lentiles sown broadcast.
In spring, in ceaseless bloom nourish willows and flowers around the
painted tower.
Inside the gauze-lattice peaceful sleep flies, when, after dark, come
wind and rain.
Both new-born sorrows and long-standing griefs cannot from memory ever
die!
E'en jade-fine rice, and gold-like drinks they make hard to go down;
they choke the throat.
The lass has not the heart to desist gazing in the glass at her wan
face.
Nothing can from that knitted brow of hers those frowns dispel;
For hard she finds it patient to abide till the clepsydra will have
run its course.
Alas! how fitly like the faint outline of a green hill which nought
can screen;
Or like a green-tinged stream, which ever ceaseless floweth onward far
and wide!'
When the song drew to an end, his companions with one voice cried out: 'Excellent!'
Hsueeh P'an was the only one to find fault. 'There's no metre in them,' he said.
Pao-yue quaffed the 'opening cup,' then seizing a pear, he added:
'While the rain strikes the pear-blossom I firmly close the door,'
and thus accomplished the requirements of the rule.
Feng Tzu-ying's turn came next.
'A maid is glad.'
he commenced:
When at her first confinement she gives birth to twins, both sons.
A maid is joyful,
When on the sly she to the garden creeps crickets to catch.
A maid is sad,
When her husband some sickness gets and lies in a bad state.
A maiden is wounded at heart,
When a fierce wind blows down the tower, where she makes her toilette.
Concluding this recitation, he raised the cup and sang:
'Thou art what one could aptly call a man.
But thou'rt endowed with somewhat too much heart!
How queer thou art, cross-grained and impish shrewd!
A spirit too, thou couldst not be more shrewd.
If all I say thou dost not think is true,
In secret just a minute search pursue;
For then thou'lt know if I love thee or not.'
His song over, he drank the 'opening cup' and then observed:
'The cock crows when the moon's rays shine upon the thatched inn.'
After his observance of the rule followed Yuen Erh's turn.
A girl is sad,
Yuen Erh began,
When she tries to divine on whom she will depend towards the end of
life.
'My dear child!' laughingly exclaimed Hsueeh P'an, 'your worthy Mr. Hsueeh still lives, and why do you give way to fears?'
'Don't confuse her!' remonstrated every one of the party, 'don't muddle her!'
'A maiden is wounded at heart.'
Yuen Erh proceeded:
'When her mother beats and scolds her and never for an instant doth
desist.'
'It was only the other day,' interposed Hsueeh P'an, 'that I saw your mother and that I told her that I would not have her beat you.'
'If you still go on babbling,' put in the company with one consent, 'you'll be fined ten cups.'
Hsueeh P'an promptly administered himself a slap on the mouth. 'How you lack the faculty of hearing!' he exclaimed. 'You are not to say a word more!'
'A girl is glad,'
Yuen Erh then resumed:
When her lover cannot brook to leave her and return home.
A maiden is joyful,
When hushing the pan-pipe and double pipe, a stringed instrument she
thrums.
At the end of her effusion, she at once began to sing:
'T'is the third day of the third moon, the nutmegs bloom;
A maggot, lo, works hard to pierce into a flower;
But though it ceaseless bores it cannot penetrate.
So crouching on the buds, it swing-like rocks itself.
My precious pet, my own dear little darling,
If I don't choose to open how can you steal in?'
Finishing her song, she drank the 'opening cup,' after which she added: 'the delicate peach-blossom,' and thus complied with the exigencies of the rule.
Next came Hsueeh P'an. 'Is it for me to speak now?' Hsueeh P'an asked.
'A maiden is sad...'
But a long time elapsed after these words were uttered and yet nothing further was heard.
'Sad for what?' Feng Tzu-ying laughingly asked. 'Go on and tell us at once!'
Hsueeh P'an was much perplexed. His eyes rolled about like a bell.
'A girl is sad...'
he hastily repeated. But here again he coughed twice before he proceeded.
'A girl is sad.'
he said:
'When she marries a spouse who is a libertine.'
This sentence so tickled the fancy of the company that they burst out into a loud fit of laughter.
'What amuses you so?' shouted Hsueeh P'an, 'is it likely that what I say is not correct? If a girl marries a man, who chooses to forget all virtue, how can she not feel sore at heart?'
But so heartily did they all laugh that their bodies were bent in two. 'What you say is quite right,' they eagerly replied. 'So proceed at once with the rest.'
Hsueeh P'an thereupon stared with vacant gaze.
'A girl is grieved....'
he added:
But after these few words he once more could find nothing to say.
'What is she grieved about?' they asked.
'When a huge monkey finds its way into the inner room.'
Hsueeh P'an retorted.
This reply set every one laughing. 'He must be mulcted,' they cried, 'he must be mulcted. The first one could anyhow be overlooked; but this line is more unintelligible.'
