travelled over more than half the empire, and had beguiled several
thousand women. Often, he was so bold as to attack more than eight
persons at a time, in a single house, and not even the little slaves
escaped his attention. The happiness of which he was thus the cause
remained unsuspected, and no one suffered by it, since none could
dream of its existence. He always remembered his master's rule, and
never risked staying for more than a few days in the same place.
At last he came to the province West-of-the-River, and was received
into an important house, where there were more than fifteen women, all
beautiful and young. His feeling toward each of these was of so lively
a nature that twenty days had passed before he could make up his mind
to go away. Now the husband of one of these girls perceived him and,
at once falling in love with him, arranged that his wife should
cause him to come to their house. Flowering Mulberry went, suspecting
nothing, and hardly had he entered before the man came into the room,
took him by the waist and embraced him. Naturally he protested and
began to cry out; but the husband took not the slightest notice
of that. He pushed him on to the next room and searched him with
shameless hands. It was his turn to cry out: the slaves ran in, bound
Flowering Mulberry, and led him to the court of justice. In front of
the judge he tried to plead that he had adopted his disguise in order
to gain his living. But torture drew from him his real name and the
true motive of his behavior, together with an account of his latest
exploits.
The Governor sent a report to the higher authorities, for he had no
precedent and knew not to what punishment to condemn him. The Viceroy
decided that the case must come under the law of adultery, and also
under that which dealt with the propagation of immorality. The penalty
was a slow death. No extenuating circumstances were admitted. So ended
this story.
_Hsing shih heng yen (1627),
10th Tale._
THE MONASTERY OF THE ESTEEMED-LOTUS
In the town of Eternal Purity there was once a large monastery
dedicated to the Esteemed-Lotus. It contained hundreds of rooms, and
its grounds covered several thousand acres. Its wealth and prosperity
were due to the possession of a famous relic.
The bonzes, who numbered about a hundred, lived in luxury; and
visitors were sure to be received by one of them from the moment of
entry, and to be invited to take tea and cakes. Now in the temple
there was a "Babies' Chapel," which was reputed to possess miraculous
virtue. By passing the night in it and burning incense, women who
wished to have a son obtained a son: those who wished for a daughter
obtained a daughter.
Round the main hall were set several cells. Women who wished for
children had to be of vigorous age and free from malady. They used
to fast for seven days, and then go into the temple to prostrate
themselves before Fo, and to consult the wands of divination.
If the omens were favorable, they passed a night locked up alone
in one of the cells, for the purpose of prayer. If the omens were
unfavorable, it was because their prayers had not been sufficiently
sincere. The bonzes made this fault known to them; and they began
their seven days' fast anew, before returning to make their devotions.
The cells had no sort of opening in their walls, and when a penitent
entered one of them, her family and attendants used to come and
install her. As soon as night came, she was locked in the cell, and
the bonzes insisted that a member of her family must pass the night
before her door, so that none might entertain the least suspicion of
an entry to her. When the woman returned to her home, the child was
already formed. It was born fat and beautiful always, and without any
blemish.
There was, moreover, no household, either of public officials or the
common people, which did not send one or even two of its members
to pray in the Babies' Chapel. And women came to it even from the
provinces.
Every day the crowd in the monastery was comparable with mountains
or the sea, and the place was filled with the gayest hubbub. They no
longer kept any reckoning of the offerings of every kind which flowed
in upon them. When the women were asked how, during the night, the
P'u-sa had made his answer intelligible, some answered simply that Fo
had told them in a dream that they would have a son. Others said that
they had dreamed that a lo-han had come and lain beside them. Others
asserted that they had had no dream. Others again blushed and declined
to answer. Some women never repeated this kind of prayer a second
time: others, on the contrary, went to the temple as often as
possible.
You will tell me that this story of a Fo or of a P'u-sa coming every
night to the monastery is in no way short of preposterous. But it must
be borne in mind that the people of that district had a greater faith
in sorcerers than in doctors, and could not distinguish the true from
the false. Consequently they continued to send their wives to the
temple.
As a matter of course these bonzes, whose outward behavior was so
laudable and correct, were wholly and unreservedly gluttons within,
both for luxury and debauch.
Although the cells were apparently quite close, each really had a
secret door. When the women were sound asleep, the bonzes came softly
into the cell, and to such purpose that, when their victims were
aroused, it was already almost too late. Those who would have wished
to protest kept silence for the sake of their reputations.
Now the women were young and sound: the bonzes were strong and
vigorous. They had, moreover, taken the precaution to cause certain
special pills to be administered to their visitors. Consequently it
but rarely happened that these prayers were not heard. Sober-minded
wives would have died with shame sooner than confess the matter to
their husbands; and, as for the others, they kept quiet so that they
might be able to do it again.
Matters were in this case when a new Governor was appointed to the
district, the Lord Wang. Soon after he entered upon his office, he
heard tell of the Monastery of the Esteemed-Lotus, and could not help
thinking:
"Since it is Fo and P'u-sa who are involved, it should be enough
simply to pray. Why, then, must the women also go and pass the night
in the temple? There must be some questionable artifice in that."
But he could do nothing without proof; so he waited until the ninth
Sun of the ninth Moon, which was a great festival, and then mixed with
the crowd of the faithful who went to the holy place.
Passing through the main gate, he found himself beneath great acacias
and hundred-year-old pines. Before him stood the temple, brightly
painted with vermilion and decorated by a tablet on which was
inscribed in gold letters: "Monastery of the Esteemed-Lotus, for
Retirement." To right and left was a succession of pavilions, and
innumerable visitors were going out and coming in.
The first bonze who saw the Governor wished to run and warn his
companions. The Lord Wang attempted to stop him, but he broke
loose, and soon the drums and bells were sounding to do honor to
the magistrate, while the bonzes formed in two ranks and bowed as he
passed along.
He entered the temple and burned some joss-sticks; after which the
Superior made him a low obeisance and begged him to come and rest
himself for a moment in the reception hall. Tea was served. Then,
concealing his true design, the Governor said:
"I have learned of the great reputation of this Holy Retreat, and I
intend to ask the Emperor to grant you a tablet of honor inscribed
with the names and particulars of all the bonzes of the district."
Naturally the delighted Superior wished to prostrate himself in
thanks; but the Governor continued:
"They have spoken to me also of a miraculous chapel. Is the matter so
in truth? And in what manner are these prayers made?"
The Superior answered without misgiving that the period of fasting was
seven days; but that by reason of the greatness of their desire and
the sincerity of their prayers it most frequently happened that the
petitions of the suppliants were granted in a dream during the night
which they passed at the monastery.
The Governor asked carelessly what measures were taken to ensure the
preservation of the proprieties; and the other explained that the
cells had no other entrance than the door, before which a member of
the family had to pass the night.
"Since that is the case," said the visitor, "I shall send my wife
here."
"If you wish for a son, it is only necessary for both of you to pray
sincerely in your palace, and the miracle will be accomplished," the
Superior assured him hastily; for he was greatly afraid to see the
local authorities concerning themselves in this affair.
"But why must the wives of the people come here, if my wife need not
disturb herself to do so?"
"Are you not the protector of our doctrine, and is it not natural that
the spirits should pay special attention to your prayers?" answered
the astute bonze.
"So be it," agreed Wang. "But allow me to visit this miraculous
chapel."
The hall was filled with women, who fled to right and left. The statue
of Kwan-yin was covered with necklaces and pieces of embroidery. She
was represented holding a child in her arms, while four or five babies
clung to her robe. The altar and the walls were covered with votive
offerings, chiefly consisting of embroidered slippers. Candles beyond
number were held in branches of candlesticks. The hall was filled with
the smoke of incense. To the left was the immortal Chang who gives
us children. To the right was the "Officer of the Star of Extended
Longevity."
Wang bowed before the goddess. Then he went to visit the penitents'
cells. Each ceiling was painted over with flowers, a carpet covered
each floor and the bed, the table and the chairs were spotlessly
clean.
He examined the cells carefully all over and found no crack. Not
a mouse, not even an ant could have entered in. He went out in
perplexity and, after the usual formalities, again stepped into his
palankeen, which was accompanied to the gate by all the bonzes.
Thinking to the right and musing to the left, as the proverb says,
the Governor suddenly conceived a plan. As soon as he arrived at the
palace, he summoned one of his secretaries, and said to him:
"Go and find me two harlots, and clothe them as honest women. Give one
of them a box of black ink and the other a box of vermilion paste, and
send them to pass the night at the monastery. If any one approaches
them, let them mark his head with the red and the black. I shall go
myself to-morrow morning to examine the matter. Above all, let this
thing be kept the closest secret."
The secretary at once went to seek out two public women of his
acquaintance. One was named Mei-chieh, and the other Wan-erh. He
took them to his house, explained the Governor's orders to them, and
clothed them as matrons of good family. He summoned two palankeens,
which he caused the sham penitents to enter, and himself conducted
the procession to the monastery. He left the women in their cells, and
came back to inform the monk on duty.
After his departure, a little novice brought tea to the present
visitors, who were more than ten in number. Who would have thought of
troubling to examine the two new arrivals?
At the sounding of the first watch, all the cells were locked. The
members of the various families took up their positions before the
doors. The bonzes shut themselves into their own apartments.
When Mei-chieh found herself alone, she put her little box of
vermilion near the pillow, turned up the lamp, undressed herself,
and lay upon the bed. But she was unable to sleep for thinking of her
mission, and continually kept looking through the bed curtains.
The second watch sounded. On every side the sounds of human life were
silenced, and all things were still. Suddenly she heard, under the
floor, this noise: Ko-Ko. She sat up, thinking it was a rat, and saw
a part of the floor move to one side. A shaven head appeared, and
was quickly followed by the whole body. It was a bonze. Mei-chieh was
astounded, and thought:
"So these rascally priests have been outraging honest women!"
But she did not stir. The bonze quietly blew out the lamp, came
towards the bed, let fall his robe, and slipped under the blankets.
Mei-chieh pretended to be asleep. She felt him gently move her leg to
one side, and then she made as though to wake saying:
"Who are you who come in the night and insult me?" She pushed him
away, but the bonze embraced her in his arms, and whispered: "I am a
lo-han with a body of gold, and I have come to give you a son."
While speaking, he busied himself in accordance with his salacity.
It must be said that all bonzes have no mean talent in the matter of
cloud and rain; and this one was full of vigorous manhood. Mei-chieh
was a woman of great experience, but she was unable to resist him and
had difficulty, at length, in repressing herself. However, she took
advantage of his arriving at the supreme point of his emotion to dip
her fingers in the box of vermilion and to mark his head without his
perceiving it. After a certain time, the bonze glided from the bed,
leaving the girl a little packet, and saying:
"Here are some pills to assist your prayer. Take three-tenths of an
ounce each day in hot water, and you will have a son."
Weary in body, Mei-chieh was just dimly closing her eyes, when she
was aroused by a fresh touch, and, thinking that the same bonze had
returned, said in surprise:
"What? Are you able to come back again, when even I am so tired?"
But he answered without a pause:
"You are making a mistake! I have but just come, and the saviour of my
comforts is as yet unknown to you."
"But, I am tired...."
"In that case, take one of these pills...."
And he handed her a packet. But she was afraid that it might be poison
and placed it on the bed, contriving in the same movement to dip her
fingers in the vermilion and to stroke the newcomer's head. He
was even more terrible than the former, and did not cease before
cock-crow.
As the old song says:
In an old stone mortar
Where so many pestles have been worn away,
There is need of a heavy copper hammer,
Or the work is lost.
At dawn, another bonze appeared and said to them in a low voice:
"Perhaps you have had your fill. Is not my turn coming?"
The first bonze gave a chuckle, but rose and went out. The other then
got upon the bed, and very gently caressed Mei-chieh.
She pretended to repulse him, but he kissed her upon the lips, and
said in her ear:
"If he has fatigued you, I have here some pills which will restore the
Springtime of your thoughts."
And he thrust a pill into her mouth, which she could not avoid
swallowing. A perfume rose from her mouth into her nostrils, and
caused her bones to melt, imbuing her body with delicious warmth.
But, even while thinking of herself, Mei-chieh did not forget the
Governor's orders. She marked the head of this new assailant also,
saying:
"What a nice sleek old pate!"
The bonze burst out laughing:
"I am full of tender and reliable emotions. I am not like the
unmannerly people of our town. Come and see me often."
And he retired.
Meanwhile the Governor had left his yamen by the fifth watch, before
the day had yet broken, accompanied by an escort of about a hundred
resolute men, carrying chains and manacles.
Arriving at the still closed gate of the monastery, he made the
greater part of his train hide to the right and left, keeping only
some ten men about him. The secretary knocked at the gate, crying that
the Governor was there and wished to enter.
The first bonzes who heard his shout made haste to arrange their
garments and receive the visitor. But the Lord Wang, paying no
attention to their salutations, went straight to the apartment of the
Superior, who was already up and prepared to begin the ritual of his
greeting. But the Governor dryly ordered him to summon all the bonzes,
and to show him the Convent register.
Somewhat alarmed, the Superior ordered bells and drums to be sounded,
and the bonzes, snatched from their sleep, ran up in groups. When the
names written on the register had been called, the Governor commanded
the astonished monks to remove their skullcaps.
In the full light of the morning sun three heads were seen to be
marked with vermilion, but, Oh, prodigy, no less than eleven heads
were covered with black ink!
"It no longer surprises me that these prayers should be so
successful," murmured the secretary. "Indeed these bonzes are very
conscientious!"
Lord Wang pointed out the guilty ones, and caused them to be put in
chains, asking: "Whence come these marks of red and black upon you?"
But the kneeling monks looked at each other and could not answer,
while the whole assembly remained stricken with wonder at this strange
event.
Meanwhile the secretary had gone into the Babies' Chapel and, by dint
of shouting, had roused the two harlots from a heavy sleep.
They quickly put on their garments, and came to kneel before the
Governor, who asked them:
"What did you see during the night? Tell me the whole truth."
Since they had agreed to the mission, the two women rendered a plain
account of the events of that night, showing the pills which the
bonzes had given them, and also their boxes of vermilion and black.
The bonzes, seeing that their schemes were brought to light, felt
their livers turn and their hearts put out of working. They groaned in
their secret despair, while the fourteen culprits beat the earth with
their brows and begged for mercy.
"Miserable wretches, you dare to preach divine intervention, so that
you may deceive the foolish and outrage the virtuous! What have you to
say?"
But the cunning Superior already had his plan. He ordered all the
bonzes to kneel, and said:
"These unhappy ones whom you have convicted are without excuse. But
they were the only ones who dared to act so. All my other monks are
pure. You have been able to discover the shame of the guilty, which I
in my ignorance could not, and there is nothing for it but to put them
to death."
The Governor smiled:
"Then it is only the cells which these two women occupied that have
secret passages?"
"There are only those two cells," answered the unblushing Superior.
"We shall question all the other women, and then see."
The female visitors, who had already been wakened by the noise, came
in turns to give their evidence. They were all in agreement: no bonze
had come to trouble them. But the Governor knew that shame would
prevent them from speaking, and therefore had them searched. In the
pocket of each was found a little packet of pills. He asked them
whence these came; but the women, purple in the face and scarlet in
the neck, answered no word.
While this examination was taking place, the husbands of the penitents
came up and took a part in it. And their anger made them tremble like
the hemp-plant or leaves of a tree. When the Governor, who did not
wish to push his questioning too far, had allowed the visitors to
depart, their husbands swallowed their shame and indignation, and led
them away.
The Superior had not yet given up the fight. He asserted that the
pills had been given to the women as they entered the monastery. But
the two harlots again affirmed that they at least had received them
during the visit of the bonzes.
"The matter is quite clear," the Governor cried at length. "Put all of
these adulterers in chains!"
The bonzes had some thought of resisting; but they had no weapons and
were outnumbered. The only ones left free were an old man who kindled
the incense, and the two little novices still in childhood.
The gate of the monastery was closed and guarded. On his return to the
yamen, the Governor took his seat in the Hall of Justice, and had his
prisoners questioned in the usual ways. Fear of pain loosened their
tongues, and they were condemned to death. They were cast into prison
to await the ratification of their sentence.
As the Governor of the prison went his rounds to inspect their bonds,
the Superior whispered to him:
"We have brought nothing, neither clothes, nor blankets, nor food. If
you will allow me to return for a moment to the monastery with three
or four of my monks, I will willingly give you a hundred ounces of
silver."
The prison governor knew the wealth of the monastery. He smiled:
"My price is a hundred ounces for myself, and two hundred for my men."
The Superior made a grimace, but was compelled to promise this larger
sum. The warders consulted with each other, and finally, when night
came, led the Superior and three of his bonzes back to the monastery.
From a secret place among their cells the monks took the promised
three hundred ounces, and gave them at once to the warders. While
these were weighing them and sharing them among themselves, they
collected the rest of their treasure, and secretly laid hold of
weapons, short swords and hatchets, which they rolled up in their
blankets. Also they brought away wine. Thus heavily laden, warders
and bonzes alike returned to the prison, and held a feast. The priests
succeeded in making their warders drunk. In the middle of the night
they drew forth their weapons and, having first set each other
free, proceeded to force the gates. They might perhaps have escaped
altogether; but in their rancour against the Governor they went first
to attack the yamen. The troops of police were numerous and well
armed, and the bonzes were quickly overcome. The Superior gave his
men orders to return as quickly as possible to the prison, to lay down
their arms and to say that only a few of them had revolted, since this
might save the others. But the warders attacked them so hotly that
they were all put back in chains.
Their crime was grave, and doubly aggravated by rebellion. Next day,
when the sun had well risen, the Governor gave his judgment. All the
hundred and twelve monks were led straight to the market-place and
beheaded. Groups of men provided with torches went to set fire to the
monastery, and it was soon a smoking ruin. Joy flowered upon the faces
of all the men of that town. But it is said that many of the women
wept in secret.
_Adapted from Hsing shih heng yen
(1627), 39th Tale._
A COMPLICATED MARRIAGE
Marriages have from all time been arranged beforehand by Heaven. If
such is the will of destiny, the most distantly separated persons
come together, and the nearest neighbors never see each other. All is
settled before birth, and every effort of mortals does but accomplish
the decree of Fate. This is proved by the following story.
During the Ching-yu period of the Sung dynasty, there lived at
Hang-chow a doctor named Liu. His wife had given him a son and a
daughter. The son, who was but sixteen years old, had been called
Virgin Diamond, and was betrothed to young Pearl, of the family of
Sun. He was brilliant in his studies, and gave every promise that
he would one day attain to the highest literary standard, and to the
greatest honor. The daughter was named Prudence. She was fifteen years
old, and had just received marriage gifts from her betrothed, the son
of P'ei, a neighboring druggist. Her eyebrows were like the feelers
of a butterfly, and her eyes had the grace of those of a phoenix.
Her hips, flexible as willow branches swayed by the wind, wakened the
liveliest feeling. Her face was that of a flower; and the nimbleness
of her light body brought to mind the flight of swallows.
The go-between who had concluded Prudence's betrothal came one day
at the instance of the P'ei family to ask that marriage might be
hastened. But Liu had determined first to accomplish the ceremonies
for his son, and accordingly took customary steps with this object in
view, so that a day was at length fixed. But when the appointed time
was drawing near, Virgin Diamond fell seriously ill. His father, Liu,
wished to postpone the ceremony, but his mother argued that perhaps
joy would cure him better than medicine.
"But if, by mischance, our son should die?" he insisted.
"We will send back the bride and all the gifts, and the family will
have nothing to say."
The doctor, like many men, was wax in the hands of his wife, and
therefore her wish was fulfilled.
But it chanced that one of their neighbors had been slightly affronted
by them, and had never forgiven them. He heard of Virgin Diamond's
illness, and spoke of it to the family of Sun.