Tales of a Chinese Grandmother

by Frances Carpenter

  "When she put the round mirror into his hand Feng Hsien said, 'My Honorable Friend, you will see my poor self in the face of this mirror. But you will see it there only when you have done well with your books and your writing brush.' And with that she was gone.

  "Lu sadly turned his steps toward home. When he had shut himself in the room which his family had given him for his study, he examined the mirror. He looked first at its back with the graceful bamboo leaves carved deep in its metal. Then he turned it around and peered at its smooth, polished, silvery face. There indeed he could see the figure of the lovely Feng Hsien. But the maid's back was turned, and she seemed to be moving away from him.

  "'Only when you have done well will you see me.' Lu repeated to himself the words Feng Hsien had said to him, and he sat down at his table and opened his books. His parents were overjoyed at the change in their son. From dawn until dark he worked in his study. He would not receive visitors. He no longer went forth to play games with his friends. His teachers had nothing but good to report of him. And each morning and each evening when Lu looked in the mirror he saw there the smiling face of Feng Hsien.

  "But summer does not last forever, my children. And in climbing a hill the last step must be as firm as the first. In time Lu became weary of his well-doing. He began to go about once more with his friends. His books were seldom opened. His teachers shook their gray heads.

  "Then one day the young man looked in the mirror and saw the fair maid with tears on her cheeks. She turned her back and began to move away as she had done on the day when Lu had first found her in the mirror. A wave of regret swept over the youth. He felt greatly ashamed, and he hurried to open his books. Once more he worked from dawn until dark. He hung the mirror where he could not fail to see when Feng Hsien was pleased and when she was sorrowful. His love for her grew so great and he worked so well that in just a few years he was ready to take the Emperor's examinations.

  "Three times he went in and out of the little cells where the tests were given. Three times he passed and three times he returned in triumph to the house of his parents.

  "What excitement there was in Lu's neighborhood when the red official notice of his final success was pasted upon his gate! Firecrackers were set off. Candles and incense burned in the Hall of the Ancestors so that they might know of the good fortune that had come to the family. Flags flew, and friends streamed in through the gate to congratulate the young man. Lu, dressed in a splendid new gown, rode about in a sedan chair to visit his friends, and there was a fine feast and a procession in honor of the occasion. In those early days women strewed flowers along the way, musicians played, and red banners tied upon leafy bamboo poles were carried before the young scholars.

  "While the family celebration was still going on there came a knock at the gate of Lu's house, and there was announced a go-between who had been sent by the wealthiest man in the whole city to discuss the matter of a marriage between Lu and his daughter. Such is the power of learning, Ah Shung, that this man wished to bestow his fairest child, and many rich gifts with her, upon the son of this modest household.

  "The young man's parents were overcome with joy at such good fortune. But, to their surprise, Lu himself would not listen to the go-between's words. 'I do not care how fair the young maiden may be, I will not wed her,' he said to his father. And he went into his study and closed the door tight.

  "There he turned to the mirror to seek his beloved Feng Hsien. He found the maid's face wreathed in smiles, and as he looked it seemed to him that she stepped down out of the mirror and stood close beside him. 'Go back to the go-between, O Youth of Goodness and Wisdom,' the mirror maid said. 'Consent to the marriage he offers. Do not ask my reason, for I may not tell it. But believe me, all will be just as you most desire.'

  "Before Lu could ask her one question the maiden had vanished. Try as he would he could not find even her shadow on the silvery face of the mirror. There was nothing for him to do but to follow her wishes, and, to his parents' great joy, the marriage was arranged.

  "Lu's heart was sad, for he could not yet understand why his beloved Feng Hsien should wish him to marry another. And it was with downcast eyes that he met the bridal chair at the gate. However, his sorrow was soon turned to joy, my small ones. For when the bride stood before him, he found that, instead of a stranger, it was Feng Hsien herself.

  "Never again did Lu see her face in the mirror. And never would she tell him what fairy had sent her spirit to meet him there on the river bank. As a matter of fact, he had no need to know that, and he had no need to look for her again in the mirror since all through his life she stood by his side.

  "High position and riches and a beautiful bride! All these came to Lu because he paid attention to his books and his brush. And such good luck may come also to you, Little Bear, if you work hard with Scholar Shih in our Court of Learning."

  XXVIII

  MISS LIN, THE SEA GODDESS

  WHAT IS THIS, Lao Lao?" Ah Shung asked as he lifted a small object from the open drawer of the red lacquer cabinet that had been set on a table near the window of the Old Old One's room. The boy and his sister were sitting beside their grandmother, who was comfortably settled in her favorite chair of shining carved wood. Before them the two doors of the red cabinet were flung apart and one of its drawers, filled with trinkets and treasures, stood open under their eyes.

  On the table were laid out several pieces of jewelry—bracelets and earrings of deep green jade stone, which the Chinese prize more highly than the most glittering diamonds; rings of soft yellow gold with carvings upon them; and a dagger-shaped hairpin of silver with bits of red coral and sky-blue kingfisher feathers set in its pattern.

  There were some pointed silver fingernail shields, three inches long. These had belonged to the children's grandfather, who had allowed the nails on his left hand to grow until they were almost as long as the fingers themselves. He thought such long nails showed that he had always been so rich and so important that he had never had to work with his hands. These silver thimble-like shields he had worn on the ends of his fingers to keep his precious long nails from breaking. Scholar Shih in the Court of Learning also wore his fingernails long.

  From her treasure cabinet the Old Old One had taken out dainty fans with fair maidens and pretty country scenes painted upon their coverings of thin silk. She had shown the children old coins, bits of clear yellow amber, and other curios which she usually kept shut away in this shining red cabinet.

  Ah Shung was holding between his thumb and forefinger a small dark-colored ball with fine carving upon it. The Old Old One took a round piece of glass from a drawer in the red cabinet and handed it to the boy.

  "Look at it through this glass-eye-which-sees-every-thing-larger," she said. "That, Ah Shung, is a peach seed, and the carving upon it shows Miss Lin, the Sea Goddess, saving some sailors during a storm."

  With the aid of the strong magnifying glass the children could see clearly the tiny figure of the maiden and the boat with sailors inside it, riding over high curving waves. The carving was perfect. Not the smallest thing was missing. And it was all done on a peach stone hardly more than an inch long!

  Their grandmother explained to Ah Shung and Yu Lang how the fruit stone carvers worked. She told them of the care with which this peach seed had been dried so that it should not crack or sprout. She pointed out a tiny hole in the carving through which the kernel might have been picked out. And she said she thought the cutting must have been done under a magnifying glass such as that which Ah Shung held in his hand.

  "I wish it were larger, Lao Lao," Yu Lang said, gazing at the peach stone. "I should like to see better the face of the Sea Goddess."

  Her grandmother opened another drawer in the red treasure cabinet and took out a tiny round bottle with flattened sides. She explained that she sometimes used it to carry a powder called "snuff" which she liked to breathe in through her nose. For that reason she called it her "nose-sniff-bottle. " It was so small that it di
d not wholly cover the palm of Yu Lang's little hand.

  The girl gave a cry of delight when she saw the picture which was painted upon the flat sides of the snuff bottle. It seemed to her even more wonderful than the carving on the peach stone. For the bottle was painted on the inside. With his brush thrust through its narrow neck, some skillful artist had made a picture of a beautiful maiden which showed clear through the glass. As on the carved peach stone, the maiden stood near the sea and there were sailors in a boat riding over the waves.

  "That maiden, too, is the Sea Goddess, Jade Flower," said the Old Old One. "Look at her through the glass-eye-which-sees-everything-larger and you will find that she was a fair maid as well as a good daughter."

  "Will you tell us about her, Lao Lao?" asked Ah Shung, as he stood the wee bottle up in the center of the table where they could all see it.

  "Yes, this is a good tale for you to remember," the Old Old One said. "It happened like this. Hundreds of years ago, on the shores of the Eastern Sea, there lived a fisher family named Lin. Their daughter, whom they loved like precious jade, was the most dutiful maiden on all the seacoast. Each morning she rose early to cook breakfast for her parents. Each day she helped her father and her two brothers make ready for their journey out on the ocean, and she always went with them to their boats to wish them 'good wind and good water.'

  "While the men were away fishing, the fair daughter of the Lin family stayed inside her walls, helping her mother with the household tasks, with spinning and weaving, and with preparing the meals. And not one single day did she forget to send up prayers to heaven upon sweet smoke from incense, asking the Jade Emperor to bless her dear parents.

  "One day as Miss Lin sat with her mother at the midday meal she began to feel sleepy. Try as she would to keep awake, she fell into deep slumber, and as she slept she dreamed a strange dream. She thought that the five dragon brothers who live under the ocean were angry. They are marvelous beasts, these kings of the sea. More than a mile long they are. When they lash their tails mountains fall down, and the waves rise so high that they almost touch the sky. When the sea dragons fly up into the heavens hurricanes sweep across the land.

  "In her dream on this day Miss Lin saw a mighty storm rage over the ocean. She saw her father and her two brothers in their little boats, tossing and tossing upon the angry waves. She rushed to the seashore. She waded out through the water. She reached forth and caught hold of the rope which was fastened to the bow of her father's boat. Quickly she put this between her teeth and then stretched forth her hands again to seize the ropes that were tied to the boats of her brothers.

  "In her sleep the Lin maiden began to groan and to cry as she dreamed she was dragging the three boats toward the shore. Her mother, alarmed by her daughter's distress, shook her in order to wake her and to find out what the matter might be. In her dream Miss Lin heard her mother's voice calling her and she opened her mouth to answer. In a flash the rope slipped from between her teeth and her father's boat sank under the waves.

  "'O my mother, I have had a terrible nightmare,' the girl said when she awoke. And she told how she had not yet reached the shore when the rope of her father's boat had slipped from her mouth.

  "That night, on their return from the sea, the two brothers brought sad tidings to the house of the Lins. Their father's boat had been lost they said, and they feared he had gone to the Sea Dragon's palace. Poor Miss Lin blamed herself for the misfortune, for not having saved her father as she had saved her two brothers. She ran out of the house and down to the seashore, where she plunged into the waters in search of the lost one.

  "None of her family ever met her again on the earth. But her brothers and other sailors often saw her out on the sea. They said she appeared whenever a storm was near, and that each time her figure was seen, seamen reached the shore safely.

  "In later times, my children, a rich mandarin was once traveling upon the broad ocean when a great storm arose. The night was dark. The waves rose mountain high. He feared he was lost. Then out of the darkness there shone a bright point of light. It moved ahead of his boat, guiding it safely to a small island. When the mandarin asked the island folk what that light could have been, they were quick to reply that it was the lantern of Miss Lin, who protected all on the sea.

  "Boatmen always paint eyes upon each side of their bows," the Old Old One told the children. "That is wise, because if the boats have no eyes, how can they see, and if they cannot see, how should they know where to go? But on a night of black darkness those eyes do little good. Many a sailor has called on Miss Lin to hold her lantern before him to show him the way. And all wise boatmen carry with them on their ships a small statue of this Sea Goddess. She usually stands between two fierce-looking generals whose names mean Eyes-Like-a-Cat and Ears-Sharp-As-the-Wind. And very good helpers such generals can be on a dark stormy night."

  XXIX

  SIMPLE SENG AND THE PARROT

  AH SHUNG! Ah Shung! Where are you, Bear Boy?" the Old Old One called to her grandson, as if he were out in the courtyard rather than in her own room. The boy was sitting on a low stool, gazing out of the open door at the white clouds that floated across the clear autumn sky. There was an absent look in his eyes, as if his thoughts were upon something far, far away.

  "Excuse me, please, Lao Lao," he said with a start. "I was just thinking of our picnic for the Festival of Climbing High Places." Ah Shung was looking ahead to the Ninth Day of the Ninth Moon when the Lings, like their neighbors, always spent the day in the hills in the neighborhood of their city.

  "And I suppose your spirit was already out on the mountainside above our family grave mounds," the old woman said, smiling down at the boy. The Lings believed that their souls often left their bodies. Each night when they slept and when dreams filled their minds, they thought they actually made voyages to far places and even to the Heavenly Kingdom itself. Grandmother Ling would not permit the nurses to move any of the children after they had fallen asleep, for she feared that their spirits might not be able to find their bodies again if they were not just where they had left them.

  "It is not well for our souls to stay too long away," the Old Old One said thoughtfully, "but, at the same time, good often comes of the journeys they make. That was so with Simple Seng. Have I told you about him?"

  "No, Lao Lao, we do not know that story," Yu Lang replied.

  "Well, it is a strange tale, and I will tell it to you now, so that Ah Shung shall not long too much for the hills. In ancient times there lived a young man who was both well schooled and well mannered. It was only because he believed everything that was told him and because he took jesting words so seriously that his friends often nicknamed him 'Simple Seng.' He was timid and shy, especially when womenfolk were about, and when his girl cousins spoke to him he would blush fiery red.

  "Now, in the same city where Sheng lived, there was a rich mandarin who had a daughter, Yen Chun, who was known far and wide for her beauty and cleverness. But she was known also as being very particular. She was quite old enough to be married, but her parents could not seem to find a husband that pleased her.

  "Simple Seng was the subject of many a joke among the young men at the city teahouses. They found pleasure in the serious manner with which he received every word of advice, no matter how absurd it might be. One day, as they were discussing the beauty of the mandarin's daughter, they said to Seng, 'It is time you were married, good brother. Why do you not ask for the hand of lovely Yen Chun?' And they laughed among themselves at the thought of how that clever maid would receive a proposal from such a simple fellow as Seng.

  "As usual, the young man took their words as if they had been spoken in earnest. He persuaded his father to send a go-between to ask for Yen Chun as his bride. But Seng was not rich and for this reason the mandarin quickly refused his request. Just as the go-between was leaving the guest hall he came upon the mandarin's daughter herself.

  "'Flower of Spring,' he said, bowing low, 'my errand inside your gat
e was to ask your hand in marriage for the excellent young man, Seng, of whom you may have heard. He is a good youth. He knows well the sayings of the ancient scholars. He is handsome to look upon, his only blemish being a sixth finger on his left hand.'

  "Now Yen Chun had heard of Seng. She knew he was shy and she did not think he would please her. So she dismissed the go-between with a jesting reply, 'Tell Seng,' she said, 'that I could never wed a man with six fingers.'

  "The go-between repeated the maiden's words to Simple Seng, who at once called for a knife and chopped off his sixth finger. When the wound had healed nicely, he sent the man back again to the mandarin's house.

  "Again Yen Chun made an excuse to the go-between. 'Tell Seng,' she said now, 'that I could never marry a man who took a joke so seriously.'

  "This time the poor youth understood that she had been making fun of him, and he comforted himself by thinking that she would probably not have made him a good wife at all. But it happened then, as now, that on the Ninth Day of the Ninth Moon each family went forth to picnic on the hills and to tidy their grave mounds. In the crowds on the highway Seng and his brothers caught a glimpse of the lovely maiden, Yen Chun. So great was her beauty that the youth fell more deeply in love with her than ever.

  "While the other young men were exclaiming about her raven-black hair and her skin fair as a flower, Seng said not a word. He gazed spellbound at her graceful figure that swayed like a young bamboo as she walked over the fields. He grew more and more thoughtful, and into his eyes there came a faraway look such as yours had just now, Ah Shung. When the day was ended, he had fallen into such a deep trance that his brothers had to take him home and put him to bed.