Tales of a Chinese Grandmother

by Frances Carpenter

  "But, my children, in spite of the days and nights which poor Liu Ye spent in the examination cell, he did not pass. Take warning from him, Ah Shung! When you go to take the examinations yourself, be sure that you have studied enough and that you know your books by heart. This young man turned his face sadly toward home, and as he walked over the land he came upon a young woman who was tending her goats on the banks of the River Ching.

  "Now this young woman was poorly dressed, but her face was as fair as a plum blossom in spring, and her body was as slender as a willow branch. Liu Ye was so struck by her beauty that he halted to speak to her.

  "'Good maiden,' he said, bowing politely, 'who may you be, and where do you come from?'

  "'O Excellent Sir,' the young woman replied, 'I am the youngest daughter of the Dragon King who lives in the Lake of Tung Ting. Not long ago my father gave me in marriage to the son of the dragon who lives in this river. His servants were jealous when I entered his palace. They told lies about me and my husband believed them. He put me outside his courts. I am now forced to earn my rice by tending the goats of the farmers in yonder village.' Tears rolled down the pale cheeks of the fair young woman, and the heart of Liu Ye was touched by her misery.

  "'What can I do to help you, O Daughter of the Dragon King?' he asked.

  "'Should you be going in the direction of the Lake of Tung Ting, you could indeed be of use to me, O Noble Young Man,' the weeping girl said.

  "'My home lies in that direction. You have but to command me,' Liu Ye replied with a bow.

  "'I would ever be grateful if you would deliver this letter to my father,' the young woman said. 'On the northern bank of the Lake of Tung Ting there stands a giant orange tree. Strike it thrice with your belt and there will come a messenger to guide you to the Dragon King's palace.'

  "'Liu Ye took the letter. As soon as he had returned to his home, he set forth across the fields until he came to the orange tree of which the young woman had told him. He unfastened his belt, and three times he lashed the trunk of the orange tree. At once there rose from the lake a young man dressed in armor and carrying a shining sword in his hand.

  "'Who struck yonder orange tree? Was it you, young man?' he said to Liu Ye.

  "'It was I,' Liu replied, 'I bear a message for the Dragon King who lives in the Lake of Tung Ting. I would go to his palace.'

  "The young man in armor thrust his sword into the lake. The waters parted and he led Liu Ye safely to the palace of the Dragon King. What splendid sights the young man saw there! The Dragon King's palace was made of bright-colored stones, so clear that one could see through them almost as easily as through a hole in a window paper. Liu was led through one crystal door after another. He passed heaps of opals and pearls and he saw precious stones of beautiful colors.

  "At last in one splendid courtyard he came upon the great Dragon King himself. He had the form of a man, dressed in robes of bright purple, and in his hand gleamed a piece of the purest green jade-stone.

  "'I come from your daughter, O Dragon King,' Liu Ye said, kowtowing before him. 'I live in the neighboring kingdom of Wu. I have spent years in study, and I was returning from the Examination Halls, where, alas, I failed to pass. As I was walking along I saw your fair daughter, tending her goats upon the banks of the River Ching. Her clothes were in tatters. Her shoes were worn through. She seemed so very sad that my heart wept at the sight. She gave me this letter to deliver to your majesty.'

  "When the Dragon King read the pitiful letter from his beloved daughter, the tears flowed from his eyes. His attendants who stood near him began to weep and to wail.

  "'Stop that noise!' cried the Dragon King. 'Stop it at once! Chien Tang will hear.

  "'Who is Chien Tang?' asked Liu Ye.

  "'He is my elder brother,' the Dragon King answered. 'He is the dragon who once lived in the River Chien Tang. Now he is the king of all river dragons.'

  "'But why do you fear lest Chien Tang should hear the news I have brought you?'

  "'Ai, Chien Tang has a temper, a terrible temper,' the Dragon King said, shaking his head. 'Once, in years gone by, he flew into a rage and ordered his river dragons to send water flowing out over their banks. The flood he caused then covered the land with water deep as the ocean, and it lasted nine years.'

  "The Dragon King had scarcely uttered the last word when there arose a clattering sound. A red dragon so large that it darkened the sky flew through the air. Its scales were red gold, its mane shone like fire, and its eyes flashed like lightning. Quicker than I can tell you, the giant red dragon disappeared into the clouds.

  "The Dragon King barely had time to tell Liu Ye that the giant red dragon was his brother, Chien Tang, before the shining beast appeared once again. A lovely young woman rode on his back as he flew down from the heavens.

  "'It is the young woman who tended the goats!' Liu exclaimed in surprise.

  "'It is my dear youngest daughter,' the Dragon King cried.

  "'Ai, I found her in a sad plight,' the Red Dragon said, 'but I have punished her wicked husband. I have carried him off to my own kingdom. He will cause her sorrow no more.'

  "The beautiful daughter of the Dragon King was so grateful to Liu Ye that she persuaded her father to offer her hand to him in marriage. But the young man was troubled. 'They have just killed her first husband,' he said to himself, 'I had best go on my way.' And so he refused.

  "'I only wished to reward you, O Excellent Youth,' the Dragon King's daughter said as she bade Liu Ye good-by. 'But perhaps the lucky hour has not yet arrived. We shall wait a while.'

  "The youth went to his home. In time his family arranged a marriage for him with a daughter of the Chang family. But scarcely had they eaten the wedding rice when the bride died. Liu Ye's second marriage with a daughter of a family named Han was no more successful, for again the bride flew away to the Shadowy World.

  "'The gods do not smile upon me,' Liu Ye said to his mother. 'I shall go to another city to live. Perhaps there I shall find better luck.'

  "But in the strange city the young man was lonely. 'I will take another wife,' he decided, and he went to seek a go-between to arrange matters for him.

  "'I know of a beautiful young widow,' the go-between said. 'Her husband has died, and since she is so young her mother is anxious that she should marry again.'

  "Well, it all ended in Liu Ye's marrying the young widow. For more than a year they lived happily together, and when the gods sent them a son, the woman said to her husband, 'This blessing from heaven binds us together forever. Now I can tell you that I am the daughter of the Dragon King of Lake Tung Ting, the woman you saved from her misery on the banks of the River Ching. I made a vow I would reward you. I wished to marry you then, but you refused. My father forced me to wed the son of a silk merchant, but I never stopped wishing that the day might come when I should be your wife.'

  "The story goes that Liu Ye and the Dragon King's daughter went to live in a splendid palace in the Lake of Tung Ting and that in time the fortunate youth became a dragon himself. In the books his name is written as 'Golden Dragon Great Prince.'"

  X

  THE BIG FEET OF THE EMPRESS TU CHIN

  ONE AFTERNOON Grandmother Ling crossed the inner courtyard and entered the low house where Yu Lang and her brother lived with their old nurse, Wang Lai. It was the hour for the little girl to have new bindings put on her feet. The Old Old One always directed Wang Lai at such times. She knew just how the bindings could be drawn tight with the least possible pain.

  "But it does hurt, Lao Lao," Yu Lang cried out. She was biting her underlip hard in a brave effort not to cry. But Wang Lai was bending her four small toes back under the sole of her foot, and she was pushing her heel and her great toe tightly together while she wrapped the firm bandage around them. Even with Grandmother Ling's great care Yu Lang's poor little feet ached.

  "O-yo, I know, Precious Flower," her grandmother said, patting the girl's hand, "but what else can we do? How should you get a good husb
and if your feet were not tiny like those of a lady? Do not cry, Yu Lang, and I will tell you a story that will make you forget all about your poor feet."

  The old woman had her chair moved close to the brick bed upon the edge of which Yu Lang was sitting. And while Wang Lai's old yellow fingers moved about with the binding, she began to speak.

  "The first binding of feet by Chinese ladies like us does not lie within my memory, my little Yu Lang, nor even within the memory of my great-great-grandmother. Many tales are told about how small feet came to be the fashion in the Flowery Kingdom. Some say it happened like this. Others say it happened like that. But I will tell you a story my grandmother told me. She declared that it all began with the big feet of the Empress Tu Chin.

  "In the earliest days, it seems, Precious Pearl, all the ladies of our land had feet like farm women, feet that were allowed to grow like those of their brothers. Indeed, in those days large feet were thought far more beautiful than small ones.

  "In the histories it is said that at that time there lived an Emperor whose name was Ying Shun and who had a wife named Tu Chin whom he loved very dearly. The Empress was beautiful, and she was noted far and wide over the land for her elegant feet, which were a full twelve inches long. The Emperor Ying Shun preferred his Tu Chin above all the other lovely maids of the palace. He left her side only when it was necessary for him to talk to his ministers about the affairs of the empire.

  "Now at night the Emperor Ying Shun slept very soundly. Once the dragons of sleep had carried his soul upward on a voyage to heaven nothing could wake him. The Empress Tu Chin also slept soundly. The moment she laid her head on her pillow she closed her beautiful eyes and fell fast asleep. She knew nothing more until her waiting maids wakened her in the morning.

  "But, my precious, the Empress Tu Chin had one very bad habit. She walked in her sleep. Again and again the servants saw the lovely Empress in her night robes of silk, passing silently through the halls of the palace. They knew she was asleep, for she looked neither to the one side nor to the other. Her eyes were wide open, it is true, but they stared straight ahead and they saw nothing. Once a servant on guard held his flickering candle in front of her face. Her eyes did not even blink.

  "Everyone knew how greatly the Son of Heaven loved his Empress Tu Chin. And since she always returned safely to the imperial bedchamber, no one breathed a word about her journeys by night. But one day the Emperor came upon two of the palace maid servants whispering to each other, and he thought that he heard one of them mention the name of the Empress.

  "'What do you say, O Twittering Swallows?' he asked.

  "'It is nothing, True Dragon,' the maids replied, frightened.

  "'I heard you speak clearly the name of Her Majesty. I demand to know what you were saying,' the Emperor said sternly. But the poor maids were silent.

  "'Speak, foolish creatures,' he cried, 'or I shall send for the ax and your heads shall come off.'

  "'O Son of Heaven,' one of the maids stammered, trembling, 'it is only that during the night I saw our shining Empress walking in her sleep through the halls of the palace.'

  "'It often happens, Glorious Majesty,' the other maid said. 'She knows not how she goes, for she is indeed fast asleep.'

  "The Emperor was troubled. He had heard of such things. But he decided that he would watch for himself before he spoke to Tu Chin. So that night he only pretended to sleep. By great effort he kept himself wideawake while the lovely Tu Chin slept by his side. Nothing happened, however. A whole hour passed. The Emperor had just decided that the maids must have been lying and that he might as well go to sleep, when he felt the silk coverlids move. He lay very still. Through his half-closed eyes he saw the Empress climbing down from the bed.

  "By her movements he, too, could tell that she was still fast asleep. And thinking that she might do herself harm by a misstep, he decided to follow her. So quietly did the Empress walk, and so silent were the steps of the Emperor, that no one in the palace was waked from his slumber. The royal pair had gone a long way when the Emperor decided that he had best end the journey. He threw one arm around the waist of his Empress. At the same time he laid his other hand over her mouth, lest her wakening scream should raise the whole palace. Tu Chin was frightened, and she struggled and struggled until she discovered that it was the Emperor who held her. Then she was no longer afraid, and she allowed him to lead her back to their apartment.

  "'Oh, my heart's treasure,' Ying Shun said to his wife, 'why did you never tell me that you walked in your sleep? I would have had a golden band made to fit round your ankle, and with a golden chain I would have fastened you tight to your bed. I myself would have been the keeper of the key, for I love you so dearly that I would not have you run into danger.'

  "'Ai, Most Great and Glorious One,' poor Tu Chin cried, 'ever since I was a child I have walked in my sleep. But I had hoped that, by the side of your sacred person, I should be safe from the spirits that call me out of my bed in the dark night.'

  "'We shall run no more risks,' the Emperor said as he fastened his girdle about the waist of his Empress and tied it securely to the side of the bed.

  "Next morning the Emperor unfastened the girdle and, as soon as the morning rice had been eaten, he spoke to his lady. 'Do you remember, my cherished one, what took place during the night?' he asked.

  "'I remember a dream,' Tu Chin confessed, 'and it was a frightening dream. It seemed that you, my lord, had been away on a journey to a far land, and that you were returning. I seemed to be going forth from the palace across the country to meet you. Deep canals lay on each side of the road. Suddenly out of their water there arose a great dragon. It flew toward me and wound its coils round my waist. I was about to call out to you for help when it put its great paw over my mouth. Then I must have awakened, for I found that the great dragon was yourself and that the paw was your hand.'

  "'Do not fear, my little one,' the Emperor said, comforting her, 'we shall surely find a way to cure you of your unfortunate habit. But it would help greatly if we could only find out what causes you to roam about in the night.'

  "'Alas, I do not know what it could be,' Tu Chin replied, 'unless it should be my feet. All the day through I sit in the palace or on a bench in the garden. My feet are large. It may be that they do not have enough walking during the day, and thus they insist upon walking at night.'

  "The Empress spoke proudly of her large feet. They were one of her greatest charms. Indeed, it was chiefly because of their size that the Emperor had chosen Tu Chin as his wife.

  "But much as the Emperor admired his wife's feet, he did not like the idea of their taking her hither and yon during the dark night.

  "'It is quite clear,' he said, 'we must have your feet shortened. If they are but a third as long as they are now, they will need to do only a third as much walking. Then they will not take you out of your bed in the midst of the night.'

  "So the Emperor called upon the cleverest doctor in all the Flowery Kingdom. He took eight inches off of each of the Empress's feet. Poor Tu Chin cried because of her small feet, just as you cry, my Yu Lang. But she cried not because of the pain, for her feet healed very quickly. No indeed, she cried because she thought small feet so ugly!

  "'I shall be the laughingstock of the land,' she wept. 'I shall not dare to set foot outside my apartment. I could not bear to see the beautiful large feet of the other maids of the palace. I wish I were dead.'

  "'I shall arrange all that for you, O Daughter of Heaven,' the Emperor said. And he sent forth the order that every maid at the court and every lady in the Empire should make her feet just as small as those of Tu Chin. He commanded all mothers to bind the feet of their daughters, just as we bind yours, Precious Pearl. And from that time to this, small feet have been the fashion in the Flowery Kingdom."

  "That is a good story, Lao Lao; I have almost forgotten that my poor feet are aching," Yu Lang said, and she slid down from the bed and tried to take a few steps with her newly bound feet. Tears cam
e to her eyes. But she brushed them away and said Chinese words that sounded like, "O-yo, Mei-yu-fah-dz" and which meant, "Oh well, it cannot be helped!" And she even smiled as she went out into the courtyard to watch Ah Shung and his boy cousins spin tops and play games.

  XI

  THE GRATEFUL FOX FAIRY

  HUANG YING, Grandmother Ling's number one maid, was hanging a picture on the gray wall of the old woman's apartment. She had just taken down a painting of a man in red robes sitting sideways upon the back of a smiling tiger. From their places on the brick bed Ah Shung and Yu Lang watched her with interest as she hung in its place a long strip of silk, pasted on paper, upon which was painted a mountain that rose high over the clouds, A winding road led up its side, and men and women with staffs in their hands were toiling along it.

  "That is the holy Eastern Mountain, Tai Shan," the Old Old One said to the children. "At the four corners of our world, and in its very center, my little ones, there are high mountains that join the earth with the heavens. But of all the five holy mountains, Tai Shan is the holiest. On its top, rising there above the mist, is a temple to the Jade Emperor, Yu Huan, the greatest of all the gods of the heavens. And not far from its base is the tomb of our great teacher, Confucius, the most perfect and the wisest man who ever lived in our land."

  "And who are the men and women climbing the mountain, Lao Lao?" Yu Lang asked, as she slipped down from the bed and toddled across the room to inspect the painting more closely.

  "They are good pilgrims who have come many miles to say their prayers in the temples of the Eastern Mountain. They will climb the hundreds of steps which men call the Heavenly Ladder and which lead to the mountaintop, where one can almost look into the Jade Emperor's sky kingdom. Only the rich ride up in those chairs, borne by four sturdy porters.

  "Some of those pilgrims will visit one temple," Grandmother Ling continued. "Some will visit another. But no one of them, I think, will forget to kowtow to Niang Niang, the Goddess of Tai Shan, who rules the fox fairies."