CHAPTER XI
Of Which it is Written: "In Shallow Water Dragons become the Laughing-stock of Shrimps"
At an early gong-stroke of the following day Kai Lung was finallybrought up for judgment in accordance with the venomous scheme of thereptilian Ming-shu. In order to obscure their guilty plans alljustice-loving persons were excluded from the court, so that when thestory-teller was led in by a single guard he saw before him only thetwo whose enmity he faced, and one who stood at a distance prepared toserve their purpose.
"Committer of every infamy and inceptor of nameless crimes," beganMing-shu, moistening his brush, "in the past, by the variety ofdiscreditable subterfuges, you have parried the stroke of a justretribution. On this occasion, however, your admitted powers ofevasion will avail you nothing. By a special form of administration,designed to meet such cases, your guilt will be taken as proved. Thetechnicalities of passing sentence and seeing it carried out willfollow automatically."
"In spite of the urgency of the case," remarked the Mandarin, with anassumption of the evenly-balanced expression that at one timethreatened to obtain for him the title of "The Just", "there is onedetail which must not be ignored--especially as our ruling willdoubtless become a lantern to the feet of later ones. You appear,malefactor, to have committed crimes--and of all these you have beenproved guilty by the ingenious arrangement invoked by the learnedrecorder of my spoken word--which render you liable to hanging,slicing, pressing, boiling, roasting, grilling, freezing, vatting,racking, twisting, drawing, compressing, inflating, rending, spiking,gouging, limb-tying, piecemeal-pruning and a variety of less terselydescribable discomforts with which the time of this court need not betaken up. The important consideration is, in what order are we toproceed and when, if ever, are we to stop?"
"Under your benumbing eye, Excellence," suggested Ming-shuresourcefully, "the precedent of taking first that for which thewritten sign is the longest might be established. Failing that, thenames of all the various punishments might be inscribed on separateshreds of parchment and these deposited within your state umbrella.The first withdrawn by an unbiased--"
"High Excellence," Kai Lung ventured to interrupt, "a further plansuggests itself which--"
"If," exclaimed Ming-shu in irrational haste, "if the criminalproposes to narrate a story of one who in like circumstances--"
"Peace!" interposed Shan Tien tactfully. "The felon will only beallowed the usual ten short measures of time for his suggestion, normust he, under that guise, endeavour to insert an imagined tale."
"Your ruling shall keep straight my bending feet, munificence,"replied Kai Lung. "Hear now my simplifying way. In place of citedwrongs--which, after all, are comparatively trivial matters, as beingmerely offences against another or in defiance of a localusage--substitute one really overwhelming crime for which the penaltyis sharp and explicit."
"To that end you would suggest--?" Uncertainty sat upon the brow ofboth Shan Tien and Ming-shu.
"To straighten out the entangled thread this person would plead guiltyto the act--in a lesser capacity and against his untrammelled will--ofrejoicing musically on a day set apart for universal woe: a crimeaimed directly at the sacred person of the Sublime Head and all thoseof his Line."
At this significant admission the Mandarin's expression faded; hestroked the lower part of his face several times and unostentatiouslyindicated to the two attendants that they should retire to a moredistant obscurity. Then he spoke.
"When did this--this alleged indiscretion occur, Kai Lung?" he askedin a considerate voice.
"It is useless to raise a cloud of evasion before the sun of yourpenetrating intellect," replied the story-teller. "The eleventh day ofthe existing moon was its inauspicious date."
"That being yesterday? Ming-shu, you upon whom the duty of regulatingmy admittedly vagarious mind devolves, what happened officially on theeleventh day of the Month of Gathering-in?" demanded the Mandarin inan ominous tone.
"On such and such a day, benevolence, threescore and fifteen yearsago, the imperishable founder of the existing dynasty ascended on afiery dragon to be a guest on high," confessed the conscience-strickenscribe, after consulting his printed tablets. "Owing to the stress ofa sudden journey significance of the date had previously escaped myweed-grown memory, tolerance."
"Alas!" exclaimed Shan Tien bitterly, "among the innumerable drawbacksof an exacting position the enforced reliance upon an unusually ineptand more than ordinarily self-opinionated inscriber of the spoken wordis perhaps the most illimitable. Owing to your profuse incompetencethat which began as an agreeable prelude to a busy day has turned intoa really serious matter."
"Yet, lenience," pleaded the hapless Ming-shu, lowering his voice forthe Mandarin's private ear, "so far the danger resides in this onethroat alone. That disposed of--"
"Perchance," replied Shan Tien; then turning to Kai Lung: "Doubtless,O story-teller, you were so overcome by the burden of your guilt thatuntil this moment you have hidden the knowledge of it deep within yourheart?"
"Magnificence, the commanding quality of your enduring voice woulddraw the inner matter from a marrow-bone," frankly replied Kai Lung."Fearful lest this crime might go unconfessed and my weak andtrembling ghost therefrom be held to bear its weight unto the end oftime, I set out the full happening in a written scroll and sent it atdaybreak by a sure and secret hand to a scrupulous official to dealwith as he sees fit."
"Your worthy confidant would assuredly be a person of incorruptibleintegrity?"
"The repute of the upright Censor K'o-yih had reached even thesestunted ears."
"Inevitably: the Censor K'o-yih!" Shan Tien's hasty glance took in theangle of the sun and for a moment rested on the door leading to thepart where his swiftest horses lay. "By this time the message willhave reached him?"
"Omnipotence," replied Kai Lung, spreading out his hands to indicatethe full extent of his submission, "not even a piece of the finestPing-hi silk could be inserted between the deepest secret of thisperson's heart and your all-extracting gaze. Should you, in yourmeritorious sense of justice, impose upon me a punishment that wouldseem to be adequate, it would be superfluous to trouble the obligingCensor in the matter. To this end the one who bears the message lurksin a hidden corner of Tai until a certain hour. If I am in a positionto intercept him there he will return the message to my hand; if not,he will straightway bear it to the integritous K'o-yih."
"May the President of Hades reward you--I am no longer in a positionto do so!" murmured Shan Tien with concentrated feeling. "Draw near,Kai Lung," he continued sympathetically, "and indicate--with as littledelay as possible--what in your opinion would constitute a sufficientpunishment."
Thus invited and with his cords unbound, Kai Lung advanced and tookhis station near the table, Ming-shu noticeably making room for him.
"To be driven from your lofty presence and never again permitted tolisten to the wisdom of your inspired lips would undoubtedly be thefirst essential of my penance, High Excellence."
"It is gran--inflicted," agreed Shan Tien, with swift decision.
"The necessary edict may conveniently be drafted in the form of asafe-conduct for this person and all others of his band to a pointbeyond the confines of your jurisdiction--when the usuallyagile-witted Ming-shu can sufficiently shake off the benumbing torpornow assailing him so as to use his brush."
"It is already begun, O virtuous harbinger of joy," protested thedazed Ming-shu, overturning all the four precious implements in hispassion to comply. "A mere breath of time--"
"Let it be signed, sealed and thumb-pressed at every available pointof ambiguity," enjoined Shan Tien.
"Having thus oppressed the vainglory of my self-willed mind, thepresumption of this unworthy body must be subdued likewise. The burdenof five hundred taels of silver should suffice. If not--"
"In the form of paper obligations, estimable Kai Lung, the same amountwould go more conveniently within your scrip," sugg
ested the Mandarinhopefully.
"Not convenience, O Mandarin, but bodily exhaustion is the essence ofmy task," reproved the story-teller.
"Yet consider the anguish of my internal pang, if thus encumbered, yousank spent by the wayside, and being thereby unable to withhold themessage, you were called upon to endure a further ill."
"That, indeed, is worthy of our thought," confessed Kai Lung. "To thisend I will further mortify myself by adventuring upon the uncertainapex of a trustworthy steed (a mode of progress new to my experience)until I enter Tai."
"The swiftest and most reputable awaits your guiding hand," repliedShan Tien.
"Let it be enticed forth into a quiet and discreet spot. In theinterval, while the obliging Ming-shu plies an unfaltering brush, thetask of weighing out my humiliating burden shall be ours."
In an incredibly short space of time, being continually urged on bythe flattering anxiety of Shan Tien (whose precipitancy at one pointbecame so acute that he mistook fourscore taels for five), all thingswere prepared. With the inscribed parchment well within his sleeve andthe bags of silver ranged about his body, Kai Lung approached theplatform that had been raised to enable him to subdue the expectantanimal.
"Once in the desired position, weighted down as you are, there islittle danger of your becoming displaced," remarked the Mandarinauspiciously.
"Your words are, as usual, many-sided in their wise application,benignity," replied Kai Lung. "One thing only yet remains. It is apartfrom the expression of this one's will, but as an act of justice toyourself and in order to complete the analogy--" And he indicated thedirection of Ming-shu.
"Nevertheless you are agreeably understood," declared Shan Tien,moving apart. "Farewell."
As those who controlled the front part of the horse at this momentrelaxed their tenacity, Kai Lung did not deem it prudent to reply, norwas he specifically observant of the things about. But a little later,while in the act of permitting the creature whose power he ruled toturn round for a last look at its former home, he saw that theunworthy no longer flourished. Ming-shu, with his own discarded cangaround his vindictive neck, was being led off in the direction of theprison-house.
CHAPTER XII
The Out-passing into a State of Assured Felicity of the Much-enduring Two With Whom These Printed Leaves Have Chiefly Been Concerned
Although it was towards sunset, the heat of the day still hung abovethe dusty earth-road, and two who tarried within the shadow of anancient arch were loath to resume their way. They had walked far, forthe uncertain steed, having revealed a too contentious nature, hadbeen disposed of in distant Tai to an honest stranger who freelyexplained the imperfection of its ignoble outline.
"Let us remain another space of time," pleaded Hwa-mei reposefully,"and as without your all-embracing art the course of events wouldundoubtedly have terminated very differently from what it has, willyou not, out of an emotion of gratitude, relate a story for my earalone, weaving into it the substance of this ancient arch whose shadeproves our rest?"
"Your wish is the crown of my attainment, unearthly one," replied KaiLung, preparing to obey. "This concerns the story of Ten-teh, whosename adorns the keystone of the fabric."
The Story of the Loyalty of Ten-teh, the Fisherman "Devotion to the Emperor--" The Five Great Principles
The reign of the enlightened Emperor Tung Kwei had closed amid scenesof treachery and lust, and in his perfidiously-spilled blood wasextinguished the last pale hope of those faithful to his line. Hisonly son was a nameless fugitive--by ceaseless report already PassedBeyond--his party scattered and crushed out like the sparks from hisblackened Capital, while nothing that men thought dare pass theirlips. The usurper Fuh-chi sat upon the dragon throne and spake withthe voice of brass cymbals and echoing drums, his right hand sheddingblood and his left hand spreading fire. To raise an eye before him wasto ape with death, and a whisper in the outer ways foreran swifttorture. With harrows he uprooted the land until no household couldgather round its ancestral tablets, and with marble rollers heflattened it until none dare lift his head. For the body of each onewho had opposed his ambition there was offered an equal weight of finesilver, and upon the head of the child-prince was set the reward often times his weight in pure gold. Yet in noisome swamps and forests,hidden in caves, lying on desolate islands, and concealing themselvesin every kind of solitary place were those who daily prostratedthemselves to the memory of Tung Kwei and by a sign acknowledged theauthority of his infant son Kwo Kam. In the Crystal City there was agreat roar of violence and drunken song, and men and women lapped fromdeep lakes filled up with wine; but the ricesacks of the poor had longbeen turned out and shaken for a little dust; their eyes were closingand in their hearts they were as powder between the mill-stones. Onthe north and the west the barbarians had begun to press forward inresistless waves, and from The Island to The Beak pirates laid wastethe coast.
i. UNDER THE DRAGON'S WING
Among the lagoons of the Upper Seng river a cormorant fisher, Ten-tehby name, daily followed his occupation. In seasons of good harvest,when they of the villages had grain in abundance and money with whichto procure a more varied diet, Ten-teh was able to regard theever-changeful success of his venture without anxiety, and even to addperchance somewhat to his store; but when affliction lay upon the landthe carefully gathered hoard melted away and he did not cease toupbraid himself for adopting so uncertain a means of livelihood. Atthese times the earth-tillers, having neither money to spend nor cropsto harvest, caught such fish as they could for themselves. Others intheir extremity did not scruple to drown themselves and theirdependents in Ten-teh's waters, so that while none contributed to hisprosperity the latter ones even greatly added to the embarrassment ofhis craft. When, therefore, his own harvest failed him in addition, ortempests drove him back to a dwelling which was destitute of foodeither for himself, his household, or his cormorants, hisself-reproach did not appear to be ill-reasoned. Yet in spite of allTen-teh was of a genial disposition, benevolent, respectful andincapable of guile. He sacrificed adequately at all festivals, and hisonly regret was that he had no son of his own and very scanty chancesof ever becoming rich enough to procure one by adoption.
The sun was setting one day when Ten-teh reluctantly took up hispropelling staff and began to urge his raft towards the shore. It wasa season of parched crops and destitution in the villages, whendisease could fondle the bones of even the most rotund and leprosy wasthe insidious condiment in every dish; yet never had the Imperial duesbeen higher, and each succeeding official had larger hands and a moreinexorable face than the one before him. Ten-teh's hoarded resourceshad already followed the snows of the previous winter, his shelf waslike the heart of a despot to whom the oppressed cry for pity, and thecontents of the creel at his feet were too insignificant to tempt thecuriosity even of his hungry cormorants. But the mists of the eveningwere by this time lapping the surface of the waters and he had noalternative but to abandon his fishing for the day.
"Truly they who go forth to fish, even in shallow waters, experiencestrange things when none are by to credit them," suddenly exclaimedhis assistant--a mentally deficient youth of the villages whom Ten-tehcharitably employed because all others rejected him. "Behold, master,a spectre bird approaches."
"Peace, witless," replied Ten-teh, not turning from his occupation,for it was no uncommon incident for the deficient youth to mistakewidely-differing objects for one another or to claim a demoniacalinsight into the most trivial happenings. "Visions do not materializefor such as thou and I."
"Nevertheless," continued the weakling, "if you will but slacken youragile proficiency with the pole, chieftain, our supper to-night mayyet consist of something more substantial than the fish which it isour intention to catch to-morrow."
When the defective youth had continued for some time in thismeaningless strain Ten
-teh turned to rebuke him, when to hisastonishment he perceived that a strange cormorant was endeavouring toreach them, its progress being impeded by an object which it carriedin its mouth. Satisfying himself that his own birds were still on theraft, Ten-teh looked round in expectation for the boat of anotherfisherman, although none but he had ever within his memory soughtthose waters, but as far as he could see the wide-stretching lagoonwas deserted by all but themselves. He accordingly waited, drawing inhis pole, and inciting the bird on by cries of encouragement.
"A nobly-born cormorant without doubt," exclaimed the youthapprovingly. "He is lacking the throat-strap, yet he holds his preydexterously and makes no movement to consume it. But the fish itselfis outlined strangely."
As the bird drew near Ten-teh also saw that it was devoid of the usualstrap which in the exercise of his craft was necessary as a barrieragainst the gluttonous instincts of the race. It was unnaturallylarge, and even at a distance Ten-teh could see that its plumage wassmoothed to a polished lustre, its eye alert, and the movement of itsflight untamed. But, as the youth had said, the fish it carried loomedmysteriously.
"The Wise One and the Crafty Image--behold they prostrate themselves!"cried the youth in a tone of awe-inspired surprise, and without apause he stepped off the raft and submerged himself beneath thewaters.
It was even as he asserted; Ten-teh turned his eyes and lo, his twocormorants, instead of rising in anger, as their contentious natureprompted, had sunk to the ground and were doing obeisance. Muchperturbed as to his own most prudent action, for the bird was nearingthe craft, Ten-teh judged it safest to accept this token and fallingdown he thrice knocked his forehead submissively. When he looked upagain the majestic bird had vanished as utterly as the flame that isquenched, and lying at his feet was a naked man-child.
"O master," said the voice of the assistant, as he cautiouslyprotruded his head above the surface of the raft, "has the visionfaded, or do creatures of the air before whom even their own kindkowtow still haunt the spot?"
"The manifestation has withdrawn," replied Ten-teh reassuringly, "butlike the touch of the omnipotent Buddha it has left behind it thatwhich proves its reality," and he pointed to the man-child.
"Beware, alas!" exclaimed the youth, preparing to immerse himself asecond time if the least cause arose; "and on no account permityourself to be drawn into the snare. Inevitably the affair tends toevil from the beginning and presently that which now appears as aman-child will assume the form of a devouring vampire and consume usall. Such occurrences are by no means uncommon when the greatsky-lantern is at its full distension."
"To maintain otherwise would be impious," admitted his master, "but atthe same time there is nothing to indicate that the beneficial deitiesare not the ones responsible for this apparition." With these humanewords the kindly-disposed Ten-teh wrapped his outer robe about theman-child and turned to lay him in the empty creel, when to hisprofound astonishment he saw that it was now filled with fish of therarest and most unapproachable kinds.
"Footsteps of the dragon!" exclaimed the youth, scrambling back on tothe raft hastily; "undoubtedly your acuter angle of looking at thevisitation was the inspired one. Let us abandon the man-child in anunfrequented spot and then proceed to divide the result of theadventure equally among us."
"An agreed portion shall be allotted," replied Ten-teh, "but toabandon so miraculously-endowed a being would cover even an outcastwith shame."
"'Shame fades in the morning; debts remain from day to day,'" repliedthe youth, the allusion of the proverb being to the difficulty ofsustaining life in times so exacting, when men pledged their householdgoods, their wives, even their ancestral records for a little flour ora jar of oil. "To the starving the taste of a grain of corn is moresatisfying than the thought of a roasted ox, but as many years mustpass as this creel now holds fish before the little one can disengagea catch or handle the pole."
"It is as the Many-Eyed One sees," replied Ten-teh, with unmoveddetermination. "This person has long desired a son, and those who walkinto an earthquake while imploring heaven for a sign are unworthy ofconsideration. Take this fish and depart until the morrow. Also,unless you would have the villagers regard you as not only deficientbut profane, reveal nothing of this happening to those whom youencounter." With these words Ten-teh dismissed him, not greatlydisturbed at the thought of whatever he might do; for in no case wouldany believe a word he spoke, while the greater likelihood tendedtowards his forgetting everything before he had reached his home.
As Ten-teh approached his own door his wife came forth to meet him."Much gladness!" she cried aloud before she saw his burden; "temperedonly by a regret that you did not abandon your chase at an earlierhour. Fear not for the present that the wolf-tusk of famine shall gnawour repose or that the dreaded wings of the white and scaly one shallhover about our house-top. Your wealthy cousin, journeying back to theCapital from the land of the spice forests, has been here in yourabsence, leaving you gifts of fur, silk, carved ivory, oil, wine, nutsand rice and rich foods of many kinds. He would have stayed to embraceyou were it not that his company of bearers awaited him at an arrangedspot and he had already been long delayed."
Then said Ten-teh, well knowing that he had no such desirablerelative, but drawn to secrecy by the unnatural course of events: "Theyears pass unperceived and all changes but the heart of man; howappeared my cousin, and has he greatly altered under the enervatingsun of a barbarian land?"
"He is now a little man, with a loose skin the colour of afinely-lacquered apricot," replied the woman. "His teeth are large andjagged, his expression open and sincere, and the sound of hisbreathing is like the continuous beating of waves upon a stony beach.Furthermore, he has ten fingers upon his left hand and a girdle ofrubies about his waist."
"The description is unmistakable," said Ten-teh evasively. "Did hechance to leave a parting message of any moment?"
"He twice remarked: 'When the sun sets the moon rises, but to-morrowthe drawn will break again,'" replied his wife. "Also, upon leaving heasked for ink, brushes and a fan, and upon it he inscribed certainwords." She thereupon handed the fan to Ten-teh, who read, written incharacters of surpassing beauty and exactness, the proverb:"Well-guarded lips, patient alertness and a heart conscientiouslydischarging its accepted duty: these three things have a sure reward."
At that moment Ten-teh's wife saw that he carried something beyond hiscreel and discovering the man-child she cried out with delight,pouring forth a torrent of inquiries and striving to possess it. "Atale half told is the father of many lies," exclaimed Ten-teh atlength, "and of the greater part of what you ask this person knowsneither the beginning nor the end. Let what is written on the fansuffice." With this he explained to her the meaning of the charactersand made their significance clear. Then without another word he placedthe man-child in her arms and led her back into the house.
From that time Hoang, as he was thenceforward called, was receivedinto the household of Ten-teh, and from that time Ten-teh prospered.Without ever approaching a condition of affluence or dignified ease,he was never exposed to the penury and vicissitudes which he had beenwont to experience; so that none had need to go hungry or ill-clad. Iffamine ravaged the villages Ten-teh's store of grain was miraculouslymaintained; his success on the lagoons was unvaried, fish even leapingon to the structure of the raft. Frequently in dark and undisturbedparts of the house he found sums of money and other valuable articlesof which he had no remembrance, while it was no uncommon thing forpassing merchants to leave bales of goods at his door in mistake andto meet with some accident which prevented them from ever againvisiting that part of the country. In the meanwhile Hoang grew frominfancy into childhood, taking part with Ten-teh in all his pursuits,yet even in the most menial occupation never wholly shaking off theair of command and nobility of bearing which lay upon him. In strengthand endurance he outpaced all the youths around, while in themanipulation of the raft and the dexterous handling of the cormorantshe covered Ten-teh with gratified shame. So
excessive was the devotionwhich he aroused in those who knew him that the deficient youth weptopenly if Hoang chanced to cough or sneeze; and it is even assertedthat on more than one occasion high officials, struck by the authorityof his presence, though he might be in the act of carrying fish alongthe road, hastily descended from their chairs and prostratedthemselves before him.
In the fourteenth year of the reign of the usurper Fuh-chi a littlebreeze rising in the Province of Sz-chuen began to spread through allthe land and men's minds were again agitated by the memory of a hopewhich had long seemed dead. At that period the tyrannical Fuh-chifinally abandoned the last remaining vestige of restraint and by hiscrimes and excesses alienated even the protection of the evil spiritsand the fidelity of his chosen guard; so that he conspired withhimself to bring about his own destruction. One discriminating adviseralone had stood at the foot of the throne, and being no less resolutethan far-seeing, he did not hesitate to warn Fuh-chi and to hold theprophetic threat of rebellion before his eyes. Such sincerity met withthe reward not difficult to conjecture.
"Who are our enemies?" exclaimed Fuh-chi, turning to a notoriousflatterer at his side, "and where are they who are displeased with ourtoo lenient rule?"
"Your enemies, O Brother of the Sun and Prototype of the Red-leggedCrane, are dead and unmourned. The living do naught but speak of yourclemency and bask in the radiance of your eye-light," protested theflatterer.
"It is well said," replied Fuh-chi. "How is it, then, that any can eatof our rice and receive our bounty and yet repay us with ingratitudeand taunts, holding their joints stiffly in our presence? Lo, evenlambs have the grace to suck kneeling."
"Omnipotence," replied the just minister, "if this person is deficientin the more supple graces of your illustrious Court it is because thegreater part of his life has been spent in waging your wars inuncivilized regions. Nevertheless, the alarm can be as competentlysounded upon a brass drum as by a silver trumpet, and his words cameforth from a sincere throat."
"Then the opportunity is by no means to be lost," exclaimed Fuh-chi,who was by this time standing some distance from himself in theeffects of distilled pear juice; "for we have long desired to see thedifference which must undoubtedly exist between a sincere throat andone bent to the continual use of evasive flattery."
Without further consideration he ordered that both persons should bebeheaded and that their bodies should be brought for his inspection.From that time there was none to stay his hand or to guide his policy,so that he mixed blood and wine in foolishness and lust until the landwas sick and heaved.
The whisper starting from Sz-chuen passed from house to house and fromtown to town until it had cast a network over every province, yet noman could say whence it came or by whom the word was passed. It mightbe in the manner of a greeting or the pledging of a cup of tea, by theoffer of a coin to a blind beggar at the gate, in the fold of acarelessly-worn garment, or even by the passing of a leper through atown. Oppression still lay heavily upon the people; but it was withoutaim and carried no restraint; famine and pestilence still went hand inhand, but the message rode on their backs and was hospitably received.Soon, growing bolder, men stood face to face and spoke of settledplans, gave signs, and openly declared themselves. On all sidesproclamations began to be affixed; next weapons were distributed,hands were made proficient in their uses, until nothing remained butdefinite instruction and a swift summons for the appointed day. Atintervals omens had appeared in the sky and prophecies had been putinto the mouths of sooth-sayers, so that of the success of theundertaking and of its justice none doubted. On the north and the westentire districts had reverted to barbarism, and on the coasts thepirates anchored by the water-gates of walled cities and tossed jeststo the watchmen on the towers.
Throughout this period Ten-teh had surrounded Hoang with an addedcare, never permitting him to wander beyond his sight, and distrustingall men in spite of his confiding nature. One night, when a fiercestorm beyond the memory of man was raging, there came at the middlehour a knocking upon the outer wall, loud and insistent; neverthelessTen-teh did not at once throw open the door in courteous invitation,but drawing aside a shutter he looked forth. Before the house stood oneof commanding stature, clad from head to foot in robes composed ofplaited grasses, dyed in many colours. Around him ran a stream ofwater, while the lightning issuing in never-ceasing flashes from hiseyes revealed that his features were rugged and his ears pierced withmany holes from which the wind whistled until the sound resembled theshrieks of ten thousand tortured ones under the branding-iron. Fromhim the tempest proceeded in every direction, but he stood unmovedamong it, without so much as a petal of the flowers he woredisarranged.
In spite of these indications, and of the undoubted fact that theBeing could destroy the house with a single glance, Ten-teh stillhesitated.
"The night is dark and stormy, and robbers and evil spirits arecertainly about in large numbers, striving to enter unperceived by anyopen door," he protested, but with becoming deference. "With what doesyour welcome and opportune visit concern itself, honourable stranger?"
"The one before you is not accustomed to be questioned in his doings,or even to be spoken to by ordinary persons," replied the Being."Nevertheless, Ten-teh, there is that in your history for the pastfourteen years which saves you from the usual fatal consequences of sogross an indiscretion. Let it suffice that it is concerned with theflight of the cormorant."
Upon this assurance Ten-teh no longer sought evasion. He hastened tothrow open the outer door and the stranger entered, whereupon thetempest ceased, although the thunder and lightning still lingeredamong the higher mountains. In passing through the doorway the robe ofplaited grasses caught for a moment on the staple and pulling asiderevealed that the Being wore upon his left foot a golden sandal andupon his right foot one of iron, while embedded in his throat was agreat pearl. Convinced by this that he was indeed one of the ImmortalEight, Ten-teh prostrated himself fittingly, and explained that theapparent disrespect of his reception arose from a conscientiousinterest in the safety of the one committed to his care.
"It is well," replied the Being affably; "and your unvarying fidelityshall not go unrewarded when the proper time arrives. Now bringforward the one whom hitherto you have wisely called Hoang."
In secret during the past years Ten-teh had prepared for such anemergency a yellow silk robe bearing embroidered on it the ImperialDragon with Five Claws. He had also provided suitable ornaments, furcoverings for the hands and face, and a sword and shield. WakingHoang, he quickly dressed him, sprinkled a costly perfume about hishead and face, and taking him for the last time by the hand he led himinto the presence of the stranger.
"Kwo Kam, chosen representative of the sacred line of Tang," began theBeing, when he and Hoang had exchanged signs and greetings of equalityin an obscure tongue, "the grafted peach-tree on the Crystal Wall isstricken and the fruit is ripe and rotten to the touch. The flies thathave fed upon its juice are drunk with it and lie helpless on theground; the skin is empty and blown out with air, the leaves withered,and about the root is coiled a great worm which has secretly worked tothis end. From the Five Points of the kingdom and beyond the OuterWillow Circle the Sheaf-binders have made a full report and it hasbeen judged that the time is come for the tree to be roughly shaken.To this destiny the Old Ones of your race now call you; but beware ofsetting out unless your face should be unchangingly fixed and yourheart pure from all earthly desires and base considerations."
"The decision is too ever-present in my mind to need reflection,"replied Hoang resolutely. "To grind to powder that presumptuous tyrantutterly, to restore the integrity of the violated boundaries of theland, and to set up again the venerable Tablets of the true Tangline--these desires have long since worn away the softer portion ofthis person's heart by constant thought."
"The choice has been made and the words have been duly set down," saidthe Being. "If you maintain your high purpose to a prosperous endnothing can exceed your honour in the Upper Air;
if you fail culpably,or even through incapacity, the lot of Fuh-chi himself will beenviable compared with yours."
Understanding that the time had now come for his departure, Hoangapproached Ten-teh as though he would have embraced him, but the Beingmade a gesture of restraint.
"Yet, O instructor, for the space of fourteen years--" protestedHoang.
"It has been well and discreetly accomplished," replied the Being in afirm but not unsympathetic voice, "and Ten-teh's reward, which shallbe neither slight nor grudging, is awaiting him in the Upper Air,where already his immediate ancestors are very honourably regarded inconsequence. For many years, O Ten-teh, there has dwelt beneath yourroof one who from this moment must be regarded as having passed awaywithout leaving even a breath of memory behind. Before you stands yoursovereign, to whom it is seemly that you should prostrate yourself inunquestioning obeisance. Do not look for any recompense or distinctionhere below in return for that which you have done towards a namelessone; for in the State there are many things which for high reasonscannot be openly proclaimed for the ill-disposed to use as feathers intheir darts. Yet take this ring; the ears of the Illimitable Emperorare never closed to the supplicating petition of his children andshould such a contingency arise you may freely lay your cause beforehim with the full assurance of an unswerving justice."
A moment later the storm broke out again with redoubled vigour, andraising his face from the ground Ten-teh perceived that he was againalone.
ii. THE MESSAGE FROM THE OUTER LAND
After the departure of Hoang the affairs of Ten-teh ceased to prosper.The fish which for so many years had leaped to meet his hand nowmaintained an unparalleled dexterity in avoiding it; continual stormsdrove him day after day back to the shore, and the fosteringbeneficence of the deities seemed to be withdrawn, so that he nolonger found forgotten stores of wealth nor did merchants ever againmistake his door for that of another to whom they were indebted.
In the year that followed there passed from time to time through thesecluded villages lying in the Upper Seng valley persons who spoke ofthe tumultuous events progressing everywhere. In such a manner thosewho had remained behind learned that the great rising had beenhonourably received by the justice-loving in every province, but thatmany of official rank, inspired by no friendship towards Fuh-chi, butterror-stricken at the alternatives before them, had closed certainstrong cities against the Army of the Avenging Pure. It was at thiscrisis, when the balance of the nation's destiny hung poised, that KwoKam, the only son of the Emperor Tung Kwei, and rightful heir of thedynasty of the glorious Tang, miraculously appeared at the head of theAvenging Pure and being acclaimed their leader with a unanimous shoutled them on through a series of overwhelming and irresistiblevictories. At a later period it was told how Kwo Kam had been crownedand installed upon his father's throne, after receiving a mark ofcelestial approbation in the Temple of Heaven, how Fuh-chi had escapedand fled and how his misleading records had been publicly burned andhis detestable name utterly blotted out.
At this period an even greater misfortune than his consistent illsuccess met Ten-teh. A neighbouring mandarin, on a false pretext,caused him to be brought before him, and speaking very sternly ofcertain matters in the past, which, he said, out of a well-intentionedregard for the memory of Ten-teh's father he would not cast abroad, hefined him a much larger sum than all he possessed, and then at oncecaused the raft and the cormorants to be seized in satisfaction of theclaim. This he did because his heart was bad, and the sight of Ten-tehbearing a cheerful countenance under continual privation had becomeoffensive to him.
The story of this act of rapine Ten-teh at once carried to theappointed head of the village communities, assuring him that he wasignorant of the cause, but that no crime or wrong-doing had beencommitted to call for so overwhelming an affliction in return, andentreating him to compel a just restitution and liberty to pursue hisinoffensive calling peaceably in the future.
"Listen well, O unassuming Ten-teh, for you are a person ofdiscernment and one with a mature knowledge of the habits of allswimming creatures," said the headman after attending patiently toTen-teh's words. "If two lean and insignificant carp encountered avoracious pike and one at length fell into his jaws, by what meanswould the other compel the assailant to release his prey?"
"So courageous an emotion would serve no useful purpose," repliedTen-teh. "Being ill-equipped for such a conflict, it would inevitablyresult in the second fish also falling a prey to the voracious pike,and recognizing this, the more fortunate of the two would endeavour toescape by lying unperceived among the reeds about."
"The answer is inspired and at the same time sufficiently concise tolie within the hollow bowl of an opium pipe," replied the headman, andturning to his bench he continued in his occupation of beating flaxwith a wooden mallet.
"Yet," protested Ten-teh, when at length the other paused, "surely thematter could be placed before those in authority in so convincing alight by one possessing your admitted eloquence that Justice wouldstumble over herself in her haste to liberate the oppressed and todegrade the guilty."
"The phenomenon has occasionally been witnessed, but latterly it wouldappear that the conscientious deity in question must have lost allpower of movement, or perhaps even fatally injured herself, as theresult of some such act of rash impulsiveness in the past," repliedthe headman sympathetically.
"Alas, then," exclaimed Ten-teh, "is there, under the most enlightenedform of government in the world, no prescribed method of obtainingredress?"
"Assuredly," replied the headman; "the prescribed method is the partof the system that has received the most attention. As the one of whomyou complain is a mandarin of the fifth degree, you may fittinglyaddress yourself to his superiors of the fourth, third, second andfirst degrees. Then there are the city governors, the districtprefects, the provincial rulers, the Imperial Assessors, the Board ofCensors, the Guider of the Vermilion Pencil, and, finally, the supremeEmperor himself. To each of these, if you are wealthy enough to reachhis actual presence, you may prostrate yourself in turn, and each one,with many courteous expressions of intolerable regret that the matterdoes not come within his office, will refer you to another. The moreprudent course, therefore, would seem to be that of beginning with theEmperor rather than reaching him as the last resort, and as you arenow without means of livelihood if you remain here there is no reasonwhy you should not journey to the Capital and make the attempt."
"The Highest!" exclaimed Ten-teh, with a pang of unfathomable emotion."Is there, then, no middle way? Who is Ten-teh, the obscure andilliterate fisherman, that he should thrust himself into the presenceof the Son of Heaven? If the mother of the dutiful Chou Yii coulddestroy herself and her family at one blow to the end that her sonmight serve his sovereign with a single heart, how degraded an outcastmust he be who would obtrude his own trivial misfortunes at socritical a time."
"'A thorn in one's own little finger is more difficult to endure thana sword piercing the sublime Emperor's arm,'" replied the headman,resuming his occupation. "But if your angle of regarding the variousobligations is as you have stated it, then there is obviously nothingmore to be said. In any case it is more than doubtful whether theFountain of Justice would raise an eyelash if you, by everycombination of fortunate circumstance, succeeded in reaching hispresence."
"The headman has spoken, and his word is ten times more weighty thanthat of an ill-educated fisherman," replied Ten-teh submissively, andhe departed.
From that time Ten-teh sought to sustain life upon roots and wildherbs which he collected laboriously and not always in sufficientquantities from the woods and rank wastes around. Soon even thisresource failed him in a great measure, for a famine of unprecedentedharshness swept over that part of the province. All supplies ofadequate food ceased, and those who survived were driven by the pangsof hunger to consume weeds and the bark of trees, fallen leaves,insects of the lowest orders and the bones of wild animals which haddied in the forest. To carry a littl
e rice openly was a rash challengeto those who still valued life, and a loaf of chaff and black mouldwas guarded as a precious jewel. No wife or daughter could weigh inthe balance against a measure of corn, and men sold themselves intocaptivity to secure the coarse nourishment which the rich allotted totheir slaves. Those who remained in the villages followed in Ten-teh'sfootsteps, so that the meagre harvest that hitherto had failed tosupply one household now constituted the whole provision for many. Atlength these persons, seeing a lingering but inevitable death beforethem all, came together and spoke of how this might perchance beavoided.
"Let us consider well," said one of their number, "for it may be thatsuccour would not be withheld did we but know the precise manner inwhich to invoke it."
"Your words are light, O Tan-yung, and your eyes too bright in lookingat things which present no encouragement whatever," replied another."We who remain are old, infirm, or in some way deficient, or we wouldere this have sold ourselves into slavery or left this accursed desertin search of a more prolific land. Therefore our existence is of novalue to the State, so that they will not take any pains to preserveit. Furthermore, now being beyond the grasp of the most covetousextortion, the district officials have no reason for maintaining aninterest in our lives. Assuredly there is no escape except by theWhite Door of which each one himself holds the key."
"Yet," objected a third, "the aged Ning has often recounted how in thelatter years of the reign of the charitable Emperor Kwong, when asimilar infliction lay upon the land, a bullock-load of rice was sentdaily into the villages of the valley and freely distributed by theheadman. Now that same munificent Kwong was a direct ancestor to thethird degree of our own Kwo Kam."
"Alas!" remarked a person who had lost many of his features during araid of brigands, "since the days of the commendable Kwong, while thefeet of our lesser ones have been growing smaller the hands of ourgreater ones have been growing larger. Yet even nowadays, by theprotection of the deities, the bullock might reach us."
"The wheel-grease of the cart would alone make the day memorable,"murmured another.
"O brothers," interposed one who had not yet spoken, "do not cause ourthroats to twitch convulsively; nor is it in any way useful to leavethe date of solid reflection in pursuit of the stone of light andversatile fancy. Is it thought to be expedient that we should send anemissary to those in authority, pleading our straits?"
"Have not two already journeyed to Kuing-yi in our cause, and to whatend?" replied the second one who had raised his voice.
"They did but seek the city mandarin and failed to reach his ear,being empty-handed," urged Tan-yung. "The distance to the Capital isadmittedly great, yet it is no more than a persevering andresolute-minded man could certainly achieve. There prostrating himselfbefore the Sublime One and invoking the memory of the imperishableKwong he could so outline our necessity and despair that the onewagon-load referred to would be increased by nine and the unwieldyoxen give place to relays of swift horses."
"The Emperor!" exclaimed the one who had last spoken, in tones ofundisguised contempt towards Tan-yung. "Is the eye of theUnapproachable Sovereign less than that of a city mandarin, thathaving failed to come near the one we should now strive to reach theother; or are we, peradventure, to fill the sleeves of our messengerwith gold and his inner scrip with sapphires!" Nevertheless thegreater part of those who stood around zealously supported Tan-yung,crying aloud: "The Emperor! The suggestion is inspired! Undoubtedlythe beneficent Kwo Kam will uphold our cause and our troubles may nowbe considered as almost at an end."
"Yet," interposed a faltering voice, "who among us is to go?"
At the mention of this necessary detail of the plan the cries whichwere the loudest raised in exultation suddenly leapt back uponthemselves as each person looked in turn at all the others and then athimself. The one who had urged the opportune but disconcerting pointwas lacking in the power of movement in his lower limbs and progressedat a pace little advanced to that of a shell-cow upon two slabs ofwood. Tan-yung was subject to a disorder which without any warningcast him to the ground almost daily in a condition of writhing frenzy;the one who had opposed him was paralysed in all but his head andfeet, while those who stood about were either blind, lame,camel-backed, leprous, armless, misshapen, or in some way mentally orbodily deficient in an insuperable degree. "Alas!" exclaimed one, asthe true understanding of their deformities possessed him, "not onlywould they of the Court receive it as a most detestable insult if wesent such as ourselves, but the probability of anyone so harassedovercoming the difficulties of river, desert and mountain barrier isso remote that this person is more than willing to stake his entireshare of the anticipated bounty against a span-length of succulentlotus root or an embossed coffin handle."
"Let unworthy despair fade!" suddenly exclaimed Tan-yung, whonevertheless had been more downcast than any other a moment before;"for among us has been retained one who has probably been especiallydestined for this very service. There is yet Ten-teh. Let us seek himout."
With this design they sought for Ten-teh and finding him in his hutthey confidently invoked his assistance, pointing out how he wouldsave all their lives and receive great honour. To their dismay Ten-tehreceived them with solemn curses and drove them from his door withblows, calling them traitors, ungrateful ones, and rebellious subjectswhose minds were so far removed from submissive loyalty that ratherthan perish harmlessly they would inopportunely thrust themselves inupon the attention of the divine Emperor when his mind was full ofgreat matters and his thoughts tenaciously fixed upon the scheme forreclaiming the abandoned outer lands of his forefathers. "Behold," hecried, "when a hand is raised to sweep into oblivion a thousandearthworms they lift no voice in protest, and in this matter ye areless than earthworms. The dogs are content to starve dumbly whiletheir masters feast, and ye are less than dogs. The dutiful soncheerfully submits himself to torture on the chance that his father'ssufferings may be lessened, and the Emperor, as the supreme head, ismore to be venerated than any father; but your hearts are sheathed inavarice and greed." Thus he drove them away, and their last hope beinggone they wandered back to the forest, wailing and filling the airwith their despairing moans; for the brief light that had inspiredthem was extinguished and the thought that by a patient endurance theymight spare the Emperor an unnecessary pang was not a sufficientrecompense in their eyes.
The time of warmth and green life passed. With winter came floods andsnow-storms, great tempests from the north and bitter winds that cutmen down as though they had been smitten by the sword. The rivers andlagoons were frozen over; the meagre sustenance of the earth layhidden beneath an impenetrable crust of snow and ice, until those whohad hitherto found it a desperate chance to live from day to day nowabandoned the unequal struggle for the more attractive certainty of aswift and painless death. One by one the fires went out in the housesof the dead; the ever-increasing snow broke down the walls. Wildbeasts from the mountains walked openly about the deserted streets,thrust themselves through such doors as were closed against them andlurked by night in the most sacred recesses of the ruined temples. Thestrong and the wealthy had long since fled, and presently out of allthe eleven villages of the valley but one man remained alive andTen-teh lay upon the floor of his inner chamber, dying.
"There was a sign--there was a sign in the past that more was yet tobe accomplished," ran the one thought of his mind as he lay therehelpless, his last grain consumed and the ashes on his hearthstoneblack. "Can it be that so solemn an omen has fallen unfulfilled to theground; or has this person long walked hand in hand with shadows inthe Middle Air?"
"Dwellers of Yin; dwellers of Chung-yo; of Wei, Shan-ta, Feng, theRock of the Bleak Pagoda and all the eleven villages of the valley!"cried a voice from without. "Ho, inhospitable sleeping ones, I havereached the last dwelling of the plain and no one has as yet bidden meenter, no voice invited me to unlace my sandals and partake of tea. Dothey fear that this person is a robber in disguise, or is this thecourtesy of the Upper Seng vall
ey?"
"They sleep more deeply," said Ten-teh, speaking back to the fullextent of his failing power; "perchance your voice was not raised highenough, O estimable wayfarer. Nevertheless, whether you come in peaceor armed with violence, enter here, for the one who lies within ispast help and beyond injury."
Upon this invitation the stranger entered and stood before Ten-teh. Hewas of a fierce and martial aspect, carrying a sword at his belt and abow and arrows slung across his back, but privation had set a deepmark upon his features and his body bore unmistakable traces of a longand arduous march. His garments were ragged, his limbs torn by rocksand thorny undergrowth, while his ears had fallen away before therigour of the ice-laden blasts. In his right hand he carried a staffupon which he leaned at every step, and glancing to the ground Ten-tehperceived that the lower part of his sandals were worn away so that hetrod painfully upon his bruised and naked feet.
"Greeting," said Ten-teh, when they had regarded each other for amoment; "yet, alas, no more substantial than of the lips, for thehospitality of the eleven villages is shrunk to what you see beforeyou," and he waved his arm feebly towards the empty bowl and theblackened hearth. "Whence come you?"
"From the outer land of Im-kau," replied the other. "Over theKang-ling mountains."
"It is a moon-to-moon journey," said Ten-teh. "Few travellers haveever reached the valley by that inaccessible track."
"More may come before the snow has melted," replied the stranger, witha stress of significance. "Less than seven days ago this person stoodupon the northern plains."
Ten-teh raised himself upon his arm. "There existed, many cycles ago,a path--of a single foot's width, it is said--along the edge of thePass called the Ram's Horn, but it has been lost beyond the memory ofman."
"It has been found again," said the stranger, "and Kha-hia and hishorde of Kins, joined by the vengeance-breathing Fuh-chi, lie encampedless than a short march beyond the Pass."
"It can matter little," said Ten-teh, trembling but speaking toreassure himself. "The people are at peace among themselves, theCapital adequately defended, and an army sufficiently large to meetany invasion can march out and engage the enemy at a spot mostconvenient to ourselves."
"A few days hence, when all preparation is made," continued thestranger, "a cloud of armed men will suddenly appear openly, menacingthe western boundaries. The Capital and the fortified places will bedenuded, and all who are available will march out to meet them. Theywill be but as an empty shell designed to serve a crafty purpose, forin the meanwhile Kha-hia will creep unsuspected through the Kang-lingsby the Ram's Horn and before the army can be recalled he will swiftlyfall upon the defenceless Capital and possess it."
"Alas!" exclaimed Ten-teh, "why has the end tarried thus long if it bebut for this person's ears to carry to the grave so tormenting amessage! Yet how comes it, O stranger, that having been admitted toKha-hia's innermost council you now betray his trust, or how canreliance be placed upon the word of one so treacherous?"
"Touching the reason," replied the stranger, with no appearance ofresentment, "that is a matter which must one day lie between Kha-hia,this person, and one long since Passed Beyond, and to this end have Iuncomplainingly striven for the greater part of a lifetime. For therest, men do not cross the King-langs in midwinter, wearing away theirlives upon those stormy heights, to make a jest of empty words.Already sinking into the Under World, even as I am now powerless toraise myself above the ground, I, Nau-Kaou, swear and attest what Ihave spoken."
"Yet, alas!" exclaimed Ten-teh, striking his breast bitterly in hisdejection, "to what end is it that you have journeyed? Know that outof all the eleven villages by famine and pestilence not another manremains. Beyond the valley stretch the uninhabited sand plains, sothat between here and the Capital not a solitary dweller could befound to bear the message."
"The Silent One laughs!" replied Nau-Kaou dispassionately; and drawinghis cloak more closely about him he would have composed himself into areverent attitude to Pass Beyond.
"Not so!" cried Ten-teh, rising in his inspired purpose and standingupright despite the fever that possessed him; "the jewel is preciousbeyond comparison and the casket mean and falling to pieces, but thereis none other. This person will bear the warning."
The stranger looked up from the ground in an increasing wonder. "Youdo but dream, old man," he said in a compassionate voice. "Before mestands one of trembling limbs and infirm appearance. His face is thecolour of potter's clay; his eyes sunken and yellow. His bonesprotrude everywhere like the points of armour, while his garment isscarcely fitted to afford protection against a summer breeze."
"Such dreams do not fade with the light," replied Ten-teh resolutely."His feet are whole and untired; his mind clear. His heart is asinflexibly fixed as the decrees of destiny, and, above all, hispurpose is one which may reasonably demand divine encouragement."
"Yet there are the Han-sing mountains, flung as an insurmountablebarrier across the way," said Nau-Kaou.
"The wind passes over them," replied Ten-teh, binding on his sandals.
"The Girdle," continued the other, thereby indicating the formidableobstacle presented by the tempestuous river, swollen by the mountainsnows.
"The fish, moved by no great purpose, swim from bank to bank," againreplied Ten-teh. "Tell me rather, for the time presses when suchissues hang on the lips of dying men, to what extent Kha-hia's legionsstretch?"
"In number," replied Nau-Kaou, closing his eyes, "they are as thestars on a very clear night, when the thousands in front do but serveto conceal the innumerable throng behind. Yet even a small andresolute army taking up its stand secretly in this valley and fallingupon them unexpectedly when half were crossed could throw them intodisorder and rout, and utterly destroy the power of Kha-hia for alltime."
"So shall it be," said Ten-Teh from the door. "Pass Upward with atranquil mind, O stranger from the outer land. The torch which youhave borne so far will not fail until his pyre is lit."
"Stay but a moment," cried Nau-Kaou. "This person, full of vigour andresource, needed the spur of a most poignant hate to urge his trailingfootsteps. Have you, O decrepit one, any such incentive to yourfailing powers?"
"A mightier one," came back the voice of Ten-teh, across the snow fromafar. "Fear not."
"It is well; they are the great twin brothers," exclaimed Nau-Kaou."Kha-hia is doomed!" Then twice beating the ground with his open handhe loosened his spirit and passed contentedly into the Upper Air.
iii. THE LAST SERVICE
The wise and accomplished Emperor Kwo Kam (to whom later historianshave justly given the title "Profound") sat upon his agate throne inthe Hall of Audience. Around him were gathered the most illustriousfrom every province of the Empire, while emissaries from the courts ofother rulers throughout the world passed in procession before him,prostrating themselves in token of the dependence which theirsovereigns confessed, and imploring his tolerant acceptance of thepriceless gifts they brought. Along the walls stood musicians andsingers who filled the air with melodious visions, while fan-bearingslaves dexterously wafted perfumed breezes into every group. Sounparalleled was the splendour of the scene that rare embroideredsilks were trodden under foot and a great fountain was composed ofdiamonds dropping into a jade basin full of pearls, but Kwo Kamoutshone all else by the dignity of his air and the magnificence ofhis apparel.
Suddenly, and without any of the heralding strains of drums andcymbals by which persons of distinction had been announced, the arrasbefore the chief door was plucked aside and a figure, blinded by somuch jewelled brilliance, stumbled into the chamber, still holdingthrust out before him the engraved ring bearing the Imperial emblemwhich alone had enabled him to pass the keepers of the outer gatesalive. He had the appearance of being a very aged man, for his hairwas white and scanty, his face deep with shadows and lined like ariver bank when the waters have receded, and as he advanced, bent downwith infirmity, he mumbled certain words in ceaseless repetition. Fromhis feet
and garment there fell a sprinkling of sand as he moved, andblood dropped to the floor from many an unhealed wound, but his eyeswere very bright, and though sword-handles were grasped on all sidesat the sight of so presumptuous an intrusion, yet none opposed him.Rather, they fell back, leaving an open passage to the foot of thethrone; so that when the Emperor lifted his eyes he saw the aged manmoving slowly forward to do obeisance.
"Ten-teh, revered father!" exclaimed Kwo Kam, and without pausing amoment he leapt down from off his throne, thrust aside those who stoodabout him and casting his own outer robe of state about Ten-teh'sshoulders embraced him affectionately.
"Supreme ruler," murmured Ten-teh, speaking for the Emperor's earalone, and in such a tone of voice as of one who has taught himself alesson which remains after all other consciousness has passed away,"an army swiftly to the north! Let them dispose themselves about theeleven villages and, overlooking the invaders as they assemble, strikewhen they are sufficiently numerous for the victory to be lasting anddecisive. The passage of the Ram's Horn has been found and themalignant Fuh-chi, banded in an unnatural alliance with the barbarianKins, lies with itching feet beyond the Kang-lings. The invasionthreatening on the west is but a snare; let a single camp, feigning tobe a multitudinous legion, be thrown against it. Suffer delay from nocause. Weigh no alternative. He who speaks is Ten-teh, at whoseassuring word the youth Hoang was wont to cast himself into thedeepest waters fearlessly. His eyes are no less clear to-day, but hisheart is made small with overwhelming deference or in unshrinkingloyalty he would cry: 'Hear and obey! All, all--Flags, Ironcaps,Tigers, Braves--all to the Seng valley, leaving behind them theswallow in their march and moving with the guile and secrecy of theringed tree-snake.'" With these words Ten-teh's endurance passed itsdrawn-out limit and again repeating in a clear and decisive voice,"All, all to the north!" he released his joints and would have fallento the ground had it not been for the Emperor's restraining arms.
When Ten-teh again returned to a knowledge of the lower world he wasseated upon the throne to which the Emperor had borne him. His resthad been made easy by the luxurious cloaks of the courtiers andemissaries which had been lavishly heaped about him, while during histrance the truly high-minded Kwo Kam had not disdained to wash hisfeet in a golden basin of perfumed water, to shave his limbs, and toanoint his head. The greater part of the assembly had been dismissed,but some of the most trusted among the ministers and officials stillwaited in attendance about the door.
"Great and enlightened one," said Ten-teh, as soon as his stupor waslifted, "has this person delivered his message competently, for hismind was still a seared vision of snow and sand and perchance histongue has stumbled?"
"Bend your ears to the wall, O my father," replied the Emperor, "andbe assured."
A radiance of the fullest satisfaction lifted the settling shadows fora moment from Ten-teh's countenance as from the outer court came atintervals the low and guarded words of command, the orderly clashingof weapons as they fell into their appointed places, and the regularand unceasing tread of armed men marching forth. "To the Sengvalley--by no chance to the west?" he demanded, trembling betweenanxiety and hope, and drinking in the sound of the rhythmic trampwhich to his ears possessed a more alluring charm than if it were themelody of blind singing girls.
"Even to the eleven villages," replied the Emperor. "At yourunquestioned word, though my kingdom should hang upon the outcome."
"It is sufficient to have lived so long," said Ten-teh. Thenperceiving that it was evening, for the jade and crystal lamps werelighted, he cried out: "The time has leapt unnoted. How many are bythis hour upon the march?"
"Sixscore companies of a hundred spearmen each," said Kwo Kam. "Bydawn four times that number will be on their way. In less than threedays a like force will be disposed about the passes of the Han-singmountains and the river fords, while at the same time the guards fromless important towns will have been withdrawn to take their place uponthe city walls."
"Such words are more melodious than the sound of many marble lutes,"said Ten-teh, sinking back as though in repose. "Now is mine thatpeace spoken of by the philosopher Chi-chey as the greatest: 'The eyeclosing upon its accomplished work.'"
"Assuredly do you stand in need of the healing sleep of nature," saidthe Emperor, not grasping the inner significance of the words. "Nowthat you are somewhat rested, esteemed sire, suffer this one to showyou the various apartments of the palace so that you may select foryour own such as most pleasingly attract your notice."
"Yet a little longer," entreated Ten-teh. "A little longer by yourside and listening to your voice alone, if it may be permitted, Osublime one."
"It is for my father to command," replied Kwo Kam. "Perchance they ofthe eleven villages sent some special message of gratifying loyaltywhich you would relate without delay?"
"They slept, omnipotence, or without doubt it would be so," repliedTen-teh.
"Truly," agreed the Emperor. "It was night when you set forth, myfather?"
"The shadows had fallen deeply upon the Upper Seng Valley," saidTen-teh evasively.
"The Keeper of the Imperial Stores has frequently conveyed to us theirexpressions of unfeigned gratitude for the bounty by which we havesought to keep alive the memory of their hospitality and our ownindebtedness," said the Emperor.
"The sympathetic person cannot have overstated their words," repliedTen-teh falteringly. "Never, as their own utterances bear testimony,never was food more welcome, fuel more eagerly sought for, andclothing more necessary than in the years of the most recent past."
"The assurance is as dew upon the drooping lotus," said Kwo Kam, witha lightening countenance. "To maintain the people in an unshakenprosperity, to frown heavily upon extortion and to establish justicethroughout the land--these have been the achievements of the years ofpeace. Yet often, O my father, this one's mind has turned yearninglyto the happier absence of strife and the simple abundance which youand they of the valley know."
"The deities ordain and the balance weighs; your reward will be thegreater," replied Ten-teh. Already he spoke with difficulty, and hiseyes were fast closing, but he held himself rigidly, well knowing thathis spirit must still obey his will.
"Do you not crave now to partake of food and wine?" inquired theEmperor, with tender solicitude. "A feast has long been prepared ofthe choicest dishes in your honour. Consider well the fatigue throughwhich you have passed."
"It has faded," replied Ten-teh, in a voice scarcely above a whisper,"the earthly body has ceased to sway the mind. A little longer,restored one; a very brief span of time."
"Your words are my breath, my father," said the Emperor,deferentially. "Yet there is one matter which we had reserved foraffectionate censure. It would have spared the feet of one who isforemost in our concern if you had been content to send the warning byone of the slaves whose acceptance we craved last year, while youfollowed more leisurely by the chariot and the eight white horseswhich we deemed suited to your use."
Ten-teh was no longer able to express himself in words, but at thisindication of the Emperor's unceasing thought a great happiness shoneon his face. "What remains?" must reasonably have been his reflection;"or who shall leave the shade of the fruitful palm-tree to search forraisins?" Therefore having reached so supreme an eminence that therewas nothing human above, he relaxed the effort by which he had so longsustained himself, and suffering his spirit to pass unchecked, he atonce fell back lifeless among the cushions of the throne.
That all who should come after might learn by his example, the historyof Ten-teh was inscribed upon eighteen tablets of jade, carvedpatiently and with graceful skill by the most expert stone-cutters ofthe age. A triumphal arch of seven heights was also erected outsidethe city and called by his name, but the efforts of story-tellers andpoets will keep alive the memory of Ten-teh even when theseimperishable monuments shall have long fallen from their destined use. *
When Kai Lung had completed the story of the loyalty of Te
n-teh andhad pointed out the forgotten splendour of the crumbling arch, thecoolness of the evening tempted them to resume their way. Movingwithout discomfort to themselves before nightfall they reached a smallbut seemly cottage conveniently placed upon the mountain-side. At thegate stood an aged person whose dignified appearance was greatly addedto by his long white moustaches. These possessions he pointed out toHwa-mei with inoffensive pride as he welcomed the two who stood beforehim.
"Venerated father," explained Kai Lung dutifully, "this is she who hasbeen destined from the beginning of time to raise up a hundred sons tokeep your line extant."
"In that case," remarked the patriarch, "your troubles are only justbeginning. As for me, since all that is now arranged, I can see aboutmy own departure--'Whatever height the tree, its leaves return to theearth at last.'"
"It is thus at evening-time--to-morrow the light will again shineforth," whispered Kai Lung. "Alas, radiance, that you who have dweltabout a palace should be brought to so mean a hut!"
"If it is small, your presence will pervade it; in a palace there aremany empty rooms," replied Hwa-mei, with a reassuring glance. "I enterto prepare our evening rice."
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