In China, under the Tang dynasty, early in the seventh century of the
Christian era, lived a learned and virtuous, but poor mandarin who had
three sons, Fu-su, Tu-sin, and Wang-li. Fu-su and Tu-sin were young men
of active minds, always labouring to find out something new and useful.
Wang-li was clever too, but only in games of skill, in which he
attained great proficiency.
Fu-su and Tu-sin continually talked to each other of the wonderful
inventions they would make when they arrived at man’s estate, and of
the wealth and renown they promised themselves thereby. Their
conversation seldom reached the ears of Wang-li, for he rarely lifted
his eyes from the chess-board on which he solved his problems. But
their father was more attentive, and one day he said:
“I fear, my sons, that among your multifarious pursuits and studies you
must have omitted to include that of the laws of your country, or you
would have learned that fortune is not to be acquired by the means
which you have proposed to yourselves.”
“How so, father?” asked they.
“It hath been justly deemed by our ancestors,” said the old man, “that
the reverence due to the great men who are worshipped in our temples,
by reason of our indebtedness to them for the arts of life, could not
but become impaired if their posterity were suffered to eclipse their
fame by new discoveries, or presumptuously amend what might appear
imperfect in their productions. It is therefore, by an edict of the
Emperor Suen, forbidden to invent anything; and by a statute of the
Emperor Wu-chi it is further provided that nothing hitherto invented
shall be improved. My predecessor in the small office I hold was
deprived of it for saying that in his judgment money ought to be made
round instead of square, and I have myself run risk of my life for
seeking to combine a small file with a pair of tweezers.”
“If this is the case,” said the young men, “our fatherland is not the
place for us.” And they embraced their father, and departed. Of their
brother Wang-li they took no farewell, inasmuch as he was absorbed in a
chess problem. Before separating, they agreed to meet on the same spot
after thirty years, with the treasure which they doubted not to have
acquired by the exercise of their inventive faculties in foreign lands.
They further covenanted that if either had missed his reward the other
should share his possessions with him.
Fu-su repaired to the artists who cut out characters in blocks of hard
wood, to the end that books may be printed from the same. When he had
fathomed their mystery he betook himself to a brass-founder, and
learned how to cast in metal. He then sought a learned man who had
travelled much, and made himself acquainted with the Greek, Persian,
and Arabic languages. Then he cast a number of Greek characters in
type, and putting them into a bag and providing himself with some
wooden letter-tablets of his own carving, he departed to seek his
fortune. After innumerable hardships and perils he arrived in the land
of Persia, and inquired for the great king.
“The great king is dead,” they told him, “and his head is entirely
separated from his body. There is now no king in Persia, great or
small,”
“Where shall I find another great king?” demanded he.
“In the city of Alexandria,” replied they, “where the Commander of the
Faithful is busy introducing the religion of the Prophet.”
Fu-su passed to Alexandria, carrying his types and tablets.
As he entered the gates he remarked an enormous cloud of smoke, which
seemed to darken the whole city. Before he could inquire the reason,
the guard arrested him as a stranger, and conducted him to the presence
of the Caliph Omar.
“Know, O Caliph,” said Fu-su, “that my countrymen are at once the
wisest of mankind and the stupidest. They have invented an art for the
preservation of letters and the diffusion of knowledge, which the sages
of Greece and India never knew, but they have not learned to take, and
they refuse to be taught how to take, the one little step further
necessary to render it generally profitable to mankind.”
And producing his tablets and types, he explained to the Caliph the
entire mystery of the art of printing.
“Thou seemest to be ignorant,” said Omar, “that we have but yesterday
condemned and excommunicated all books, and banished the same from the
face of the earth, seeing that they contain either that which is
contrary to the Koran, in which case they are impious, or that which is
agreeable to the Koran, in which case they are superfluous. Thou art
further unaware, as it would seem, that the smoke which shrouds the
city proceeds from the library of the unbelievers, consumed by our
orders. It will be meet to burn thee along with it.”
“O Commander of the Faithful,” said an officer, “of a surety the last
scroll of the accursed ceased to flame even as this infidel entered the
city.”
“If it be so,” said Omar, “we will not burn him, seeing that we have
taken away from him the occasion to sin. Yet shall he swallow these
little brass amulets of his, at the rate of one a day, and then be
banished from the country.”
The sentence was executed, and Fu-su was happy that the Court physician
condescended to accept his little property in exchange for emetics.
He begged his way slowly and painfully back to China, and arrived at
the covenanted spot at the expiration of the thirtieth year. His
father’s modest dwelling had disappeared, and in its place stood a
magnificent mansion, around which stretched a park with pavilions,
canals, willow-trees, golden pheasants, and little bridges.
“Tu-sin has surely made his fortune,” thought he, “and he will not
refuse to share it with me agreeably to our covenant.”
As he thus reflected he heard a voice at his elbow, and turning round
perceived that one in a more wretched plight than himself was asking
alms of him. It was Tu-sin.
The brothers embraced with many tears, and after Tu-sin had learned
Fu-su’s history, he proceeded to recount his own.
“I repaired,” said he, “to those who know the secret of the grains
termed fire-dust, which Suen has not been able to prevent us from
inventing, but of which Wu-chi has taken care that we shall make no
use, save only for fireworks. Having learned their mystery I deposited
a certain portion of this fire-dust in hollow tubes which I had
constructed of iron and brass, and upon it I further laid leaden balls
of a size corresponding to the hollow of the tubes. I then found that
by applying a light to the fire-dust at one end of the tube I could
send the ball out at the other with such force that it penetrated the
cuirasses of three warriors at once. I filled a barrel with the dust,
and concealing it and the tubes under carpets which I laid upon the
backs of oxen, I set out to the city of Constantinople. I will not at
present relate my adventures on the journey. Suffice it that I arrived
at last half dead from fatigue and hardship, and destitute of
everything except my merchandise. By bribing an officer with my carpets
I was admitted to have speech with the Emperor. I found him busily
studying a problem in chess.
“I told him that I had discovered a secret which would make him the
master of the world, and in particular would help him to drive away the
Saracens, who threatened his empire with destruction.
“‘Thou must perceive,’ he said, ‘that I cannot possibly attend to thee
until I have solved this problem. Yet, lest any should say that the
Emperor neglects his duties, absorbed in idle amusement, I will refer
thy invention to the chief armourers of my capital. And he gave me a
letter to the armourers, and returned to his problem. And as I quitted
the palace bearing the missive, I came upon a great procession.
Horsemen and running footmen, musicians, heralds, and banner-bearers
surrounded a Chinaman who sat in the attitude of Fo under a golden
umbrella upon a richly caparisoned elephant, his pigtail plaited with
yellow roses. And the musicians blew and clashed, and the
standard-bearers waved their ensigns, and the heralds proclaimed, ‘Thus
shall it be done to the man whom the Emperor delights to honour.’ And
unless I was very greatly mistaken, the face of the Chinaman was the
face of our brother Wang-li.
“At another time I would have striven to find what this might mean, but
my impatience was great, as also my need and hunger. I sought the chief
armourers, and with great trouble brought them all together to give me
audience, I produced my tube and fire-dust, and sent my balls with ease
through the best armour they could set before me.
“‘Who will want breast-plates now?’ cried the chief breast-plate maker.
“‘Or helmets?’ exclaimed one who made armour for the head.
“‘I would not have taken fifty bezants for that shield, and what good
is it now?’ said the head of the shield trade.
“‘My swords will be of less account,’ said a swordsmith.
“‘My arrows of none,’ lamented an arrow-maker.
“‘’Tis villainy,’ cried one.
“‘’Tis magic,’ shouted another.
“‘’Tis illusion, as I’m an honest tradesman,’ roared a third, and put
his integrity to the proof by thrusting a hot iron bar into my barrel.
All present rose up in company with the roof of the building, and all
perished, except myself, who escaped with the loss of my hair and skin.
A fire broke out on the spot, and consumed one-third of the city of
Constantinople.
“I was lying on a prison-bed some time afterwards, partly recovered of
my hurts, dolefully listening to a dispute between two of my guards as
to whether I ought to be burned or buried alive, when the Imperial
order for my disposal came down. The gaolers received it with humility,
and read ‘Kick him out of the city.’ Marvelling at the mildness of the
punishment, they nevertheless executed it with so much zeal that I flew
into the middle of the Bosphorus, where I was picked up by a fishing
vessel, and landed on the Asiatic coast, whence I have begged my way
home. I now propose that we appeal to the pity of the owner of this
splendid mansion, who may compassionate us on hearing that we were
reared in the Cottage which has been pulled down to make room for his
palace.”
They entered the gates, walked timidly up to the house, and prepared to
fall at the feet of the master, but did not, for ere they could do so
they recognised their brother Wang-li.
It took Wang-li some time to recognise them, but when at length he knew
them he hastened to provide for their every want. When they had well
eaten and drunk, and had been clad in robes of honour, they imparted
their histories, and asked for his.
“My brothers,” said Wang-li, “the noble game of chess, which was
happily invented long before the time of the Emperor Suen, was followed
by me solely for its pleasure, and I dreamed not of acquiring wealth by
its pursuit until I casually heard one day that it was entirely unknown
to the people of the West. Even then I thought not of gaining money,
but conceived so deep a compassion for those forlorn barbarians that I
felt I could know no rest until I should have enlightened them. I
accordingly proceeded to the city of Constantinople, and was received
as a messenger from Heaven. To such effect did I labour that ere long
the Emperor and his officers of state thought of nothing else but
playing chess all day and night, and the empire fell into entire
confusion, and the Saracens mightily prevailed. In consideration of
these services the Emperor was pleased to bestow those distinguished
honours upon me which thou didst witness at his palace gate, dear
brother.
“After, however, the fire which was occasioned through thy
instrumentality, though in no respect by thy fault, the people
murmured, and taxed the Emperor with seeking to destroy his capital in
league with a foreign sorcerer, meaning thee. Ere long the chief
officers conspired and entered the Emperor’s apartment, purposing to
dethrone him, but he declared that he would in nowise abdicate until he
had finished the game of chess he was then playing with me. They looked
on, grew interested, began to dispute with one another respecting the
moves, and while they wrangled loyal officers entered and made them all
captive. This greatly augmented my credit with the Emperor, which was
even increased when shortly afterwards I played with the Saracen
admiral blockading the Hellespont, and won of him forty corn-ships,
which turned the dearth of the city into plenty.
“The Emperor bade me choose any favour I would, but I said his
liberality had left me nothing to ask for except the life of a poor
countryman of mine who I had heard was in prison for burning the city.
The Emperor bade me write his sentence with my own hand. Had I known
that it was thou, Tu-sin, believe me I had shown more consideration for
thy person. At length I departed for my native land, loaded with
wealth, and travelling most comfortably by relays of swift dromedaries.
I returned hither, bought our father’s cottage, and on its site erected
this palace, where I dwell meditating on the problems of chessplayers
and the precepts of the sages, and persuaded that a little thing which
the world is willing to receive is better than a great thing which it
hath not yet learned to value aright. For the world is a big child, and
chooses amusement before instruction.”
“Call you chess an amusement?” asked his brothers.