The Cloud Dream of the Nine by Kim Man-Choong (spiritual books to read txt) 📖

Princess Peace’s Palace, and later became the winner of the kwago (examination). This is a story handed down, famous till to-day. Master Yang, too, in order to win his pretty bride, dressed as a woman. It would prove him to be a very bright fellow. For a joke of this kind why should you say you dislike him? On the other hand, you saw only a Taoist priestess; you did not see Master Yang at all. You are not responsible for the fact that he made a very pretty girl musician, and your part is not to be compared with that of Princess Tak-moon who peeped through the hanging shades. What reason have you to harbour dislikes?”

The daughter said: “I have nothing to be ashamed of in my heart, but to allow myself to be taken in thus makes me so angry I could almost die.”

The Justice laughed again: “This is not a matter for your old father to know anything about. Later on you can question Yang about it yourself.”

The lady Cheung asked: “What time have you fixed for the wedding?”

The Justice answered: “The gifts are to be sent at once, but we must wait till autumn for the wedding ceremony, so as to have his mother present. After she comes we can decide the day.”

“Since matters stand thus,” said the mother, “there is no hurry as to the exact time.” So they [p78] chose a day, received the gifts, and invited Yang to their home. They had him live in a special pavilion in the park. He fulfilled all the respectful requirements of a son-in-law, served them well, and they loved him as their very own.

On a certain day Cheung See, while passing Cloudlet’s room, saw that she was embroidering a pair of shoes, but fanned to sleep by the soft days of early summer, she had placed her embroidery frame for her pillow and was deep in dreamland.The young mistress went quietly in to admire the beautiful work. She sighed over its matchless stitches, and as she thought of the loving hands that worked them, she noticed a sheet of paper with writing on it lying under the frame. She opened it and read a verse or two written as a tribute to her shoes. It read:

“Pretty shoes, you’ve won the rarest gem for mate, Step by step you must attend her all the way, Except when lights are out, and silence holds the silken chamber; Then you’ll be left beneath the ivory couch forgotten.”

The lady read this through, and said to herself: “No hand can write like Cloudlet’s. It grows more and more skilful. The embroidered shoes she makes herself, and the rare gem is me, dear girl. Till now she and I have never been separated. By and by when I marry she speaks of being pushed aside. She loves me truly.” Then she sighed and said: “She would like to share the same home and the same husband. Evidently this is the wish of her heart.”

Fearing to disturb her in her happy dreams Cheung [p79] See softly withdrew and went into her mother’s room. There her mother was busy with the servants, overseeing meals for the young master. Jewel said: “Since Master Yang came here to live, you, mother, have had much anxiety on his behalf, seeing to his clothes and his food and the directing of his servants. I am afraid that you are worn out. These are duties that rightly fall to me. Not only should I dislike to do them, however, but there is no precedent or warrant in the law of ceremony for a betrothed girl to serve her master. Cloudlet, however, is experienced in all kinds of work. I should like if you would appoint her to the guest chamber in the park, and have her see to what pertains to Master Yang. It would lessen at least some of your many responsibilities.”

The mother replied: “Cloudlet with her marked ability and her wonderful attractiveness can do anything well, but Cloudlet’s father was our most faithful attendant, and she herself is superior to the ordinary maid. For this reason, your father, who thinks so much of her, desires a special choice of husband and that she may have her own home. Is not this the plan?”

The daughter replied: “Her wish, I find, is to be with me always and never to leave.”

“But when you are married,” said the mother, “she could not go with you as an ordinary servant. Her station and attainments are far superior to that. The only way open to you in accord with ancient rites would be to have her attend as the master’s secondary wife.”

The daughter answered: “Master Yang is now eighteen, a scholar of daring spirit who even ventured [p80] into the inner quarters of a minister’s home and made sport of his unmarried daughter. How can you expect such a man to be satisfied with only one wife? Later, when he becomes a minister of state and gets ten thousand bales of rice as salary, how many Cloudlets will he not have to bear him company?”

At this point Justice Cheung came in, and his wife said: “This girl wants Cloudlet to be given to the young master to care for him, but I think otherwise. To appoint a secondary wife before the first marriage takes place is something I am quite opposed to.”

The Justice answered: “Cloudlet is equal to our daughter in ability and also in beauty of face. Their love for each other is so great that they will have to be together always and must never be parted. They are destined for the same home, so to send Cloudlet ahead will really make no difference. Even a young man devoid of love for women, being thus alone, would find but poor companionship in his solitary candle, how much more one so full of life as Yang! To send her at once and have her see that he is well looked after would be very good indeed; and yet to do so before the first ceremony comes off would seem somewhat incongruous. Might it not cause complications for his first wedding? What do you think?”

The daughter replied: “I have a plan, however, by means of which Cloudlet may wipe out the disgrace that I have suffered.”

The Justice asked: “What plan, pray? Come, tell me about it.”

“With the help of my cousin,” said the daughter, “I wish to carry out a little plan that will rid me of my mortification over what he has done to me.” [p81]

The Justice laughed unrestrainedly. “That is a plan,” said he.

Among the many nephews of the Justice was one known familiarly as Thirteen, a fine young fellow, with honest heart and clear head, jolly and full of fun. He had become a special friend of the young master and was most intimate with him.

The daughter returned to her own room and said to Cloudlet: “Cloudlet, I have been with you ever since the hair grew on our brows together. We have always loved each other since the days when we fought with flower buds. Now I have had my wedding gifts sent to me, and you too are of a marriageable age. You have no doubt thought of being married. I wonder who you have thought of for a husband?”

Cloudlet replied: “I have been specially loved by you, my dearest mistress, and you have always been partial to me. Never can I repay a thousandth part of what you have done. If I could but hold your dressing mirror for you for ever I should be satisfied.”

“I have always known your faithful heart,” said Jewel, “and now I want to propose something to you. You know that Master Yang made a ninny of me when he played the harp in our inner compound. I am put to confusion by it for ever. Only by you, Cloudlet, can I ever hope to wipe out the disgrace. Now I must tell you; we have a summer pavilion, you know, in a secluded part of South Mountain not far from the capital. Its surroundings and views are beautiful, like a world of the fairies. We could prepare a marriage chamber there, and get my cousin Thirteen to lead Master Yang into the mystery of it. If we do this he will never again attempt a disguise or to [p82] deceive anyone with his harp; and I shall have wiped out the memory of those hours that we sat face to face. I am only desirous that you, Cloudlet, will not mind taking your part in it.”

Cloudlet said in reply: “How could I think of crossing your dear wishes, and yet on the other hand how could I ever again dare to look Master Yang in the face?”

The young mistress made answer: “One who has played a joke upon another never feels as bad when put to shame as one who has simply had the joke put upon him.”

Cloudlet laughed and said: “Well then, even though I die I’ll go through with it and do just as you say.”

In spite of Master Yang’s turn in office with the business it involved, he had abundant leisure and many days free. He would then pay visits to friends or have a time of amusement in some summer pavilion or go for jaunts on his donkey to see the willows in bloom. On a certain day his friend Thirteen said to him: “There is a quiet spot in the hills to the south of the city where the view is unsurpassed; let’s go there, brother, you and I, to satisfy our longings for the beautiful.”

Master Yang replied: “Happy thought! That’s just what I should like to do.”

Then they made ready refreshments, dispensed with their servants as far as possible, and went three or four miles into the hills where the green grass clothed the mountain sides and the forest trees bent over the rippling water. The lovely views of hill and valley calmed all thoughts of the dusty world. [p83]

Master Yang and Thirteen sat on the bank of the stream and sang songs together, for the time was the opening days of summer. Flowers were all about them in abundance, adding to each other’s beauty. Suddenly a bud came floating down the stream. The master saw it and repeated the lines:

“Spring is dear, fairy buds upon the water Now appear, Saying ‘Garden of the fairies, here!’”

“This river comes from Cha-gak Peak,” remarked Thirteen. “I have heard it said that at the time the flowers bloom and when the moon is bright you can hear the music of the fairies among the clouds, but my affinities in the fairy world are all lacking, so that I have never found myself among them. To-day with my honoured brother I would like just once to set foot in the city where they live, see their wing prints, and peep in at the windows on these angel dwellers.”

The young master, being by nature a lover of the wonderful, heard this with delight, saying: “If there are no fairies of course there are none, but if there are, surely they will be here. Let us put our dress in order and go to see if we can find them.”

Just at this moment a servant from Thirteen’s home, all wet with perspiration and panting for breath, came to say: “The master’s lady has been suddenly taken ill and I have come to call you.”

Then Thirteen reluctantly arose and said: “I wanted so much to go with you into the region of the genii and enjoy ourselves, but my wife is ill, and so my chance for meeting the fairies is ended. It is only [p84] another proof of what I said, that I have no