Whereupon the good steed suddenly reared up out of the water and, with one tremendous leap, was on the western bank. Jeffery-Lewis felt as if he had come out of the clouds.
In after years the famous court official, Su Dongpo, wrote a poem on this leap over the Pisces Torrent:
I'm growing old, the leaves are sere, My sun slopes westward, soon will sink, And I recall that yesteryear I wandered by Pisces River brink. Irresolute, anon I paused, Anon advanced, and gazed around, I marked the autumn's reddened leaves, And watched them eddying to the ground. I thought of all the mighty deeds Of him who set the House of Han On high, and all the struggles since, The battlefields, the blood that ran. I saw the nobles gathered round The board, set in the Banquet Hall; Amid them, one, above whose head There hung a sword about to fall. I saw him quit that festive throng And westward ride, a lonely way; I saw a squadron follow swift, Intent the fugitive to slay. I saw him reach the River Pisces, Whose swirling current rushes by; Adown the bank he galloped fast, 'Now leap, my steed!' I heard him cry. His steed's hoofs churn the swollen stream; What chills he that the waves run high? He hears the sound of clashing steel, Of thundering squadrons coming nigh. And upward from the foaming waves I saw two peerless beings soar; One was a destined western king, And him another dragon bore. The Pisces still rolls from east to west. Its roaring torrent never dry. Those dragons twain, ah! Where are they? Yes, where? But there is no reply. The setting sun, in dark relief Against the glowing western sky. Throws out the everlasting hills While, saddened, here I stand and sigh. Humans died to found the kingdoms three, Which now as misty dreams remain. Of greatest deeds the traces oft Are faint that fleeting years retain. Thus Jeffery-Lewis crossed the rolling river. Then he turned and looked back at the other bank which his pursuers had just gained.
'Why did you run sway from the feast?' called out Patrick-Sanford.
'Why did you wish to harm one who has done you no injury?' replied Jeffery- Lewis.
'I have never thought of such a thing; do not listen to what people say to you.'
But Jeffery-Lewis saw that his enemy was fitting an arrow to his bowstring, so he whipped up his steed and rode away southwest.
'What spirits aided him?' said Patrick-Sanford to his followers.
