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Page 52
CHAPTER IV
THE EXPERIMENT OF THE MANDARIN CHAN HUNG
Related by Kai Lung at Shan Tzu, on the occasion of his receiving
a very unexpected reward.
"There are certainly many occasions when the principles of the
Mandarin Chan Hung appear to find practical favour in the eyes of
those who form this usually uncomplaining person's audiences at Shan
Tzu," remarked Kai Lung, with patient resignation, as he took up his
collecting-bowl and transferred the few brass coins which it held to a
concealed place among his garments. "Has the village lately suffered
from a visit of one of those persons who come armed with authority to
remove by force or stratagem such goods as bear names other than those
possessed by their holders? or is it, indeed--as they of Wu-whei
confidently assert--that when the Day of Vows arrives the people of
Shan Tzu, with one accord, undertake to deny themselves in the matter
of gifts and free offerings, in spite of every conflicting impulse?"
"They of Wu-whei!" exclaimed a self-opinionated bystander, who had by
some means obtained an inferior public office, and who was, in
consequence, enabled to be present on all occasions without
contributing any offering. "Well is that village named 'The Refuge of
Unworthiness,' for its dwellers do little but rob and illtreat
strangers, and spread evil and lying reports concerning better endowed
ones than themselves."
"Such a condition of affairs may exist," replied Kai Lung, without any
indication of concern either one way or the other; "yet it is an
undeniable fact that they reward this commonplace story-teller's too
often underestimated efforts in a manner which betrays them either to
be of noble birth, or very desirous of putting to shame their less
prosperous neighbouring places."
"Such exhibitions of uncalled-for lavishness are merely the signs of
an ill-regulated and inordinate vanity," remarked a Mandarin of the
eighth grade, who chanced to be passing, and who stopped to listen to
Kai Lung's words. "Nevertheless, it is not fitting that a collection
of decaying hovels, which Wu-whei assuredly is, should, in however
small a detail, appear to rise above Shan Tzu, so that if the
versatile and unassuming Kai Lung will again honour this assembly by
allowing his well-constructed bowl to pass freely to and fro, this
obscure and otherwise entirely superfluous individual will make it his
especial care that the brass of Wu-whei shall be answered with solid
copper, and its debased pewter with doubly refined silver."
With these encouraging words the very opportune Mandarin of the eighth
grade himself followed the story-teller's collecting-bowl, observing
closely what each person contributed, so that, although he gave
nothing from his own store, Kai Lung had never before received so
honourable an amount.
"O illustrious Kai Lung," exclaimed a very industrious and ill-clad
herb-gatherer, who, in spite of his poverty, could not refrain from
mingling with listeners whenever the story-teller appeared in Shan
Tzu, "a single piece of brass money is to this person more than a
block of solid gold to many of Wu-whei; yet he has twice made the
customary offering, once freely, once because a courteous and pure-
minded individual who possesses certain written papers of his
connected with the repayment of some few taels walked behind the bowl
and engaged his eyes with an unmistakable and very significant glance.
This fact emboldens him to make the following petition: that in place
of the not altogether unknown story of Yung Chang which had been
announced the proficient and nimble-minded Kai Lung will entice our
attention with the history of the Mandarin Chan Hung, to which
reference has already been made."
"The occasion is undoubtedly one which calls for recognition to an
unusual degree," replied Kai Lung with extreme affability. "To that
end this person will accordingly narrate the story which has been
suggested, notwithstanding the fact that it has been specially
prepared for the ears of the sublime Emperor, who is at this moment
awaiting this unseemly one's arrival in Peking with every mark of ill-
restrained impatience, tempered only by his expectation of being the
first to hear the story of the well-meaning but somewhat premature
Chan Hung.
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