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Page 44
"Both swords flashed, but before a blow could be struck the spirits of
his ancestors hurled Li Ting lifeless to the ground, to avenge the
memories that their unworthy descendant had so often reviled.
"'So perish all the enemies of Yung Chang,' said the victor. 'And now,
my venerated but exceedingly short-sighted father-in-law, learn how
narrowly you have escaped making yourself exceedingly objectionable to
yourself. I have just received intelligence from Peking that I have
passed the second degree, and have in consequence been appointed to a
remunerative position under the Government. This will enable us to
live in comfort, if not in affluence, and the rest of your engaging
days can be peacefully spent in flying kites.'"
CHAPTER III
THE PROBATION OF SEN HENG
Related by Kai Lung, at Wu-whei, as a rebuke to Wang Yu and
certain others who had questioned the practical value of his
stories.
"It is an undoubted fact that this person has not realized the direct
remunerative advantage which he confidently anticipated," remarked the
idle and discontented pipe-maker Wang Yu, as, with a few other persons
of similar inclination, he sat in the shade of the great mulberry tree
at Wu-whei, waiting for the evil influence of certain very mysterious
sounds, which had lately been heard, to pass away before he resumed
his occupation. "When the seemingly proficient and trustworthy Kai
Lung first made it his practice to journey to Wu-whei, and narrate to
us the doings of persons of all classes of life," he continued, "it
seemed to this one that by closely following the recital of how
Mandarins obtained their high position, and exceptionally rich persons
their wealth, he must, in the end, inevitably be rendered competent to
follow in their illustrious footsteps. Yet in how entirely contrary a
direction has the whole course of events tended! In spite of the
honourable intention which involved a frequent absence from his place
of commerce, those who journeyed thither with the set purpose of
possessing one of his justly-famed opium pipes so perversely regarded
the matter that, after two or three fruitless visits, they
deliberately turned their footsteps towards the workshop of the
inelegant Ming-yo, whose pipes are confessedly greatly inferior to
those produced by the person who is now speaking. Nevertheless, the
rapacious Kai Lung, to whose influence the falling off in custom was
thus directly attributable, persistently declined to bear any share
whatever in the loss which his profession caused, and, indeed,
regarded the circumstance from so grasping and narrow-minded a point
of observation that he would not even go to the length of suffering
this much-persecuted one to join the circle of his hearers without on
every occasion making the customary offering. In this manner a well-
intentioned pursuit of riches has insidiously led this person within
measurable distance of the bolted dungeon for those who do not meet
their just debts, while the only distinction likely to result from his
assiduous study of the customs and methods of those high in power is
that of being publicly bowstrung as a warning to others. Manifestedly
the pointed finger of the unreliable Kai Lung is a very treacherous
guide."
"It is related," said a dispassionate voice behind them, "that a
person of limited intelligence, on being assured that he would
certainly one day enjoy an adequate competence if he closely followed
the industrious habits of the thrifty bee, spent the greater part of
his life in anointing his thighs with the yellow powder which he
laboriously collected from the flowers of the field. It is not so
recorded; but doubtless the nameless one in question was by profession
a maker of opium pipes, for this person has observed from time to time
how that occupation, above all others, tends to degrade the mental
faculties, and to debase its followers to a lower position than that
of the beasts of labour. Learn therefrom, O superficial Wang Yu, that
wisdom lies in an intelligent perception of great principles, and not
in a slavish imitation of details which are, for the most part, beyond
your simple and insufficient understanding."
"Such may, indeed, be the case, Kai Lung," replied Wang Yu sullenly--
for it was the story-teller in question who had approached
unperceived, and who now stood before them--"but it is none the less a
fact that, on the last occasion when this misguided person joined the
attending circle at your uplifted voice, a Mandarin of the third
degree chanced to pass through Wu-whei, and halted at the door-step of
'The Fountain of Beauty,' fully intending to entrust this one with the
designing and fashioning of a pipe of exceptional elaborateness. This
matter, by his absence, has now passed from him, and to-day, through
listening to the narrative of how the accomplished Yuin-Pel doubled
his fortune, he is the poorer by many taels."
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