INTRODUCTION
The sun had dipped behind the western mountains before Kai Lung, with
twenty li or more still between him and the city of Knei Yang, entered
the camphor-laurel forest which stretched almost to his destination.
No person of consequence ever made the journey unattended; but Kai Lung
professed to have no fear, remarking with extempore wisdom, when warned
at the previous village, that a worthless garment covered one with
better protection than that afforded by an army of bowmen. Nevertheless,
when within the gloomy aisles, Kai Lung more than once wished himself
back at the village, or safely behind the mud walls of Knei Yang; and,
making many vows concerning the amount of prayer-paper which he would
assuredly burn when he was actually through the gates, he stepped
out more quickly, until suddenly, at a turn in the glade, he stopped
altogether, while the watchful expression into which he had unguardedly
dropped at once changed into a mask of impassiveness and extreme
unconcern. From behind the next tree projected a long straight rod, not
unlike a slender bamboo at a distance, but, to Kai Lung’s all-seeing
eye, in reality the barrel of a matchlock, which would come into line
with his breast if he took another step. Being a prudent man, more
accustomed to guile and subservience to destiny than to force, he
therefore waited, spreading out his hands in proof of his peaceful
acquiescence, and smiling cheerfully until it should please the owner
of the weapon to step forth. This the unseen did a moment later, still
keeping his gun in an easy and convenient attitude, revealing a stout
body and a scarred face, which in conjunction made it plain to Kai Lung
that he was in the power of Lin Yi, a noted brigand of whom he had heard
much in the villages.
“O illustrious person,” said Kai Lung very earnestly, “this is evidently
an unfortunate mistake. Doubtless you were expecting some exalted
Mandarin to come and render you homage, and were preparing to overwhelm
him with gratified confusion by escorting him yourself to your
well-appointed abode. Indeed, I passed such a one on the road, very
richly apparelled, who inquired of me the way to the mansion of the
dignified and upright Lin Yi. By this time he is perhaps two or three li
towards the east.”
“However distinguished a Mandarin may be, it is fitting that I should
first attend to one whose manners and accomplishments betray him to be
of the Royal House,” replied Lin Yi, with extreme affability. “Precede
me, therefore, to my mean and uninviting hovel, while I gain more
honour than I can reasonably bear by following closely in your elegant
footsteps, and guarding your Imperial person with this inadequate but
heavily-loaded weapon.”
Seeing no chance of immediate escape, Kai Lung led the way, instructed
by the brigand, along a very difficult and bewildering path, until they
reached a cave hidden among the crags. Here Lin Yi called out some words
in the Miaotze tongue, whereupon a follower appeared, and opened a gate
in the stockade of prickly mimosa which guarded the mouth of the den.
Within the enclosure a fire burned, and food was being prepared. At a
word from the chief, the unfortunate Kai Lung found his hands seized and
tied behind his back, while a second later a rough hemp rope was fixed
round his neck, and the other end tied to an overhanging tree.
Lin Yi smiled pleasantly and critically upon these preparations, and
when they were complete dismissed his follower.
“Now we can converse at our ease and without restraint,” he remarked to
Kai Lung. “It will be a distinguished privilege for a person occupying
the important public position which you undoubtedly do; for myself,
my instincts are so degraded and low-minded that nothing gives me more
gratification than to dispense with ceremony.”
To this Kai Lung made no reply, chiefly because at that moment the wind
swayed the tree, and compelled him to stand on his toes in order to
escape suffocation.
“It would be useless to try to conceal from a person of your inspired
intelligence that I am indeed Lin Yi,” continued the robber. “It is a
dignified position to occupy, and one for which I am quite incompetent.
In the sixth month of the third year ago, it chanced that this unworthy
person, at that time engaged in commercial affairs at Knei Yang, became
inextricably immersed in the insidious delights of quail-fighting.
Having been entrusted with a large number of taels with which to
purchase elephants’ teeth, it suddenly occurred to him that if he
doubled the number of taels by staking them upon an exceedingly powerful
and agile quail, he would be able to purchase twice the number of teeth,
and so benefit his patron to a large extent. This matter was clearly
forced upon his notice by a dream, in which he perceived one whom he
then understood to be the benevolent spirit of an ancestor in the act
of stroking a particular quail, upon whose chances he accordingly
placed all he possessed. Doubtless evil spirits had been employed in the
matter; for, to this person’s great astonishment, the quail in question
failed in a very discreditable manner at the encounter. Unfortunately,
this person had risked not only the money which had been entrusted to
him, but all that he had himself become possessed of by some years of
honourable toil and assiduous courtesy as a professional witness in
law cases. Not doubting that his patron would see that he was himself
greatly to blame in confiding so large a sum of money to a comparatively
young man of whom he knew little, this person placed the matter before
him, at the same time showing him that he would suffer in the eyes of
the virtuous if he did not restore this person’s savings, which but for
the presence of the larger sum, and a generous desire to benefit his
patron, he would never have risked in so uncertain a venture as that of
quail-fighting. Although the facts were laid in the form of a dignified
request instead of a demand by legal means, and the reasoning carefully
drawn up in columns of fine parchment by a very illustrious writer, the
reply which this person received showed him plainly that a wrong view
had been taken of the matter, and that the time had arrived when it
became necessary for him to make a suitable rejoinder by leaving the
city without delay.”
“It was a high-minded and disinterested course to take,” said Kai
Lung with great conviction, as Lin Yi paused. “Without doubt evil will
shortly overtake the avaricious-souled person at Knei Yang.”
“It has already done so,” replied Lin Yi. “While passing through this
forest in the season of Many White Vapours, the spirits of his bad deeds
appeared to him in misleading and symmetrical shapes, and drew him out
of the path and away from his bowmen. After suffering many torments, he
found his way here, where, in spite of our continual care, he perished
miserably and in great bodily pain.... But I cannot conceal from
myself, in spite of your distinguished politeness, that I am becoming
intolerably tiresome with my commonplace talk.”
“On the contrary,” replied Kai Lung, “while listening to your voice I
seemed to hear the beating of many gongs of the finest and most polished
brass. I floated in the Middle Air, and for the time I even became
unconscious of the fact that this honourable appendage, though
fashioned, as I perceive, out of the most delicate silk, makes it
exceedingly difficult for me to breathe.”
“Such a thing cannot be permitted,” exclaimed Lin Yi, with some
indignation, as with his own hands he slackened the rope and, taking it
from Kai Lung’s neck, fastened it around his ankle. “Now, in return for
my uninviting confidences, shall not my senses be gladdened by a recital
of the titles and honours borne by your distinguished family? Doubtless,
at this moment many Mandarins of the highest degree are anxiously
awaiting your arrival at Knei Yang, perhaps passing the time by outdoing
one another in protesting the number of taels each would give rather
than permit you to be tormented by fire-brands, or even to lose a single
ear.”
“Alas!” replied Kai Lung, “never was there a truer proverb than that
which says, ‘It is a mark of insincerity of purpose to spend one’s
time in looking for the sacred Emperor in the low-class tea-shops.’
Do Mandarins or the friends of Mandarins travel in mean garments and
unattended? Indeed, the person who is now before you is none other than
the outcast Kai Lung, the story-teller, one of degraded habits and no
very distinguished or reputable ancestors. His friends are few, and
mostly of the criminal class; his wealth is not more than some six or
eight cash, concealed in his left sandal; and his entire stock-in-trade
consists of a few unendurable and badly told stories, to which, however,
it is his presumptuous intention shortly to add a dignified narrative
of the high-born Lin Yi, setting out his domestic virtues and the
honour which he has reflected upon his house, his valour in war, the
destruction of his enemies, and, above all, his great benevolence and
the protection which he extends to the poor and those engaged in the
distinguished arts.”
“The absence of friends is unfortunate,” said Lin Yi thoughtfully, after
he had possessed himself of the coins indicated by Kai Lung, and also
of a much larger amount concealed elsewhere among the story-teller’s
clothing. “My followers are mostly outlawed Miaotze, who have been
driven from their own tribes in Yun Nan for man-eating and disregarding
the sacred laws of hospitality. They are somewhat rapacious, and in this
way it has become a custom that they should have as their own, for
the purpose of exchanging for money, persons such as yourself, whose
insatiable curiosity has led them to this place.”
“The wise and all-knowing Emperor Fohy instituted three degrees of
attainment: Being poor, to obtain justice; being rich, to escape
flattery; and being human, to avoid the passions,” replied Kai Lung.
“To these the practical and enlightened Kang added yet another, the
greatest: Being lean, to yield fatness.”
“In such cases,” observed the brigand, “the Miaotze keep an honoured and
very venerable rite, which chiefly consists in suspending the offender
by a pigtail from a low tree, and placing burning twigs of hemp-palm
between his toes. To this person it seems a foolish and meaningless
habit; but it would not be well to interfere with their religious
observances, however trivial they may appear.”
“Such a course must inevitably end in great loss,” suggested Kai Lung;
“for undoubtedly there are many poor yet honourable persons who would
leave with them a bond for a large number of taels and save the money
with which to redeem it, rather than take part in a ceremony which is
not according to one’s own Book of Rites.”
“They have already suffered in that way on one or two occasions,”
replied Lin Yi; “so that such a proposal, no matter how nobly intended,
would not gladden their faces. Yet they are simple and docile persons,
and would, without doubt, be moved to any feeling you should desire by
the recital of one of your illustrious stories.”
“An intelligent and discriminating assemblage is more to a story-teller
than much reward of cash from hands that conceal open mouths,” replied
Kai Lung with great feeling. “Nothing would confer more pleasurable
agitation upon this unworthy person than an opportunity of narrating
his entire stock to them. If also the accomplished Lin Yi would bestow
renown upon the occasion by his presence, no omen of good would be
wanting.”
“The pleasures of the city lie far behind me,” said Lin Yi, after
some thought, “and I would cheerfully submit myself to an intellectual
accomplishment such as you are undoubtedly capable of. But as we have
necessity to leave this spot before the hour when the oak-leaves change
into night-moths, one of your amiable stories will be the utmost we can
strengthen our intellects with. Select which you will. In the meantime,
food will be brought to refresh you after your benevolent exertions
in conversing with a person of my vapid understanding. When you have
partaken, or thrown it away as utterly unendurable, the time will have
arrived, and this person, together with all his accomplices, will put
themselves in a position to be subjected to all the most dignified
emotions.”