[4] The “Sword-gate”:  commanding the pass which leads into Szechuan from the north.

“I cannot allow it,” the father said.  Next day he ordered a carriage for his son and sent him on to report himself at Ch`eng1-tu; but he detained Miss Li at Chien-men1, found her a suitable lodging and ordered a match-maker to perform the initial ceremonies for uniting the two families and to accomplish the six rites of welcome.  The young man came back from Ch`eng1-tu and they were duly married.  In the years that followed their marriage, Miss Li showed herself a devoted wife and competent housekeeper, and was beloved by all her relations.

Some years later both the young man’s parents died, and in his mourning observances he showed unusual piety.  As a mark of divine favour, magic toadstools grew on the roof of his mourning-hut,[5] each stem bearing three plants.  The report of his virtue reached even the Emperor’s ears.  Moreover a number of white swallows nested in the beams of his roof, an omen which so impressed the Emperor that he raised his rank immediately.

[5] See “Book or Rites,” xxxii, 3.  On returning from his father’s burial a son must not enter the house; he should live in an “out-house,” mourning for his father’s absence.

When the three years of mourning were over, he was successively promoted to various distinguished posts and in the course of ten years was Governor of several provinces.  Miss Li was given the fief of Chien-kuo, with the title “The Lady of Chien-kuo.”

He had four sons who all held high rank.  Even the least successful of them became Governor of T`ai-yuuan, and his brothers all married into great families, so that his good fortune both in public and private life was without parallel.

How strange that we should find in the conduct of a prostitute a degree of constancy rarely equalled even by the heroines of history!  Surely the story is one which cannot but provoke a sigh!

My great-uncle was Governor of Chin-chou; subsequently he joined the Ministry of Finance and became Inspector of Waterways, and finally Inspector of Roads.  In all these three offices he had Miss Li’s husband as his colleague, so that her story was well known to him in every particular.  During the Cheng1-yuuan period[6] I was sitting one day with Li Kung-tso[7] of Lung-hai; we fell to talking of wives who had distinguished themselves by remarkable conduct.  I told him the story of Miss Li.  He listened with rapt attention, and when it was over, asked me to write it down for him.  So I took up my brush, wetted the hairs and made this rough outline of the story.

[6] A.D. 785-805.

[7] A writer.

[Dated] autumn, eighth month of the year Yi-hai, (A.D. 795), written by Po-Hsing-chien of T`ai-yuuan.

WANG CHIEN

[c.  A.D. 830]

[66] HEARING THAT HIS FRIEND WAS COMING BACK FROM THE WAR