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.
Sun had no intention of compromising
his daughter’s future; so he summoned and questioned
the go-between who had arranged the betrothal.
The poor woman was in a great quandary, fearing to
offend either the one family or the other; yet she
was compelled to admit the truth. In her anxiety
she ran to the house of Liu to obtain a postponement
of the marriage until Virgin Diamond’s recovery,
and hinted that, failing this, Sun would send his
old nurse to see the sick bridegroom.
Liu did not know what to do, and before
he had come to a decision, the nurse arrived.
He saluted her, not knowing what excuse to make.
At last he said to the go-between: “Be so
good as to entertain this venerable aunt for a moment,
while I go and find my Old-Thornbush.”
He hurried into the interior of the
house, and in a few words told his wife what was happening.
“She is already here and wishes
to see our son. I told you that it would have
been better to change the day.”
“You really are a decayed piece
of goods. Their daughter has received our gifts,
and is already our daughter-in-law. You shall
see.”
Then she said to Prudence:
“Make haste and prepare our
large room for a collation to the family of Sun.”
She herself went to the room where
the nurse was, and asked:
“Has our new daughter’s mother something
to say to us?”
“She is uneasy about the health
of your honorable son, and has sent me to see him,
thinking that it would be better to postpone the marriage
if he were seriously ill.”
“I am gratified to receive this
proof of her consideration. My son has, in fact,
taken cold, but it is not a serious indisposition.
As for choosing another day, that is not to be thought
of. Our preparations are made, and a delay would
involve too great a loss. Furthermore, happiness
drives away every ill. The invitations are sent
out. We might imagine that your family had changed
its intention....”
“At least, can I see the invalid?”
“He has just taken a drug and
is asleep. Besides, I have told you that he has
caught cold. Are you trying to insult me by expressing
a wish to prove my words?”
“If the matter stands thus,”
the nurse politely made haste to answer, “it
only remains for me to withdraw.”
“You cannot go in this way.
You have not even taken a cup of tea. If you
please, let us go into the new room, for my house is
all in disorder.”
On entering, the nurse observed the
excellent arrangement of the young couple’s
apartment.
“Everything is ready, as you
see,” said the wife of Liu. “And if
my son is not quite recovered after the ceremony,
I shall take care of him in my pavilion, until he
is able to embark upon his conjugal life.”
Having taken tea, the nurse at last arose and went away. On her return
she recounted to her master and mistress what had taken place, and Sun and his
wife found themselves in a difficult dilemma. They could not think of
allowing their daughter to ruin her life by entering of her betrothed, if he
were going to die, and, if the young man were not seriously ill, they stood the
risk of losing all their preparation, and of giving occasion for slander.
Suddenly their son Yu-lang, who was present,
said:
“If they have not allowed him
to be seen, it means that he is seriously ill.
There is no way by which we can go back on our contract;
and yet we cannot send my sister to her ruin in this
fashion. I have a plan, and you must tell me what
you think of it. Let us send the go-between to
advise Liu that the marriage will take place on the
appointed day, but that the bride’s equipment
will not be sent until after her husband’s recovery.
I am sure that they will reject this offer, and then
we shall have a good excuse for throwing the blame
on them.”
“But what if they should agree,”
objected his parents, after a moment’s reflection.
“They will certainly not agree,
or else they would have postponed the marriage.
Besides, it is impossible that they should be willing
to have another mouth to feed, without any dowry or
plenishing.”
His father said:
“Very well, if by any chance
they do agree, you shall disguise yourself as a woman
and go in your sister’s place. You could
take a man’s clothing with you, and put it on
if the sick youth recovered, or matters seemed to
take an unfortunate turn. They would not dare
to say anything for fear of being ridiculed.”
“Oh! that is impossible!”
cried the young man. “In the first place
I would be discovered at once. And what would
people say of me afterwards?”
“They would say that you had
played a trick on these people, and that is all.
You are still in the freshness of youth. You are
sufficiently like your sister to deceive those who
do not know you very well, especially in a wedding
garment. You must do it. That is decided.
The nurse can go with you to arrange your hair....
And in this way, if our son-in-law dies, Liu will
have neither my daughter nor her equipment.”
When the wife of Liu received Sun’s
proposal from the mouth of the go-between, she hesitated
for a moment. But then she reflected on the false
situation in which she would be placed by refusing.
So, masking her thoughts beneath a smile, she agreed
to the arrangement.
On the day fixed for the marriage, Yu-lang was constrained to disguise himself.
But two grave difficulties presented themselves.
First with regard to his feet: how was it possible
for him to imitate his sister’s ravishing golden
lotuses, so like to sphinx heads, and the balancing
of her light steps, a swaying of flowers in the soft
breeze? They gave him a petticoat which reached
to the ground, and he practised his sister’s
gait, at which she laughed until she cried. The
next question was his ear-rings. It so happened
that his left lobe had been pierced; for in his childhood
they had made him wear one ring, in order to persuade
the evil spirits that he was a girl, whose death would
be of no importance. Everybody knows that the
Jinn always endeavor to rob us of that which is truly
dear to us, and leave untouched that which is of no
value.
So Yu-lang hung a jewel in his
left lobe, and stuck a small piece of plaster over
his right ear, so that it might seem it had suffered
a slight wound. His great pearl-decorated headdress
concealed his head, brow and shoulders. His scarlet
robes, embroidered with gold and silver, helped to
disguise his figure, and the transformation was complete
by rouge on his lips and cheeks.
When evening at length drew near,
drums and flutes were sounded, the flowered palankeen
entered the courtyard, and the hoodwinked go-between, admiring the beauty of the
bogus bride, herself opened the scarlet curtains. Not seeing Yu-lang;
she remarked upon this circumstance, and they answered
carelessly that he was indisposed and kept to his
bed. Actually at that moment he was taking leave
of his parents and imitating to the best of his ability
the sobs which were fitting to the occasion.
The procession at last set out and
all the bride’s equipment was a little leather
trunk. At the house of Liu there was considerable
discussion:
“When the bride arrives, our
son will be unable to cross the threshold as ritual
demands, and the marriage will not be accomplished.
The bride will be left alone to salute the ancestors,
and this is impossible. What shall we do?”
“It cannot be helped,”
answered the mother. “So much the worse!
Our daughter must make it known that she will take
her brother’s place. She shall recite the
poem of the threshold in his name, and the rites will
be thus observed.”
And Prudence, in her graceful girl’s
garments, did in fact receive the false Pearl as she
got out of the palankeen, pronounced the sacred formulas,
and led the new bride before the tablets. The
two seeming sisters-in-law knelt down, and several
of the bystanders laughed inwardly to see two women
perform the marriage ceremony, and then kneel for
the purpose of the grand prostration.
The wife of Liu led Yu-lang to
the invalid’s bed; but he had been excited and
troubled by the music and noise, and had fainted.
They had hastily to revive him by pouring some spoonfuls
of hot soup in his mouth.
At length the false bride was led
to the prepared pavilion, and her great veil was taken
off. Then her fresh beauty shone forth, and everybody
uttered exclamations of joy: the wife of Liu was
alone in feeling a certain compassion, for she thought
of all that the new bride would have to lose, and
deplored her son’s misfortune in falling ill
at the moment of tasting so great happiness.
As for Yu-lang, the tedium of
beholding the hideousness of all the guests was curiously
diminished by the pleasure of seeing Prudence’s
delectable face. He thought:
“What a misfortune that I am
already betrothed! Here is she whom Fate should
have given me.”
Prudence, on her part, felt herself
drawn towards him in an irresistible manner, and said
to her mother and the go-between:
“Alas! surely my brother has
no luck, and my sister-in-law will be very unhappy
alone tonight! Is she not charming? If my
future husband were like her, my life would be free
from all regret.”
Meanwhile, the marriage feast came
to an end, a present was sent to the musicians, and
the guests withdrew. The disguised boy, after
being conducted to his pavilion, had his nurse’s
assistance in unmaking the complicated structure of
his nuptial adornment. At last he found himself
alone, but with no wish for sleep. Now Liu and
his wife said to each other:
“It seems hard to leave the
newly-wed bride alone for her first night under our
roof. Would it not be better to tell Prudence
to go and keep her company?”
As always, the father made certain
objections which were not listened to. Prudence
insisted, and soon mother and daughter went together
to the new pavilion, and approached the bed, the curtains
of which were drawn shut.
“Here is your sister-in-law
come to spend the night with you....”
Yu-lang did not know what to
say. He was afraid of being discovered, and held
the curtains very tightly under his chin, as he put
his head through the opening.
“I am accustomed to be alone,”
he stammered. But the mother said:
“Aya! You are both of the
same age, you are almost sisters. What are you
afraid of? If you want to be particular, you have
only to keep a blanket between you.”
During this time, Yu-lang was
moved as much by fear as by delight. Was it not
strangely fortunate that Prudence’s mother should
herself have come and let her in this manner to his
bed? But if the young girl should call out?
On the other hand he thought:
“She is fifteen years old, therefore
she has been ready for some time; the door of her
emotions is ajar. If I take precaution and kindle
her heart little by little, there is no need to fear
that she will refuse to nibble at my hook.”
Now the wife of Liu had already retired,
and Prudence had shot the bolt of the door. She
was laughing all over the bright chrysanthemum of
her face:
“Sister-in-law, you have taken
no refreshment. Are you not hungry? If you
wish for anything, tell me, and I will go and fetch
it for you.”
“I am deeply grateful to my
sister-in-law for her gentle thought.”
Prudence noticed that the wick of
the lamp had not been trimmed, and was burning long,
straight and red. So she exclaimed:
“That is for your happiness, sister-in-law!”
The other could not restrain a burst of laughter.
Prudence blushed and laughed also:
“You know how to be merry.”
So they talked together. At length
the maiden, taking the flowers out of her hair, got
upon the bed and knelt down to undress herself.
He asked her:
“On which pillow would you like to sleep?
The lower one?”
“As my sister-in-law wishes.”
“Then, if you please, let us sleep on the same.”
“Very well.”
Prudence had slipped under the blankets
to finish undressing, and the boy did likewise, removing
his upper garment. The lamp, placed on a little
table beside the bed, dimly lit up the recess through
the thin curtains.
His emotion began to rise, and he asked:
“How many flowering Springtides have you known?”
“Fifteen, this year.”
“Are you betrothed?”
But she was seized with unaccountable
shyness, and dared not answer. He brought his
lips close to the delicate ear lying beside him, and
whispered:
“Why are you so bashful? We are only two
women together.”
Very low, she answered him:
“I am betrothed to the son of
P’ei, the druggist, and already they are urging
that the ceremony should take place. Happily nothing
is yet decided.”
“You are not very eager, then?”
She pushed his head gently away, saying:
“It is not nice of you to take
hold of my words in this way, and to make fun of me.
If I am not eager, you do not seem to be any more so
than I.”
“And how do you know that, maiden?
In any case, how could I be so when we are two women.”
“You speak to me as if you were my mother,”
the other laughed.
“Considering my age, I should
rather be your husband,” he thoughtlessly said.
She burst out laughing:
“It is I who am the husband,
seeing that I took my brother’s place at the
wedding.”
“Well, let us not argue, but
rather act as if we were husband and wife.”
Thus both of them spoke words of meaning.
They grew more and more passionate.
“Since we are husband and wife,”
he said impatiently, “why do we not sleep under
the same blanket?”
As he spoke, he pushed back the thick
quilt, and began to observe the garment on the so
sweet and smooth, so soft and graceful body. She
had kept on an under garment, but her heart was filled
with Springtime thoughts, and she offered no resistance
to his eye.
Then, trembling with desire, he came
to her breasts that had so lately dawned, and were
so firm. Their tender points were red as a cock’s
crest, and in all things lovable.
Delighted with this game, Prudence
put out her hands to return his caresses, and also
found his breasts. But there was nothing but quite
a little button. She was astonished, and said
to herself:
“She is as tall as I am.
How comes it that she is not further developed?”
But by this time Yu-lang was
holding her right in his arms, and had his lips glued
to her, wantonly thrusting out his tongue. She
continued the game by giving it a little nibble, and
then thrust out her own tongue. This he so tenderly
caressed with his that the girl’s body seemed
all at once to melt, and she said languorously:
“This is no longer a game.
We are truly husband and wife!”
The false bride, seeing that he had
fully awakened the passion of his dupe, made answer:
“Not yet. We must take off our under garments.”
“But I am afraid lest people
should talk. It is not good to take them off.”
He gave a nervous laugh and, without
paying attention to her words, undid her girdle and
took off her garment. As he advanced toward her,
she protected herself with her two hands, saying:
“Sister-in-law, sister-in-law, you must not!”
But he kissed her again upon the lips.
“There is nothing to forbid
it, little sister. You may caress me also.”
In her agitation, and so as not to
seem too stupid, she took off his vest, and her timid
little hand suddenly stopped short. Her surprise
was such that, for a moment, she could not speak.
But at last she said: “What man are you
who dare to take my sister-in-law’s place?”
“I am your husband,” he answered hugging
her to him.
She pushed him off, and said seriously:
“If you do not tell me in plain
truth who you are, I shall cry and call out, and you
will be sorry for that.”
Do not be angry, little sister, he replied. I will tell you
everything. I am Yu-lang, your sister-in-law’s elder
brother. My parents heard that your brother was
seriously ill, and did not wish my sister to leave
our house; but since your parents would not alter the
day of the marriage, I had to disguise myself and take
my sister’s place, until your brother should
be healed. I never expected that Heaven would,
in its bounty, allow me to become your husband.
But we alone must know of our love. Let us not
betray it to any.”
Pressing forward again, he tried to
bind her in his arms. Although she had believed
she was with a woman, Prudence had loved him from
the first; the feeling which she had mistaken for friendship
quickly changed to that of love, for it was kindled,
as was all of her, by the young man’s ardour.
Nevertheless she was suffused with shame, and so wavered
between one extremity and the other.
As for him, in the freshness of his
still maiden youth he spoke to her of everlasting
vows, of a love higher than the mountain and vaster
than the sea, and of a marriage shaped from a boundless
happiness. Her betrothed, her parents and her
shame were all forgotten. She covered her face
with her hand and resisted no longer.
When the cloud and the rain of their
intoxication had been dispelled, they clasped each
other close and went to sleep.
Meanwhile, the nurse, being in the
secret of this disguise, had been much disturbed at
seeing Prudence share the young man’s bed.
From the adjoining room she had heard their laughter,
and then their sighs, and had no further doubt of
what had happened. And inwardly she cried:
“Woe! Woe!”
In the morning, after Prudence had returned to her parents house to perform
her toilet, the woman came in to wait upon Yu-lang,
and said to him in a low voice:
“O practitioner! You have
done a fine thing! What will happen if people
come to know of it?”
“I did not search her out.
Her mother led her to my bed. How could I have
avoided this?”
“You ought to have resisted with all your might.”
“With such an adorably beautiful
girl? Even a man of iron and stone could not
have resisted. Also, if you say nothing, who will
know of it?”
When the process of disguise was again completed, he went to salute the wife
of Liu. Then all the women of the house and the cousins came to see him.
Finally Prudence came in, and they two laughed together. For that day, as
was the custom, Liu and his wife had invited their relations and friends, and
there was a great feast, with music and a dinner lasting until the evening.
Then, when the house was quiet again, the girl went, as on the previous night,
to keep young Yu-lang
company. That night, even more so than the preceding
one, the butterflies beat their wings, and the passionate
phoenixes were convulsed.
In the morning, they kept together.
Therefore the scandalized nurse ran out and told everything
to Sun said his wife, and they reeled with surprise
and emotion.
“Alas, misfortune will certainly
come of it! We must bring him back as soon as
possible.”
They summoned the go-between and told
her that, according to custom, on the third day after
the marriage they wished to see their daughter at
their house. She therefore went to the home of
Liu, and the two lovers trembled when they heard of
this request. But the wife of Liu had not forgotten
the difficulties which Sun had made with regard to
the marriage; and she was afraid of not seeing her
daughter-in-law again. So she said:
“But my son is still suffering,
and the marriage has not been altogether accomplished.
We will speak of this again at some later time.”
This answer had to be sufficient.
The nurse was in terror, and watched the approaches
of the room all night for fear lest anybody should
hear the rapturous exclamation of the lovers.
The days passed, and Virgin Diamond
gradually grew better. Since he admired the beauty
of his young wife, his desire to know her hastened
his recovery, and the time came when he was able to
get up. Still walking unsteadily, he went into
the nuptial pavilion to see her who was his bride,
and came before the door, supported by his attendants.
The nurse was there, and cried out loud:
“My Lord wishes to enter!”
Yu-lang was, quite naturally,
holding Prudence in his arms. He hastily released
her, and went close to the door.
“You have succeeded in rising,
my elder brother?” said Prudence. “You
will fatigue yourself.”
“That is no matter,” he
answered, making a deep obeisance before her whom
he believed to be his wife.
Ten thousand happinesses be with you! Yu-lang graciously replied.
“What an exquisite pair!”
cried the wife of Liu, proud of her son and happy
at his fortune.
The false bride’s beauty was
meanwhile strangely reviving the invalid’s vitality.
And the other lad thought:
“He is a fine boy in spite of
his illness: there is no need to pity my sister.
But if he can get up, he will waste no time in coming
to spend the night with me. I must depart as
quickly as possible.”
When evening came, he explained his fears to Prudence.
“It is quite necessary to persuade
your mother to send me back to my home, that I may
change places with my sister. Everything will
be discovered if we delay.”
“You wish to go? But what will become of
me alone?”
“I have already thought of that.
Alas. Alas! But we are both betrothed to
another. What can we do?”
“If you do not want me living,
I must die so that my soul may follow you.”
And she sobbed and sobbed. He
dried her eyes saying to her:
“Do not meet trouble in this
way, but leave me to find a plan.”
They clasped each other in their arms,
shedding most bitter tears.
Now it must be said that the wife
of Liu was a little wearied of seeing her daughter
night and day inseparable from her sister-in-law.
However, she said nothing, because the marriage was
not actually accomplished. But passing before
the marriage pavilion on that day, she heard a sobbing.
She drew near noiselessly and, through a hole in the
window paper, saw them close in each other’s
arms and weeping.
“This is very odd,” she said.
She wished to make an outcry, but
remembered that her son was just getting better, and
would fall ill again from any sorrow. She gently
tried to push the door open, but it was locked.
She called out:
“It is strange that this door should be locked!”
The lovers recognized her voice, and
made haste to dry their tears and open the door.
She came in.
“Why do you lock yourselves
in during full daylight, and groan and embrace each
other?”
They felt the blood flow to their
faces, and answered nothing. The mother’s
hands and feet were trembling with rage. She seized
hold of her daughter:
“You are playing some pretty
trick. Let me talk to you a little.”
And she dragged her into an empty
room. The attendants who saw her asked each other
why the girl was being dragged along like that.
But by this time the mother had locked the door.
When the attendants came and looked through the holes
in the paper, they saw her lifting a stick, and heard
her crying:
“O wretch, tell me the truth,
or I shall strike you! Why were you weeping?”
At first Prudence thought of denial. Then she said to herself that it
would be better to confess and to beg her parents to break off her betrothal
with the family of Pei, so that they might marry her to Yu-lang. If they refused, she would
die. That was all. So she told the whole
matter without evasion.
We are husband and wife. Our love is boundless, and our vows will
endure for at least a hundred years. My brother is recovered, and we fear
that we shall be separated. Yu-lang
wishes to return to his parents, to send his sister in his place. It
seemed, then, to your daughter that a woman cannot have two husbands, and that
if Yu-lang cannot marry me, I must die.”
As she listened to her, her mother’s
breast opened with rage, and she stamped her feet:
“This rotten carrion has sent his son here and
has deceived me. And now my daughter is lost.
I must beat him unmercifully!”
She seized her stick, opened the door
and ran forth. Her daughter, forgetting her shame,
tried to prevent her; but the old woman pushed her
away violently, so that she fell down. Prudence
got up and ran after her. The attendants also
ran.
Now Yu-lang had very well understood
that all was discovered when Liu’s wife had
dragged her daughter away. A moment later, the
nurse hurried in.
“O my Gods! And, ah unhappiness!
All is well lost! Prudence is being questioned
with the stick.”
It seemed to him that two knives were
piercing his heart. He burst out into sobbing.
But the nurse was already taking out his hair-pins
and clothing him as a man. In a state of stupor
he let himself be hurried to the main door and through
the streets. A few moments later he was back
at his parents’ house.
His father did not fail to say to him:
“I told you to play the girl,
not the man. Why have you committed acts of which
Celestial Reason disapproves?”
Yu-lang jostled thus by his father
and his mother, no longer knew where he stood.
Meanwhile the nurse objected:
“But what can they say there?
Our young Lord has only to keep himself hidden for
a few days, and it will all pass over.”
But at Liu’s house the nurse,
as she went away, had unwittingly locked the door,
and Liu’s wife had come to it and was shaking
it violently, stammering with rage and flourishing
her stick.
“Thief, whom may Heaven strike
dead! O very vile rascal! For what did you
take me? I am going to show you who I am!
I will have your life! If you do not open the
door, I shall break it open with a great case.”
But naturally no one answered.
Prudence tried in vain to stay her mother, who loaded
her with insults; but at last, in her rage, she succeeded
in breaking the lock, and rushed into the room with
her stick uplifted. The cage was empty and the
bird had flown. She knelt on all fours to look
under the bed and under the furniture, crying out
all the time:
“Thief, you shall die!”
But, as she was compelled to admit,
there was no trace of the ravisher. Then Prudence
said to her, sobbing meanwhile:
And now, after this scandal, the Pei family is let into the whole secret.
I entreat you to have pity on me and let me marry Yu-lang.
Otherwise, must I not die in order to redeem my shame?”
She fell on her knees, weeping and groaning.
“What you say is true,”
answered her mother resuming some measure of calm.
“After this wonderful affair, no one will want
you.”
However, a mother’s love cannot
be altogether restrained. She drew near to her
daughter: “My poor child! All this
is not your fault. It is that rotten carrion
of a Sun who has caused it. But we cannot, of
ourselves, break off the betrothal with P’ei.”
As Liu came up in the meantime, the
matter had to be explained to him. He was nearly
half a day without being able to speak, and it may
be surmised that his first words were to throw the
blame on his wife:
“The whole fault is yours!
By making me say I do not know what, you arranged
all this. Instead of altering the date as you
should have done! And to crown all, you insisted
upon placing our daughter in his arms! She has
very well kept him company, has she not?”
His wife’s anger was not quite
dead, and these remarks rekindled it. Her voice
rolled out like thunder:
“You old tortoise!” she began....
But on this occasion he also was furious.
He advanced, threatening to strike her. Prudence
tried to come between them, and all three were nothing
but a rolling, striking, shouting and weeping congeries.
The servants then ran to inform Virgin Diamond who
rose from his bed and unsteadily ran. His mother
was moved with pity to see him, and his father also
stopped his vituperation. They both went out muttering.
Virgin Diamond then asked his sister
the cause of all this, and why his young wife was
no longer there. She answered only with tears;
but his mother, who had returned, told the whole story.
Virgin Diamond’s anger was so
strong that his face became the color of the earth.
However, he contained himself, saying:
“Let us not publish this family
shame abroad. If the news spreads, everybody
will laugh at us.”
As a matter of course, their mischievous
neighbor, Li, had heard their shouting and weeping.
He had quickly climbed on to his wall, but had been
unable to understand what was happening. Next
morning he watched for the first of the women slaves
who came out, and drew her into his house. Fifty
pieces of copper decided the girl to speak, and the
delighted Li, letting her depart, ran to the house
of P’ei, to whom he told all that he knew.
P’ei went straight to the house of Liu:
“I know all,” he cried.
“Give back the gifts, and let no more be said.”
Liu’s face became red and white by turns.
He thought:
“How does he already know what happened in my
house but yesterday?”
Then he denied the matter:
“Kinsman, whence come these
words with which you are trying to sully my family?”
“Miserable cheat!” cried
the other, “you are in very truth an old tortoise.”
And he struck him on the face with his hand.
“Murderer!” cried Liu
in a fury. “Do you dare to come to my house
and insult me and strike me?”
And he struck P’ei such a violent
blow that the old man fell to the ground. Then
they began to belabor each other. Virgin Diamond
and his mother, hearing their cries, ran up and separated
them. Afterward P’ei, pointing with his
finger and trembling, cried:
“You know how to strike, old
tortoise! We shall see whether you are as clever
in speaking before the judge.”
And he went out swearing. Liu exclaimed:
“It is all Sun’s fault.
If I do not bring an action against them, they will
even now escape entirely free.”
In spite of his son’s curses,
he hurriedly set about writing an accusation, and
ran to the Governor s palace.
The court was sitting, and Liu, holding
his accusation, approached the judge. P’ei
was already there, and reviled him as soon as he saw
him. Liu retaliated, and the battle began anew.
At this interruption, the magistrate
sternly ordered the two to kneel and explain themselves.
Both spoke confusedly at the same time, but the whole
story was none the less made clear. All those
who were implicated in the matter were summoned, and
they came to fall upon their knees.
At length the judge delivered sentence. All the former betrothals were
annulled. Yu-lang
became betrothed to her whom he had outraged.
But the Sun family owed a compensation to the Liu
family, which in its turn owed a bride to the P’ei
family. So Pearl Sun was given to the son of
P’ei, and Virgin Diamond was bestowed upon the former betrothed of Yu-lang. Having settled
the affair, the Governor summoned three red palankeens
and the three brides were conducted under escort to
the homes of their new husbands. The town of Hang-chow
talked of this affair for a long time, but in the
end forgot it for some new scandal.
Hsing shih heng yen (1627),
8th
Tale.