The widow-by love and by liquor inflamed— Thought a moment, "Old Chuang's will just do!" she ex claimed,— “A capital plan! Why the remedy named Is a trifle!" said she with a laugh: I'll get them at once—you shall shortly avail You shall have old Chuang's brains, I know they're not stale; She grasped a kitchen chopper-before the tablet stood, Said she "Chuang, I would really have been faithful, if I could, Don't blame me if my heart is changed-it plainly was to be; Your horoscope foretold it so ;—it is your destiny. "Here, at your 'spirit tablet,' I dare speak nought but truth; "Implicitly relying on your well-known common sense, What I now do I'm certain will not give the least offence. ? The head of my poor lover is racked with throbbing pains, Your head contains the remedy-I have come to take your brains!" She grasped the chopper savagely-her brows she firmly knit ; And battered at the coffin, until the lid was split. But, oh! what mortal pen could paint her horror and her dread; A voice within exclaimed "Hollo!" and Chuang popped up his head! "Hollo!" again repeated he, as he sat bolt upright : "What made you smash my coffin in?—I see besides you're tight! You've dressed yourself in red, too! What means this mummery? Let me have the full particulars and don't try on flummery." She had all her wits about her, though she quaked a bit with fear. Said she (the artful wretch!) "It seems miraculous, my dear! Some unseen power impelled me to break the coffin lid, To see if you were still alive—which, of course, you know I did! I felt sure you must be living, so to welcome you once more, My mourning robes I tore off, and my wedding garments wore; But, were you dead, to guard against all noxious fumes I quaffed, As a measure of precaution—a disinfecting draught!" Said Chuang, "Your tale is plausible, but I think you'd better stop; Don't fatigue yourself by telling lies, just let the matter drop. To test your faithfulness to me I've been merely shamming dead, I'm the youth you just now married-my widow I've just wed!" MORAL. From this tale, married women, a moral deduce ;— When you hear of a poor widow fanning a grave! For you never can tell what you'll do till you're tried: And you might do a worse thing than fanning a grave!" CHANG-PAN-PO, OR QUEEN MI'S ON the ancient road and o'er the barren mountain bitterly the conflict raged. Red flowed the blood of the black-haired people into the soil; As a lamp shining through yellow haze makes all around more gloomy, So were the stars obscured by dust:-there was heard the wailing cry of spirits. Ages hence his name will be revered for loyalty and devotion. I The actual words of the following poem are to be found in a small volume entitled Chang-pan-po tzu-ti-shu. These are taken from the celebrated Historical play of Chang-pan-po. The substance of this poem is to be found in the San-kuo-chih, also in the San-kuo-yen-i. The latter work, although not so reliable as the former, is yet read with greater pleasure by the majority of Chinese, containing as it does most of the events which occurred at that period, but more highly coloured. Many plays are derived from the same source, of which the play of Chang-pan-po is one. How brave! He valued his life as if 'twere but a feather's weight. fell: At Chang-pan-po the bloody sweat in streaming torrents Exhaust and faint was General Chao-tzu-lung.1 3 Liu-hsüan-te2 fled for refuge towards Chiang-ling, intend ing there his forces to recruit, But unexpectedly, on the Tang-yang road, encountered the pursuing troops. Fierce was the fight around him; midst the forest of swords and spears monarch and ministers were scattered. Amid the tramp of marching in the wilderness, and the hoarse shouts of slaughter, the Crown Prince was lost. Queen Mi1 carried A-tou in her bosom. 1 Chao-tzù-lung. A general, and the hero of the play, called variously Chao-tzù-lung, Chao-yun, and Tzu-lung. 2 Liu-hsüan-te, not at this time Emperor, was the Emperor of Shu, afterwards Hou-'Han; according to the best historian, Chu-tzu-yang, who considers him as being the rightful possessor of the throne. Another historian, Ssu-ma-kuang, styles Liu-hsüan-te a rebel, and invariably writes the word "invasion" in reference to any expedition to the frontiers. 3 In Hu-pei. • Mi-fu-jên, one of Liu-hsüan-te's two queens, -the other, Kan-fujên, was the mother of A-tou, but Mi-fu-jên was the preserver of the child,—sacrificing her own life to save his, the more worthy of praise as not being the child's own mother. |