manners. Wait for one moment, while I fetch some boiling water."
As soon as the mother had left the room, the woman took a slight
parcel from her sleeve.
"What have you there?" asked Eternal Life.
"Something important which you must not see."
"Oh, but I must see it then."
"I shall not give it to you," said the cunning old woman. "Aya! You
have taken it from me by force!" she added, letting the parcel into
the girl's hand.
Impatiently the child untied the handkerchief, and recognized her
slipper. Her face flushed into scarlet, and she said with difficulty:
"A single one of these objects is of no use, ma-ma. Why did you show
it me?"
"I know a certain Lord who would give his life to have the pair. Will
you not consent to help me?"
Trembling all over, Eternal Life said to her softly:
"Since you know all, tell me his name and where he lives."
"He is called Chang, and he owns a hundred myriads of ounces. He is
very gentle; his love is as deep as the sea. He has lost his soul
through thinking of you, and has bidden me arrange a means for his
entry."
"How can it be done? My father is terrible. When I have blown out
my lamp, he often comes to look into the rooms. What is your plan,
ma-ma?"
The old woman thought for a minute, and then said:
"It is not very difficult. You must go to bed early and, as soon as
your father has come up and gone down again, you must rise quietly and
open the window. You must wait for a signal, and let down a long piece
of cloth. He will climb up with the help of this rope, and, if he is
careful to go away before the fifth watch, no one will surprise you."
"Admirable!" cried the delighted child. "When will he come?"
"It is too late to-day. But I will go to him to-morrow morning. Give
me a pledge of re-assurance for him."
"Assuredly! Take the other slipper. He will give it back to me
to-morrow."
The old woman hid it in her sleeve, for the mother came in by this
time with the tea. Soon after, she took up her basket and went away,
accompanied to the door by the two women.
She went straight to the house of Chang, but he was out. She offered
her flowers to the women of the house, waiting for some part of the
day in vain.
Next morning she went again to find the young man, but he had not
returned. She went away thoughtful.
The truth is that Chang had remained three days in the house of a
Flower-in-the-Mist. When he returned and heard of the old woman's two
visits, he hastened to find her. She said to him:
"The pledge of love which you entrusted to me is in her hand. She bade
me tell you that her father is dangerous, but that he is to be away
for a long time shortly. She will inform us." On his return journey
the young man passed by P'an's house. Eternal Life was at her window,
and they smiled tenderly at one another.
* * * * *
Three months had passed. Chang was sitting one morning in his library,
when his servants told him that four police officers had come with a
summons. He asked himself fearfully whether he had been mixed up in
any scandal at a pleasure house; but he had to obey. He questioned the
officers.
"It is a matter of taxes and duties," they answered.
Reassured, he changed his clothes and went with them, followed by
several of his servants. He was taken at once to the hall where
the Court sat, and, standing before the red table, he saluted the
magistrate. The latter looked at him intently, and harshly asked:
"How did you enter into an intrigue with P'an's daughter? How did you
kill her father and her mother?"
Chang was a libertine. That is to say he had neither strength nor
energy. Hearing himself thus unexpectedly accused of a double crime,
he shook from head to foot, as if a bolt had fallen on him from a calm
sky. He stammered:
"Although I had the intention of establishing a connection with her,
I have not yet succeeded in doing so. As yet I have not known her
house."
The Governor thundered:
"She has just confessed that her relation with you has lasted several
months. How dare you deny it?"
Just then Chang perceived that the young girl was kneeling close to
him. Bewildered and not knowing what to do, he turned to Eternal Life
and asked:
"How can you say that I have been intimate with you? With what object
are you trying to encompass my ruin?"
She sobbed without answering. Meanwhile the Governor called upon the
officers to apply the buskin of torture to the young man. And they
swarmed about him like ants.
Unhappily for him, Chang Loyalty had been brought up in muslin and
gauze, and had grown to manhood in a brocade. How could he endure
such torture? Hardly had he felt the pressure of the buskin before he
cried:
"I confess everything!"
The Governor had a brush and paper given to the accused, that he might
himself write out his confession. The unhappy man wept, saying:
"What must I write? I know nothing of the matter!" Then he turned to
the young girl and added: "Do you at least tell me what you have done,
so that I may write my confession."
Eternal Life answered in irritation: "Did you not look at me with
lecherous eyes under my window? Did you not throw your handkerchief?
Did you not match the pair of my embroidered slippers?"
"All that is true. But about the rest?"
The Governor here interrupted:
"If one thing is true, the rest is also. What is the use of arguing
it? Since he refuses to write, let him be given thirty strokes of
the heavy bamboo, let him be cast into the cell for those who are
condemned to death."
Happily for Chang, his gaolers knew that he was very rich. They but
touched him with their blows, and led him to prison with as much care
as they would a butterfly. Each of them cried:
"Uncle, how could you do such a thing?"
"O my elder brothers," he lamented, "if it is true that I desired
this girl, yet have I never met her. Do you believe that I could be a
murderer? I know nothing about the murder. Tell me of it."
So he learned that, this very morning, Eternal Life on waking up had
been surprised by the silence of the house. From the ground-floor room
where she had passed the night, she had gone up to the story where her
parents slept, and had opened the door of their room. In front of the
bed, under the half-drawn curtains, the floor was a tarn of blood.
She was so frightened that she tumbled down the stairs and fell upon
the street door, sobbing and crying out. Neighbors heard her and ran
up, and she said to them:
"Yesterday, my parents went up to their room. I do not know who has
killed them both."
The bolder ones went up the stairs to see. They opened the
bed-curtains, and there were the man and his wife, stiff and with
their throats cut across. They looked to right and left. The window
was shut, and nothing was disturbed.
"It is a serious matter," they muttered. "Let us not act hastily."
One of them went at once to warn the district chief of police, who
came and examined the scene of the crime. He shut and sealed the
house, and led Eternal Life to the Governor's Court. The girl knelt
down and told all that she knew, and the Governor said:
"If the door and windows were closed, and nothing has been stolen, the
matter is dubious. Had your father an enemy?"
"Not to my knowledge."
"That is strange!" murmured the Governor, and thought for a moment.
Suddenly he told the officers to take off the silken veil with which
the young girl had half-covered her head. He could then see her
exceptional beauty.
"How old are you? Are you not betrothed?"
"I am seventeen, and I am still free."
"And you sleep on the ground-floor, while your parents have their room
above? That is very curious."
"Until quite recently your slave slept above. But fifteen days ago
they made a change. I do not know why."
The judge again reflected. Then he struck the table violently, crying
out:
"It is you who have killed your father and mother. Or, rather, it is
your lover. Tell me his name."
"Your slave never leaves the house. How could she have a forbidden
love? Would not the neighbors know it?"
The judge made a salacious grimace:
"In a case of murder the neighbors know nothing. It is clear that you
have had relations with a man. Your parents knew of it, and that is
why they changed their room. Your lover killed them in a rage."
Hearing these words, she became scarlet and then pale. At a sign from
the Governor, the gaolers threw themselves like tigers upon the
little girl, closing a cruel pair of iron nippers on her pellucid
and delicate jade hand. As the jaws began to crush her fingers, she
uttered loud cries:
"Mercy, my lord. I have a lover."
"What is his name?"
"Chang Loyalty."
And then she fainted. The Governor knew enough. He summoned the young
man and, being convinced of his guilt, had him put in prison, while
awaiting further information. It is well said in a certain proverb:
"Even while you are sitting in your house with the doors shut,
misfortune falls from heaven."
In prison, Chang reflected upon this sudden accusation. Could he have
committed this double crime in his sleep? In the end he offered his
gaolers ten ounces if they would take him to Eternal Life. When they
bargained, he promised twenty ounces. Then they led him as far as
the grill of the women's prison. The girl was there, weeping without
stint. As soon as she saw him, she reviled him between her sobs:
"Ungrateful and dishonorable! You made me mad with love for you. Why
should you cut my parents' throats, and cause my death?"
"Do not make unnecessary noise," he interrupted.
"Let us rather try to clear up this mystery. It is certain that I sent
the old woman Lu to you with your little slipper. Did you see her?"
"Naturally, wretch," she answered disdainfully.
Again he interrupted:
"She told me that you had kept your pledge, that your father was
terrible, and that you were awaiting his departure in order to arrange
a meeting. But since then I have known nothing of you, save a few rare
smiles."
"Forgetful murderer," she groaned, "again you deny it. Did you not
confess all before the judge? Why do you come to torment me."
"My unfortunate body could not endure the torture. By confessing I
gained some days of life. Do not fly into a rage, but answer me: what
happened after ma-ma Lu had visited you?"
"We arranged everything for the next night. You came and gave me back
my slipper. Since then you have climbed up to my room each night. Dare
you say it is not true?"
Chang thought deeply. The bystanders wondered whether he were guilty
and seeking a clever explanation to save himself, or whether he were
really innocent. At last he said: "Then if we have met often, you
should be very certain of my voice and body. Look at me well, and
think."
The gaolers exclaimed:
"What he says is just. If there were a mistake, would you leave him to
die?"
Eternal Life was puzzled, and looked at him earnestly. He repeated:
"Is it I? Dear heart, speak quickly!"
"He who came," she said at last, "was perhaps bigger. But it was
always dark, and how can I be sure? But I remember that on your left
shoulder you have a scar as big as a copper piece."
The bystanders at once exclaimed:
"That is easy to verify. There can be no further mistake. Uncle,
unclothe yourself quickly. If there is nothing there, we shall inform
the Governor."
Chang immediately uncovered his shoulder, and the white flesh was as
smooth as marble. Eternal Life could not believe her eyes. When the
young man had gone back, filled full of hope, to his prison, the
gaolers made their report to the Governor, who had already summoned
ma-ma Lu.
In the audience chamber the old woman knelt down and was quite
overcome. The judge began by ordering her forty strokes for having
acted as an abettor of corruption. The flesh of her thighs was nothing
but a bloody paste. She told the whole story.
After coming back from Chang's house without having seen him, old Lu
had found her son Wu-han in their little food shop. He had said to
her:
"You come at the right time. I must kill a pig this morning, and our
assistant has gone out for the day."
The old woman did not like this work. But she was very much afraid of
her son, and did not dare to refuse.
"Wait till I have changed my clothes!" was all she said.
While she was taking off her outer garment, a parcel fell from the
sleeve of it. Thinking that it was money, Wu-han quickly picked it up
and opened it. It was the pair of embroidered slippers. He said:
"Oh! Oh! Who is the little girl who has such feet? She must be of a
very loving nature. If I could hold her to my heart for a whole night,
I should not have lived in vain. But how do these slippers come here,
for they have already been worn?"
"Give them back to me!" she cried. "There is much money in them,
which I will hand to you." And she told him the whole matter. But he
objected:
"It has been a common saying from the earliest times that acts not
committed can alone remain unknown. This P'an is a bravo. If he learns
of the matter, all the silver which you receive will be too little to
buy his silence. Our whole shop would fall into his hands."
In dismay the old woman replied:
"Your words are full of reason. I am going to give back the silver
and the slippers. I am going to let it be understood that I refuse to
embroil myself with curtain affairs."
"Where is the silver?" he asked.
The old woman took it from her sleeve, and he put it into his, saying:
"Leave all to me. If they should happen to come and seek a quarrel
with us, we shall have proofs against them. And, if nothing comes of
it, no one will dare to reclaim the money."
"But what shall I say if he asks me for news?"
"That you have not had time enough. Or even that the matter cannot be
arranged."
What could she do, she who was thus deprived of the money and the
pledge of love? She was surely obliged to lie.
As for Wu-han, he at once went out and spent the money on rich clothes
and a fine gauze bonnet.
In the evening, when his mother was asleep, he put on his pretty
clothes and set the slippers in his sleeve. As the great clock sounded
the first watch, he went out softly and made straight for the house of
P'an. Light clouds were hiding the moon. It was only half full.
He coughed before the house. The window opened, and Eternal Life
appeared. She tied a piece of silk to the frame, and let the other end
fall. He caught it and climbed up, making use of the projections of
the wall with his two feet. Then, with a thousand precautions, he
stepped over the sill. Trembling, the girl hastened to draw back the
piece of silk and to shut the window.
Then he took the child in his arms, and passion leaped up in their two
hearts. In the darkness, and in such emotion, how could that mistake
be known? The usurper drew her towards him.
Even so is the precious scented flower of the nutmeg embraced by the
bind-weed. Even so is the plum blossom torn by the hail. Even so is
the sparrow's nest most outraged by the cuckoo.
When the first clouds of their desire were dissipated by the rain of
caresses, Wu-han took from his sleeve the pledges of love. She gave
them back to him:
"Now that I am happy, I no more wish to go out."
About the fourth watch, before daylight, Wu-han arose and climbed
stealthily down to the street.
Since that time there had to be a storm of rain, or the moon had to
be very clear, to prevent Wu-han from hurrying to the small woman. The
days, and then the months, passed in this way.
One night the deceiver accidentally made some noise as he went away.
P'an immediately came up to them, but saw nothing; for Eternal Life
succeeded in not betraying herself. Next night she warned her lover,
saying to him in her sense:
"Do not come for a few days. That will be safer. Let us give them time
to forget about it."
But her father had his ears on the alert; he heard the window creak,
and he ran up, though again too late. In the morning he said to his
wife:
"This baby is certainly about some villainy. She keeps her mouth as
tight as a trap."
"I also have a suspicion," replied her mother.
"Yet the room opens on to the stairs, which come down into our room."
"I am going to give her a good taste of the rod to make her speak."
"That is a bad plan, a very bad plan," said her mother. "It is a true
proverb that you must not show family blemishes. If you beat her,
all the neighbors will know, and who would wish to marry her? Let us
rather make her sleep in our room, which has no way out except the
door. We will spend the night up the stairs, and see what happens."
On being told of this proposal, Eternal Life dared not say anything.
And on the higher floor husband and wife slept in peace.
One evening Wu-ban felt his heart seething with passion. Fearing that
he might be attacked by P'an, he armed himself with a knife, which
he used to cut pigs' throats. Under Eternal Life's window, he coughed
softly. Nothing stirred. He coughed more loudly, thinking she was
asleep. But everything remained quiet. He was going back to his house,
in a thoughtful mood, when he saw a ladder left near to a house which
was being built. He seized upon it, carried it away, and put it up
against Eternal Life's window. The catch was not locked. He pushed it
open, climbed over the sill, and silently went toward the bed.
Drunken with joy, Wu-ban was already disrobing himself of his clothes,
when, in the stillness of the night, his ears caught the sound of two
people breathing, instead of one. He listened with controlled breath.
Unmistakably the rough breathing of a man was mingled with the softer
murmur of a woman.
He was suddenly blinded with violent anger:
"This is why she did not answer my signal. The vile child has another
man within. It was to get rid of me that she told me of her father's
suspicion!"
In his jealous madness he drew his knife and gently felt for the man's
throat. With a clean blow he drove the weapon into the flesh, and
before the woman could move, he cut her throat also, almost beheading
her.
He wiped the knife and his hands on the blanket, opened the window,
and descended. He had closed the catches. Once outside, he ran to
replace the ladder, and went back to his house. Denounced by his
mother and brought before the Court, Wu-ban tried to deny the
accusation. But the officers, on uncovering his shoulder, brought
a scar to view. Eternal Life recognized his voice and his body. The
first tortures overcame his obstinacy, and he confessed all.
The murderer was condemned to slow death.
Eternal Life was strangled, as was old Lu.
Chang, whose lecherous intentions had been the cause of all, was
sentenced to a heavy fine. In dismay, and half ruined, he no more
left his study chamber. Not long afterwards, he was carried off by a
lassitude and a languor.
_Lu Wu-han yin liu ho chin hsieh (Lu Wi-han keeps
an Embroidered Slipper to his scathe) Hsing
Shih heng yen (1627), 16th Tale._
THE COUNTERFEIT OLD WOMAN
During the Ch'eng-Hua period of our dynasty, there lived at Shantung
a young man named Flowering Mulberry, whose parents possessed a
sufficient fortune. He had just bound up his hair beneath his man's
bonnet; his fresh and rosy complexion added to the delicate charm of
his features.
One day, as he was going to visit an uncle in a neighboring village,
he was overtaken on the way by a heavy storm of rain, and ran for
shelter into a disused temple; and there, seated on the ground waiting
for the rain to stop, was an old woman. Flowering Mulberry sat down
and, since the storm grew more violent, resigned himself to wait.
Finding him beautiful, the old woman began to converse and ingratiate
herself with him, until at length she came across to him, and finally
her hands wandered gently over his body.
He found this an agreeable manner of passing the time, but said after
a little while: "How is it that, although you are a woman, you have
the voice of a man?"
"My son, I will tell you the truth, but you must not reveal it to
anybody. I am not really a woman, but a man. When I was little, I used
often to disguise myself and mimic the shrill tones of young girls;
and I even learned to sew just as well as they. I used often to go to
the neighboring market towns, pretending that I was a young girl and
offering to do needlework; and my skill was soon much admired by all
the dwellers in the houses where I worked.
"I used to mingle with the women, and by degrees, according to the
licentiousness of their thought, we would enjoy our pleasure. Soon
the women found that they had no more occasion to go out for their
dalliance; and even the sober-minded girls among them became involved.
They did not dare to say anything, for fear of the scandal; and also I
had a drug which I applied during the night to their faces, stupefying
them so that they allowed me to do as I liked. When they recovered
their senses it was too late, and they dared not protest. On the
contrary, they used to bribe me with gold and silken stuffs to keep
silence and to leave their house. Ever since then--and I am now
forty-seven years of age--I have never again put on a man's garments.
I have traveled throughout the two capitals and the nine provinces,
and always when I see a beautiful woman I contrive to go to her house.
In this way I accumulate riches with but little labor; and I have
never been found out."
"What an astonishing tale!" cried the fascinated Flowering Mulberry.
"I wonder whether I could do the like."
"One as beautiful as you are," answered the other, "will be taken for
a woman by everyone. If you wish me to be your instructor you have
only to come with me. I will bind up your feet, and teach you to sew;
and we will go into every house together. You shall be my niece. If we
find a good opportunity I shall give you a little of my drug, and you
will then have no difficulty in achieving your purpose."
The young man's heart was devoured by a desire to put this adventure
to the proof. Without further hesitation he prostrated himself four
times, and adopted the old woman as his master, taking not a moment's
thought for his parents or for his honor. Such an intoxicating thing
is vice.
When it had stopped raining, he set out with the old woman; and as
soon as they were beyond the boundaries of Shantung they purchased
hair-pins and feminine dresses. The disguise was perfect, and anyone
would have sworn that Flowering Mulberry was an authentic woman. He
changed his first name for that of Niang "the little girl," though for
a few days he was so embarrassed that he did not dare to speak.
But his master seemed no longer wishful to look for fresh victims.
Every evening he insisted upon his niece sharing his bed; and up to a
very late hour would proceed with his instruction and that even to the
furthest detail.
It was not for this that Flowering Mulberry had disguised himself. One
day he declared that thenceforward each should go his own way, and the
other was bound to agree; but before leaving him, he gave the boy some
further advice:
"Two highly important rules are to be observed in our profession. The
first is not to stop too long in the same house. If you stayed in the
one place more than half a month, you would certainly be discovered.
Therefore often change your district, so that from month to month
there may be no time for the traces of your passage to become
noticeable. The second rule is not to let a man come near you. You
are beautiful, young and alone in life, and they will all wish to
interfere with you. Therefore always surround yourself with women. One
last word: have nothing to do with little girls; for they cry out and
weep."
So then the two parted.
In the first village he came to, Flowering Mulberry perceived through
a door the silhouette of a most graceful young woman, and struck upon
the door by its copper knocker. The girl opened, and looked at him
through eyes filled with fire. A needle-woman was just what they
required.
But in the evening the boy was disappointed by the arrival of a
husband, whose lusty appearance left him small hope for the night.
He was forced to wait until the young woman was left alone in the
house by day, and came to work in the chamber where he sat. Then he
ventured an observation upon the appearance of the countryside, and
afterwards congratulated her on her husband. She blushed, and their
conversation became more intimate. It was not until the next day,
however, that he dared to make an advance. This met with immediate
success. Two days afterwards he was forced into a hurried departure;
for the husband had taken notice of him, and profited by his wife's
momentary absence to suggest caresses.