Let it here be openly confessed that the intricately-arranged titles
used among these islanders, and the widely-varying dignities which they
convey, have never ceased to embarrass my greetings on all occasions,
and even yet, when a more crystal insight into their strangely illogical
manners enables me not only to understand them clearly myself, but
also to expound their significance to others, a necessary reticence is
blended with my most profuse cordiality, and my salutations to one whom
I am for the first time encountering are now so irreproachably balanced,
that I can imperceptibly develop them into an engaging effusion, or,
without actual offence, draw back into a condition of unapproachable
exclusiveness as the necessity may arise. With us, O my immaculate sire,
a yellow silk umbrella has for three thousand years denoted a fixed and
recognisable title. A mandarin of the sixth degree need not hesitate to
mingle on terms of assured equality with other mandarins of the sixth
degree, and without any guide beyond a seemly instinct he perceives
the reasonableness of assuming a deferential obsequiousness before a
mandarin of the fifth rank, and a counterbalancing arrogance when in the
society of an official who has only risen to the seventh degree, thus
conforming to that essential principle of harmonious intercourse,
"Remember that Chang Chow's ceiling is Tong Wi's floor"; but who shall
walk with even footsteps in a land where the most degraded may legally
bear the same distinguished name as that of the enlightened sovereign
himself, where the admittedly difficult but even more purposeless
achievement of causing a gold mine to float is held to be more
praiseworthy than to pass a competitive examination or to compose a
poem of inimitable brilliance, and where one wearing gilt buttons and an
emblem in his hat proves upon ingratiating approach not to be a powerful
official but a covetous and illiterate slave of inferior rank?
Thus, through their own narrow-minded inconsistencies, even the most
ceremoniously-proficient may at times present an ill-balanced attitude.
This, without reproach to himself, concerns the inward cause whereby
the one who is placed to you in the relation of an affectionate and
ever-resourceful son found unexpectedly that he had lost the benignant
full face of a lady of exalted title.
At that time I had formed the acquaintance, in an obscure quarter of the
city, of one who wore a uniform, and was addressed on all sides as the
commander of a band, while the gold letters upon the neck part of his
outer garment inevitably suggested that he had borne an honourable share
in the recent campaign in a distant land. As I had frequently met many
of similar rank drinking tea at the house of the engaging countess to
whom I have alluded, I did not hesitate to prevail upon this Captain
Miggs to accompany me there upon an occasion also, assuring him of
equality and a sympathetic reception; but from the moment of our
arrival the attitudes of those around pointed to the existence of some
unpropitious barrier invisible to me, and when the one with whom I was
associated took up an unassailable position upon the central table,
and began to speak authoritatively upon the subject of The Virtues,
the unenviable condition of the proud and affluent, and the myriads of
fire-demons certainly laying in wait for those who partook of spiced tea
and rich foods in the afternoon, and did not wear a uniform similar to
his own, I began to recognise that the selection had been inauspiciously
arranged. Upon taxing some around with the discrepancy (as there seemed
to be no more dignified way of evading the responsibility), they were
unable to contend against me that there were, indeed, two, if not more,
distinct varieties of those bearing the rank of captain, and that they
themselves belonged to an entirely different camp, wearing another
dress, and possessing no authority to display the symbol of the letters
S.A. upon their necks. With this admission I was content to leave the
matter, in no way accusing them of actual duplicity, yet so withdrawing
that any of unprejudiced standing could not fail to carry away the
impression that I had been the victim of an unworthy artifice, and had
been lured into their society by the pretext that they were other than
what they really were.
With the bitter-flavoured memory of this, and other in no way dissimilar
episodes, lingering in my throat, it need not be a matter of conjecture
that for a time I greeted warily all who bore a title, a mark of rank,
or any similar appendage; who wore a uniform, weapon, brass helmet,
jewelled crown, coat of distinctive colour, or any excessive superfluity
of pearl or metal buttons; who went forth surrounded by a retinue, sat
publicly in a chair or allegorical chariot, spoke loudly in the highways
and places in a tone of official pronouncement, displayed any feather,
emblem, inscribed badge, or printed announcement upon a pole, or in any
way conducted themselves in what we should esteem to be fitting to
a position of high dignity. From this arose the absence of outward
enthusiasm with which I at first received Sir Philip's extended
favour; for although I had come to distrust all the reasonable signs of
established power, I distrusted, to a much more enhanced degree, their
complete absence; and when I observed that the one in question was never
accompanied by a band of musicians or flower-strewers, that he mingled
as though on terms of familiar intercourse with the ordinary passers-by
in the streets, and never struck aside those who chanced to impede
his progress, and that he actually preferred those of low condition to
approach him on their feet, rather than in the more becoming attitude
of unconditional prostration, I reasoned with myself whether indeed he
could consistently be a person of well-established authority, or whether
I was not being again led away from my self-satisfaction by another
obliquity of barbarian logic. It was for this reason that I now welcomed
the admitted power which he has of incriminating persons in a variety
of punishable offences, and I perceived with an added satisfaction
that here, where this privilege is more fully understood, few meet him
without raising their hands to the upper part of their heads in token of
unquestioning submission; or, as one would interpret the symbolism into
actual words, meaning, "Thus, from this point to the underneath part of
our sandals, all between lies in the hollow of your comprehensive hand."
There is a written jest among another barbarian nation that these among
whom I am tarrying, being by nature a people who take their pleasures
tragically, when they rise in the morning say, one to another, "Come,
behold; it is raining again as usual; let us go out and kill somebody."
Undoubtedly the pointed end of this adroit-witted saying may be found
in the circumstance that it is, indeed, as the proverb aptly claims,
raining on practically every occasion in life; while, to complete the
comparison, for many dynasties past this nation has been successfully
engaged in killing people (in order to promote their ultimate benefit
through a momentary inconvenience,) in every part of the world. Thus
the lines of parallel thought maintain a harmonious balance beyond the
general analogy of their sayings; but beneath this may be found an even
subtler edge, for in order to inure themselves to the requirement of a
high destiny their various games and manners of disportment are, with a
set purpose, so rigorously contested that in their progress most of the
weak and inefficient are opportunely exterminated.
There is a favourite and well-attended display wherein two opposing
bands, each clad in robes of a distinctive colour, stand in extended
lines of mutual defiance, and at a signal impetuously engage. The
design of each is by force or guile to draw their opponents into an
unfavourable position before an arch of upright posts, and then surging
irresistibly forward, to carry them beyond the limit and hurl them to
the ground. Those who successfully inflict this humiliation upon their
adversaries until they are incapable of further resistance are hailed
victorious, and sinking into a graceful attitude receive each a golden
cup from the magnanimous hands of a maiden chose to the service, either
on account of her peerless outline, the dignified position of her House,
or (should these incentives be obviously wanting,) because the chief
ones of her family are in the habit of contributing unstintingly to the
equipment of the triumphal band. There is also another kind of strife,
differing in its essentials only so far that all who engage therein are
provided with a curved staff, with which they may dexterously draw their
antagonists beyond the limits, or, should they fail to defend themselves
adequately, break the smaller bones of their ankles. But this form of
encounter, despite the use of these weapons, is really less fatal
than the other, for it is not a permissible act to club an antagonist
resentfully about the head with the staff, nor yet even to thrust
it rigidly against his middle body. From this moderation the public
countenance extended to the curved-pole game is contemptibly meagre when
viewed by the side of the overwhelming multitudes which pour along every
channel in order to witness a more than usually desperate trial of the
hurl-headlong variety (the sight, indeed, being as attractive to these
pale, blood-thirsty foreigners as an unusually large execution is
with us), and as a consequence the former is little reputed save among
maidens, the feeble, and those of timorous instincts.
Thus positioned, regarding a knowledge of their outside amusements, it
has always been one of the most prominent ambitions of this person's
strategy to avoid being drawn into any encounter. At the same time,
the thought that the maidens of the household here (of whom there are
several, all so attractively proportioned that to compare them in a
spirit of definite preference would be distastefully presumptuous to
this person,) should regard me as one lacking in a sufficient display
of violence was not fragrant to my sense of refinement; so that when
Sir Philip, a little time after our arrival, related to me that on the
following day he and a chosen band were to be engaged in the match of a
cricket game against adversaries from the village, and asked whether I
cared to bear a part in the strife, I grasped the muscles of the upper
part of my left arm with my right hand--as I had frequently seen the
hardy and virile do when the subject of their powers had been raised
questioningly--and replied that I had long concealed an insatiable wish
to take such a part at a point where the conflict would be the most
revengefully contested.
Being thus inflexibly committed it became very necessary to arrange a
well-timed intervention (whether in the nature of bodily disorder, fire,
or demoniacal upheaval, a warning omen, or the death of some of our
chief antagonists), but before doing so I was desirous of understanding
how this contest, which had hitherto remained outside my experience, was
waged.
There is here one of benevolent rotundity in whose authority lie the
cavernous stores beneath the house and the vessels of gold and silver;
of menial rank admittedly, yet exacting a seemly deference from all
by the rich urbanity of his voice and the dignity of his massive
proportions. In the affable condescension of his tone, and the
discriminating encouragement of his attitude towards me on all
occasions, I have read a sympathetic concern over my welfare. Him I now
approached, and taking him aside, I first questioned him flatteringly
about his age and the extent of his yearly recompense, and then casually
inquired what in his language he would describe the nature of a cricket
to be.
"A cricket?" repeated the obliging person readily; "a cricket, sir, is a
hinsect. Something, I take it, after the manner of a grass-'opper."
"Truly," I agreed. "It is aptly likened. And, to continue the simile, a
game cricket--?"
"A game cricket?" he replied; "well, sir, naturally a game one would be
more gamier than the others, wouldn't it?"
"The inference is unflinching," I admitted, and after successfully
luring away his mind from any significance in the inquiry by asking him
whether the gift of a lacquered coffin or an embroidered shroud would be
the more regarded on parting, I left him.
His words, esteemed, for a definite reason were as the jade-clappered
melody of a silver bell. This trial of sportiveness, it became
clear,--less of a massacre than most of their amusements--is really
a rivalry of leapings and dexterity of the feet: a conflict of game
crickets or grass-hoppers, in the somewhat wide-angled obscurity of
their language, or, as we would more appropriately call it doubtless,
a festive competition in the similitude of high-spirited locusts. To
whatever degree the surrounding conditions might vary, there could no
longer be a doubt that the power of leaping high into the air was
the essential constituent of success in this barbarian match of
crickets--and in such an accomplishment this person excelled from the
time of his youth with a truly incredible proficiency. Can it be a
reproach, then, that when I considered this, and saw in a vision the
contempt of inferiority which I should certainly be able to inflict
upon these native crickets before the eyes of their maidens, even
the accumulated impassiveness of thirty-seven generations of Kong
fore-fathers broke down for the moment, and unable to restrain every
vestige of emotion I crept unperceived to the ancestral hall of Sir
Philip and there shook hands affectionately with myself before each of
the nine ironclad warriors about its walls before I could revert to
a becoming state of trustworthy unconcern. That night in my own upper
chamber I spent many hours in testing my powers and studying more
remarkable attitudes of locust flight, and I even found to be within
myself some new attainments of life-like agility, such as feigning the
continuous note of defiance with which the insect meets his adversary,
as remaining poised in the air for an appreciable moment at the summit
of each leap, and of conveying to the body a sudden and disconcerting
sideway movement in the course of its ascent. So immersed did I become
in the achievement of a high perfection that, to my never-ending
self-reproach, I failed to notice a supernatural visitation of undoubted
authenticity; for the next morning it was widely admitted that a certain
familiar demon of the house, which only manifests its presence on
occasions of tragic omen, had been heard throughout the night in
warning, not only beating its head and body against the walls and
doors in despair, but raising from time to time a wailing cry of
soul-benumbing bitterness.
With every assurance that the next letter, though equally distorted
in style and immature in expression, will contain the record of a
deteriorated but ever upward-striving son's ultimate triumph.
KONG HO.
LETTER XI
Concerning the game which we should call "Locusts," and the
deeper significance of its acts. The solicitous warning of
one passing inwards and the complication occasioned by his
ill-chosen words. Concerning that victory already dimly
foreshadowed.
VENERATED SIRE,--This barbarian game of agile grass-hoppers is not
conducted in the best spirit of a really well-balanced display, and
although the one now inscribing his emotions certainly achieved a wide
popularity, and wore his fig leaves with becoming modesty, he has never
since been quite free from an overhanging doubt that the compliments and
genial remarks with which he was assailed owed their modulation to an
unsubstantial atmosphere of two-edged significance which for a period
enveloped all whom he approached; as in the faces of maidens concealed
behind fans when he passed, the down-drawn lips and up-raised eyes
of those of fuller maturity, the practice in most of his own kind
of turning aside, pressing their hands about their middle parts, and
bending forward into a swollen attitude devoid of grace, on the spur of
a sudden remembrance, and in the auspicious but undeniably embarrassing
manner in which all the unfledged ones of the village clustered about
his retiring footsteps, saluting him continually as one "James," upon
whom had been conferred the gratifying title of "Sunny." Thus may the
outline of the combat be recounted.
From each opposing group eleven were chosen as a band, and we of our
company putting on a robe of distinctive green (while they elected to
be regarded as an assemblage of brown crickets), we presently came to a
suitable spot where the trial was to be decided. So far this person
had reasonably assumed that at a preconcerted signal the contest would
begin, all rising into the air together, uttering cries of menace,
bounding unceasingly and in every way displaying the dexterity of our
proportions. Indeed, in the reasonableness of this expectation it cannot
be a matter for reproach to one of the green grass-hoppers--who need not
be further indicated--that he had already begun a well-simulated note
of challenge to those around clad in brown, and to leap upwards in
a preparatory essay, when the ever-alert Sir Philip took him
affectionately by the arm, on the plea that the seclusion of a
neighbouring pavilion afforded a desirable shade.
Beyond that point it is difficult to convey an accurately grouped and
fully spread-out design of the encounter. In itself the scheme and
intention of counterfeiting the domestic life and rivalries of two
opposing bands of insects was pleasantly conceived, and might have been
carried out with harmonious precision, but, after the manner of these
remote tribes, the original project had been overshadowed and the purity
of the imagination lost beneath a mass of inconsistent detail. To
this imperfection must it be laid that when at length this person was
recalled from the obscurity of the pagoda and the alluring society of
a maiden of the village, to whom he was endeavouring to expound the
strategy of the game, and called upon to engage actively in it, he
courteously admitted to those who led him forth that he had not the most
shadowy-outlined idea of what was required of him.
Nevertheless they bound about his legs a frilled armour, ingeniously
fashioned to represent the ribbed leanness of the insect's shank,
encased his hands and feet in covers to a like purpose, and pressing
upon him a wooden club indicated that the time had come for him to
prove his merit by venturing alone into the midst of the eleven brown
adversaries who stood at a distance in poised and expectant attitudes.
Assuredly, benignant one, this sport of contending locusts began, as one
approached nearer to it, to wear no more pacific a face than if it had
been a carnage of the hurl-headlong or the curved-hook varieties. In
such a competition, it occurred to him, how little deference would be
paid to this one's title of "Established Genius," or how inadequately
would he be protected by his undoubted capacity of leaping upwards,
and even in a sideway direction, for no matter how vigorously he
might propel himself, or how successfully he might endeavour to remain
self-sustained in the air, the ill-destined moment could not be long
deferred when he must come down again into the midst of the eleven--all
doubtless concealing weapons as massive and fatally-destructive as his
own. This prospect, to a person of quiescent taste, whose chief
delight lay in contemplating the philosophical subtleties of the higher
Classics, was in itself devoid of glamour, but with what funereal
pigments shall he describe his sinking emotions when one of his own
band, approaching him as he went, whispered in his ear, "Look out at
this end; they kick up like the very devil. And their man behind the
wicket is really smart; if you give him half a chance he'll have
your stumps down before you can say 'knife.'" Shorn of its uncouth
familiarity, this was a charitable warning that they into whose
stronghold I was turning my footsteps--perhaps first deceiving my
alertness with a proffered friendship--would kick with the ferocity of
untamed demons, and that one in particular, whose description, to my
added despair, I was unable to retain, was known to possess a formidable
knife, with which it was his intention to cut off this person's legs at
the first opportunity, before he could be accused of the act. Truly, "To
one whom he would utterly destroy Buddha sends a lucky dream."
Behind lay the pagoda (though the fact that this one did admittedly turn
round for a period need not be too critically dwelt upon), with three
tiers of maidens, some already waving their hands as an encouraging
token; on each side a barrier of prickly growth inopportunely presented
itself, while in front the eleven kicking crickets stood waiting, and
among them lurked the one grasping a doubly-edged blade of a highly
proficient keenness.
There are occasional moments in the life of a person when he as the
inward perception of retiring for a few paces and looking back in order
to consider his general appearance and to judge how he is situated
with regard to himself, to review his past life in a spirit of judicial
severity, to arrange definitely upon a future composed entirely of acts
of benevolence, and to examine the working of destiny at large. In such
a scrutiny I now began to understand that it would perhaps have been
more harmonious to my love of contemplative repose if I had considered
the disadvantages closer before venturing into this barbarian region,
or, at least, if I had used the occasion profitably to advance an
argument tending towards a somewhat fuller allowance of taels from your
benevolent sleeve. Our own virtuous and flower-strewn land, it is true,
does not possess an immunity from every trifling drawback. The Hoang
Ho--to concede specifically the existence of some of these--frequently
bursts through its restraining barriers and indiscriminately sweeps
away all those who are so ill-advised as to dwell within reach of its
malignant influence. From time to time wars and insurrections are found
to be necessary, and no matter how morally-intentioned and humanely
conducted, they necessarily result in the violation, dismemberment or
extirpation of many thousand polite and dispassionate persons who have
no concern with either side. Towns are repeatedly consumed by fire,
districts scourged by leprosy, and provinces swept by famine. The storms
are admittedly more fatal than elsewhere, the thunderbolts larger, more
numerous, and all unerringly directed, while the extremities of heat and
cold render life really uncongenial for the greater part of each year.
The poor, having no money to secure justice, are evilly used, whereas
the wealthy, having too much, are assailed legally by the gross
and powerful for the purpose of extorting their riches. Robbers and
assassins lurk in every cave; vast hoards of pirates blacken the surface
of every river; and mandarins of the nine degrees must make a livelihood
by some means or other. By day, therefore, it is inadvisable to go forth
and encounter human beings, while none but the shallow-headed would risk
a meeting with the countless demons and vampires which move by night. To
one who has spent many moons among these foreign apparitions the absence
of drains, roads, illustrated message-parchments, maidens whose voices
may be heard protesting upon ringing a wire, loaves of conflicting
dimensions, persons who strive to put their faces upon every
advertisement, pens which emit fountains when carried in the pocket,
a profusion of make-strong foods, and an Encyclopaedia Mongolia, may
undoubtedly be mentioned as constituting a material deficiency. Affairs
are not being altogether reputably conducted during the crisis; it can
never be quite definitely asserted what the next action of the versatile
and high-spirited Dowager Empress will be; and here it is freely
contended that the Pure and Immortal Empire is incapable of remaining
in one piece for much longer. These, and other inconveniences of a like
nature, which the fastidious might distort into actual hardships, have
never been denied, yet at no period of the nine thousand years of our
civilisation has it been the custom to lure out the unwary, on the plea
of an agreeable entertainment, and then to abandon him into the society
of eleven club-bearing adversaries, one of whom may be depicted as in
the act of imparting an unnecessary polish to the edge of his already
preternaturally acute weapon, while those of his own band offer no
protection, and three tiers of very richly-dressed maidens encourage him
to his fate by refined gestures of approval.
Doubtless this person had unconsciously allowed his inner meditations
to carry him away, as it may be expressed, for when he emerged from this
strain of reverie it was to discover himself in the chariot-road and--so
incongruously may be the actions when the controlling intelligence is
withdrawn--even proceeding at a somewhat undignified pace in a direction
immediately opposed to an encounter with the brown locusts. From
this mortifying position he was happily saved by emerging from these
thought-dreams before it was too late to return, and, also, if the
detail is not too insignificant to be related, by the fact that certain
chosen runners from his own company had reached a point in the road
before him, and now stood joining their outstretched arms across the
passage and raising gravity-dispelling cries. Smiling acquiescently,
therefore, this person returned in their midst, and receiving a new
weapon, his own club having been absent-mindedly mislaid, he again set
forth warily to the encounter.
Yet in this he did not altogether neglect a discreet prudence. The
sympathetic person to whom he was indebted for the pointed allusion had
specifically declared that they who used their feet with the desperate
savagery of baffled spectres guarded the nearer limits of their
position, the intention of his timely hint assuredly being that I should
seek to approach from the opposite end, where, doubtless, the more
humane and conciliatory grass-hoppers were assembled. Thus guided I now
set forth in a widely-circuitous direction, having the point where I
meant to open an attack clearly before my eyes, yet seeking to deliver
a more effective onslaught by reaching it to some extent unperceived and
to this end creeping forward in the protecting shadow of the long grass
and untrimmed herbage.
Whether the one already referred to had incapably failed to express his
real meaning, or whether he was tremulous by nature and inordinately
self-deficient, concerns the narration less than the fact that he had
admittedly produced a state of things largely in excess of the actual.
There is no longer any serviceable pretext for maintaining that
those guarding any point of their position were other than mild and
benevolent, while the only edged weapon displayed was one courteously
produced to aid this person's ineffectual struggles to extricate himself
when, by some obscure movement, he had most ignobly entangled his
pigtail about the claws of his sandal.
Ignorant of this, the true state of things, I was still advancing subtly
when one wearing the emblems of our band appeared from among the brown
insects and came towards me. "Courage!" I exclaimed in a guarded tone,
raising my head cautiously and rejoiced to find that I should not be
alone. "Here is one clad in green bearing succour, who will, moreover,
obstinately defend his stumps to the last extremity."
"That's right," replied the opportune person agreeably; "we need a few
like that. But do get up on your hind legs and come along, there's a
good fellow. You can play at bears in the nursery when we get back, if
you want."
Certainly one can simulate the movements of wild animals in a
market-garden if the impersonation is thought to be desirable, yet
the reasonable analogy of the saying is elusive in the extreme, and
I followed the ally who had thus betrayed my presence with a deep-set
misgiving although in the absence of a more trustworthy guide, and in
the suspicion that some point of my every ordinary strategy had been
inept, I was compelled to mould myself identically into his advice.
Scarcely had he left me, and I was endeavouring to dispel any idea of
treachery towards those about by actions of graceful courtesy, when
one--unworthy of burial--standing a score of paces distant, (to whom,
indeed, this person was at the moment bowing with almost passionate
vehemence, inspired by the conviction that he, for his part, was
engaged in a like attention,) suddenly cast a missile--which, somewhat
double-facedly, he had hitherto held concealed in his closed hand--with
undeviating force and accuracy. So unexpected was the movement,
so painfully-impressed the vindictive contact, that I should have
instinctively seized the offensively-directed object and contemptuously
hurled it back again, if the consequence of the blow had not deprived
my mind of all retaliatory ambitions. In this emergency was manifested
a magnanimous act worthy of the incense of a poem, for a person standing
immediately by, seeing how this one was balanced in his emotions, picked
up the missile, and although one of the foremost of the opposing band,
very obligingly flung it back at the assailant. Even an outcast would
not have passed this without a suitable tribute, and turning to him,
I was remarking appreciatively that men were not divided by seas and
wooden barriers, but by the unchecked and conflicting lusts of the mind,
when the unclean and weed-nurtured traitor twenty paces distant, taking
a degraded advantage from this person's attitude, again propelled his
weapon with an even more concentrated perfidy than before. At this new
outrage every brown cricket shrank from the attitude of alert vigour
which hitherto he had maintained, and as though to disassociate
themselves from the stain of complicity all crossed over and took up new
positions.
Up to this point, majestic head, in order to represent the adventure
in its proper sequence, it has been advisable to present the details as
they arose before the eyes of a reliable and dispassionate gazer. Now,
however, it is no less seemly to declare that this barbarian sport
of leaping insects is not so discreditably shallow as it had at first
appeared, while in every action there may be found an apt but hidden
symbol. Thus the presence of the two green locusts in the midst of
others of a dissimilar nature represents the unending strife by which
even the most pacific are ever surrounded. The fragile erection of
sticks (behind which this person at first sought to defend himself
until led into a more exposed position by one garbed in white,) may be
regarded as the home and altar, and adequately depicts the hollowness
of the protection it affords and the necessity of reliantly emerging to
defy an invader rather than lurking discreditably among its recesses.
The missile is the equivalent of a precise and immediate danger, the
wooden club the natural instinct for defence with which all living
creatures are endowed, so that when the peril is for the time driven
away the opportunity is at hand for the display of virtuous amusements,
the exchanging of hospitality, and the beating of professional drums as
we would say. Thus, at the next attack the one sharing the enterprise
with me struck the missile so proficiently that its recovery engaged the
attention of all our adversaries, and then began to exhibit his powers
by running and leaping towards me. Recognising that the actual moment of
the display had arrived, this person at once emitted a penetrating cry
of concentrated challenge, and also began to leap upwards and about,
and with so much energy that the highly achieved limits of his flight
surprised even himself.
As for the bystanders, esteemed, those who opposed us, and the members
of our own band, although this leaping sportiveness is a competition
more regarded and practised among all orders than the pursuit of
commercial eminence, or even than the allurements of the sublimest
Classics, it may be truly imagined that never before had they witnessed
so remarkable a game cricket. From the pagoda a loud cry of wonder
acclaimed the dexterity of this person's efforts; the three tiers of
maidens climbed one upon another in their anxiety to lose no detail of
the adventure, and outstanders from distant points began to assemble.
The brown enemy at once abandoned themselves to a panic, and for the
most part cast themselves incapably to the ground, rolling from side to
side in an access of emotion; the two arbiters clad in white conferred
together, doubtless on the uselessness of further contest, while the
ally who had summoned me to take a part instead of being encouraged to
display his agility in a like manner continued to run slavishly from
point to point, while I overcame the distances in a series of inspired
bounds.
In the meanwhile the sounds of encouragement from the ever-increasing
multitude grew like the falling of a sudden coast storm among the ripe
leaves of a tea-plantation, and with them the voices of many calling
upon my name and inciting me to further and even higher achievements
reached my ears. Not to grow small in the eyes of these estimable
persons I continued in my flight, and abandoning all set movements and
limits, I began to traverse the field in every direction, becoming more
proficient with each effort, imparting to myself a sideway and even
backward motion while yet in the upper spaces, remaining poised for an
appreciable period, and lightly, yet with graceful ease, avoiding the
embraces of those who would have detained me. Undoubtedly I could have
maintained this supremacy until our band might justly have claimed the
reward, had not the flattering cries of approval caused an indiscreet
mistake, for the alarm being spread in the village that a conflagration
of imposing ferocity was raging, an ornamental chariot conveying a band
of warriors clad in brass armour presently entered into the strife, and
discovering no fire to occupy their charitable energies they misguidedly
honoured this offensive person by propelling a solid column of the
purest and most refreshing water against his ignoble body when at the
point of his highest flight. This introduction of a thunderbolt into the
everyday life of an insect must be of questionable authenticity, yet
not feeling sufficiently instructed in the lesser details of the
sportiveness to challenge the device, I suffered myself to be led
towards the pavilion with no more struggling than enough to remove the
ignominy of an unresisting surrender, pleasantly remarking to those
who bore me along that to a person of philosophical poise the written
destiny was as apparent in the falling leaf as in the rising sun,
pointing the saying thus: "Although the Desert of Shan-tz is boundless,
and mankind number a million million, yet in it Li-hing encountered his
mother-in-law." Changing to meet another of our company setting forth
with a club to make the venture, I was permitted for a moment to
engage him; whereupon thrusting into his hand a leather charm against
ill-directed efforts, and instructing him to bind it about his head, I
encouraged him with the imperishable watch-word of the Emperor Tsin Su,
"The stars are indeed small, but their light carries as far as that of
the full moon."
At the steps of the pagoda so great was the throng of those who would
have overwhelmed me with their gracious attention, that had not this
person's neck become practically automatic by ceaseless use of late, he
would have been utterly unequal to the emergency. As it was, he could
only bestow a superficial hand-wave upon a company of gold-embroidered
musicians who greeted his return with appropriate melody, and a glance
of well-indicated regret that he had no fuller means of conveying his
complicated emotions, in the direction of the uppermost tier of maidens.
Then the awaiting Sir Philip took him firmly towards the inner part of
the pavilion, and announced, so adroitly and with such high-spirited
vigour had this one maintained the conflict, that it had been resolutely
agreed on all sides not to make a test of his competence any further.
Thereupon a band of very sumptuously arrayed nymphs drew near with
offerings of liquid fat and a variety of crimson fruit, which it is
customary to grind together on the platter--unapproachable in the
result, certainly, yet incredibly elusive to the unwary in the manner of
bruising, and practically ineradicable upon the more delicate shades
of silk garment. In such a situation the one who is now relating the
various incidents of the day may be imagined by a broad-minded and
affectionate sire: partaking of this native fruit and oil, and from time
to time expressing his insatiable anguish that he continually fails
to become more proficient in controlling the oblique movements of the
viands, while the less successful crickets are constrained to persevere
in the combat, and the ever-present note of evasive purport is raised
by a voice from behind a screen exclaiming, "Out afore? That he may have
been, but do he think we was a-going to give he out afore? No, maaster,
us doant a-have a circus every day hereabouts."
Thus may this imagination of competitive locusts be set forth to
the end. If a fuller proof of what an unostentatious self-effacement
hesitates to enlarge upon were required, it might be found in the
barbarian printed leaf, for the next day this person saw a public record
of the strife, in which his own name was followed by a numerical emblem
signifying that he had not stumbled or proved incompetent in any one
particular. Sir Philip, I beheld with pained surprise, had obtusely
suffered himself to be caught out in the committal of fifty-nine set
offences.
With a not unnatural anticipation that, as a result of this painstaking
description, this person will find two well-equipped camps of contending
locusts in Yuen-ping on his return.
KONG HO.
LETTER XII
Concerning the obvious misunderstanding which has entwined
itself about a revered parent's faculties of passionless
discrimination. The all-water disportment and the two, of
different sexes, who after regarding me conflictingly from
the beginning, ended in a like but inverted manner.
VENERATED SIRE,--Your gem-adorned letter containing a thousand burnished
words of profuse reproach has entered my diminished soul in the form
of an equal number of rusty barbs. Can it be that the incapable
person whom, as you truly say, you sent, "to observe the philosophical
subtleties of the barbarians, to study their dynastical records and to
associate liberally with the venerable and dignified," has, in your
own unapproachable felicity of ceremonial expression, "according to
a discreet whisper from many sources, chiefly affected the society of
tea-house maidens, the immature of both sexes, doubtful characters of
all classes, and criminals awaiting trial; has evinced an unswerving
affinity towards light amusement and entertainments of a no-class kind;
and in place of a wise aloofness, befitting a wearer of the third Gold
Button and the Horn Belt-clasp, in situations of critical perplexity,
seems by his own ingenuous showing to have maintained an unparalleled
aptitude for behaving either with the crystalline simplicity of a
Kan-su earth-tiller, or the misplaced buffoonery of a seventh-grade
body-writher taking the least significant part in an ill-equipped Swatow
one-cash Hall of Varied Melodies." Assuredly, if your striking and
well-chosen metaphors were not more unbalanced than the ungainly
attitude of a one-legged hunchback crossing a raging torrent by means
of a slippery plank on a stormy night, they would cause the very acutest
bitterness to the throat of a dutiful and always high-stepping son.
There is an apt saying, however, "A quarrel between two soldiers in the
market-place becomes a rebellion in the outskirts," and when this person
remembers that many thousand li of mixed elements flow between him and
his usually correct and dispassionate sire, he is impelled to take a
mild and tolerant attitude towards the momentary injustice brought about
by the weakness of approaching old age, the vile-intentioned mendacity
of outcasts envious of the House of Kong, and, perchance, the irritation
brought on by a too lavish indulgence in your favourite dish of stewed
mouse.
Having thus re-established himself in the clear-sighted affection of an
ever mild and perfect father, and cleansed the ground of all possible
misunderstandings in the future, this person will concede the fact that,
not to stand beneath the faintest shadow of an implied blemish in your
sympathetic eyes, he had no sooner understood the attitude in which he
had been presented than he at once plunged into the virtuous society of
a band of the sombre and benevolent.
These, so far as his intelligence enables him to grasp the position,
may be reasonably accepted as the barbarian equivalent of those very
high-minded persons who in our land devote their whole lives secretly
to killing others whom they consider the chief deities do not really
approve of; for although they are not permitted here, either by written
law or by accepted custom, to perform these meritorious actions, they
are so intimately initiated into the minds and councils of the Upper
Ones that they are able to pronounce very severe judgments of torture--a
much heavier penalty than merely being assassinated--upon all who remain
outside their league. As some of the most objurgatory of these alliances
do not number more than a score of persons, it is inevitable that the
ultimate condition of the whole barbarian people must be hazardous in
the extreme.
Having associated myself with this class sufficiently to escape their
vindictive pronouncements, and freely professed an unswerving adherence
to their rites, I next sought out the priests of other altars, intending
by a seemly avowal to each in turn to safeguard my future existence
effectually. This I soon discovered to be beyond the capacity of an
ordinary lifetime, for whereas we, with four hundred million subjects
find three religions to be sufficient to meet every emergency, these
irresolute island children, although numbering us only as one to ten,
vacillate among three hundred; and even amid this profusion it is
asserted that most of the barbarians are unable to find any temple
exactly conforming to their requirements, and after writing to the paper
to announce the fact, abandon the search in despair.
It was while I was becoming proficient in the inner subtleties of one
of these orders--they who drink water on all occasions and wear a
badge--that a maiden of some authority among them besought my aid for
the purpose of amusing a band which she was desirous of propitiating
into the adoption of this badge. It is possible that in the immature
confidence of former letters this person may already have alluded to
certain maidens with words of courteous esteem, but it is now necessary
to admit finally that in the presence of this same Helena they would
all appear as an uninviting growth of stunted and deformed poppies
surrounding a luxuriant chrysanthemum. At the presumptuous thought of
describing her illimitable excellences my fingers become claw-like in
their confessed inadequacy to hold a sufficiently upright brush; yet
without undue confidence it may be set down that her hands resembled the
two wings of a mandarin drake in their symmetrical and changing motion,
her hair as light and radiant-pointed as the translucent incense cloud
floating before the golden Buddha of Shan-Si, thin white satin stretched
tightly upon polished agate only faintly comparable to her jade cheeks,
while her eyes were more unfathomable than the crystal waters of the
Keng-kiang, and within their depths her pure and magnanimous thoughts
could be dimly seen to glide like the gold and silver carp beneath the
sacred river.
When this insurpassable being approached me with the flattering
petition already alluded to, my gratified emotions clashed together
uncontrollably with the internal feeling of many volcanoes in movement,
and my organs of expression became so entangled at the condescension of
her melodious voice being directly addressed to one so degraded, that
for several minutes I was incapable of further acquiescence than that
conveyed by an adoring silence and an unchanging smile. No formality
appeared worthy to greet her by, no expression of self-contempt
sufficiently offensive to convey to her enlightenment my own sense of
a manifold inferiority, and doubtless I should have remained in a
transfixed attitude until she had at length turned aside, had not your
seasonable reference to a Swatow limb-contorter struck me heavily and
abruptly turned off the source of my agreement. Might not this all-water
entertainment, it occurred to this one, consist in enticing him to drink
a potion made unsuspectedly hot, in projecting him backwards into a vat
of the same liquid, or some similar device for the pleasurable amusement
of those around, which would come within the boundaries of your refined
disapproval? As one by himself there was no indignity that this person
would not cheerfully have submitted to, but the inexorable cords of an
ingrained filial regard suddenly pulled him sideways and into another
direction.
"But, Mr. Kong," exclaimed the bee-lipped maiden, when I had explained
(as being less involved to her imagination,) that I was under a vow,
"we have been relying upon you. Could you not"--and here she dropped her
eyes and picked them up again with a fluttering motion which our lesser
ones are, to an all-wise end, quite unacquainted with--"could you not
unvow yourself for one night, just to please ME?"
At these words, the illuminated proficiency of her glance, and her
honourable resolution to implicate me in the display by head or feet,
the ever-revered image of a just and obedience-loving father ceased to
have any further tangible influence. Let it be remembered that there
is a deep saying, "A virtuous woman will cause more evil than ten river
pirates." As for the person who is recording his incompetence, the room
and all those about began to engulf him in an ever-increasing circular
motion, his knees vibrated together with unrestrained pliancy, and
concentrating his voice to indicate by the allegory some faint measure
of his emotion, he replied passionately, "Let the amusement referred to
take the form of sitting in a boiling cauldron exposed to the derision
of all beholders, this one will now enter it wearing yellow silk
trousers."
It is characteristic of these illogical out-countries that the all-water
diversion did not, as a matter to record, concern itself with that
liquid in any detail, beyond the contents of a glass vessel from which a
venerable person, who occupied a raised chair, continually partook. This
discriminating individual spoke so confidently of the beneficial action
of the fluid, and so unswervingly described my own feelings at the
moment--as of head giddiness, an inexactitude of speech, and no clear
definition of where the next step would be arrived at--as the common
lot of all who did not consume regularly, that when that same Helena
had passed on to speak to another, I left the hall unobserved and drank
successive portions, in each case, as the night was cold, prudently
adding a measure of the native rice spirit. His advice had been
well-directed, for with the fourth portion I suddenly found all
doubtful and oppressive visions withdrawn, and a new and exhilarating
self-confidence raised in their place. In this agreeable temper I
returned to the place of meeting to find a priest of one of the lesser
orders relating a circumstance whereby he had encountered a wild maiden
in the woods, who had steadfastly persisted that she was one of a
band of seven (this being the luckiest protective number among the
superstitious). Though unable to cause their appearance, she had gone
through a most precise examination at his hands without deviating in the
slightest particular, whereupon distrusting the outcome of the strife,
the person who was relating the adventure had withdrawn breathless.
When this versatile lesser priest had finished the narration, and
the applause, which clearly showed that those present approved of the
solitary maiden's discreet stratagem, had ceased, the one who occupied
the central platform, rising, exclaimed loudly, "Mr. Kong will next
favour us with a contribution, which will consist, I am informed, of a
Chinese tale."
Now there chanced to be present a certain one who had already become
offensive to me by the systematic dexterity with which he had planted
his inopportune shadow between the sublime-souled Helena and any other
who made a movement to approach her heaven-dowered outline. When this
presumptuous and ill-nurtured outcast, who was, indeed, then seated
by the side of the enchanting maiden last referred to, heard the
announcement he said in a voice feigned to reach her peach-skin ear
alone, yet intentionally so modulated as to penetrate the furthest limit
of the room, "A Chinese tale! Why, assuredly, that must be a pig-tail."
At this unseemly shaft many of those present allowed themselves to
become immoderately amused, and even the goat-like sage who had
called upon my name concealed his face behind an open hand, but the
amiably-disposed Helena, after looking at the undiscriminating youth
coldly for a moment, deliberately rose and moved to a vacant spot at a
distance. Encouraged by this fragrant act of sympathy I replied with a
polite bow to indicate the position, "On the contrary, the story which
it is now my presumptuous intention to relate will contain no reference
whatever to the carefully-got-up one occupying two empty seats in the
front row," and without further introduction began the history of Kao
and his three brothers, to which I had added the title, "The Three
Gifts."
At the conclusion of this classical example of the snares ever lying
around the footsteps of the impious, I perceived that the jocular
stripling, whom I had so delicately reproved, was no longer present.
Doubtless he had been unable to remain in the same room with the
commanding Helena's high-spirited indignation, and anticipating that in
consequence there would now be no obstacle to her full-faced benignity,
I drew near with an appropriate smile.
It is somewhere officially recorded, "There is only one man who knew
with accurate certainty what a maiden's next attitude would be, and he
died young of surprise." As I approached I had the sensation of passing
into so severe an atmosphere of rigid disfavour, that the ingratiating
lines upon my face became frozen in its intensity, despite the ineptness
of their expression. Unable to penetrate the cause of my offence, I
made a variety of agreeable remarks, until finding that nothing tended
towards a becoming reconciliation, I gradually withdrew in despair, and
again turned my face in the direction of that same accommodation which I
had already found beneath the sign of an Encompassed Goat. Here, by the
sarcasm of destiny, I encountered the person who had drawn the slighting
analogy between this one's pig-tail and his ability as a story-teller.
For a brief space of time the ultimate development of the venture
was doubtfully poised, but recognising in each other's features the
overhanging cloud of an allied pang, the one before me expressed a
becoming contrition for the jest, together with a proffered cup. Not to
appear out-classed I replied in a suitable vein, involving the supply
of more vessels; whereupon there succeeded many more vessels, called for
both singly and in harmonious unison, and the reappearance of numerous
bright images, accompanied by a universal scintillation of meteor-like
iridescence. In this genial and greatly-enlarged spirit we returned
affably together to the hall, and entered unperceived at the moment when
the one who made the announcements was crying aloud, "According to the
programme the next item should have been a Chinese poem, but as Mr. Kong
Ho appears to have left the building, we shall pass him over--" |
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