BY LAFCADIO HEARN

Copyright, 1887, by Roberts brothers

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To my friend Henry Edward Krehbiel

THE MUSICIAN

Who, speaking the speech of melody unto the
children of tien-HIA,—­
unto the wandering tsing-jin, whose skins
have the color of gold,—­
moved them to make strange sounds upon the
serpent-bellied San-Hien;
persuaded them to play for me upon the
shrieking ya-Hien;
prevailed on them to sing me A song of their
native land,—­
the song of MOHLI-hwa,
the song of the jasmine-flower

[Illustration:  Line drawing of a man’s head]

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PREFACE

I think that my best apology for the insignificant size of this volume is the very character of the material composing it.  In preparing the legends I sought especially for weird beauty; and I could not forget this striking observation in Sir Walter Scott’s “Essay on Imitations of the Ancient Ballad”:  “The supernatural, though appealing to certain powerful emotions very widely and deeply sown amongst the human race, is, nevertheless, a spring which is peculiarly apt to lose its elasticity by being too much pressed upon.”

Those desirous to familiarize themselves with Chinese literature as a whole have had the way made smooth for them by the labors of linguists like Julien, Pavie, Remusat, De Rosny, Schlegel, Legge, Hervey-Saint-Denys, Williams, Biot, Giles, Wylie, Beal, and many other Sinologists.  To such great explorers, indeed, the realm of Cathayan story belongs by right of discovery and conquest; yet the humbler traveller who follows wonderingly after them into the vast and mysterious pleasure-grounds of Chinese fancy may surely be permitted to cull a few of the marvellous flowers there growing,—­a self-luminous hwa-wang, a black lily, a phosphoric rose or two,—­as souvenirs of his curious voyage.

L.H.

New Orleans, March 15, 1886.

CONTENTS

THE SOUL OF THE GREAT BELL

THE STORY OF MING-Y

THE LEGEND OF TCHI-NIU

THE RETURN OF YEN-TCHIN-KING

THE TRADITION OF THE TEA-PLANT