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.
Thenceforward he followed his trade.
At the age of thirty-two he had 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.