Poo Yu jails out with two of his cousins at the same time.

Poo Yu jails out with two of his cousins at the same time. Two lovers

tease one another with quotations from "The Play of the Western

Pavilion."

CiHIA LlEN REMAINED STANDING.

"Well?"

"The twenty‐first will be Cousin Precious Clasp's birthday. How

shall we celebrate it?"

"You must surely know that best yourself. You have had sufficient

experience in celebrating birthdays."

"Yes, those of grown‐up people; there are definite rules about those.

But one cannot yet count Cousin Precious Clasp as an adult, and

neither is she a child. That is the trouble."

"It's quite simple. We can celebrate her birthday just as Black Jade's

was celebrated last year."

"Of course I had already thought of that. But it won't do, for when

Grandmother recently inquired the ages of her various grandchildren,

we realized that Precious Clasp is now fifteen, so she is marriageable.

Grandmother thinks that we should pay special attention to the im‐ 

portance of this day."

"Good. Then we can arrange for the celebration to be somewhat

more sumptuous than that for Black Jade's birthday."

"That's what I think too. I only wanted to have your agreement,

so that you would not reproach me afterwards and scold me

inconsiderately."

"Very well, very well ! I am not as petty as all that. You worry your‐ 

self with unnecessary scruples. I am quite satisfied if you do not lecture

me about my own affairs; I just mind my own business."

And he turned away laughing.

At the wish of the Princess Ancestress, Precious Clasp, for whom she

had a particular affection on account of her even, kindly, and courteous

manner, was specially honored on her birth 'ay with a theatrical per‐ 

formance as well as with the usual banquet. The evening before she was

permitted to choose the menu and also the theatrical program. Precious

Clasp was wise enough to choose certain sweet dishes and sensational

and gruesome dramas, which she knew for certain were the Princess

Ancestress's favorite dishes and favorite theatrical pieces. The banquet

was held in the apartments of the Princess Ancestress. The nice little

private stage, on which a troupe of youthful artists from Suchow

showed their versatile talents, was set up in the inner courtyard of her

residence.

When the performance was about to begin and all the female rela‐ 

tives had assembled, Black Jade was the only one missing. Pao Yu went

off to fetch her. He found her lying on the divan in her room poring

over books.

"Get up! Get up! It's time for breakfast. And besides, the perform‐ 

ance is going to begin at once," he rallied her. "Have you any special

wish with regard to the program? If so, I shall have it noted at once."

"No, thank you. If I were to choose, I would choose the whole pro‐ 

gram. The performance today is not in my honor."

"Have patience a little while ! Then your turn will come, and you will

be able to choose the whole program. But come now!"

And he laughingly dragged the reluctant Black Jade back with him.

The performance lasted from morning until night, and exciting scenes

from the adventurous "History of a Journey to the West" were alter‐ 

nated with merry farces such as "Mr. Lu Mislays his Coat" and "The

Drunken Lu Brawls on the Wu tai shan," for the Princess Ancestress

liked coarse low comedy turns too. After the entertainment she had two

of the young artists with whom she was specially pleased brought to

her. One of them had played the heroine; the other, the merry buffoon.

The whole company gasped with admiring su t , nse when the two gifted

artists declared, when asked, that they were only eleven and nine years

old respectively. The Princess Ancestress had them sumptuously enter‐

tained and gave each of them a thousand‐piece string of money as an

extra fee.

"Does not the elder one, in his female attire, resemble a certain per‐ 

son we all know?" remarked Phoenix.

Precious Clasp understood at once whom she meant; she did not

mention a name, however, but just nodded her head. Pao Yu followed

her example. But Cousin Little Cloud could not refrain from bursting

out in her impetuous way: "Why, of course, he is like Sister Black

Jade!"

The warning, sidelong glance which Pao Yu shot at her came too

late. Everyone n^aced now; all scrutinized Black Jade and agreed

amid laughter: "Yes, indeed, they are so much alike one could mis‐ 

take them for one another!"

When Pao Yu was going to bed that night he heard Little Cloud in

the next room ordering her maid to pack her things, and saying in re‐ 

ply to the maid's astonished question: "Yes, I am going away early in

the morning. I do not wish to stay here any longer. This everlasting

criticizing and watching of every word and every look does not suit

me."

Pao Yu ran across to her room.

"Dear little sister, you are unjustly angry," he said, trying to placate

her. "Black Jade is so terribly sensitive, and that is why I tried to warn

you by a look not to mention her name; I was afraid she would take

offense at being compared to an actor. I meant it well and you need not

be so angry with me on account of it. If it was about anyone else . . ."

"That's enough!" Little Cloud interrupted him indignantly. "Spare

me your flowery words! What am I beside your cousin Black Jade? An

ordinary girl beside a high‐born lady, isn't that so? Others may make

remarks about her, but I dare not. If I open my mouth, it's a crime."

"If I have ever thought of slighting you in the least, may I be turned

instantly into the dirt of the road, on which everyone may trample!"

protested Pao Yu in dismay.

"Make those flowery speeches to inferior people of your own kind,

who, in their insensitiveness, know no better than to ridicule and mock

their fellow beings, but spare me your common street jargon and do

not provoke me to spit out before you!" replied Little Cloud furiously

as she ran out of the room to the apartments of the Princess Ancestress,

where she spent the night.

Pao Yu, who had run after her in vain, turned back much dejected.

He was longing for Black Jade's company; but scarcely had he set foot

in her room than Black Jade pushed him out and shut the door behind

him. Pao Yu was perplexed.

"Dearest, best Mei mei!" he called with gentle entreaty through the

door to her.

But Black Jade remained silent and invisible. Pao Yu hung his head

and sank into sad thoughts. As there was no sound for a long time,

Black Jade, thinking he had gone to his room, opened the door. Then

she saw him still standing there like a poor sinner. Now she had pity on

him and let him in.

"Will you not at least tell me why you are angry?" he began

hesitantly.

She gave a short, dry laugh.

"You ask that? I should take it quietly when I am compared with a

comedian and made ridiculous Before the whole company?"

"But I did not make such a comparison, neither did I laugh at you."

"No, but your secret exchange of glances with Little Cloud hurt me

even more. I know well what you meant by it, that you think more of

Little Cloud than of me, that she gives up something and lowers herself

when she associates with me. Naturally, she is a high‐born lady, a

count's daughter, and I am only an ordinary girl of the people! Is not

that what you meant? It's a pity that with your good intentions you

have found so little reciprocal love from her and have to be reproached

by her for going about with an inferior person like me, who, in her

insensitiveness, knows no better than to ridicule and mock her fellow

beings! I really do not understand your anxious consideration for her.

She certainly does not thank you for it."

Pao Yu understood that she had been listening just now to his argu‐ 

ment with Little Cloud.

That is what I get for my good intention of trying to play the part

of mediator between them! he thought to himself bitterly. Now I have

fallen foul of both of them, and have to put up with reproaches from

both sides. The wise Chuang Tzu was right when he said: "Why so

much activity? It only gives one worry. Why trouble about all sorts of

things? One is only annoyed by them. How splendid, on the other hand,

only to care about one's own modest necessities of life, and so float on

the waves free and alone as a boat adrift!" How useless is my striving

and trouble! I do not even succeed in bringing about reconciliation and

harmony between two girls! Why should I set myself higher aims?

Sunk in thought, he turned away from Black Jade to go back to his

room.

"Go away! You need not come back again and you need not speak

to me any more," she called after him.

Without taking any more notice of her he slipped back to his room

and threw himself on the bed with a sigh. Pearl's voice startled him out

of his brooding.

"We shall probably see more theatrical performances in the next few

days, for Miss Precious Clasp is sure to make the best of her opportu‐ 

nity," she remarked, trying to distract him.

"It's all the same to me," he replied, brusquely.

"How is that? In this happy New Year season everyone is merry and

in good spirits. Why are you alone out of humor?"

"What is it to me if the others are enjoying themselves?"

"You should get on better with them; then you also would enjoy

yourself."

"What have I to do with the others? After all, I am alone, quite

ajone. No one wants me."

Tears came to his eyes and he gave a loud sob. Then he got up, went

to "the writing table, took his brush, and worked off his ill‐humor by

writing a stanza full of the weariness of life and Buddhist renuncia‐ 

tion of the world. Having done this, he felt more free /and relieved, and

lay down peacefully to sleep.

A little later Black Jade slipped into his room full of curiosity, under

the pretext of looking for Pearl.

"He's already asleep," Pearl intimated to her quietly. "Here, read

this! He has just written it."

Black Jade scanned the page of writing. She was amused at the con‐ 

tents but at the same time felt sorry for the boy.

"It's only a little foolery and means nothing," she said with apparent

indifference, but she could not refrain from taking the sheet of paper

away with her and giving it to Little Cloud and the nevt morning to

Precious Clasp to read.

"Do what you want to ! Come, go, as you please !

Weep! Laugh! It's all the same to me.

What do I care about the world!"

Thus read the stanza, the first part of which was written in the Sutra

style.

"Oh, Cousin Pao Yu wants to join the saints and renounce the

world!" the three of them cried, looking at each other with embar‐ 

rassed smiles. Each of them felt a little bit guilty.

"Come, let us go to him together and bring him to reason!" sug‐ 

gested Black Jade. And the three of them set off together to the Cham‐ 

ber of the Fragrance of Culture. Black Jade drew his attention to the

fact that his Buddhist stanza was incomplete, and she added the missing

conclusive point; and Precious Clasp mentioned the case of a well‐ 

known Buddhist sectarian who had resigned the leadership of his sect

in favor of his cook, when the latter put him to shame by the correct

criticism of a similarly defective stanza which he had composed. Pao

Yu remarked with embarrassed astonishment that his clever cousins

knew more than he himself did about a sphere which he had thought

quite unknown to them. If they in spite of this did not presume to be‐ 

long to the "awakened," he concluded that his chance of attaining to

even a modest degree of holiness was positively nil. He therefore re‐ 

signed himself to abandoning all idea of further striving after Buddhist

contemplation.

"It was only a jest, the mood of a moment," he explained, smiling.

And with this the happy old relationship between the cousins was

restored.

When Beginning of Spring, the Emperor's wife, had returned to the

Court from her visit to the Park of Delightful Vision, she had expressed

the wish that a monument should be erected in the park with an inscrip‐ 

tion which would commemorate for all time the happy event of her

visit. Chia Cheng hastened to fulfill her wish, and entrusted the work to

the most skillful stonecutters and engravers he could find.

The Imperial wife reflected, furthermore, that the Park of Delightful

Vision, which had been made specially for her visit, would be shut up

and sealed by her father after the visit through a sense of dutiful re‐ 

spect, and she said to herself that it would really be a pity if these

beautiful places were to be left abandoned and unused in the future.

Why should it not be made accessible to her sisters and cousins, who

could make rhymes and stanzas so splendidly? Were they not worthy

to lift up their minds and hearts amid the beautiful vistas of the park?

And should not her brother Pao Yu also share this special privilege?

For since his childhood he had been accustomed to the company of

girls, and would find himself terribly lonely and neglected if he were

suddenly deprived of the accustomed companionship.

Moved by these considerations, the Imperial spouse sent the Chief

Eunuch Hsia to the Yungkuo palace with orders to this effect. Mr.

Cheng and his wife lost no time in sending people to the park to clean

up and furnish comfortably the various places of abode destined for

Pao Yu and the young girls.

Pao Yu was very specially pleased with the changes which were to

take place. He was just then with his grandmother discussing this and

that matter regarding the change‐over, when a servant came in to call

him to his father. Pao Yu turned pale. His happy mood was swept away

immediately. Craving protection, he pressed convulsively against his

grandmother's right side as if she were a piece of sugar which was to

be crushed to besprinkle a sweet dish. He did not want to go at any

price, for he believed it was again to be one of those fatherly repri‐ 

mands which he feared so much. The Princess Ancestress encouraged

him, saying that he had nothing to fear, and that his father probably

only wished to give him some instructions on good behavior before he

left for the future dwelling. Accompanied by two worthy matrons, who

had to act as personal guards, Pao Yu set out on the dreaded journey,

but he went so slowly and unwillingly that he hardly progressed three

inches with every step. At last, very hesitantly, he entered the parental

pavilion. How unpleasant were those half‐curious, half‐mocking glances

which met him as he walked through the rows of servants in front of the

entrance. A maid named Golden Bangle was actually so impudent as to

pluck his sleeve as he passed by and whisper: "Now, what about it?

Would you not like to lick the rouge from my lips? It is quite fresh

and has a perfume."

'Whereupon an older maid named Bright Cloud gave her a push and

said reprovingly: "Ill‐mannered creature! You see that he is not in a

mood for such jests just now! Be off!"

Inside, Pao Yu found his father and mother sitting opposite each

other on the divan engaged in conversation. The three Spring girls,

and the younger brother Chia Huan, the son of a secondary wife of his

father, were sitting at their feet on low stools. The younger relations,

Taste of Spring, Grief of Spring, and Chia Huan, stood up as Pao Yu

entered. Mr. Cheng scrutinized the newcomer sharply, then his glance

wandered over to the other son, and he compared them. How favorably

Pao Yu's prepossessing, cultivated appearance compared with the thick‐ 

set, coarse appearance of the bastard! Mr. Cheng went on to reflect that

his hair was already beginning to turn gray, and that he could scarcely

hope to have another and better offspring than Pao Yu. Nine‐tenths of

the aversion which he usually felt towards Pao Yu vanished as a result

of this silent reflection, and he sounded more gentle than usual when

he said: "Her Imperial Highness has deigned to give orders that you

are to continue your studies in future, in the company of your sisters

and cousins, in the Park of Delightful Vision. But she desires you to

pull yourself together and study seriously instead of loafing around. So

now, comply with this order and be on your guard!"

Pao Yu managed to murmur a hurried shih yes; there followed a

short conversation between mother and son concerning his health, then

a gruff "Why is that creature, that plague of my life, still standing

there?" scared him quickly outside the door. Now looking happy, he

ran nimbly through the lines of servants in the anteroom, cheekily

sticking out his tongue at the maid Golden Bangle as he passed.

Chia Cheng fixed the twenty ‐second of the month as the most suitable

day for the move. Meantime the various buildings which had been as‐ 

signed as dwellings had been put in habitable order. Pao Yu and Black

Jade managed to arrange for their quarters to be quite near one an‐

other. They each lived on their own, and besides the maids whom they

had had up to now each had two elderly chaperons to supervise them

and four maids for the rough work of the house.

Thus, on the twenty‐second of the month, life and youth entered the

hitherto desolate park, and the colorful flower beds. and the willow

leaves waving in the zephyr breezes could no longer be sad and com‐ 

plain of loneliness. The change of dwelling seemed to alter Pao Yu's

whole personality. His dejection vanished and gave place to merry

spirits. From now on he passed his days with the girls, reading and

writing, strumming the lute or playing chess, painting or reciting verse,

while the girls embroidered their phoenix patterns industriously,

plucked flowers and identified plants, amused themselves playing dice

and other drawing‐room games, and sang songs in their gentle voices.

He was completely happy and had never before been in such a good

mood for writing poetry. Many of his verses and stanzas, though not

perhaps showing extraordinary talent, but replete with feeling and keen

observation of nature, as, for instance, his "Songs of the Four Seasons,"

found their way to the public. For there was no lack of flatterers and

spongers eager to win his favor, who felt obliged to noise abroad in the

streets and market places the fame of the distinguished fourteen‐year‐ 

old boy poet of the Yungkuo palace, and to display copies of his

poems. It became the fashion among the gay young set to decorate fans

and walls of rooms with the latest soulful outpourings from the brush

of the celebrated Pao Yu; it was considered intellectual to recite his

latest poems at social functions; people competed fiercely to obtain a

few lines written by his own hand, whether verse, or maxims, or even

just short mottoes. Pao Yu felt very important and had his hands full

satisfying all the claims made on him from outside.

Who would have thought that in spite of everything his 'old restless‐ 

ness would be stirred up again so soon? One day the splendors of the

park, which had charmed him so much in the beginning, began to bore

him. He found fault with this and criticized that, and felt annoyed and

dissatisfied. Also, the society of his companions did not satisfy him;

their merry, boisterous playing, their ingenuous, frivolous, girlish ways

left him cold. He longed for new diversions, stronger impressions. The

f 9 ol!

His valet Ming Yen had been trying in vain for a long time to banish

his ill‐humor with various suggestions and distractions, but at last he

got a new idea which succeeded. One day, after a walk through the

booksellers' lane, he took home to his master a whole stack of unknown

light literature, all novels and romances both old and modern, obscene

love stories and tales of the adventures of famous courtesans and the

like.

Pao Yu had never before seen such books. When he peeped into

them now he became as if intoxicated, and as happy as if they were a

valuable find. And the fact that ha might only read these books secretly,

as Ming Yen impressed upon him, made them doubly fascinating. He

hid them as well as he could in his bed and in other safe places, and

from now on he spent his time, whenever he was alone and undisturbed,

eagerly delving into them.

One day, about the middle of the third month, he sauntered along

after breakfast to the bridge leading to the Weir of Penetrating Per‐ 

fumes, carrying the Hsi Hsiang Chi, "Play of the Western Pavilion,"

in his hand, and sat down to read on a rock under blossoming peach

trees at the edge of the pond. As he was sitting there and had just come

to a place in the book which described "falling red, gathered up in

heaps," a sudden gust of wind blew through the branches and caused

a heavy rain of petals to ripple down on him and his book. He was cov‐ 

ered all over with the reddish petals and had to shake himself to get rid

of the delicate burden. So lovely and charming did these petals seem to

him that he would have been sorry to tread on them with his feet.

Therefore, he gathered up with both hands the rosy piles which lay

round about his seat and carried them to the near‐by bank, there to

shake them over the surface of the water. And each time that he had

shaken out two handfuls in this way, he remained for a while on the

bank looking after the flower petals thoughtfully, as they danced about

on the waves and were gently drawn by the current towards the weir.

Just as he was bending down to gather together another heap of

petals, he heard a girl's voice behind him asking: "What are you do‐ 

ing here?"

He turned around. There he saw Black Jade standing in front of

him. She was carrying a spade over her shoulder, on the handle of

which hung a flower carrier made of light gauze; in her left hand she

had a broom.

"It's good that you have come! You can help me to sweep up these

flower petals and throw them into the water. I have already thrown in

quite a lot," he said.

"You should not do that! Here the water is tolerably clean, but later

on when the petals have drifted farther along with the current, and float

into other estates, they will come in contact with all kinds of dirt and

refuse. It would be a pity for the lovely, pure petals to become soiled.

No, it is better if we take them to the petal grave which I have just dug

behind that hill. I shall sweep them up. You stuff them into the bag and

then we will carry them to the grave together. In the course of time they

will turn into good garden soil. Is not that nicer and cleaner than

throwing them into the water?"

Pao Yu had to admit that she was right.

"Wait a moment until I put my book away; then we will set to work

at once."

"What book have you got?" she asked.

"Nothing special; a commentary on The Great Philosophy' of Mas‐ 

ter Confucius," he replied quickly, trying to hide the book from her

sight.

"Show it at once, you rogue!"

"For all I care you may see it, Mel mei, but please be so kind as not

to say a word about it to other people. Anyway, it is quite a splendid

book; the style is wonderful. You will not be able to give a thought to

sleeping or eating if you read it. Here."

Black Jade laid down her garden implements and took the book. She

sat down on the rock and began to read, and the more she read the

more she was fascinated by the book, and she did not stop reading un‐ 

til she had skimmed through all its sixteen chapters in one go. Content

and style enchanted her equally, and when she had finished she seemed

still to taste in her mouth, as it were, the sweetness she had enjoyed;

and, lost in thought, she recited to herself this and that passage which

had remained impressed on her memory.

"Well, how did you like it?" he asked, smiling.

"It is really fascinating."

"Yes, isn't it? And does it not apply most remarkably to the two of

us? I am the hero full of faults and weaknesses, and you you are the

heroine whose beauty causes the downfall of cities and countries," he

quoted jokingly.

His remark made Black Jade flush a sudden deep crimson right up to

her ears. She raised her brows and her dilated pupils flashed with anger

as she hissed: "What impertinence! I must object to your connecting

those common expressions and those improper passages with me! It is

an insult! But just wait, I shall tell your parents!"

At the word "insult" fine little red veins became visible around her

pupils. Now she turned away quickly and ran off. He ran after her dis‐ 

mayed and held her firmly.

"Dearest Mei mei, I beg your pardon a thousand ten thousand

times!" he pleaded. "I see that I have been talking nonsense, but I did

not mean to insult you. If I did. may I be drowned in a deep pond and

may a mangy tortoise eat me, and may I myself be turned into a big

tortoise, and in some future time when you, the wife of a mandarin of

first rank, have died of old age, may I for all time carry the socket of

the pillars of your grave on my back!"

Black Jade could not help bursting out laughing on hearing this long,

comical oath. She was soon appeased again. Casting a roguish glance

at him, she said: "Besides, I could reply to you in the same tone if I

wished to, and by way of example speak of a certain someone who re‐ 

sembles the famous lance with the silvered wax point."

"If you say such things I also will go and tell tales on you!" he

threatened, jokingly.

"I only wanted to show you that I can read just as quickly as you

can, and can remember what I read just as easily as you can. It is noth‐ 

ing to me to read ten lines of writing with one single glance. Or do you

doubt that?"

"Oh, indeed I believe it. But now we will be sensible again and bury

our poor petals."

They set to work again, and swept up and heaped the fallen petals

and carried them to the petal grave behind the hill. Meantime the maid

Pearl appeared. She had been sent by the Princess Ancestress to fetch

Pao Yu. Prince Shieh was not well and Pao Yu was to go to him

straight away and wish him a speedy recovery, as was proper. The

Spring girls had already visited the sickbed. Pao Yu therefore bade

farewell to Black'Jade and left the park accompanied by Pearl.

Deep in thought, Black Jade sauntered slowly back to her house. As

she was passing by the wall of the Pear Garden she heard from within

the gentle sounds of flute playing and charming singing. The music

came from the twelve dancing girls from Suchow, who had their quar‐ 

ters in the Pear Garden and were just now practicing a new theater

piece. Black Jade was not paying particular attention to the singing, but

two lines of one of the songs caught her ear so distinctly that she was

able to understand every word, it was about a wonderfully beautiful

purple flower, which blooms gloriously, only to be plucked, to wither,

and .to end miserably in some refuse pit.

Black Jade was touched to the core by the melancholy expressed in

these two lines. Involuntarily she slackened her pace and listened hard

in an effort to follow the rest, of the text. And she could not but si‐ 

lently agree with the sentiments of the next two lines, which spoke of the

transience of exterior splendor and good living when inner happiness

was destroyed. And she had to sigh, thinking of the superficiality of

human beings, who go to the theater only to be entertained and do not

think at all of looking into themselves and applying to their own lives

the truths which they hear on the stage. While still tunk in meditation,

she heard the words:

"As a flower in spring, beauty fades,

As a fleeting wave, youth passes."

She felt deeply moved and frightened. Her head became dizzy, her

feet refused to move, she staggered as if she were drunk, and had to sit

down on a near‐by rock. There she sat, murmuring to herself again and

again the words she had just heard:

"As a flower in spring, beauty fades,

As a fleeting wave, youth passes."

At the same time it occurred to her that in the past she had read in

old stories and also today in the "Play of the Western Pavilion" similar

words about falling petals and running waters, passing spring and last‐ 

ing sorrow. A feeling of infinite anguish and sadness stole upon her, her

heart shrank, tears dropped frdm her eyes. She would have so loved to

speak to someone, to let herself be comforted. Suddenly she felt a light

tap on, her shoulder. She turned around. A young girl was standing be‐ 

fore her. You will learn from the next chapter who this girl was.