once upon a time, so very long ago that even the great-grandfathers of our great-grandmothers had not been born, there lived in the city of kwen-lu a little chinese boy named pei-hang.
his father and mother loved him dearly, and did all they could to shield him from the power of the evil genii, or spirits, of whom there were a great many in china. of course, there were some good genii too, but most of them were very much the reverse, and pei-hang's mother was always taking precautions against them.
now it is said that a wicked geni will not come near a chinese boy if he has some red silk braided in with his pigtail, or if he wears a silver chain round his neck.
and the most daring geni has a great dread of old fishing-nets.
pei-hang's mother made him a little shirt out of an old fishing-net to wear next to his skin, and she took care that his pigtail should be plaited with the brightest red silk she could buy.
she was particular in having his head shaved in exactly the right way, too, and to have a tuft left sticking up in the luckiest place.
with all these precautions pei-hang got safely over the troubles of his babyhood, and grew from a little boy into a big one, and from a boy to a tall and handsome youth; and he left off wearing his netted shirt, although the silver chain still hung round his neck and there was red silk in his pigtail.
"it is time that pei-hang saw a little more," said his father. "he must go to chang-ngan, and study under the wise men there, and find out what the world is thinking about."
chang-ngan was the old capital of china, a very great city
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indeed, and pin-too, the master to whom pei-hang was sent was the wisest man in it.
and there pei-hang soon learned what the world was thinking about, and many things besides. and as soon as he was eighteen he took the red silk out of his pigtail and the silver chain from his neck; for grown-up people do not need charms to protect them from the genii—they can generally protect themselves.
when he was twenty, pin-too told him he could not teach him any more.
"it is time for you to go back to your parents, and comfort them in their old age," he said.
he looked very sorry as he said it, for pei-hang had been his favourite pupil.
"i will start to-morrow, master," replied pei-hang, obediently. "i will leave the city by the golden bridge."
"no, you must go by the indigo bridge, for there you will meet your future wife," said pin-too.
"i was not thinking of a wife," observed pei-hang, with some dismay.
and pin-too wrinkled up his eyes and laughed.
"all the better!" he said. "because, when you have once seen her, you will be able to think of nothing else."
it was very hot weather, and pei-hang ought to have started early in the morning; but he sat so long over his books the night before his journey that he fell fast asleep just before sunrise, and slept all through the coolest hours of the day.
when he awoke, the sun was blazing down upon the streets of chang-ngan, and making the town like a furnace.
however, pei-hang took up his stick and set off, because he had promised his father and mother to start that day.
"i will rest a little at the indigo bridge, and walk on again in the cool of the evening," he said to himself.
but on the bridge he fell asleep again, so tired was he with the many sleepless nights he had spent in study.
while he slept he had a dream, in which a tall and beautiful maiden appeared to him, and showed him her right foot, round which a red cord was bound.
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"what is the meaning of it?" asked pei-hang, who could hardly take his eyes away from her face to look at her foot.
"what is the meaning of the red cord around your foot, too?" replied the girl.
then pei-hang glanced at his right foot, and saw that his foot and the girl's were tied together by the same thin red cord; and by this he knew that she must be his future wife.
"i have heard my mother say," he said, "that when a boy is born, the fairy of the moon ties an invisible red cord round his right foot, and the other end of the cord round the foot of the girl-baby whom he is to marry."
"that is quite true," said the maiden; "and this is an invisible cord to people who are awake. now i will tell you my name, and remember it when you hear it again. it is yun-ying."
"and i will tell you mine," began pei-hang, but yun-ying stopped him, smiling.
"ah, i know yours, and all about you," she said.
this surprised pei-hang very much; but he need not have been greatly astonished, for everyone in chang-ngan knew that pei-hang was the handsomest and wisest and best loved pupil the wise pin-too had ever had.
and yun-ying lived quite close to the city, and had often seen pei-hang walking through the streets with his books.
when pei-hang awoke, he found, as she had said, that there was no red cord around his foot, and no fair maiden looking down at him, either.
"i wonder if she is real, or only a dream-maiden, after all," he said to himself.
but yun-ying was quite real; only her mother, who knew something of magic, had given her the power of stepping in and out of people's dreams just as she chose.
pei-hang got up and went on his way, thinking of yun-ying all the time.
it was still very hot, and he grew so thirsty that he went to a little hut by the roadside, and asked an old woman who was sitting in the doorway to give him a drink.
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the old dame told her daughter to fill their best goblet with fresh spring water, and bring it out to the stranger; and when the daughter appeared, it was none other than yun-ying herself.
"oh!" cried pei-hang, "i thought perhaps i should never see you again, and i have found you almost directly."
"and what is my name?" asked the girl, laughing.
"yun-ying," replied pei-hang. "yun-ying, yun-ying," he repeated, in a singing tone, just as he had been saying it all the time as he walked along, as if he loved the sound of it.
yun-ying was dressed in white underneath, but her over-dress was bright blue, embroidered with beautiful flowers which she had worked herself; and she stood in the door of the hut, with a peach tree in full bloom over her head, making such a picture of youth and loveliness that pei-hang's heart seemed to jump up into his throat, and beat there fast enough to choke him.
"who are you? and how do you come to know yun-ying?" asked the old woman peering and blinking at him, with her hand over her eyes, to shade them from the sun.
and when she heard about the dream, and the red cord, and that pei-hang wanted to marry her daughter, she did not look at all pleased.
"if i had two daughters you might have one of them, and welcome," she grumbled.
for pei-hang was not by any means a bad match. his parents were well off, and he was their only child.
but yun-ying was a very pretty girl, and a mandarin of chang-ngan was anxious to make her his wife.
"he is four times her age, it is true," said her mother, explaining this to pei-hang; "but he is very rich. all his dishes and plates are gold, and they say his drinking-cups are gold, set with diamonds."
"he is old and wrinkled, like a little brown monkey," said yun-ying. "i don't want to marry him! and, besides, the fairy of the moon didn't tie my foot to his."
"no, that's true enough," sighed her mother.
she would have liked to tell pei-hang to go about his business,
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but she knew if the red cord had really been tied between his foot and yun-ying's, it would not be safe to do that.
"come inside," she said at last; "i'll see what i can promise."
the inside of the hut was fragrant with the scent of herbs which were strewn all over the floor, and on a wooden stool in the middle lay a broken pestle and mortar.
"now," said yun-ying's mother, "on this stool i pound magic drugs given to me by the genii; but my pestle and mortar is broken. i want a new one."
"that i can easily buy in chang-ngan," replied pei-hang.
"no; for it is a pestle and mortar of jade, and you can only get one like it by going to the home of the genii, which is on a mountain above the lake of gems. if you will do that, and bring it back to me, you shall marry yun-ying."
"yes, i will do that," said pei-hang, after a moment's thought. "but i must see my parents first."
he had not the least idea where the home of the genii was; but yun-ying took him out into the garden, and showed him, in the far distance, a range of snow-capped mountains, with one peak towering above the rest.
"that is mount sumi," she said, "and it is there the genii live, sitting on the snow-peaks, and looking down at the lake of gems."
"but to reach it you must cross the blue river, the white river, the red river, and the black river, which are all full of monstrous fishes. that is why my mother is sending you," sighed yun-ying. "she thinks you will never come back alive."
"i know how to swim," said pei-hang, "and fishes don't frighten me."
"promise me you won't try to swim," said yun-ying, earnestly. "you would be devoured in a moment. take this box with you. in it you will find six red seeds. throw one into each river as you come to it, and it will shrink into a little brook, over which you can jump."
pei-hang opened the box, and saw inside six round, red seeds,
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each about the size of a pea; and he agreed to use them as yun-ying directed. then he kissed her, and set out on his journey to mount sumi.
but on his way across the plain he passed through the town where his parents lived, and he went to see them, and told them all that had happened since he left chang-ngan.
his mother, who was a very wise woman, as mothers generally are, told him the genii would be angry if he turned their four great rivers into brooks, and would probably refuse to give him a pestle and mortar made of jade.
"i never thought of that," said pei-hang.
"never mind," said his mother, "i will give you a box containing six white seeds. cast one into each brook when you have crossed it on your way home, and the brook will expand into a river again."
early the next morning pei-hang kissed her and went on his way.
he rested during the midday heat, and continued his journey when it grew cool again; and in this way, at the end of seven days, he came to the blue river.
it was a quarter of a mile wide, and as blue as the sky of midsummer, and fishes were popping their heads out of the water in every direction. the head of every fish was twice as large as a football, and had two rows of teeth. but pei-hang threw a red seed into the waves which were lapping the shore, and in a moment, instead of the wide blue river, a little brook lay at his feet.
the huge fishes were changed into tiny creatures like tadpoles, and he hopped across the brook on one foot.
soon afterward he came to the white river, which was half a mile wide, so rapid that it was covered with foam, like new milk, and full of immense sea serpents. "i shan't be able to hop over this on one foot," thought pei-hang, throwing his red seed into the water.
but to his surprise the white river shrank just as rapidly as the blue river into a tiny rippling brook, with some wee wriggling eels at the bottom.
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pei-hang leaped lightly over it, and walked a long way before he came in sight of the red river.
this was three-quarters of a mile wide, and bright scarlet. it looked like a flood of melted sealing-wax, and a row of alligators, with their mouths wide open, stretched right across it like a bridge.
"now for my little red seed!" said pei-hang, opening his box quite cheerfully.
the nearest alligator made a snap at the seed as it sank in the river, but he missed it, and the next minute he found himself no bigger than a lizard, sitting at the bottom of a stream not half a yard across. at the other side of it pei-hang was met by one of the genii, who had come down from his snow-peak to see who it was that had dared to play such tricks with the three mighty rivers.
pei-hang showed him the round white seeds in his other box.
"it is all right," he said, "i can make them as large as they were before, on my way back. but first i must find the home of the genii, and get a pestle and mortar of jade for my future mother-in-law to pound her magic drugs in."
"first you must cross the black river," replied the geni, with rather a scornful laugh. "it is a mile wide, and the fish in it are six yards long, and covered with spikes like porcupines."
"how did you get across?" inquired pei-hang.
"i? oh, i can fly," said the geni.
"and i can jump," retorted pei-hang, sturdily.
the geni walked with him as far as the black river, and when our hero saw the great waste of water as black as ink, stretching away in front of him, it must be confessed his heart sank a little.
but he took out his fourth seed, and watched it disappear beneath a coal-black wave.
in an instant, to the geni's astonishment, the river dried up, leaving only a shallow stream running through the grass at their feet.
the geni was not altogether a bad-hearted fellow, and he was also much impressed by the wonderful things pei-hang seemed
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able to do; so he offered to show him the nearest way to the home of the genii, on the top of mount sumi.
after a long and wearisome climb they got up there, and found eight of the genii sitting on eight snow-peaks, and looking down on the lake of gems, as yun-ying had said.
the lake of gems lay on the other side of mount sumi, and was a beautiful sheet of water, flashing all the colours of the rainbow.
pei-hang could not take his eyes off it. he forgot all about the pestle and mortar as he watched the waves rippling along the shore, and leaving behind them diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and pearls in thousands.
every pebble on the margin of the lake was a precious stone, and pei-hang wanted to go down and fill his pockets with them.
he stood there while the geni who had been his guide explained to the others why he had come, and told them about the wonderful red and white seeds he carried about with him.
"we must let him have the pestle and mortar," he said, "or he won't give us our rivers back again." the eight genii nodded their eight heads, and spoke all at once, with a noise which was like the rumble of thunder among the hills. "let him take it, if he can carry it," they said.
and they laughed until the snow-peaks shook beneath them; for the mortar made of jade was six feet high and four feet wide and the pestle was so heavy no mortal could lift it.
pei-hang, when he had finished staring at the lake of gems, walked round it, and wondered how he was to carry it down the mountain and across the plains to chang-ngan.
then he sat down on the ground to think the matter over, and the genii, even his own good-natured geni, laughed at him again.
"come!" they said. "if you like to fill the mortar with precious stones, you may do it. any man who can carry it empty can carry it full."
"because no one can carry it at all," concluded the good-natured geni, softly to himself.
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pei-hang folded his arms, and sat still, and thought, and thought, and took no notice of their gibes and sneers.
he had not studied three years with the wisest man in chang-ngan for nothing, and, besides, he was determined to marry yun-ying, and when young men are very much in love, they sometimes accomplish things which their friends—and enemies—think are impossible.
at last a light came into his eyes; and he jumped up and asked the friendly geni if he would make a little heap of stones at one side of the mortar.
"i want to be able to look inside it, and i am not tall enough," said he.
"and why don't you do it yourself?" asked the geni.
"because i must go down to the lake of gems and collect precious stones," replied pei-hang.
and he ran down to the shore of the lake and gathered diamonds, rubies, emeralds, pearls, and sapphires, as many as he could carry.
this he did again and again, emptying them into the mortar each time, until it was quite full, and held gems enough to make pei-hang the richest man in china.
this was exactly what he wanted; for he knew that the yellow-faced mandarin was only the richest man in chang-ngan, and that the richest man in china would have a far greater chance of marrying yun-ying.
"well, what next?" cried the eight genii, when he had finished. "will you take it on your shoulder or on your head?"
"i will just carry it under my arm," replied pei-hang, easily.
and he took out his little box, and threw one of his red seeds on top of the gems.
in a moment the gigantic pestle and mortar shrank into one of the ordinary size.
pei-hang put the pestle in his pocket, and took up the mortar carefully, because he did not wish to spill the precious stones, and made a low bow to the genii.
"good-bye, and thank you," he said.
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they did not laugh this time, but they pursued him with such a roar of rage that it sounded as if eight lions were waiting for their dinner.
but they did not dare to stop him, knowing that he had the power to turn the four brooks into four rivers again.
pei-hang hurried away, and on his journey did exactly what he had promised.
he jumped across the first brook, and threw a white seed into it, and turned it into a terrible inky black waste of waters a mile wide, full of fishes six yards long, and every fish covered with spikes.
the genii stopped roaring then; they were relieved to see the black river rolling once more between them and the outer world.
when pei-hang came to the red river, and the white river, and the blue river, he did the same thing; and from that day to this no one has been able to find the home of the genii, because no one but pei-hang could ever cross the blue river, much less the other three.
then pei-hang journeyed for seven days, and came to his father's and mother's house, and told them all that had happened since he had left them, and he gave them a ruby, a diamond, an emerald, a sapphire, a pearl, and a pink topaz, a jewel for every white seed his mother had given him, and each as large as a sparrow's egg. after that he went on to chang-ngan, and there he found that, although he had only been a month away, yun-ying's mother had told everyone he was dead, and invited all her friends to a wedding feast in honour of her daughter's marriage with the yellow-faced old mandarin. the wedding had not taken place when pei-hang arrived; but yun-ying stood under the peach tree, in her wedding dress, which was of pink silk, all embroidered with silver, and when she saw pei-hang, she threw herself into his arms and the tears ran down her cheeks.
pei-hang put down the pestle and mortar while he comforted her, and her mother came running out to look at it.
"you have come too late to marry yun-ying," she said.
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"but i'll buy the pestle and mortar from you with some of the money the mandarin has given me."
"no, you will not," replied pei-hang. and he dropped one of his white seeds into the mortar, which at once increased in size until it filled the whole grass plat under the peach tree, and it was full to the brim of glittering jewels.
pei-hang climbed into one of the branches overhanging it, and from there he threw down among the wedding guests diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and all kinds of precious stones.
and the yellow-faced mandarin was as busy picking them up as anyone.
"although he is so rich that his drinking-cups are made of gold!" cried the others, indignantly.
"one can never have too much of a good thing. he! he! he!" he chuckled.
and when pei-hang offered him three rubies, each as large as a pigeon's egg, if he would go away and forget all about yun-ying, he took them and went.
perhaps he knew that yun-ying's mother would not have much more to say to him, now that she had a chance of a son-in-law who scattered jewels about the grass like pearl barley.
or perhaps he really preferred the three great rubies to yun-ying.
at any rate, he went back to chang-ngan, and pei-hang married yun ying, and took her away to the city where his father and mother lived; and they were as happy as two young people deserve to be when they love each other dearly.
as for the pestle and mortar of jade, it stood under the peach tree; and no one could lift it into the cottage, and no one could have pounded magic drugs in it, if they could have got it inside.
pei-hang had one red seed left in his box, and he meant to have thrown it into the mortar as soon as he had taken all the precious stones out, and made it small again.
but while he was up in the peach tree the box flew open,
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and the seed fell out, and was gobbled up by a turkey underneath.
the turkey, of course, changed into a bantam cock; but the pestle and mortar had to remain the size it was.
and yun-ying's mother was very angry about it, although i do not think she deserved anything else, after the unfair advantage she had tried to take of her son-in-law.
