Volume Ii Part 85 (2/2)

When wine is boiled with leaves 'tis not easy to burn.

Tai-yu also smiled while suggesting:

The broom, with which the bonze sweepeth the hill, is sunk in snow.

Pao-ch'in too smilingly cried:

The young lad takes away the lute interred in snow.

Hsiang-yun laughed to such a degree that she was bent in two; and she muttered a line with such rapidity that one and all inquired of her: ”What are you, after all, saying?”

In the stone tower leisurely sleeps the stork.

Hsiang-yun repeated.

Tai-yu clasped her breast so convulsed was she with laughter. With loud voice she bawled out:

Th' embroidered carpet warms the affectionate cat.

Pao-ch'in quickly, again laughingly, exclaimed:

Inside Selene's cave lo, roll the silvery waves.

Hsiang-yun added, with eager haste:

Within the city walls at eve was hid a purple flag.

Tai-yu with alacrity continued with a smile:

The fragrance sweet, which penetrates into the plums, is good to eat.

Pao-ch'ai smiled. ”What a fine line!” she e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed; after which, she hastened to complete the couplet by saying:

The drops from the bamboo are meet, when one is drunk, to mix with wine.

Pao-ch'in likewise made haste to add:

Betimes, the hymeneal girdle it moistens.

Hsiang-yun eagerly paired it with:

Oft, it freezeth on the kingfisher shoes.

Tai-yu once more exclaimed with vehemence:

No wind doth blow, but yet there is a rush.

Pao-ch'in promptly also smiled, and strung on:

No rain lo falls, but still a patter's heard.

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