escape from the fiery pit, you have only to remember us when the time comes) and all will be well.'
Shi-yin saw that it would be useless to press them. 'Heavenly mysteries must not, of course,
be revealed.
But might one perhaps inquire what the "absurd creature" is that you were talking about? Is
it possible that I
might be allowed to see it?'
'Oh, as for that,' said the monk: 'I think it is on the cards for you to have a look at him,'
and he took the
object from his sleeve and handed it to Shi-yin.
Shi-yin took the object from him and saw that it was a clear, beautiful jade on one side of
which were
carved the words 'Magic Jade'. There were several columns of smaller characters on the back,
which Shi-yin was
lust going to examine more closely when the monk, with a cry of 'Here we are, at the frontier
of Illusion',
snatched the stone from him and disappeared, with the Taoist, through a big stone archway above
which
THE LAND OF ILLUSION
was written in large characters. A couplet in smaller characters was inscribed vertically on
either side of the arch:
Truth becomes fiction when the fiction's true;
Real becomes not-teal where the unreal's real.
Shi-yin was on the point of following them through the archway when suddenly a great clap of
thunder
seemed to shake the earth to its very foundations, making him cry out in alarm.
And there he was sitting in his study, the contents of his dream already half forgotten, with the
sun still
blazing on the ever-rustling plantains outside, and the wet-nurse at the door with his little daug
hter Ying-lian in
her arms. Her delicate little pink-and-white face seemed dearer to him than ever at that moment,
and he stretched
out his arms to take her and hugged her to him.
After playing with her for a while at his desk, he carried her out to the front of the house to
watch the bustle
in the street. He was about to go in again when he saw a monk and a Taoist approaching, the monk
scabby-headed and barefoot) the Taoist tousle-haired and limping. They were behaving like madmen,
shouting
with laughter and gesticulating wildly as they walked along.
When this strange pair reached Shi-yin's door and saw him standing there holding Ying-lian, the
monk burst
into loud sobs. 'Patron,' he said, addressing Shi-yin, 'what are you doing, holding in your arms
that ill-fated
creature who is destined to involve both her parents in her own misfortune?'
Shi-yin realized that he was listening to the words of a madman and took no notice. But the monk
persisted;
'Give her to me! Give her to me!'
Shi-yin was beginning to lose patience and clasping his little girl tightly to him, turned an his
heel and was
about to re-enter the house when tine monk printed his finger at him roared with laughter and then
proceeded to
intone the following verse:
'Fond man, your pampered child to cherish so—
That caltrop-glass which shines on melting snow!
Beware the high feast of the fifteenth day,
When all in smoke and fire shall pass away!"1
Shi-yin heard all this quite plainly and was a little worried by it. He was thinking or asking the
monk what lay
1 See Appendix, p. 528
6
behind these puzzling words when he heard the Taoist say, 'We don't need to stay tether. Why don’t
we part
company here and each go about his own business? Three kalpas from now I shall wait far you on
Bei-mang
Hill.
Having joined forces again there. we can go together to the Land of illusion to sign off.”
'Excellent!' said the other. And the two if them went off and soon were both lost to sight.
'There must have been something behind all this,' thought Shi-yin to himself. '1 really
ought to hive asked him
what he meant, but now it is too late.'
He was still standing outside his door brooding when Jia Yu-cun, the poor student who lodged
at the
Bottle-gourd Temple next door, came up to him. Yu-cun was a native of Hu-zhou and came from a
family of
scholars and bureaucrats which had, however, fallen on bad times when Yu-cun was born. The family
Fortunes
on both his father’s and mother’s side had all been ten spent. and the members of the family bad
themselves
gradually died off until only Yu-cun was left There were no prospect for him in his home town,
so he had set off
for the capital, in search of fame and fortune. Unfortunately he had got no further than S
oochow when his funds
ran out, and he had now been living there in poverty for a year, lodging in this temple
and keeping himself alive
by working as a copyist. For this reason Shi-yin saw a great deal of his company.
As soon as he caught sight of Shi-yin, Yu-cun clasped his hands in greeting and smiled
ingratiatingly. 'I
could see you standing there gazing, sir. Has anything been happening in the street?'
'No, no,' said Shi-yin. 'It just happened that my little girl was crying, so I brought
her out here to amuse her.
Your coming is most opportune, dear boy. I was beginning to feel most dreadfully bored.
Won't you come into
my little den, and we can help each other to while away this tedious hot day?'
So saying, he called for a servant to take the child indoors, while he himself took Yu-cun
by the hand and
led him into his study, where his boy served them both with tea. But they had not exchanged
half-a-dozen words
before one of the servants rushed in to say that 'Mr Yan had come to pay a call.' Shi-yin
hurriedly rose up and
excused himself: 'I seem to have brought you here under false pretences. I do hope you will
forgive me. If you
don't mind sitting on your own here for a moment, I shall be with you directly.'
Yu-cun rose to his feet too. 'Please do not distress yourself on my account, sir. I am a
regular visitor here
and can easily wait a bit.' But by the time he had finished saying this, Shi-yin was already
out of the study and on
his way to the guest-room.
Left to himself, Yu-cun was flicking through some of Shi-yin's books of poetry in order to
pass the time,
when he heard a woman's cough outside the window. Immediately he jumped up and peered out
to see who it was.
The cough appeared to have come from a maid who was picking flowers in the garden. She was
an unusually
good4ooking girl with a rather refined face: not a great beauty, by any means, but with
something striking about
her. Yu-cun gazed at her spellbound.
Having now finished picking her flowers, this anonymous member of the Zhen household was
about to go
in again when, on some sudden impulse, she raised her head and caught sight of a man
standing in the window.
His hat was frayed and his clothing threadbare; yet, though obviously poor, he had a fine
, manly physique and
handsome, well-proportioned features.
The maid hastened to remove herself from this male presence; but as she went she thought
to herself, 'What
a fine-looking man! But so shabby! The family hasn't got any friends or relations as
poor as that. It must be that
Jia Yu-cun the master is always on about. No wonder he says that he won't stay poor
long. I remember hearing
him say that he's often wanted to help him but hasn't yet found an opportunity.' And
thinking these thoughts she
could not forbear to turn back for another peep or two.
Yu-cun saw her turn back and, at once assuming that she had taken a fancy to him, was
beside himself with
delight. What a perceptive young woman she must be, he thought, to have seen the genius
underneath the rags! A
real friend in trouble!
After a while the boy came in again and Yu-cun elicited from him that the visitor in
the front room was now
staying to dinner. It was obviously out of the question to wait much longer, so he
slipped down the passage-way
7
at the side of the house and let himself out by the back gate. Nor did Shi-yin invite
him round again when, having
at last seen off his visitor, he learned that Yu-cun had already left.
But then the Mid Autumn festival arrived and, after the family cdnvivialities were
over, Shi-yin had a little
dinner for two laid out in his study and went in person to invite Yu-cun, walking to
his temple lodgings in the
moonlight.
Ever since the day the Zhens' maid had, by looking back twice over her shoulder,
convinced him that she
was a friend, Yu-cun had had the girl very much on his mind, and now that it was
festival time, the full moon of
Mid Autumn lent an inspiration to his romantic impulses which finally resulted
in the following octet:
‘Ere on ambition's path my feet are set,
Sorrow comes often this poor heart to fret.
Yet, as my brow contracted with new care,
Was there not one who, parting, turned to stare?
Dare I, that grasp at shadows in the wind,
Hope, underneath the moon, a friend to find?
Bright orb, if with my plight you sympathize,
Shine first upon the chamber where she lies.'
Having delivered himself of this masterpiece, Yu-cun's thoughts began to run
on his unrealized ambitions and,
after much head-scratching and many heavenward glances accompanied by heavy
sighs, he produced the
following couplet, reciting it in a loud, ringing voice which caught the ear
of Shi-yin, who chanced at that
moment to be arriving:
'The jewel in the casket bides till one shall come to buy.
The jade pin in the drawer hides, waiting its time to fly.'2
Shi-yin smiled. 'You are a man of no mean ambition, Yu-cun.'
'Oh no!' Yu-cun smiled back deprecatingly. 'You are too flattering. I was merely
reciting at random from the
lines of some old poet. But what brings you here, sir?'
'Tonight is Mid Autumn night,' said Shi-yin. ‘People call it the Festival of
Reunion. It occurred to me that you
might be feeling rather lonely here in your monkery, so I have arranged for the
two of us to take a little wine
together in my study. I hope you will not refuse to join me.'
Yu-cun made no polite pretence of declining. 'Your kindness is more than
I deserve,' he said. 'I accept
gratefully.' And he accompanied Shi-yin back to the study next door.
Soon they had finished their tea. Wine and various choice dishes were brought
in and placed on the table,
already laid out with cups, plates, and so forth, and the two men took their
places and began to drink. At first they
were rather slow and ceremonious; but gradually, as the conversation grew more
animated, their potations too
became more reckless and uninhibited. The sounds of music and singing which could
now be heard from every
house in the neighbourhood and the full moon which shone with cold brilliance
overhead seemed to increase their
elation, so that the cups were emptied almost as soon as they touched their lips,
and Yu-cun, who was already a
sheet or so in the wind, was seized with an irrepressible excitement to which he
presently gave expression in the
form of a quatrain, ostensibly on the subject of the moon) but really about the
ambition he had hitherto been at
some pains to conceal:
2 Yu-cun is thinking of the jade hairpin given by a visiting fairy to an early
Chinese emperor which later turned into a white
swallow and flew away into the sky. Metaphors of flying and ‘climbing the sky’
were frequently used for success in the Civil
Service examinations.
8
'In thrice five nights her perfect O is made,
Whose cold light bathes each marble balustrade.
As her bright wheel starts on its starry ways,
On earth ten thousand heads look up and gaze.'
'Bravo!' said Shi-yin loudly. 'I have always insisted that you were a young fellow
who would go up in the
world, and now, in these verses you have just recited, I see an augury of your ascent.
In no time at all we shall see
you up among the clouds! This calls for a drink!' And, saying this, he poured Yu-cun a
large cup of wine.
Yu-cun drained the cup, then, surprisingly, sighed:
'Don't imagine the drink is making me boastful, but I really do believe that if it were
just a question of
having the sort of qualifications now in demand, I should stand as good a chance as any
of getting myself on to
the list of candidates. The trouble is that I simply have no means of laying my hands
on the money that would be
needed for lodgings and travel expenses. The journey to the capital is a long one, and
the sort of money I can earn
from my copying is not enough—'
'Why ever didn't you say this before?' said Shi-yin interrupting him. 'I have long wanted
to do something
about this, but on all the occasions I have met you previously, the conversation has
never got round to this subject,
and I haven't liked to broach it for fear of offending you. Well, now we know where we
are. I am not a very
clever man, but at least I know the right thing to do when I see it. Luckily, the next
Triennial is only a few
months ahead. You must go to the capital without delay. A spring examination triumph will
make you feel that
all your studying has been worth while. I shall take care of all your expenses. It is the
least return I can make for
your friendship.' And there and then he instructed his boy to go with all speed and make
up a parcel of fifty tales
of the best refined silver and two suits of winter clothes.
'The almanac gives the nineteenth as a good day for travelling,' he went on, addressing
Yu-cun again. 'You
can set about hiring a boat for the journey straight away. How delightful it will be to meet
again next winter whe