclining on the red cushions of the big +couch, he fanned himself gracefully with an ivory fan painted all over. + +"Our family, as you know, originally came from the town of +The-Black-chain in the province of The-Foaming-rivers. Our ancestor Hong +The-just was a currier by trade; he cut and scraped the skins that were +entrusted to him. His family was composed only of his wife, who helped +him as well as she could. + +"Notwithstanding this persistent labour, they were very poor; no +furniture ornamented the three rooms in the small house that they hired +in the Street-of-the-golden-flowers. + +"When the last days of the twelfth moon in that year arrived, they found +they were owing six strings of copper cash to ten different creditors. +With all they possessed, there only remained 400 cash. What were they to +do? They reflected for a long time. Hong The-just at last said to his +wife: + +"'Take these 400 cash; you will be able to buy rice to live on. As to +me, as I cannot pay my debts before the first day of the first moon, I +am going to leave the town and hide myself in the mountain. My +creditors, not seeing me, will believe you when you tell them that I +have been to find money in the neighbouring town. Once the first day of +the first moon passed, as law ordains to wait till the following term, +I shall then come back, and we shall continue to live as well as we +can.' + +"It was indeed the wisest thing to do. His wife made him a parcel of a +blanket and a few dry biscuits. She wept at seeing him go away quite +bent, walking with difficulty on the slippery flagstones of the street. + +"The snow was falling in thick flakes and already covered the grey tiled +roofs, when Hong The-just left the city gate and directed his steps to a +cave that he knew of in a lonely valley. + +"He arrived at last, and, throwing his heavy load on the ground, he +glanced around him in order to choose the place where he would sleep. + +"An exclamation of stupor escaped from him when he saw, seated +motionless on a stone, a man clothed in a long sable cloak, with a cap +of the same fur, looking at him in a mournful, indifferent way. + +"'How strange!' at last said Hong, laughing. 'Dare I ask your noble +name and the reason that brings you to this remote refuge? How is it +that you are not with your friends, drinking hot wine and rejoicing in +the midst of the luxuriance of the tables covered with various eatables +and brilliant lights?' + +"'My name is Yang Glow-of-dawn. And you, what is your precious name?' +replied mechanically the first occupant. + +"'I am called Hong The-just, and I am here to escape from my creditors.' + +"'You, also?' sneered Glow-of-dawn. 'The strokes of Fate do not vary +much. As for me, I deal in European goods; my correspondents have not +settled my accounts and I am in want of nearly a hundred thousand ounces +of silver to close the year. None of my friends could advance me the +sum, and here I am, obliged to fly away from my creditors.' + +"'A hundred thousand ounces!' cried The-just. 'With a sum like that I +should pass the rest of my days in plenty. Anyhow, struck by the same +misfortune, we are thus united; let us try to pass cheerfully the last +day of the year, and attempt to imagine that these humble cakes are +refined food.' + +"When they were eating their pastry and drinking water from the near +torrent, Glow-of-dawn suddenly said: + +"'But you, how much do you owe? I have here a few ounces of silver; +maybe you could balance your accounts with them.' + +"'My debts do not exceed six strings of copper cash. But how could I +dare accept your offer?' + +"'Not at all! take these ten ounces; you will pay your debts and bring +me here food and wine; that will help me to wait till the end of the +festivals.' + +"The-just, reiterating his thanks, took the ingots that were offered him +and went down as quickly as possible towards the town. + +"His wife, on seeing him and hearing his story, could not restrain her +joy. She hurried to go and buy provisions of all kinds. Her husband +tried to light the stove, but they had not lit a fire for a long time; +he found the chimney filled with soot and dust. + +"Hong tried to sweep it with a big broom, but the masonry gave way, +filling the room with the bricks and rubbish. + +"'How very annoying!' grumbled the currier. 'Now the stove is destroyed +let us take away what remains, and we will make the fire beneath the +opening in the roof!' + +"When his wife returned, he was still working. She put down her basket +and helped to raise a huge stone that formed the bottom of the hearth. +What was their astonishment in seeing a chest, half-broken, from which +big ingots of gold were falling! + +"'What are we to do with this?' said his wife. 'If we sell this gold, +everybody will think that we have stolen it, and we shall be put in +prison.' + +"'We have only one thing to do,' replied Hong. 'Let us entrust our +fortune to my companion in the cave; he is a good man. We shall save +him, and he will make our money prosper; I will hurry and tell him.' + +"When Hong arrived, it was nearly nightfall; Yang was standing under +flakes of snow at the entrance of the grotto; he received him with +reproaches: + +"'You have come so late that my eyes are sore in looking out for you in +vain!' + +"'Do not abuse me, Old Uncle; drink this wine and eat these cakes that +are still warm, and I will tell you what delayed me.' + +"And while Glow-of-dawn ate and drank, the other told him of his +adventure and of his intentions about the treasure. + +"Surprised and touched, the merchant did not know how to express his +wonder and gratitude. They talked over the best way of proceeding to +bring the gold and settle the business. + +"Then, by the glimmer of a bad lantern, they returned to the town and +entered the merchant's house. There the currier washed himself, did his +hair, and clothed himself in rich garments. A sedan-chair was waiting +for him, followed by sturdy servants; he went away.... + +"The next day Glow-of-dawn's creditors presented themselves at the house +of their debtor. He was standing at the entrance, and bowed in wishing +them a thousand times happiness. They entered; tea was brought in by +busy servants. They at last discussed the settlement of their yearly +accounts. The master of the house found out that he owed 180,000 ounces +of silver. + +"'We have been informed that larger sums of silver are due to you, but +you know the custom; you must settle everything to-day. In order to save +you, we are content to make an estimate of your wealth, your goods and +lands.' + +"'Do not give yourselves such a trouble,' replied the merchant, laughing +and waving his hand. 'I thought you would be relentless, so I have been +to speak to my elder brother, who has an immense fortune; he has put at +my disposal several hundred thousand ounces. But here! I hear the cry of +the bearers; it must be him with the chests of white metal.' + +"The major domo came hurrying in, carrying high in the air the huge red +card with the names and surnames written in black. + +"'The venerable Old Great Uncle The-just has arrived!' + +"'Allow me?' said Yang, getting up, and going towards the door, of which +both sides were open. Hong entered. They made each other a thousand +affectionate greetings, as all brothers do who are animated with right +feelings. + +"'Dear elder brother! here are the gentlemen who have come for the +settlement of my accounts about which I spoke to you.' + +"'Gentlemen!' and the currier bowed, not without a certain grace that +his new fortune had already given him. 'Well! how much is the total +amount? I have brought you ten thousand ounces of gold, which is nearly +350,000 ounces of silver. Will you have enough?' + +"While he was speaking, bearers were trooping in, and laid down on the +ground heavy chests, the lids of which being raised, one could see the +bars of precious metal. + +"The merchants, thunderstruck by all these riches and generosity, +remained silent for a moment; then they bowed low and bade the currier +sit in the place of honour. + +"Many delicate and exquisite dishes were brought in of which The-just +did not even know the names; sweet wines were handed round in small +transparent china cups. + +"At last the secretaries counted the ingots, and they all returned home +paid. When every one had retired, Glow-of-dawn knelt before the currier +and, striking the earth with his forehead, he said: + +"'Now you are my elder brother. You have rescued me, and I henceforth +wish you to live here. My house, my properties, everything I possess +belongs to you. Your wife is my sister-in-law.' + +"The currier hurried to raise him up and, much moved, said: + +"'I do not forget that it is you who saved me when you were still in +misfortune. Your good genius has rewarded you. I am only the instrument +of Fate.'" + + + + +_AUTUMN-MOON_ + + +In the town of Sou-tcheou a young man lived called +Lake-of-the-Immortals; he was wise and generous. His business consisted +in going to fetch goods from neighbouring towns, which he afterwards +brought back to his native city. He was thus obliged to be absent for +lengthy periods, during which he left his house to the care of an elder +brother, a celebrated scholar, who was married, and whom he tenderly +loved. + +Once he had been by the Grand Canal as far as Chen-kiang; the goods he +was going to take not being ready, he waited, and to while away the time +he visited the Golden Island, whose temples with yellow-tiled roofs show +in the verdure above the yellow water of the river, nearly opposite to +the town; he passed the night there, as visitors did usually. + +When he had just fallen asleep, he saw in a dream a young girl, fourteen +or fifteen years old, her visage regular and pure. + +On the second night he had the same dream. Surprised, he awoke; it was +no dream; the young girl was there, near to him. At a glance he saw she +was no human being; he hastened to get up and, saluting, to ask her the +ordinary questions. + +"My name is Autumn-moon," she replied. "My father was a celebrated +magician. When I died, he worked out my future destiny and wrote it down +with powerful incantations; this charm has been put into my coffin, so +that the inferior authorities should not make any mistake. It was +written that, thirty years after my death, I should be called again to +life and marry Lake-of-the-Immortals. There you are, and I have come to +know my husband." + +As she said the last words she slowly vanished in the night. The next +day, as the young man, disturbed and preoccupied by this strange +adventure, was sitting in his room, thinking of her, she appeared +suddenly before his eyes and said: + +"Come quickly! something important for you is going to happen at the +prefect's palace. We have not a minute to lose." + +Lake-of-the-Immortals questioned her, but she would not answer. Then +they both crossed the river and walked as fast as they could up to the +yamen. + +As they arrived at the gate, four soldiers, dragging a prisoner, were on +the point of entering. Lake-of-the-Immortals recognised his elder +brother in the person of the prisoner; he drew near, threw himself on +his neck, and pressed him to his heart. + +"How is it that you are here? why this arrest? And you, soldiers, where +do you take him?" + +"We have orders: what means this interference?" And they pushed the +young man aside. Lake-of-the-Immortals was of a violent temper and had a +strong affection for his brother; he could not let him go, and answered +to the brutality of the soldiers by such a tempest of thumping and +kicking that these honest but prudent soldiers asked no more and fled. + +"What have you done?" said Autumn-moon. "Hitting soldiers is serious; we +must fly." + +And all three, running, arrived at the beach, jumped into a small boat, +and rowed with all their strength. + +When day appeared, they were safely lodged in a small inn, several lis +from Chen-kiang. Lake-of-the-Immortals, exhausted, went to sleep +immediately. When he awoke, his two companions had disappeared. He asked +the innkeeper; nobody had seen them go out. + +Distressed and sad, the young man did not dare to show himself outside. +He remained solitary in his room. When twilight came, his door opened +and a woman entered: + +"I bring you a message from Autumn-moon; she has been arrested. If you +wish to see her, you must follow me; I will show you the way." + +"And my brother? do you know anything?" + +"Your brother is safe in Sou-tcheou now. But come and follow me." + +They started and soon arrived before a wall, which they got over by +helping one another. Through a window giving on the yard they fell in, +the lover perceived Autumn-moon on a bed. Two soldiers were trying to +tease her, saying: + +"What is the use of resisting us, as you will be executed to-morrow +morning?" + +Lake-of-the-Immortals did not hear any more; he rushed into the room, +threw himself on the soldiers, tore a sword from them, and laid them on +the ground. Before the wretched men had time to make a gesture of +defence, he carried away the girl and flew. + +At this moment he started violently, and found himself in his same room +in the Golden Island. A servant entered, bringing the breakfast he had +ordered when arriving for the first time, the night before, on the +island. + +As he was asking himself the meaning of such a vivid dream, he heard a +noise in the courtyard. Going out, he saw several men surrounding the +body of a girl stretched before his door. + +"Where does she come from?" asked some one. + +"We have never seen her!" said another. + +Lake-of-the-Immortals came nearer; it was the body, seemingly senseless, +of Autumn-moon. He had her brought immediately into his room. A doctor +who had been called declared she was still alive, but needed very +careful nursing. + +When she awoke at last she smiled feebly to the young man. + +"No, it is no dream," she replied to his questions. "Your brother was +called before the King of Hells; you saved him. You have saved me also +from eternal disappearance, and I am called again to life; the +prediction of my father was true." + +A fortnight later she was able to get up; they started together and +arrived safely at Sou-tcheou. When they got to his brother's house, his +sister-in-law told them there had been illness in the house; her husband +had been in grave danger of death; he was quite well now. + +When they were all together, Lake-of-the-Immortals told what he had seen +and done. They all listened to him in silence. The family henceforth +lived united and happy. + + + + +_THE PRINCESS NELUMBO_ + + +Gleam-of-day was sleeping; his round face and high forehead denoted the +scholar's right intelligence. + +All of a sudden he saw a man standing before his bed who appeared to be +waiting. + +"What is it?" inquired the sleeper, getting up. + +"The prince is asking for you." + +"Which prince?" + +"The prince of the neighbouring territory." + +Gleam-of-day, grumbling, got up, put on his court dress and followed his +guide. Palanquins were waiting; they started rapidly, and their retinue +was soon passing in the midst of innumerable pavilions and towers with +pointed roofs. + +They at last stopped in the courtyard of the palace; young girls with +bright clothing were seen, and looked inquiringly at the new-comer, who +was announced with great pomp. + +At last Gleam-of-day reached the audience hall. The prince was seated on +the throne; he descended the steps and welcomed his guest according to +the rites. + +"You perfume this neighbourhood," he said. "Your reputation has come to +me, and I wished to know you." + +The servants brought wine; they began to converse nobly and brilliantly. +At last the prince asked: + +"Among the flowers, tell me which one you prefer." + +"The nelumbo," he replied, without hesitating. + +"The nelumbo? it is precisely my daughter's surname. What a curious +coincidence! The princess must absolutely know you." + +And he made a sign to one of the attendants, who at once went out. A few +minutes after, the princess appeared. She was between sixteen and +seventeen years old. Nothing could equal her admirable beauty. + +Her father ordered her to bow to the scholar and said: + +"Here is my daughter Nelumbo." + +Gleam-of-day, looking at her, felt troubled to the depth of his soul. +The prince spoke to him; he hardly heard, and replied awkwardly. When +the princess had retired, the conversation languished; the prince at +last rose and put an end to the interview. + +During all the way back the young man was ashamed at the same time with +his emotion before the girl, as well as his rudeness towards the prince. +He was so much troubled that he ordered his retinue to go back to the +palace. + +When he entered the audience hall, he threw himself to the ground before +the prince and begged to be excused for his rudeness. + +"You need not excuse yourself; the sentiment that I read in your eyes is +powerful and the thought of it is not unpleasant to me." + +While Gleam-of-day, happy with this encouragement, was still excusing +himself, twenty young girls came running: + +"A monster has entered the palace; it is a python ten thousand feet +long. It has already devoured thirteen hundred persons; its head is like +a mountain peak." + +Every one got up; the frightened guard and the courtiers ran hither and +thither, looking where they could hide themselves. The princess and her +maids-in-waiting were crying for help. + +Gleam-of-day at last said to the prince: + +"I have only three miserable rooms in a cottage, but you will be safe in +them. Will you fly there with your daughter?" + +"Let us go as quickly as possible," replied the prince, seizing the +princess by the wrist. + +They all three ran across the deserted streets. When they arrived, +Nelumbo threw herself on the bed, without being able to stop weeping. + +Gleam-of-day was so moved that he suddenly awoke: everything was a +dream. + +Just then he heard a scream in the next room, where his father slept; +there was a struggle, blows, and at last a sigh of satisfaction. + +The door opened, and the old man was seen pushing an enormous serpent at +the end of a stick. When Gleam-of-day turned back to his bed, he found +it covered with bees; on the pillow the queen had alighted. + + + + +_THE TWO BROTHERS_ + + +In the town of Sou-tcheou there lived two brothers. The elder, surnamed +Merchant, was very rich; the younger, named Deceived-hope, very poor. +They lived side by side, and their houses, the paternal inheritance, +were only separated by a low wall. They were both married. + +This year, the harvest having been bad, Deceived-hope could not afford +the necessary rice for his family to live upon. His wife said to him: + +"Let us send our son to your brother: he will be touched and will give +us something, without any doubt." + +Deceived-hope hesitated, but at last decided to take this step which +hurt his pride. When the child returned from his uncle's, his hands +were empty. They questioned him: + +"I told my uncle that you were without rice; he hesitated and looked at +my aunt. She then said to me: 'The two brothers live separately; their +food also is separate.'" + +Deceived-hope and his wife did not say a word; they fetched the bale of +rice that was still in their corn-loft and lived thus. + +Now, in the town, two or three vagabonds who knew the riches of Merchant +broke open his door one night, and tied him up as well as his wife. As +he would not show his treasure, they began burning his hands and feet. +Merchant and his wife screamed for help. Deceived-hope heard them and +got up in order to run to their house, but his wife held him back, and, +approaching the wall which separated them, cried: + +"The two brothers live separately; their food also is separate." + +However, as their cries increased, Deceived-hope could not contain +himself, and, seizing a weapon, leapt over the wall, fell on the +thieves, and dispersed them. Then, when his brother and his +sister-in-law were delivered and quieted, he returned home, saying to +his wife: + +"They are certain to give us a present." + +But, the next day and the days following, they waited in vain! +Deceived-hope could not resist the temptation to relate everything to +his friends. The same thieves heard of it and, thinking that he would +not interfere any more, broke open the door of Merchant the same evening +and began again to torture him as well as his wife. + +Deceived-hope, indeed, did not wish to interfere. However, his heart and +his liver were upset by the painful cries of his brother. He could not +forbear running to his help. + +The brigands, disconcerted, flew again, but this time Merchant and his +wife were severely burnt; they lost the use of their hands and feet. + +The next day Merchant said to his wife: + +"My brother has saved our lives; without him we should be ruined; I am +going to give him a part of what we have." + +"Do nothing of the kind," replied his wife; "if he had come sooner, he +would have saved our hands and feet; now, thanks to him, we are infirm." + +And they did nothing. Deceived-hope, however, wanting money, made an act +of sale of his house and sent it to his brother, hoping that he would be +touched by his misery and would send back the deed with a present. + +In fact Merchant was going to send him some silver ingots, but his wife +stopped him: + +"Let us take his house; we shall be able to make ours bigger, and it +will be much more convenient." + +Merchant hesitated a little, but he ended by accepting the act, and sent +the price agreed on. Deceived-hope went and settled in another part of +the town; with his small capital, he opened a vegetable-shop, which soon +prospered. + +The brigands, having heard that Merchant was now living alone, broke +open his door very quietly, tortured him, and then killed him, taking +away all he had. In leaving the place, they cried all over the town: + +"Merchant's corn-loft is open! Let all the poor go and take the rice!" + +They thus went, one by one, silently, all the poor of the neighbourhood, +taking away as much of the heaped-up rice as they could. Soon there was +nothing left. + +Deceived-hope being informed, wished to revenge his brother; he pursued +the brigands and killed two of them. + +From this time it was he who every day attended to the needs of his +sister-in-law, now in misery. Some months afterwards, exhausted, she +died. + +Deceived-hope came back and was soon settled in the patrimony that he +had recovered. One night he was soundly sleeping, when he saw his +brother. + +"You have saved us twice, and we have been ungrateful. I should not be +dead if I had not acted badly with you. I wish to make amends. Under the +stone of the hearth you will find five hundred ounces of gold that I had +hidden, and of the existence of which my wife was ignorant." + +Deceived-hope started from his sleep; he told his dream to his wife. She +at once got up, drew out the stone of the hearth, and found the mass of +gold. Henceforth, happy and rich, they lived long and were charitable +and friendly with every one. + + + + +_THE MARBLE ARCH_ + + +When the troubles began to break out in Hankow, many families were +alarmed. Those who were not ignorant of the powerful organisation of the +revolutionists left the town as soon as possible, anticipating that it +would soon be plundered and burnt. + +The retired prefect, Kiun, was amongst the first to embark in order to +go down the river. His house was situated at several lis from the river, +on the confines of the suburbs, outside the fortified enclosure. He had +only been married a short time, and was living with his father and +mother. + +When the baggage at last was ready, the bearers fixed it in the middle +of their long bamboos and set off two by two, grumbling under the heavy +load. The two old people followed; Kiun and his young wife, the charming +Seaweed, helped them as well as they could. + +In order to avoid crossing the centre of the town, they followed the +crenellated wall by an almost deserted road. A young man and woman alone +were sauntering in the same direction, carrying parcels on their +shoulders. + +"Where are you going to?" they asked, as it is the custom to do between +travellers. + +"As far as the river," replied Kiun. "And you?" + +"We also," said the young man. "What is your precious name?" + +"My contemptible name is Kiun. But you, deign to inform me about your +family?" + +"My name is Wang The-king. We are flying from the insurrection." + +They thus talked while walking in company. + +Seaweed took the advantage of a moment when the new-comers were a little +in front to bend towards her husband. + +"Do not let us get in the same junk with these strangers. The man has +looked at me several times in a rude way; his eyes are unsteady and +fickle; I am afraid of him." + +Kiun made a sign of assent. But when they had arrived on the quay, Wang +The-king gave himself so much trouble to find a junk and help to embark +the luggage that the prefect, bound by the rites, could not avoid asking +him to get on board the boat with him. + +They unmoored; Wang The-king established himself on the prow with his +wife, near the mariners; he spoke a long time with them while they were +passing the last houses of the large city. + +When night fell, they were in a part of the river where it got broader +to such an extent that you could no longer distinguish the banks. The +wind was blowing rather violently and the unfurling waves projected +heavy showers on the mats which covered the quarter-deck. + +Kiun, uneasy, went to the prow of the boat in order to question the +master. The bright moon was rising, lighting the dark line of the bank. +They approached in order to throw the anchor. + +Wang The-king was on the narrow bridge; when Kiun came to his side, he +coolly pushed the poor prefect overboard. Kiun's father was two paces +behind; Wang ran to him and threw him also into the tumultuous waters of +the rapid current. Kiun's mother, hearing a cry and a struggle, went to +see what was happening, and she also was precipitated into the foaming +river. + +Seaweed, from the cabin, had seen all; but she took good care not to go +outside; she moaned: + +"Alas! my father-in-law and my mother-in-law are dead! My husband has +been killed! I am going to die, too!" + +While she was crying, Wang The-king entered the cabin. + +"Fear nothing," said he; "forget those people who are no more and won't +come back. I am going to take you home to the city of The-Golden-tombs. +There I have fields and houses belonging to me; I will give them to +you." + +The young woman kept back her sobs and said nothing; she thought it wise +not to provoke the murderer. + +Wang The-king, very satisfied with his prospects, went back to the +mariners, gave them the greater part of what his victims had brought in +silver and luggage; then he quietly took his dinner and retired to his +cabin with his wife. The woman had a strange look, but she did not say +anything, and they went to sleep. + +Towards the hour of the Rat, the woman began to groan; then she started +out of her sleep and cried to her husband: + +"Kill me, repudiate me! I can no longer stay with you! Thunder and +lightning will strike you! I have dreamt it; I will no longer be the +wife of a murderer and a thief!" + +Wang, furious, struck her. But as she continued, he took her in his arms +and threw her into the river. + +On the second day the boat arrived at The-Golden-tombs. Wang took +Seaweed to his family. When his old mother asked what he had done with +his first wife, he replied: + +"She fell in the river, and I will marry this one." + +They were soon settled in the house. Wang wished to take liberties with +Seaweed, who gently drove him back. + +"We must not neglect the rites. Do not let us forget to empty first the +marriage cup." + +Wang joyously accepted; and soon, seated opposite each other, they began +exchanging cups of wine in the ritual way. + +Seaweed, however, pretended to drink, and tried to make her lover tipsy; +she contrived this little by little. + +Wang, rendered sleepy by the wine, undressed himself, got on the bed, +and ordered the young woman to put out the lamps and come to him. + +She carefully blew the lamps and said: + +"I will come in a minute!" + +Then she quickly went to her luggage, took out a sword she had hidden +there, and came back. Feeling with her hands in the darkness, she found +the throat of the man and struck him as hard as she could: the man +screamed and tried to get up; she struck again and again: there was a +moaning, a gurgle, and then silence. + +However, Wang's mother, having heard some noise, came with a lantern. +Seaweed killed her before the old woman could even say a word. + +Then the young woman, having avenged her family, tried to cut her own +throat, in order to join her husband. The sword was blunt and she was +only able to scratch herself. She then remembered that, outside the +house, there was a fairly big pond; she ran out and threw herself into +the water. + +Some neighbours saw her and ran to her help; other people came; lanterns +were brought forth; the poor girl at last was taken out of the pond, and +brought back to her house. But, when the new-comers entered the room, +they saw the bodies and the blood. + +"Murder! Murder!" cried they. + +And they immediately sent a boy to call the police. The constables came +and looked all over the room; they soon found in Seaweed's luggage a +note prepared by the unfortunate woman and stating the truth about her +family's death. The assistants were loud in their praise of her act: + +"She avenged her husband; she has been witty enough to beguile the +murderer; and now she has killed herself! Such an act of courage and +virtue has not been heard of for centuries. We must ask the authorities +to build her a marble arch to commemorate her history, and be an example +to future generations." + +While all this was going on, they tried to revive the woman; everything +was done, but in vain. A coffin was then brought in, and the girl +transferred to it, covered with her best garments and jewels. The lid +was screwed on, and everybody left the house. + +We must now come back to the evening when Wang pushed into the water +Seaweed's husband. Kiun was a strong man and a very good swimmer; +surprised by this sudden attack, all he could do at first was to keep +his head out of the tumultuous water. He then thought to go back to the +boat, but, on the foaming expanse nothing was to be seen; the rapid +current had driven him too far. At last the water brought him to a +curving beach, where he was able to land. + +Walking disconsolately on the sand, he saw a human body rolled by the +surge; he approached, and recognised his father; farther on he saw his +mother; both he dragged out of the water. Most uneasy about his wife, he +walked on the river's edge, straining his eyes; the moon was shining; he +saw at last a human being holding a big piece of wood. He swam to her, +pushed her to the beach, and took her he thought was his wife to the dry +sand. He undid the upper garment in order to rub her members; when he +saw she was not so cold, he wiped her hair out of her face. His stupor +was immense in recognising Wang's wife. + +The sun rose at last and warmed them. The young woman sighed, opened +her eyes, and, completely herself again, told Kiun what she had seen: + +"My husband is a murderer. In a dream I saw the King-of-Shadows himself +sitting behind his tribunal and writing his name on the death-list. +Besides, he is in love with your wife. If you wish it, we will go +together straight to The Golden-tombs and do what we can to avenge +ourselves." + +Kiun, seeing a man coming to work in a field not far from there, went to +him and told him in a few words what had happened; the man led them to +his landlord, a rich man, who gave them food and warm dresses, sent men +to bring the drowned bodies to a side house and have them properly +buried. Then he advanced a certain sum of money to Kiun, who agreed to +send it back when he should get to a place where he could find a +correspondent of his bankers. + +Then Kiun and his companion engaged a small boat and went down the +river. When they got to The Golden-tombs, they questioned the people in +the street about Wang. A month had elapsed since the events we have told +of; the first man they questioned looked at them in wonder: + +"How is it you don't know what happened? Wang is dead; he has been +killed by a virtuous woman whose family he had murdered and who killed +herself afterwards. You have only to go on; in the first street to your +right you will see a new marble arch which has just been erected to +commemorate virtuous Seaweed's courageous death." + +Kiun thought his heart would burst; he dragged his companion to the +marble arch and read the inscription. Then he bought a bundle of those +imitations of gold and silver ingots made with paper which people burn +on the tombs in order to send some money to the dead; he went to the +tomb in the place indicated by the inscription. + +There he reverently knelt, and, after having knocked the ground with his +forehead, he burnt the paper-ingots, rose, and went away with Wang's +wife. + +When they were back in their boat, they discussed their plans and +resolved to go down the river to Shanghai. + +They were leaving the harbour, when a small boat crossed their way; two +women sat on the bench. One of them reminded Kiun strangely of his late +wife. The woman had looked up at him and seemed surprised. The retired +prefect, moved by a mysterious strength, pronounced aloud a sentence +which used to make his wife laugh when they were together happy in +Hankow: + +"I see wild geese flying high in the sky." + +Seaweed, when she was alive, used to answer by a phrase which had +nothing to do with the first sentence, and had made them laugh very +often by its stupidity. The woman in the boat said it too: + +"The dog wants the cat's biscuit; you quickly shut it in the house." + +Kiun, wondering whether it was Seaweed's ghost, asked the mariners to go +alongside the other boat; he jumped in it; the woman threw her arms +round his neck, and they wept together. + +"Are you alive? or is it only your ghost I hold in my arms?" asked he. + +"I am alive!" + +Then she told him her adventures; when she was put into the coffin, she +had some jewels on. One of the assistants resolved to steal them; he +waited till everybody was gone and the house empty; then he deliberately +unscrewed the coffin's lid and rifled what he could. He was trying to +take a ring off her hand, when the supposed corpse rose and screamed. + +The poor man thought his last hour had come and did not move. Seaweed, +seeing her jewels in his hands, and seeing the coffin she was in, +grasped the situation at a glance. + +"You want my jewels! Have them if you like; you saved my life, and +without you I would have been stifled in this gruesome box." + +The man at first dared not accept; then he said: + +"In exchange for your kindness, I will tell you something. In the third +house in the first street lives a rich widow; she is alone and would +like to adopt a girl; go to her and tell her everything. She will be +happy to give you a home." + +Then he helped her to get out of the coffin, screwed the lid again, and +disappeared. Seaweed went straight to the house. The widow received her +with the greatest kindness, and asked of her to let everybody believe +she was dead; if not, there would have been a lawsuit. + +Both women, now united by the closest affection, had been out on the +river for pleasure's sake when they saw Kiun's bark. The widow, when the +explanations were finished, opened her arms to Kiun; she called him her +son-in-law. Seaweed asked Wang's wife to be the second wife of her +husband. And they all lived long and happy. + + + + +_THE DUTIFUL SON_ + + +At the foot of the Oriental-Perfume-Mountain, in one of the most +beautiful places of this celebrated district, the passers-by could see a +small lodge. Chou The-favourable lived there with his mother. He was +still young, being only thirty years old, and earned his living in the +way so highly praised by the ancient Classics; he cultivated a small +field by his house, and every week went to the next market to exchange +what he had for what he wanted. + +Both were very happy, when a calamity befell them; the old mother one +morning felt a pain in her right leg. Two or three days afterwards she +had there an ulcer that no remedies could cure; everything was tried and +everything failed. Day and night she was moaning, turning over in her +hard wooden bed. + +The-favourable forgot to drink and eat, in his anxiety to give his +mother the medicines the doctor advised. + +Several months wore on; the ulcer did not heal. The despair of the son +was greater every day; at last, overcome by his fatigue, he fell asleep +and dreamt that he saw his father. The old man told him: + +"You have been a dutiful son. But I must tell you that your mother will +not recover if you can't apply to her ulcer a piece of man's fat." + +Then everything was dissolved like a smoke in the wind. + +The-favourable awoke and, thinking over his dream, he found it very +strange. + +"What can I do?" thought he. "Man's fat is not easily found in the +market. My father would not have appeared to me if this extraordinary +medicine was not really the only thing that will cure my mother. Well, +I will take a piece of fat of my own body; I have nothing else to do." + +Then, rising from his bed, he took a sharp knife, and, pulling the skin +of his side, he cut a large piece off. His pain was not so great as he +had expected it to be, and, what seemed more extraordinary to him, no +blood flowed from the wound. + +He could not see that, from the heaven above, a messenger had come on a +cloud, was recording this noble feat on his life's register, and helped +him by averting all ordinary sufferance. + +The-favourable hastened to put the piece of flesh on his mother's ulcer; +the pain disappeared immediately, and a few days after the old woman +could walk as she used to do; on her leg there remained only a red scar. + +When she asked what medicine had been employed, The-favourable eluded +the answer. But somehow the truth was known in the neighbourhood; the +prefect sent a report to the Throne and came himself with a decree of +the Emperor, giving a title and an allowance to the dutiful son. + + + + +_THROUGH MANY LIVES_ + + +Some people remember every incident of their former existences; it is a +fact which many examples can prove. Other people do not forget what they +learned before they died and were born again, but remember only +confusedly what they were in a precedent life. + +Wang The-acceptable, of the Yellow-peach-blossom city, when people +discussed such questions before him, used to narrate the experience he +had had with his first son. + +The boy, at the time he spoke of, was three or four years old. He did +not say many words, and some people thought he was dumb. One day, +The-acceptable was writing a letter, when he was disturbed by a friend. +He put his writing-brush down on the table and left the room. When he +came back, his letter was finished, and written much more correctly than +he would have believed himself able to do. Besides, he did not remember +having finished it. The puzzle did not trouble him very much. + +Another day the same thing occurred; he left the room, leaving a letter +unfinished on the table; when he came back, the letter was nearly ended. +Nobody but the boy had been in the room. Troubled and suspicious, he +rose and feigned to go away; but he came back immediately and +noiselessly. From the door, he saw his boy kneeling on the stool and +writing the letter. + +The little man suddenly saw his father and asked to be forgiven. The +father of course laughed: + +"We all thought you were dumb; if you are such a learned man, the family +happiness will be great! How could we punish you?" + +From that date he had good lessons given to the boy, who very early +passed successfully his third degree examination and became one of the +most celebrated "Entered among the learned" of his time. + +When his father asked him whether he remembered what he had been before +being what he now was, the boy said that the first life he could +remember was that of a young student; he lived in a monastery to save as +much as he could of his income. When he died, the King-of-the-Darkness +punished him for his stinginess and condemned him to become a donkey in +the same monastery he had lived in. + +He wanted to die, but did not know what to do; the priests loved him and +were very careful. One day he was on a mountain road and was tempted to +throw himself downhill; but he had a man on his back and was afraid of +the punishment the King-of-the-Darkness would inflict upon him if he +killed that man. So he went on. Many years passed; he died at last, and +was born again as a peasant. But, as he had forgotten nothing of his +former lives, he was able to speak a few days after his birth. His +father and mother judged the thing highly suspicious and killed him. + +After that, he was born in the family of Wang The-acceptable. +Appreciating the surroundings, and bearing in mind that he had last been +killed because he spoke too early, he was very careful this time not to +utter a single word. But when he saw the paper and ink he could not +resist his love of literature and finished the letter. + + + + +_THE RIVER OF SORROWS_ + + +Along the path leading to the city of All-virtues, in the obscure night, +a poor coolie, grumbling under a heavy load of salt, was trudging on as +fast as he could. + +"I shall never get there before the hour of the Rat, and my wife will +say again; 'Wang The-tenth has drunk too many cups of wine.' She does +not know the weight of that stuff!" + +As he was thus thinking, two men suddenly jumped from either side of the +road and held him by the arms. + +"What do you want?" cried the poor man. "I am only an unhappy carrier, +and my load is only salt, very common salt." + +"We don't want your salt, and you had better throw it down. We are sent +from the Regions below and we want you to come down with us." + +"Am I dead already?" asked The-tenth. "I did not know. I must tell my +wife. Can't you come again to-morrow night?" + +"Impossible to wait. You must come immediately. But I don't think you +are dead. It is only to work for a few days down below." + +"This is rather strange," replied The-tenth. "With all the people who +have died since the world has been the world you still want living men? +We don't go and ask you to do our work, do we?" + +While thus arguing, he felt himself suffocated by a heavy smell and lost +consciousness. + +When he awoke, he was on the bank of a fairly large river. Hundreds of +men were standing in the water; some of them carried baskets; others, +with spades and different utensils, were dragging out what they could +from the bottom. Soldiers with heavy sticks struck those who stopped +even for a second. + +On the bank several men were standing, and a number of others came from +time to time. A magistrate was sitting behind a big red table, turning +over the pages of a book. At last, he called "Wang The-tenth." + +"Wang The-tenth!" repeated the soldiers. And they threw the poor man +down in a kneeling position in front of the magistrate, who looked on +the book and said: + +"You have been an undutiful son; do you remember the day when you told +your father he was a fool?" + +Then speaking to the soldiers, he said: + +"To the river!" + +The guards pushed the man, gave him a basket, and ordered him to help in +the cleaning of the river. + +The water was red and thick; its stench was abominable; the bodies of +the workmen were all red, and The-tenth discovered it was blood. He +looked at the first basket he took to the bank; it was only putrid flesh +and broken bones. + +Thus he worked day by day without stopping. When he was not going fast +enough, the guards struck him with their sticks, and their sticks were +bones. In the deep places he had to put his head into the water and felt +the filthy stuff fill his nostrils and mouth. + +Among the workers he recognised many people he used to know. A great +number died and were carried away by the stream. + +At last two guards called his name, helped him to the bank, and suddenly +he found himself again on the path leading to the city of All-virtues. + +Now, on the night when The-tenth was taken away, his wife waited for +him. Troubled not to see him, she started as soon as the sun beamed, and +looked for him on the road. She soon found his body lying unconscious. +Trying in vain to revive him, she thought him dead, and wept bitterly. + +Not being strong enough to bring home his body, she came back to town in +order to ask the help of her family. In the afternoon, clad in the white +dress of mourning, and accompanied by her four brothers, she started +again. + +What was her astonishment and fear when, approaching the place where she +had found the body, she saw her husband walking towards her. He was all +covered with blood, and the stench was so strong that everybody pinched +his nose. + +When he had explained what had happened, they all returned to the +village. The-tenth knelt reverently before his ancestors' tablet, +offered butter and rice, and burnt incense. + +This very day he asked a Taoist priest what was the river he had worked +in. The priest explained to him it was called the River-of-sorrows. It +took its source in the outer world in every tear that was shed. The +people that killed themselves out of despair were floated down its +stream to the kingdom of shadows. + +Sometimes the sorrows on earth were so great that people killed +themselves by thousands and did not shed any tears; the blood then was +too thick to wash away the decayed remains, and the river-bed had to be +cleaned lest it should overflow and drown the whole world. Living men +alone were employed in this work, for only living men can cure living +men's sorrows. + + + + +_THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND_ + + +In the beautiful Chu-san archipelago there is a small island where the +flowers never cease blooming, and where the trees grow thick and high. +From the most remote antiquity nobody has been known to live in the +shade of this virgin forest; the ferns, the creepers, are so entangled +that it is impossible for a man to cross this wilderness without +clearing his way with a hatchet. + +A young student named Chang, who lived in the City-over-the-sea, used to +rest himself from his daily labour by going out to sea in a small junk +he managed himself. + +Having heard of the mysterious island, he resolved to explore it, +prepared wine and food, and sailed out on a beautiful summer's morning. + +Towards midday he neared the place where the island was supposed to be. +Soon a delicious perfume of flowers was brought to him by the hot +breeze. He saw the dark green of the trees over the light green of the +sea, and, when still nearer, the yellow sand of the beach, where he +resolved to disembark. + +The junk touched the shore; he tied it to a large fallen tree whose end +dipped into the gentle waves, and proceeded at once to a hearty meal. + +While he was storing again in the boat what remained of his provisions, +he was suddenly startled by a subdued laugh. Turning his head, he saw +among the wild roses of the shore, a young girl covered with a long blue +dress, who looked at him with dark eyes full of flame. + +"Your servant is most happy to see you here. I did not suppose I should +ever have the pleasure of meeting you." + +"Who are you?" asked Chang, forgetting, in his astonishment, the proper +forms of inquiry. + +"I am only a poor singer who has been brought here by +The-Duke-of-the-sea." + +Chang, hearing these words, was afraid in his heart; The-Duke-of-the-sea +was a renowned pirate who used to plunder every village of the coast, +and was reputed to be cruel and vindictive. But the girl was so +attractive that he soon forgot everything in the pleasure of her +chatter. + +Seated at the foot of a big tree, they were laughing, when a noise came +from the forest. + +"It is The-Duke-of-the-sea! It is The-Duke-of-the-sea!" murmured the +girl. "I must be off at once." + +And she disappeared behind the foliage. + +While Chang was asking himself what he should do, he suddenly saw a huge +snake coming straight to him. Its body was as thick as a cask, and so +long that the end was still hidden in the forest, while the head was +balancing over the frightened student. + +Chang could not say a word and dared not move: the snake entwined +himself round a tree and round the man, holding fast its prisoner's +arms. Then, lowering its head, it threw out its tongue, and, pricking +the student's nose, began to suck the blood which came out and fell on +the ground. + +Chang saw that, if he did not immediately free himself, he would +certainly die. Feeling cautiously with his hand round his waist, he took +from his purse a certain poisoned pill that he kept there and intended +to try on wolves and foxes. With two fingers he took the pill and threw +it into the red pool at his feet. + +The snake, of course, sucked it with the blood; it immediately stopped +drinking, straightened its body, and rocked its head to and fro, +knocking the tree-trunks and hissing desperately. + +Chang, feeble and hardly able to stand, dragged himself as fast as he +could out of reach on to the beach and quickly untied his boat. +Nevertheless, before going out to sea, he fetched a sword and went +cautiously into the wood again. The snake did not move. Chang flourished +his sword, and with a mighty stroke cut the head off and ran to his +boat. + +He returned to the City-over-the-sea, went to bed and was ill for a +month. When he spoke of his experience, he always said that, to his +mind, it was the beautiful girl he had seen at first who had come again +in the form of a snake. + + + + +_THE SPIRIT OF THE RIVER_ + + +In a small village along the river Tsz lived a fisherman named Siu. He +started every night with his nets, and took very great care not to +forget to bring with him a small jar of spirits. Before throwing his +cast-net, he drank a small cup of the fragrant liquor and poured some +drops into the slow current, praying aloud: + +"O Spirit-of-the-river, please accept these offerings and favour your +humble servant. I am poor and I must take some of the fishes that live +in your cold kingdom. Don't be angry against me and don't prevent the +eels and trouts coming to me!" + +When every fisherman on the river brought back only one basket of +fishes, he always proudly bore home a heavy charge of two or three +baskets full to the brim. + +Once, on a rosy dawn of early spring, when the sun, still below the +horizon, began to eat with its golden teeth the vanishing darkness, he +said aloud: + +"O Spirit-of-the-river! For many years, every night I have drunk with +you a good number of wine-cups; but I never saw your face; won't you +favour me with your presence? We could sit together, and the pleasure of +drinking would be much greater." + +Hardly had he finished these words when, from the middle of the stream, +emerged a beautiful young man clothed in pink, who slowly walked on the +smooth surface of the limpid water, and sat on the boat's end, saying: + +"Here I am." + +The fisherman, being half-drunk, was not troubled in any way; he bowed +to the young man, offered him, with his two hands, a cup of the strong +wine, and said: + +"Well! I long wished to receive your instructions, and I am very glad to +see you. You must be mighty tired of living in that water; the few drops +of wine I pour every night are quite lost in such a quantity of +tasteless liquid. You had better come up every night; we will drink +together and enjoy each other's company." + +From this day, when darkness closed in, the Spirit waited for the +fisherman and partook of his provisions. As soon as the sun rose above +the horizon he suddenly disappeared. The fisherman did not find that +very convenient; he asked his companion if he could not arrange to stay +with him sometimes in the daytime. + +"Impossible; we can't do such a thing, we spirits and ghosts. We belong +to the kingdom of shadows. When the shadows, fighting the daylight, +bring with them the Night, we are free to go and wander about. But as +soon as the herald of the morn, the cock, has proclaimed the daily +victory of the sun, we are powerless and must disappear." + +On the same day the fisherman was sitting on the bank, smoking a pipe +before going home with his baskets, when he saw a woman holding a child +in her arms and hastening along the river towards a ford some hundred +yards up stream. She was already in the water, when she missed her +footing, fell into the river, and was rolled away by the stream. The +child, by some happy chance, had fallen on the bank and lay there, +crying. + +The fisherman could easily have gone in his boat and saved the woman, +who was still struggling to regain the bank, but he was a prudent man: + +"This woman, whom I don't know, seems to be beautiful," thought he. +"Maybe it is my friend The-Spirit-of-the-river who has arranged all +this, and chosen the girl to be his wife. If I prevent her going down +to his cold lodgings, he will be angry and ruin my fishing. All I could +do is to adopt this boy until somebody comes and asks for him." + +And he did not move, until the poor woman had disappeared in the yellow +stream; then he took the child. Once back in the village, he inquired +about the mother; nobody could tell who she was. The days passed and +nobody asked for the boy. This was strange enough, but, stranger still, +from this day the fisherman never saw The-Spirit-of-the-river again. He +offered him many cups of wine, and his fishing was as good as ever, but +though he prayed heartily, his companion of so many nights did not +appear any more. + +When the boy was three years old he insisted on accompanying his adopted +father in his night fishing. Summer had come; the cold was no more to be +feared. The man consented to take his adopted son with him; they +started together in the twilight. + +As soon as the darkness closed, the boy's voice changed; his appearance +was different. + +"What a silly man you are!" said he. "Don't you know me now? For more +than two years I waited for an opportunity to tell you who I was. But +you always went out at night and you never came back before the sun was +high in the sky. You had never failed to present your offerings; so I +could not resist your prayer when you asked me to stay with you in the +daytime. Now, here I am, till your death; when the sun is up I shall +only be your son, but when the night closes I shall be your companion, +and we will enjoy together what longevity the Fate allows you." + + + + +_THE-DEVILS-OF-THE-OCEAN_ + + +In the twenty-second year of the period Eternal-happiness, the +population of Chao-cheou's harbour, awaking on a bright summer's +morning, were extremely surprised and frightened to see, swaying on the +blue water of the bay, a strange and abnormally huge ship. The three +high masts were heavily loaded with transversal pieces of wood, from +some of which sails were still hanging; another mast projected +horizontally from the prow, and three sails were tightened from this to +the foremast. + +A small boat was lowered from the ship's side and rowed to the quay. +Several hundreds of people were watching the proceedings, asking one +another if it was a human invention or a ship coming from the depths of +hell. + +The small boat stopped at a short distance from the bank; one could see +that, beside the rowers, there were three men seated in the stern; their +heads were covered with extraordinarily long and fluffy grey hair; they +wore big hats with feathers of many colours. A Chinaman was in the boat +and hailed the people: + +"Ha! Please tell the local authorities that high mandarins from the +ocean want to speak to them. We are peaceful. But if you do any harm to +our men or ships, our wrath will be such that we will destroy in one day +the whole town and kill everybody within ten miles' distance." + +Three or four men belonging to the Yamen had heard these words; they ran +to the prefect's palace and came back with an answer they delivered to +the new-comers: + +"His Excellency the prefect consents to receive your visit. If you are +peaceful, no harm will be done to you. But if you steal anything, or +wound or kill anybody, the laws of our country will be enforced upon you +without mercy." + +Then the boat slowly accosted the quay; two of the men with feathered +hats disembarked with the Chinaman, while six of the rowers, leaving +their oars in the boat, shouldered heavy muskets, and cleared the way, +three walking in front of the feathered hats and three behind. The +rowers wore small caps and had long blue trousers and very short blue +coats. + +The prefect, in his embroidered dress, awaited them on the threshold of +his reception-room. He bade the new-comers be seated and asked their +names and their business; the Chinaman translated the questions and the +answers. + +"We come from the other side of the earth." + +"Well," thought the prefect. "I was sure of it, the earth being square +and flat, the other side of it is certainly hell. What am I to do?" + +"We only want to trade with your countrymen. We will sell you what goods +we have brought; we will buy your country's productions, and if no harm +is done we will sail away in a few days." + +"Our humble country is very poor," answered the prefect. "The people are +not rich enough to buy any of the splendid goods you may have brought. +Besides, this country's products are not worth your giving any money for +them. If I can give you good advice, you had better sail away to-day and +get to the first harbour of the northern province; there they are very +rich." + +"We have just come from it; they told us the very reverse. Here, +according to them, we should be able to find everything we want. +Besides, our mind is settled; we will remain here long enough to buy +what we want and to sell what we can. We are very peaceful people as +long as one deals justly with us. But if you try to beguile us, we will +employ all our strength in the defence of our rights. All we want is a +place on shore where we can store and show our goods." + +"Well, well; I never intended to do anything of the sort," said the +prefect. "But the Emperor is the only possessor of the soil. How could I +give you a place even on the shore?" + +"We don't want very much, and the Emperor won't know anything. Give us +only the surface of ground covered by a carpet, and we will be +satisfied." + +Chinese carpets are not more than two or three feet broad and five or +six feet wide. The prefect thought he could not be blamed to authorise +the foreigners to settle on such a small piece of ground; on the other +hand, if he refused, there would ensue trouble and he would certainly be +cashiered. + +"It is only as a special arrangement and by greatly compromising with +the law that I can give you this authorisation." + +And the prefect wrote a few words on one of his big red visiting-cards. +The interpreter carefully perused the document. Then the foreigners went +back to their ship. The same day a proclamation was issued and pasted on +the walls of the public edifices, explaining to the people that +The-Devils-of-the-ocean had been authorised to settle on a piece of +ground not bigger than a carpet and that no harm should be done to them. + +In compliance with these orders, nobody dared oppose the foreigners when +they began unrolling on the shore a carpet ten yards broad and thirty +yards long. When the carpet was unrolled, The-Devils-of-the-ocean put +themselves in ranks with muskets and swords on the carpet; nearly five +hundred men stood there close to one another. + +The prefect, who had personally watched the proceeding, was so angry +against the foreigners for their cunningness that he immediately ordered +troops to drive them out into the water. But the foreigners had a +devilish energy nobody could resist; they killed a great many of our +people, burned the greater part of the city, and occupied for several +years all the northern part of the bay, where they erected a sort of +bazaar and a fortress, which still exist to this day. + + + + +_UNKNOWN DEVILS_ + + +Suen Pure-whiteness was privileged with the possibility of seeing +distinctly all the creatures of the other world, who, for the greater +part of humanity, remain always mysterious and invisible. + +One night he slept in a mountain monastery; he had closed and barred the +door; the full moon illuminated the window; everything was quiet. He had +slept an hour, when he was awakened by the hissing of the wind; the gate +of the monastery seemed to be thrown open; after a while the door of his +room was shaken, the bar dropped down, and the heavy wood turned on its +hinges. + +Pure-whiteness thought at first that it would be better to close his +eyes and to wait; but his curiosity was aroused, he looked intently; +after a few seconds he could see a big devil, so big that he was obliged +to stoop in order not to break his head against the ceiling, and who was +coming slowly towards the bed. His face had the colour and general +appearance of an old melon. His eyes were full of lightning and his +mouth was bigger than a tub. His teeth were at least three inches long +and his tongue kept moving incessantly, while he uttered a sound like +"Ha-la." + +Pure-whiteness was much afraid; but, seeing he had no way of escape, he +took a short sword from under his pillow and, with all his might, thrust +it into the devil's breast; it sounded as if he had struck a stone. + +The devil hissed in a fearful way; he extended his claws to catch the +man. Pure-whiteness jumped on the right side; the devil could only catch +his dress and started; the man hastened to unfasten his dress; he +dropped and remained there on all fours, motionless and mute. When the +devil's steps ceased to be heard he screamed for help; the priests came +with lamps; everything was in order, but in the bed Pure-witeness was +yelling as in a nightmare. + +On another day Pure-whiteness was in the country enjoying the pleasures +of harvest. The golden rice was piled high and everybody was busy. Some +armed men had been posted here and there, according to the custom; +everybody knows that when the rice is ripened in a place, people of the +neighbouring villages are always looking for an opportunity to make the +harvest themselves or to take away what has been cut by the owners. + +Pure-whiteness, tired by the heat, laid down behind a rice-stack; after +a while he heard stealthy steps; raising his head, he saw a big devil +more than ten feet high, with hair and beard of a fierce reddish colour, +who was approaching. Pure-whiteness yelled for help: men with spears +came to the rescue. The devil bellowed like the thunder and flew away. +Pure-whiteness told them what he had seen; nobody would believe him, but +they nevertheless started in pursuit; people working in the fields all +round had not seen anything, so everybody came back. + +The second day Pure-whiteness was among four or five men, when he saw +the same devil. + +"He has come back!" cried he, flying away. + +The other people ran away too. When they came back, everything was +quiet. But they always kept by their side some spears, bows and arrows, +and swords. + +For two or three days, they had no trouble; the rice was being stored in +the granaries, when Pure-whiteness, looking up, screamed: + +"The devil has come back!" + +Everybody ran to his arms. Pure-whiteness fell down; the devil picked +him up, bit his head, threw him down, and went away. + +When the man came back, Pure-whiteness bore the marks of teeth on his +head; he did not know anybody. Taken home and nursed, he remained +unconscious for a few days and died. + + + + +_CHILDLESS_ + + +In the city of The-Great-name lived a rich idler named Tuan +Correct-happiness. He had then attained the age of forty and still he +had no son. His wife, Peaceful-union, was extremely jealous, so that he +dared not openly buy a concubine, as law authorised him, to continue his +lineage. + +When he saw that, at forty, he had no son, he secretly bought a young +girl, whom he carefully left outside his own house. + +A woman is not easily deceived--a jealous woman especially; +Peaceful-union soon discovered the whole truth. She had the girl brought +before her and took advantage of an impertinent answer to have her +beaten a hundred blows; after that, she turned on her husband and drove +him nearly mad with reproaches. What could the poor man do? He sold his +concubine to a neighbouring family named Liu, and peace was restored in +the house. + +The days and years passed on without any change in the situation; the +nephews of Correct-happiness, seeing that he was old already and had no +son, began to fawn upon him, each of them trying to be the one that +would be elected as an adopted son to continue the family cult, as is +the custom. + +Peaceful-union at last began to see her error and regretted bitterly +what she had done. + +"You are only sixty years old," said she to her husband. "Is it too +late? Let us buy two chosen girls who will be your second wives; maybe +one of them will give you a son." + +The old man smiled sadly; he did not entertain any great hope; +nevertheless, the concubines were bought. After a year, to the great +surprise and joy of everybody, both gave birth--one to a girl, the other +to a boy. But both children died a few months after. + +Correct-happiness, when winter set in, caught a cold and was soon in a +desperate state of health. His nephews were always beside him; but, +seeing he would adopt neither of them, they began looting the house; +they found at last the treasure and took it away openly. + +The moribund was too ill even to know what they did. Peaceful-union +tried in vain to stop them. + +"Will you leave me to die of hunger? I am the wife of your uncle. I am +entitled to a part of his riches." + +But they would not hear her. + +"If you had borne a son to our uncle, or if he had adopted one of us, we +would not have touched a single copper cash of his treasure; but, +through your own fault, he has nobody to maintain his rights; we take +what is our own." + +When the day ended, the widow found herself alone in the deserted and +emptied house, crying over the body of her dead husband. + +Suddenly she heard steps outside the door; a young man appeared on the +threshold, his eyes full of tears, covered with the white dress of +mourning. He entered, kneeled beside the corpse, and, knocking the +ground with his forehead, he began the ritual lamentations. + +Peaceful-union stopped crying and looked at him with astonishment; she +did not know him. + +"May I ask your noble name? Who are you to cry over my husband's death?" + +"I am the deceased's only son." + +The widow started with surprise and a pang of her old jealousy; would +her husband have had a son without her knowing it? But the next words +of the young man explained everything. + +Twenty years ago, when she had beaten and sold away the first concubine +of her husband, she did not know the girl bore already the fruit of this +short union. Six months later she had a son, to whom she gave the name +of Correct-sadness; but, bearing in mind the bad treatment she had +received, she asked the Liu family to keep the child as one of their +own. They consented and sent the boy to school with their children. + +When Correct-sadness was eighteen, the chief of the Liu family died; the +family dispersed, and only a small legacy was left to the young man. +Believing he was a member of the family, he could not understand what +happened, and asked his mother; she told him the truth. Resenting the +hard treatment inflicted on his mother, he awaited the death of his +father to make his own identity known. + +Peaceful-union was very happy to hear this story. + +"I am no more without a son," said she. "All that my nephews have taken +away, treasure and furniture, they must bring back again. If not, the +magistrate will send them to die in jail." + +In fact, the nephews refused to give back anything. The widow began a +lawsuit; everything at last was restored to the legal heir. + +Peaceful-union hastened to choose him a wife, and as soon as the +matrimonial festivities were ended she told her daughter-in-law: + +"My dear child, if I were you, I would ask Correct-sadness to buy +immediately one or two good concubines; if you have a son and they have +also, so much the better, but you can't realise how difficult to bear it +is to be childless." + + + + +_THE PATCH OF LAMB'S SKIN_ + + +In the twenty-fourth year K'ang-hsi lived in a remote district of the +western provinces, a man who could remember his former lives. He was now +a "tsin-shi," "entered-among-the-learned," renowned, and much considered +by his friends. + +When speaking of the existences he had gone through, he used to say: + +"As far as I remember, I was first a soldier--it was in the last days of +the Ming dynasty; my regiment was encamped at The-Divided-roads on the +Ten-thousand-miles-great-wall. My remembrances are not very clear as to +whom we fought with, but I remember the joy of striking the enemy, the +hissing of the arrows, the yelling of the charging troops. + +"I was still young when I was killed. After death, of course I was +called before the tribunal of The-King-of-shadows. Closing my eyes, I +can still see the big caldrons full of boiling oil for the trying of +criminals; the Judge in embroidered dress seated behind a red table; the +satellites everywhere, ready to act on the first word,--in fact, +everything exactly the same as in the worldly tribunals, excepting that, +in the eastern part of the hall, there were huge wooden stands from +which hung skins of every description--horse-skins, lambs' skins, dogs' +skins, and human skins of every age and condition; skins of old men, of +fat and important people, of lean and shrivelled men, of boys and girls. + +"The trial began; the souls, according to their deeds, were condemned to +put on one of the skins and to come up again to the Lighted World in +this new shape. + +"When my turn came I was sentenced to put a dog's skin on; and in this +low shape I was thrown again in the stream of life. But as I had not +forgotten my former condition, I was so ashamed, that the first day I +came on earth I threw myself under the wheels of a heavy carriage and +died. + +"The-King-of-shadows was extremely surprised to see me again so soon; +the dogs, as a rule, having no conscience, he could not suppose I had +killed myself, and did not hold me responsible for it. + +"This time, I was born again as a pig. Pigs are valuable, and there are +always people to look after them; so I could not kill myself. I tried to +starve myself to death, but hunger was the strongest, and I had to +endure such a life. Happily, the butcher soon put a speedy end to it. + +"When my name was called to the tribunal of Darkness, the +King-of-shadows looked over the pages of the Book and said: + +"'He must be a lamb now.' + +"The runners took a white lamb's skin, brought it, and began putting it +over my body. While this was going on, the secretary, who was writing +the sentence in the Book, started and said to the Judge: + +"'Your Honour, there is a mistake. Please Your Honour read over again; +this soul has to be a man now.' + +"You know that, on the Big Book of Shadows, all our past deeds are +recorded as well as our future destiny. + +"The Judge looked at it over again and said: + +"'True! Happily, you saw the mistake.' + +"Then, turning to the runners, he ordered them to take off the skin, +which already covered more than half my body. They had to exert all +their strength, and even so, they tore it off into pieces. It hurt me so +much that I thought I could not stand it and I should die; but I was +dead, and I could not die more than that. + +"At last they left me bleeding and panting, and I was born again in my +present condition. But they had forgotten a piece of lamb's skin on my +right shoulder, and I still have it now." + +And he uncovered his arm and shoulder to show a piece of white woollen +hair on his right shoulder. + + + + +_LOVE'S-SLAVE_ + + +In the City-between-the-rivers lived a young student named Lan. He had +just passed successfully his second literary examination, and, walking +in the Street-of-the-precious-stones, asked himself what he would now do +in life. + +While he was going, looking vacantly at the passers-by, he saw an old +friend of his father, and hastened to join his closed fists and to +salute him very low, as politeness orders. + +"My best congratulations!" answered the old man. "What are you doing in +this busy street?" + +"Nothing at all; I was asking myself what profession I am now to +pursue." + +"What profession? Which one would be more honourable than that of +teacher? It is the only one an 'elevated man' _Kiu-jen_ of the second +degree, can pursue. By the by, would you honour my house with your +presence? My son is nearly eighteen. He is not half as learned as he +should be, and, besides, he has a very bad temper. I feel very old; if I +knew you would consent to give him the right direction and be a second +father to him, I would not dread so much to die and leave him alone." + +Lan bowed and said: + +"I am much honoured by your proposition, and I accept it readily. I will +go to-morrow to your palace." + +Two hours after, a messenger brought to the young man a packet +containing one hundred ounces of silver, with a note stating that this +comparatively great sum represented his first year's salary. + +In the evening he knocked at his pupil's door and was ushered into the +sitting-room. The old man introduced him to the whole family: first his +son, a lad with a decided look boding no good; then a young and +beautiful girl of seventeen, his daughter, called Love's-slave. Lan was +struck by the sweet and refined appearance of his pupil's sister. + +"The sight of her will greatly help me to stay here," thought he. + +The next morning, when his first lesson was ended, he strolled out into +the garden, admiring here a flower and there an artificial little +waterfall among diminutive mountain-rocks. Behind a bamboo-bush he +suddenly saw Love's-slave and was discreetly turning back, when she +stopped him by a few words of greeting. + +Every day they thus met in the solitude of the flowers and trees and +grew to love each other. Lan's task with his pupil was greater and +harder than he had supposed; but for Love's-slave's sake, he would never +have remained in the house. + +After three months the old man fell ill; the doctors were unable to cure +him; he died, and was buried in the family ground, behind the house. + +When Lan, after the funeral, told his pupil to resume his lessons, he +met with such a reception that he went immediately to his room and +packed his belongings. Love's-slave, hearing from a servant what had +happened, went straight to her lover's room and tried to induce him to +stay. + +"How can you ask that from me?" said he. "After such an insult, I would +consider myself as the basest of men if I stayed. I have 'lost face'; I +must go." + +The girl, seeing that nothing could prevail upon his resolution, went +out of the room, but silently closed and locked the outer gate. + +Lan left on a table what remained of the silver given him by the old +man, and wrote a note to inform his pupil of his departure. + +When he tried the gate and found it locked, he did not know at first +what to do. Then he remembered a place where he could easily climb over +the enclosure, went there, threw his luggage over the wall, and let +himself out in this somewhat undignified way. + +Before going back to his house, he went round to the tomb of the old man +and burnt some sticks of perfume. Kneeling down, he explained +respectfully to the dead what had happened and excused himself for +having left unfinished the task he had undertaken. Rising at last, he +went away. + +The next morning Love's-slave, pleased with her little trick, came to +the student's room and looked for him; he was nowhere to be found. She +saw the silver on the table, and, reading the note he had left, she +understood that he would never come back. + +Her grief stifled her; heavy tears at last began running down her rosy +cheeks. She took the silver, went straight to her father's tomb, +fastened the heavy metal to her feet, and unrolled a sash from her +waist. Then, making a knot with the sash round her neck, she climbed up +the lower branches of a big fir-tree, fastened the other end of the +coloured silk as high as she could and threw herself down. A few minutes +afterwards she was dead. She was discovered by a member of the family, +and quietly buried in the same enclosure. + +Lan, who did not know anything, came back two or three days after to see +her. The servants told him the truth. Silently and sullenly, he went to +the tomb, and long remained absorbed in his thoughts; dusk was +gathering; the first star shone in the sky. All of a sudden, hearing a +sound as of somebody laughing, he turned round. Love's-slave was before +his eyes. + +"I was waiting for you, my love," she said in a strange and muffled +voice. "Why are you coming so late?" + +As he wanted to kiss her, she stopped him: + +"Oh dear! I am dead. But it is decreed that I will come again to life if +a magician performs the ceremony prescribed in the +Book-of-Transmutations." + +Immaterial like an evening fog, she disappeared in the growing darkness. + +Lan returned immediately to the town, and, entering the first Taoist +temple he saw, he explained to the priest what he wanted. + +"If she has said it is decreed she should come back to life, we have +only to go and open her tomb, while here my disciples will sing the +proper chapters of the Book. Let us go now." + +Giving some directions to his companions, he took a spade and started +with Lan. The moon was shining, so that without any lantern they were +able to perform their gloomy task. + +Once the heavy lid of the coffin was unscrewed and taken off, the body +of the young girl appeared as fresh as if she had been sleeping. + +When the cold night-air bathed her face, she raised her head, sneezed, +and sat up; looking at Lan, she said in a low voice: + +"At last, you have come! I am recalled to life by your love. But now I +am feeble; don't speak harshly to me; I could not bear it." + +Lan, kissing her lovingly, took her in his arms and brought her to his +house. After some days she was able to walk and live like ordinary +people do. + +They married and lived happily together for a year. Then, one day, Lan, +having come back half-drunk from a friend's house, was rebuked by her, +and, incensed, pushed her back. She did not say a word but, fainting, +she fell down. Blood ran from her nostrils and mouth; nothing could +recall her departing spirit. + + + + +_THE LAUGHING GHOST_ + + +Siu Long-mountain was one of the most celebrated students of the +district of Perfect-flowers. Having mastered the mysterious theories of +the ancient Classics, he took a fancy in the researches of the Taoist +magicians, whose temples may be found in the smallest villages of the +Empire. He soon discovered that, for the greater number, they were +impostors; and, being proud of his newly acquired science, he concluded +that none of them possessed any occult power. + +When he came to this somewhat hasty conclusion, he was seated alone in +his library; the night was already advancing; a small oil lamp hardly +illuminated his books on the table he was sitting at. + +"Yes, there is no doubt; nothing exists outside the material +appearances. There is nothing occult in the world, and nothing can come +out of nothingness." + +As he was saying these words half aloud, he was startled by an unearthly +laugh which seemed to come from behind his back. He turned quickly +round; but nothing was to be seen. + +His heart beating, he was listening intently; the laugh came from +another part of the room. + +Long-mountain was brave, but as people are brave who have only met the +ordinary dangers of civilised life, such as barking dogs, insulting +coolies, or angry dealers presenting a long-deferred bill. He tried in +vain to believe it was only a joke imposed on him by some friend; +nothing could prevail upon his growing terror. + +Straining his eyes, he looked at the part of the room the laugh seemed +to come from. At first he could not see anything, but by degrees he +perceived a black shadow moving in a corner, then a strange form with a +horse's head and a man's body, all covered with long black hair; the +teeth were big and sharp as so many mountain-peaks. The eyes of this +dreadful creature began shining so much that the whole room was +illuminated. Then it began moving towards the man. + +This was too much; the student screamed like a dying donkey, and, +bursting the door open, he ran out into the courtyard. + +From an open door in the western pavilion a ray of light crossed the +darkness; four or five men were playing cards, drinking, and swearing. +Long-mountain ran into their room, and, panting, explained his vision. + +The men, being drunk, wanted to see the Thing; holding lanterns and +lamps, they accompanied their visitor back to his studio. When they +passed the doorway, Long-mountain screamed again; the Thing was still +there. He would have run away had not the men, laughing and jesting, +shown him what the Ghost in reality was--a long dress hung in a corner +to a big hook, on which sat a black cat mewing desperately. + +When the men closed the door and left him alone, the student was deeply +ashamed of his terror; shaken by his emotion, he went to bed and tried +to sleep. Sleep would not come; his nervousness seemed to increase. +Starting at the smallest noise, he remained a long time wide awake; then +he lost consciousness. + +In the silence one only heard the cries of the night-birds and the +buzzing of the autumn's insects; the lamp was out, but a brilliant moon +began to pour its silver light through the window. + +The door suddenly creaked; Long-mountain awoke and sat up on his bed; +the door slowly opened, and the same Thing he had seen and heard entered +the room and advanced towards the bed, while the same unearthly laugh +came from the long and unshapely head; the flaming eyes were fixed on +the student. + +When the Thing was near the bed, Long-mountain fell heavily and did not +move any more. + +The Ghost stopped, put his hand on the breast of the man, remained in +that position a moment, then went quickly and silently out of the room. + +A man was standing outside. + +"What did he say?" asked he. + +"Be quiet!" said the Ghost, taking off his horse's head and discovering +a man's very serious face. "The joke was good. But we have done it too +well. I think he is dead of terror; we had better be as silent as a tomb +about all this. The magistrate would never believe in a joke; we would +be held responsible for this death and pay a heavy penalty." + + THE END + + +_Printed by Hazell, Watson, & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury, +England._ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Strange Stories from the Lodge of +Leisures, by Unknown + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STRANGE STORIES FROM THE *** + +***** This file should be named 37766.txt or 37766.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/7/6/37766/ + +Produced by David Starner, Matthew Wheaton and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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