Chinese Fairy Tales
THE TWO SCHOLARS
ONCE upon a time there were two scholars. One
was named Liu Tschen and the other Yuan Dschau. Both were young and
handsome. One spring day they went together into the hills of Tian Tai
to gather curative herbs. There they came to a little valley where
peach-trees blossomed luxuriantly on either side. In the middle of the
valley was a cave, where two maidens stood under the blossoming trees,
one of them clad in red garments, the other in green. And they were
beautiful beyond all telling. They beckoned to the scholars with their
hands.
“And have you come?” they asked. “We have been waiting for you overlong!”
Then they led them into the cave and served them with tea and wine.
“I have been destined for the lord Liu,” said the maiden in the red gown; “and my sister is for the lord Yuan!”
And
so they were married. Every day the two scholars gazed at the flowers
or played chess so that they forgot the mundane world completely. They
only noticed that at times the peach-blossoms on the trees before the
cave opened, and at others that they fell from the boughs. And, at
times, unexpectedly, they felt cold or warm, and had to change the
clothing they were wearing. And they marveled within themselves that it
should be so.
Then, one day, they were suddenly overcome by homesickness. Both maidens were already aware of it.
“When our lords have once been seized with [85] homesickness, then we may hold them no longer,” said they.
On the following day they prepared a farewell banquet, gave the scholars magic wine to take along with them and said:
“We will see one another again. Now go your way!”
And the scholars bade them farewell with tears.
When
they reached home the gates and doors had long since vanished, and the
people of the village were all strangers to them. They crowded about
the scholars and asked who they might be.
“We are Liu Tschen and Yuan Dschau. Only a few days ago we went into the hills to pick herbs!”
With
that a servant came hastening up and looked at them. At last he fell at
Liu Tschen’s feet with great joy and cried: “Yes, you are really my
master! Since you went away, and we had no news of any kind regarding
you some seventy years or more have passed.”
Thereupon he drew
the scholar Liu through a high gateway, ornamented with bosses and a
ring in a lion’s mouth, as is the custom in the dwellings of those of
high estate.
And when he entered the hall, an old lady with
white hair and bent back, leaning on a cane, came forward and asked:
“What man is this?”
“Our master has returned again,” replied the
servant. And then, turning to Liu he added: “That is the mistress. She
is nearly a hundred years old, but fortunately is still strong and in
good health.”
Tears of joy and sadness filled the old lady’s eyes.
“Since
you went away among the immortals, I had thought that we should never
see each other again in this life,” said she. “What great good fortune
that you should have returned after all!”
And before she had
ended the whole family, men [86] and women, came streaming up and
welcomed him in a great throng outside the hall.
And his wife pointed out this one and that and said: “That is so and so, and this is so and so!”
At
the time the scholar had disappeared there had been only a tiny boy in
his home, but a few years old. And he was now an old man of eighty. He
had served the empire in a high office, and had already retired to
enjoy his old age in the ancestral gardens. There were three
grand-children, all celebrated ministers; there were more than ten
great-grand-children, of whom five had already passed their
examinations for the doctorate; there were some twenty
great-great-grand-children, of whom the oldest had just returned home
after having passed his induction examinations for the magistracy with
honor. And the little ones, who were carried in their parents’ arms,
were not to be counted. The grand-children, who were away, busy with
their duties, all asked for leave and returned home when they heard
that their ancestor had returned. And the girl grand-children, who had
married into other families, also came. This filled Liu with joy, and
he had a family banquet prepared in the hall, and all his descendants,
with their wives and husbands sat about him in a circle. He himself and
his wife, a white-haired, wrinkled old lady, sat in their midst at the
upper end. The scholar himself still looked like a youth of twenty
years, so that all the young people in the circle looked around and
laughed.
Then the scholar said: “I have a means of driving away old age!”
And
he drew out his magic wine and gave his wife some of it to drink. And
when she had taken three glasses, her white hair gradually turned black
again, her wrinkles disappeared, and she sat beside her husband, a
handsome young woman. Then his son and [87] the older grand-children
came up and all asked for a drink of the wine. And whichever of them
drank only so much as a drop of it was turned from an old man into a
youth. The tale was bruited abroad and came to the emperor’s ears. The
emperor wanted to call Liu to his court, but he declined with many
thanks. Yet he sent the emperor some of his magic wine as a gift. This
pleased the emperor greatly, and he gave Liu a tablet of honor, with
the inscription:
“The Common Home of Five Generations”
Besides this he sent him three signs which he had written with his own imperial brush signifying:
“Joy in longevity”
As
to the other of the two scholars, Yuan Dschau, he was not so fortunate.
When he came home he found that his wife and child had long since died,
and his grand-children and great-grand-children were mostly useless
people. So he did not remain long, but returned to the hills. Yet Liu
Tschen remained for some years with his family, then taking his wife
with him, went again to the Tai Hills and was seen no more.
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