Shih Ying was one of the most respected, if not the most aristocratic, people in his suburb. Being the fortunate possessor of a nice country estate, he was able to live a life of leisure. He was not a lover of honors or riches and was quite happy just tending his flowers, cultivating bamboo, or reciting poetry over glass of good wine. In short, he lived an idyllic and unworldly life. Only one thing was lacking to his complete happiness: he was already past fifty and had no little son to rock on his knees. Fate had granted him only a little daughter, now three years old, named Lotus.

On one of those seemingly endless summer days he was poring over his books in the library. Overcome with the heat, his head had sunk down and his forehead lay against the edge of the table. As he dropped off to sleep he seemed to be wandering through an unknown dreamland. While he was walking two priest joined him on his way and went along beside him. One of them was a Taoist, the other a servant of Buddha. He heart the first saying to the second: "Why did you take the stone with you?"

The bonze replied: "In order to intervene in a love drama which by the will of fate is about to be enacted in the earthly world. The hero of the drama has not yet experienced his earthly reincarnation. I wish to take the opportunity of sending the stone into the world to enable the hero to play his role in tat drama."

"And where does the drama begin?"

"That is a strange story. In the distant west, on the shores of the River of the Spirits, where stands the boundary stone of the three existences, the plant Purple Pearl once grew. At that time our stone was still living a restless, wandering life. The goddess Nu Wa, whose task it was to repair the damaged posts of the gate of heaven, had finally rejected it as unfit, because of its composition, out of the 36,501 stones which she had set aside for her purpose. By contact with her divine hand it had become possessed of a soul, hence it could change its location whenever it pleased, and make itself larger or smaller. It felt painfully conscious day and night of the humiliations which it had suffered in being rejected by the goddess as unsuitable.

"It used to steal away frequently from its duties in the palace and go off to the shores of the River of the Spirits. There, one day, it discovered the plant, Purple Pearl. It became very fond of Purple Pearl and to show its affection used to sprinkle it daily with fragrant dew. Thus it saved the delicate plant from fading away too soon. Thanks to the beneficent refreshment with fragrant dew, through which it drank in the finest powers of the mutual relations between heaven and earth, it was enabled later to drop its earthly form of plant and take human shape. The delicate plant turned into a young girl.

"That, then, is the prehistory of the love drama which by the will of Providence is now about to be enacted upon earth. Those taking part, among them the plant Purple Pearl, are already preparing to step down upon the earthly stage. Therefore let us hasten to take back our stone to its mistress, the Fairy of Fearful Awakening, so that she can enter it in the list of those taking part in that drama, and send it to join the other players."

"Very strange indeed," remarked the Taoist. "To repay a debt of gratitude with tears is definitely sometime new. The story seems to me to be sufficiently worthwhile to induce us too to step down into the dust of the earth. Perhaps we may succeed thereby in effecting the redemption of some erring souls. This would indeed be a meritorious work."

"That is certainly my opinion tool I therefore propose that we first of all deliver our foundling, the stone, to the Fairy of Fearful Awakening, and later descend ourselves also, when all the actors in this drama of misfortune are already met together down below. Up to the present only half of them are gathered there."

"Good. Let us be off, then, to the Palace of the Red Clouds."

The sleeper Shih Ying had followed every word of their conversation. He now stepped ahead of the two, who were walking beside him, saluted them with a bow, and addressed them as follows: "Reverend Masters, this simple fellow was an accidental listener to your strange conversation. He did not understand its full meaning. If you would favor him with a more detailed explanation of it, he would listen most devoutly and respectfully. He would very much like to profit in some small measure from your wisdom, and so not sink into the vortex of foolishness."

"It is not permitted to us to speak in advance of matters concerning destiny," was the reply. "When the time comes, think of us. if you do so you will escape the fiery pit of perdition."

"May I not at least see the object of your conversation?"

"That is permitted to you, by the will of Providence," said the bonze, passing him the desired object. Shih Ying took it in his hand and looked at it. It was a lovely jade stone with a fresh, pale radiance. On the upper surface were engraved the four ideographs tong-ling pao-yu, "Stone of penetrating spiritual power." The bottom surface too showed a series of small written characters. Shih Ying was about to decipher them when the bonze took the stone out of his hand again, saying: "We have arrived at the Realm of Illusion," and strode on ahead with the Taoist. Shih Ying saw them walking in through a high stone archway, over which stood the words in big letters: "Phantom Realm of the Great Void." On the two pillars of the arch he read the couplet:

He was about to hurry after the two men when a frightful clap of thunder resounded in his ears. It seemed as if the earth were about to collapse. With a loud cry he woke up. He opened his eyes and blinked at the glowing orb of the evening sun, which was blazing slantwise through the banana leaves. Already he had half forgotten his vision.

Shih Ying thought the man was mad, so he took no notice of his talk. But the bonze continued to address him with great emphasis. "Give it to me!" he urged, pointing to the child in his arms.

This was too much for Shih Ying. He pressed the baby more firmly to his breast, and was already turning to go away, when the bonze broke into a shrill peal of laughter and called out after him:

Shih Ying hung back. He would have very much liked to have the mysterious rhyme explained to him. But he heard the Taoist priest say to the bonze: "From now on our paths divide. We shall work apart. After three aeons I shall await you in the well-known cemetery on the Pei Mang Hill near Lo Yang. We shall then go back together to the Phantom Realm of the Great Void and have the affair of the stone obliterated from the register."

Yu Tsun now approached with a polite bow saying: "I see that you are leaning against the doorpost and craning your neck. No doubt you are looking out for any novel happenings in the town?"

"That is not it," replied Shih Ying, "but the child was restless, and I tried to distract her a bit by taking her to the door with me. My worthy brother has come just at the right time. Let us go in and shorten the endless day with pleasant conversation."

He gave the child to the nurse and showed his visitor into the library. They had barely had time to drink a bowl of tea and exchange four or five sentences when the host was called away to another visitor interest outer room. Shih Ying asked his friend to remain but to excuse him for a few minutes. So Yu Tsun stayed and passed the time of waiting rummaging and searching out old books from among the volumes in the library. While he was thus engaged he suddenly heard, through the window, the clear tones of a feminine voice. He laid the old books aside, slipped over to the window, and leaned out. Not far from the window he saw a young girl bent down between the flower beds. She was picking flowers and humming a song as she did so. She was not exactly ten-tenths beautiful, nevertheless she was quite uncommonly charming. At any rate, Yu Tsun remained at the window, staring steadily out at her. Then, chancing to look up, she also caught sight of him.

Yu Tsun was immensely pleased at having obviously made an impression on her despite his shabby appearance. That girl is both wise and observant, he said to himself, and she can perceive the higher value of a person like myself despite unfavorable circumstances.

Moved by these thoughts, he strode meditatively through the garden and out into a street by a side door. For the guest was remaining to dinner, as a servant had informed him, and so it would be too long for him to wait. He could not forget the little incident of the pretty girl in the garden who had turned round twice to look at him.

On the evening of the Mid-Autumn Festival, after the usual family meal was over, his patron went round to invite him to drink a friendly glass of wine alone with him in his library. Yu Tsun was sitting by himself in his monastery cell in a melancholy mood. Contemplation of the harvest moon had inspired him to write a poem of eight lines in which he had described in cryptic words his recent experience and revealed the secret wishes which it had awakened. The thought that an unkind fate would deny him the fulfillment of his desires made him sigh deeply, look up full of sorrow at the moon, and bring forth the following additional lines:

While he was repeating these lines over to himself in came Shih Ying.

"It seems to me that my worthy brother makes high demands of life and considers himself much above the common herd," he remarked with a smile.

Shih Ying gave his invitation and took Yu Tsun back with him to his library. He drank his health gaily and encouraged him to help himself from the many dishes of dainties which he kept on tirelessly ordering for him. Thus it happened that Yu Tsun, accustomed as he was to the spare diet of a monk, fell more and more into that mood of exhilaration in which the mouth expresses the things which move the heart. The pleasant sound of strings and flutes and merry songs drifted in from the street and from the neighboring houses. Up in the heavens hung the shining white orb of the full moon. In a trice Yu Tsun had improvised a quatrain in praise of the harvest moon.

"Magnificent! Divine!" cried his host, enthusiastically. "Once more my worthy brother has goven a proof of his poetic ability. I have always said that you would not wade for long in the slough of dejections. Soon you will be floating upon the clouds. I congratulate you in advance. Do me the honor to drink!"

And he reached him another beaker of wine filled with his own hand.

Yu Tsun emptied the beaker. Then he took a deep breath and said: "Pray do not think that it is the wine which has inspired your humble younger brother with daring words. I am confident that I shall be able to pass the examination and have my name written in the list of the chosen. But of what avail is all my ability if my travelling trunk is empty? The road to Peking is a ong one. If some good souls do not help me, I fear I shall not make it with the little I earn as a scrivener."

"Why has my worthy brother not spoken of this sooner?" hsi host interrupted quickly. "I have been thinking of this matter for some time past, but I did not trust myself to broach it. Now, however, I can make up for lost time. I am not a highly educated man; nevertheless I kow what is seemly between friends. Next spring, after an interval of three years, a State examination is to be held again. My worthy brother must on no account miss this opportunity and he must therefore set out for the capital as soon as possible in order there to prove his abilities. I shall bear the cost of the journey and of everything else that is necessary. My worthy brother shall at least not have squandered his friendship in vain upon an unworthy person."

"The ninteenth is a favorable day for setting out on a journey," he continued. "My worthy brother should take timely steps to secure a hired boat for that day. And perhaps, when the year is over, I shall once more have the honor of basking in the radiance of your presence, after the wings of your talents have carried you up to giddy heights. That would indeed be a day of high festival for me."

Yu Tsun was so exhilarated by the wine that he only mumbled a few banal words of thanks before setting down once more to easy and loquacious chatting and drinking. Not until far into the night, about the time of the third drum roll, did the friends take leave of each other.

The next morning Shih Ying remembered that he had also intended to give his protege letters of introduction to two civil servants whom he knew in the capital. He therefore sent a servant over to the Temple of the Gourd to ask Yu Tsun to come over once more to receive these letters of recommendation. But on returning, the servant reported that Yu Tsun had set out very early that morning. He had left with one of the temple bonzes a farewell greeting for his patron and a further message to the effect that people of education like himself were in the habit of considering only the matter in hand and were not influenced by superstitious directions in the calendar. And that was that, whether Shih Ying liked it or not.

Shih Ying, in desperation, sent his whole household out to search for the lost child, but without success. Then, mourning fell upon the house which had formerly been such a happy one. Both parents were already past fifty, and could scarcely hope to have more children. Their sighs and lamentations did not cease, either by day or by night, and soon physicians and soothsayer became daily guests in the house. But the loss of their child was not to be their only misfortune.

One day he was taking a leisurely stroll along the street leaning wearily on his stick, like an old man. Suddenly a wandering Taoist monk of very odd appearance, dressed in a ragged smock and wearing bast sandals, came limping along beside him. He could hear the monk murmuring:

"Your words touch my soul to its very depths, honored Master," said Shih Ying with a sigh to his travelling companion. "Will you allow me to supplement your verses within a few sentences expressing the experience gained in the course of my own wretched life?"

"Proceed!" cried the disciple of Lao Tzu with friendly encouragement. Thereupon in well-chosen and skillfully disposed words Shih Ying improvised a melancholy homily on the splendor of his pass life, the misery of his present situation, and the transitory nature of all earthly things.

His disappearance formed the subject of conversation for some time in his quarter of the town. His wife almost died of shock and grief, it was said. When all inquiries for his whereabouts proved in vain and the missing man failed to return, she went back to the house of her parents with her two maids, and from that time on, working day and night with her needle, she strove to keep up the household for herself and her aged father.

One day the elder of her maids was standing at the street door buying yarn from a hawker. Suddenly she heard the yamen outriders as they came nearer and nearer down the street shouting: "Make way! Make way!" The new district Mandarin was taking up his office today, the people told her. Leaning back in the doorway, she watched the procession pas. It was a stately cortege. In front were postillion on horseback, then came police and yamen official in two lines carrying banners and the insignia of office. In between the lines was the great official sedan chair with the Mandarin in his scarlet State robe seated in it. Behind walked more flunkies. The maid gave a start. It seemed to her that she had seen the handsome face of the man in the scarlet robe sometime somewhere before

When the procession had passed by she went into the house again and had soon forgotten the trifling incident.

"The old Governor has sent us," they said in a chorus. "We have a load to deliver."

Old Feng was as frightened as if a tiger stood in his path. What new trouble was this, in the name of heaven? If you want to know you must read what the next chapter has to report.

Index