Part 15 (1/2)

[60] General Ho K'u-ping, died 117 B.C., Commander of the Armies of Han Wu Ti in several victorious campaigns against the Hsiung-nu.

[61] Lan-tien, a district in Shen-si, famous for its jade.

[62] Ta-tsin, the Roman Empire.

[63] A military officer of the Han Dynasty, holding a rank similar to that of Captain-General.

_The Lady Chao-Chiun_[64]

BY EO YANG SIU

SONG DYNASTY (A.D. 960-1278)

The Court of Han which shone with beauty rare Of high-born women dowered with faces fair, Had one within it, yet unknown to fame, Of lowly fortune but of gentle name.

Now every flower had spared some hue or grace To form Chao-Chiun's divinely lovely face; But courtier's greed had barred the Palace gate, Which Chao-Chiun's father would not try to sate.

Nor could the maid herself her beauty flaunt, And hold her fair name light for gold or taunt; Her Royal Master, therefore, did but jibe At portraits of her, painted for a bribe.

And so this peerless girl was left alone, Who might have shared Yuen's imperial throne.

But Yen-Show's greed at last itself betrayed, And charges grave against him were arrayed;

Then traitor-like, as harried fox, or doe, He fled the Court to help the Northern foe; And with true portraits of the lovely maid, He fired the Tartar Chief his plans to aid.

Abetted by this courtier, wise and arch, The Tartar armies crossed the Emperor's march, And devastated all the country near, From which the people fled in piteous fear.

The Han King, conscious of his waning power, Now sought for terms of peace in danger's hour; And these were granted, if, with parlance brief The Lady w.a.n.g would wed the Tartar chief.

But ere the peerless maiden left her home, To brave the mountains and the desert roam, The Emperor saw her, and his heart stood still, Yet basely feared to thwart the Tartar's will.

The silence pa.s.sed, he raved in pa.s.sion's whirl, And slew the painter who had limned the girl; But useless were such puny acts, and cruel, Which to a burning throne were added fuel.

For how could monarch, who perceived no more, Of things which happened near his Palace door, Expect to force the Hun to own his sway, Encamped in strength a thousand miles away?

And so Chao-Chiun, beneath her weary load, With royal guards began the endless road, Watering with tears each lowly wayside flower, The sport, alas! of beauty's fateful power.

[64] Chao-Chiun, or w.a.n.g Chao-Chiun, was a very beautiful girl who was precluded from entering the presence of the Emperor Yuan (Han Yuan Ti) by an avaricious courtier, Mao Yen-sheo, who bribed the court painter to present ugly portraits of Chao-Chiun to the Emperor, because her family would not pay the large sums of money he demanded. Afterwards Mao Yen-sheo's wiles became known to the Emperor, and he fled to the Khan of the Hsiung-nu to whom he showed a true portrait of Chao-Chiun. Thereupon the Khan invaded China with a great army, and demanded the Lady Chao-Chiun as the price of peace. Afraid to refuse, the Chinese Emperor surrendered Chao-Chiun to the Tartar chief who then retired beyond the Wall. According to a popular but untrustworthy version of this story, Chao-Chiun, when she reached the Heh-long Kiang (Amur River), jumped into the stream rather than cross the boundary which separated her from her native land.

_Night on the Lake_

BY SU TONG-PO

SONG DYNASTY (A.D. 960-1278)

The breeze is sighing through the water gra.s.s, As up and down the narrow deck I pa.s.s; And through the rarest mist of Autumn night The rain-moon floods the lake with pallid light.

The boatmen and the water-fowl sleep sound, And in their dreams see other worlds around; The big fish startled sneak in haste away, As flurried fox flees from the dawning day.