The Moon of Much Gladness ebook

Contents

CHAPTER I

CHAPTER II

CHAPTER III

CHAPTER IV

CHAPTER V

CHAPTER VI

CHAPTER VII

CHAPTER VIII

CHAPTER IX

CHAPTER X

CHAPTER XI

CHAPTER XII

CHAPTER XIII

CHAPTER XIV

CHAPTER XV

CHAPTER XVI

CHAPTER XVII

CHAPTER XVIII

CHAPTER XIX

CHAPTER XX

CHAPTER XXI

CHAPTER XXII

CHAPTER XXIII

CHAPTER I

The imperishable Sovereign of the land and the all-powerful Mandarin T’sin Wong having been duly mentioned, the feeble but conscientious recorder of authentic facts discloses the position affecting those of less importance.

I

IN the reign of the enlightened Emperor Ming Wang (of whose reverence for duty it is written that he invariably reclined upon his back, so that even when asleep neither of his ears should be closed against the upraised voice of the meanest of his subjects calling for justice) there dwelt in the mud-walled city of Kochow a variety of persons who will in due course be brought discreetly forward according to the requirements of those with whose fortunes this ill-delivered narrative is favourably concerned; but towering above all others, as a many-tiered pagoda overtops the meagre residences of the necessitous and unofficial, there must, with a seemly regard for the essential proprieties, at once be announced that high dignitary of the coral button, the Mandarin T’sin Wong.

Having thus complied with the formalities of ceremonial usage, the obsequious-mannered relater of this distressingly inept chronicle would regard it as an act of amiable condescension on the part of those who may have been enticed into purchasing his lamentable effort to be allowed to begin anew from a more convenient angle.

II

FOR a period that was to be counted not by days or moons alone, but even years–and on the elastic authority of the glib and inexact probably unmeasured cycles–the annals of Kochow had been as destitute of pleasurable excitement as a meritorious scholar’s sleeve is devoid of silver, until, in the repulsive apothegm of their kind, the young and gyratory of both sexes might frequently be heard to declare that they were “stagnated to rigidity” by the lack of animation discoverable around.

And, indeed, not to withdraw the plain but wholesome face of truth behind the gilded mask of wanton exaggeration, a full decade had elapsed since the town had last been reduced to ashes by fire or overwhelmed by flood. So effete had become the neighbouring hostile tribes that it was not an uncommon circumstance to meet those of the inner chamber–even of middle-age–who had never been submitted to the experience of rape or forcible abduction, while the periodical visitations of plague, black evil and the pitting sickness had been almost robbed of all their salutary virulence by the short-sighted activities of the impious and interfering. So that, whereas under a more judicious system the elderly, the infirm, and the unremunerative were automatically weeded out by a process that was not only reasonable to themselves but convenient and economical to authority, now by the effervescing of a grain of magic powder on the tongue or the scratching of a cryptic emblem about the forearm even a river-pirate or a hungry beggar might not unreasonably cherish the ambition of outliving those so careful of their skin as even to hire others to perform their recreations for them, and so wealthy as to be able to overeat themselves whenever they had the inclination. Truly it was not so in the virile days of the puissant Hwang, when all men below a certain rank were measured with an iron rule, and shortened or lengthened as the case required.

Thus may the internal state of Kochow be positioned on the first day of the Moon of Much Gladness, that being the time selected by the lesser Deities concerned as a fitting moment for the initiation of their somewhat elaborate purpose, and therefore the one chosen by this scrupulous but uninventive historian as the one most suitable for opening his badly arranged if surprisingly developed recital of events.

III

CONSIDERING the remoteness of the epoch, the size and importance of walled Kochow, the position and authority of the dignified Mandarin T’sin Wong and the undoubted deference that would certainly be paid to his illustrious spirit when at last he had condescended to Pass Above, it was only to be expected that the calamitous act that was to prove the fountain- head from which ultimately proceeded the full river of event should be presaged by celestial hints and omens of unmistakable significance. Whether these took the form of contending dragons in the sky, unnatural noises arising from the Beneath Parts, fiery visitations traversing space, or some other of the recognized signs usual in such an emergency, is clouded with a slight textual ambiguity in the pages of the Epics. Thus positioned, even though engaged upon a work of biographical exactness, it is more convenient (as is now, indeed, the common usage) to refer definitely to the conversation and manner of behaving of ordinary persons then alive, and these, in spite of the distinction of moving in so classical an era, would seem providentially to have conducted themselves in a manner not appreciably different from our own.

IV

IT so chanced that at this period one of the appointed guarders of the Ways–they who by means of hollow drums, sonorous shells and the interspersal of an occasional cry of menace warn thieves and other loiterers of evil habit that it is time for them to withdraw in safety–was kinsman to the chief custodian of the Mandarin’s door. Respecting the claims of blood, it was the habit of this club-bearing official to investigate anything of a doubtful nature taking place in the neighbourhood of the yamen at about the gong-stroke when the janitor might perchance be abroad in the exercise of his several duties, and should they happen to encounter none but an outcast would have abstained from the rite of a mutual greeting with, if it could be prudently effected, the ceremonial exchange of appropriate vessels. A tea-house known by the Sign of Well- Sustained Endurance was enticingly positioned.

“Greeting, son of my father’s brother!” cried each, striking their hands when they had thus come together. “Are all your constituents well balanced?” But when the guarder of the Ways (on whom the name Ah-Fang had been bestowed at teething) would have suggested by a convenient movement of the wrist that they should partake of what he described as “the habitual,” the other (Shun- Ho his style on going forth to work, their common Line being Cheung) raised a dissenting gesture.

“For,” he said, indicating the gate that was within his office, “a special task has been laid upon me, and, as the proverb rightly says, ‘A single date consumed in peace is better than a basket of ripe figs beneath the shadow of affliction.’”

“That may be true enough as regards figs, which–especially when over-ripe–lie qualmous on a craving stomach,” admitted the other. “Yet touching ourselves, it being no part of our intention to consume matter of a solid nature–”

“Nevertheless,” interrupted Shun-Ho, who, having failed in the examinations at the outset of his career, was of a slightly superior culture to his kinsman, “the pith of the saying has a general application. Join now your hand to mine and our delay will be the sooner ended.”

“What is the motive of this stress, and why should we labour to throw back these massive gates that are so rarely opened?” inquired Ah-Fang, as he carefully laid aside his fan and umbrella before thrusting his loin against the beam as Shun-Ho directed. “Does some important noble pay a ceremonial visit?”

“By no means,” was the reply; “those for whom way is thus made are of a very different bacon. A misbegotten zeal for innovation has possessed the Vermilion Pencil and an edict has gone forth that henceforward between the time of light and no-light the gates of every yamen throughout the land shall stand freely open.”

“If that is the case why should we, having fully complied with what is called for, now fix a spiked barrier across the path of any who would enter?” demanded Ah-Fang as he lent his aid to his kinsman’s further purpose.

“Nothing is said in the proclamation about spiked barriers,” replied Shun-Ho capably, “and to leave the passage open would be to invite the intrusion of a procession of the needy and undeserving.... Wind a few more lengths of this barbed chain about the farther column and our seclusion will be reasonably protected.”

“You have only to command a thing and it is done,” said the docile Fang, complying. “Yet who among our suppliant throng would have ventured to encroach here, well knowing as they do the merit of the saying, ‘Keep from before an angry bull, from behind a startled pole-cat, but as far as possible in all directions from a high official’?”

“That is as it may have been in the past, but by this printed notice–which under very severe penalties it is ordained must be displayed upon the gate-post–a new era is instituted. Henceforth, one and all are incited to press forward with their several pleas, and under its terms a very superfluity of justice is foreshadowed.”

“What next?” grumbled Ah-Fang, “this being the extremest measure. In the virtuous days of this person’s youth integrity endured, and the people were encouraged to abide at peace by fining equally both parties to a suit and reprimanding the several witnesses with bamboo rods, of a thickness depending on the length of the testimony they offered. In future all–but how shall the terms of the edict spread abroad if its written surface is thus nailed to the gate-post?”

“That,” replied Shun-Ho, driving in a final skewer, “lies outside our plain instruction. ‘The sheet displayed for all to see,’ runs the tenor of our orders–and he who can overlook so visible a parchment should have his eyes properly scraped without delay at the stall of the nearest barber. Come, brother, we have upheld rightful authority as befits our own positions: none but a niggard would deny us a scanty respite.”

“We have done all that sincere men could: to have done more would be to prove us demons,” agreed Ah-Fang. “I sustain thy weary shoulder.”

V

WHEN they were seated, each with a cup of a special flavour, and had released their waist-cloths, mutual confidence prevailed and neither forbore to speak freely of the shortcomings of those in authority above them.

“It is scarcely to be imagined that one so deficient in refined understanding as the lesser captain of our band–he of whose ill-arranged face and gravity-dispelling gait I have already spoken–should distribute honours to those who most deserve them,” remarked Ah-Fang. “Were it not that mankind is endowed with two ears and but one tongue as a judicious warning it would go hard with Lin Hing’s reputation.”

“Say on,” encouraged Shun-Ho, at the same time displaying the dregs within his cup, but whether to show Ah-Fang that they formed a lucky combination or to another end did not at first transpire. “Are we not both the sons of a common forerunner?”

“It was thus, since your polite curiosity will not be gainsaid,” continued Fang; “this being but a single instance among many. One night, at an angle of the Ways, he who is now relating the occurrence chanced upon an unknown stranger sleeping, with his body north and south and his face uncovered to the radiance of the great sky lantern.”

“Was he an Out-land man, one of the Short-haired of the Over- mountain Spaces?” inquired Shun-Ho with interest. “They say their demons cannot fly against the wind and are thereby easily outwitted; and it is credibly reported by those who have travelled there that these pale-eyed strangers propagate singly after the manner of fish, though others assert that they do not, but that their lesser ones have feathers on their breasts and lay eggs in earthen vessels.”

“He may have been a Middle-distance man,” admitted Fang, “but the outward signs were lacking. Be that as it was, here in Kochow he would be subject to the methods of our own especial spirits. Yet there he lay at the conflux of the paths, north and south, and without so much as an open paper umbrella to turn aside the malignant Forces.”

“That being so, how did you act?” demanded Shun-Ho.

“Without pausing to take breath I hastened back to the one who mars our prestige, whom presently I discovered at the Sign of Righteous Indulgence, rejoicing to set music. ‘Behold,’ I exclaimed when I had gained his ear, and thus and thus I reported, concluding, ‘Becoming afflicted in his mind as the result of this rash exposure, the undiscriminating stranger will likewise find when he awakes that he is bereft of the sense of continuous direction, and being thereby unable to leave Kochow he will ever after lurk about our Ways and open spaces, a source of alarm to all honest guardians of the night and an added tax upon the resources of the charitable henceforward.’”

“More might have been made of it, had you only taken breath,” demurred Shun-Ho. “They have been known to change into vampires.”

“I did but pause with the expectation that my zeal would be commended, and, haply, an auspicious sign set against my name in the book of daily omens and accusations.”

“To have done so would have been to proclaim his own dependence. Your mind, Ah-Fang, is like the progression of an elderly, footsore tortoise, and you should chew the strings of deer to correct this failing.”

“Merit would have been withheld had I recited an entire Ode suited to the occasion,” contended Fang darkly; “for, as it is truly written, ‘Bestow meat on an upstart and the bone will be cast back at you when he has picked it;’ and in furtherance of the saying, the one whose virtues we are here discussing, after he had thus ignored my service, added, ‘Begone, thou mutinous offspring of a mentally deficient he-mule, and resume thy neglected duties.’ ‘But the inauspicious stranger by the Way, O gracious under-chief,’ I pleaded. ‘The printed leaf of what we shall and shall not do contains no relevant instruction. And lying north and south, as I have said, in the full splendour of the great sky lantern–’ ‘Then take the enterprising wayfarer by the most convenient angle of his form and cast him east and west into the nearest shadow,’ he replied, and with that, in an entire reversal of hospitable usage, this hard- striving person was unworthily ejected.”

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