Gagahi

    Yun was quite enchanted with all this and said, "Some day we must build a cottage here. We'll buy ten mow of ground around the cottage, and see to our servants planting in the fields vegetables and melons to be sold for the expenses of our daily meals. You will paint and I will do embroidery, from which we could make enough money to buy wine for entertaining our friends who will gather here together to compose poems. Thus, clad in simple gowns and eating simple meals, we could live a very happy life together without going anywhere."  I fully agreed with her. Now the place is still there, while my  bosom  friend is dead. Alas! such is life!     About half a li from my home, there was a temple to the God of the Tungt'ing Lake, popularly known as the Narcissus Temple, situated in the Ch'uk'u Alley. It had many winding corridors and something of a garden with pavilions.      On the birthday of the God, every clan would be assigned a corn...

    Once the old woman happened to mention the place, and Yun kept on thinking about it. So she said to me one day, "Since leaving the Ts'anglang Pavilion, I have been dreaming about it all the time. As we cannot live there, we must put up with the second best. I have a great idea to go and live in the old woman's cottage."   "I have been thinking, too, " I said, "of a place to go to and spend the long summer days. If you think you'll like the place, I'll go ahead and take a look. If it is satisfactory, we can carry our beddings along and go and stay there for a month. How about it?"   "I'm afraid mother won't allow us."    "Oh! I'll see to that, "I told her.      So the next day, I went there and found that the cottage consisted only of two rooms, which were partitioned into four. With paper windows and bamboo beds, the house would be quite a delightfully cool place to stay in.      The old woman knew what I...

    “It is said that the Old Man under the Moon is in charge of matrimony,” said Yun. “He was good enough to make us husband and wife in this life, and we shall still depend on his favour in the affair of marriage in the next incarnation. Why don't we make a painting of him and worship him in our home?" So we asked a Mr. Ch'iLiut'i of T'iaoch'i who specialized in portraiture, to make a painting of the Old Man under the Moon, which he did. It was a picture of the Old Man holding, in one hand, a red silk thread [for the purpose of binding together the hearts of all couples] and, in the other, a walking-stick with the Book of Matrimony suspended from it. He had white hair and a ruddy complexion, apparently bustling about in a cloudy region. Altogether it was a very excellent painting of Ch'i's.     My friend Shih Chot'ang Wrote some words of praise on it and we hung the picture in our chamber. On the first and fifteenth of every month, we burnt incense...

    My younger brother Ch'it'ang married the grand-daughter of Wang Hsichou. It happened that on the wedding day, she wanted some pearls.  Yun took her own pearls, which she had received as her bridal gift, and gave them to my mother. The maid-servant thought it a pity, but Yun said, "A woman is an incarnation of the female principle, and so are pearls. For a woman to wear pearls would be to leave no room for the male principle. For that reason I don't prize them.  She had, however, a peculiar fondness for old books and broken slips of painting. Whenever she saw odd volumes of books, she would try to sort them out, arrange them in order, and have them rebound properly. These were collected and labelled "Ancient Relics."  When she saw scrolls of calligraphy or painting that were partly spoilt, she would find some old paper and paste them up nicely, and ask me to fill up the broken spaces. These were kept rolled up properly and called “Beautiful Gleanings....

    Then on our way back, we visited the Koyuan Garden, in which we saw a profusion of flowers of all colors. Wang was very childish, she would now and then pick a flower for no reason, and Yun scolded her, "What do you pick so many flowers for, since you are not going to put them in a vase or in your hair?" "Oh! What's the harm? These flowers don't feel anything."     "All right." I said. "You will be punished for  his one day by marrying a  pock-marked  bearded fellow for your husband to avenge the flowers."  Wang looked at me in anger, threw the flowers to the ground and kicked them into the pond. "Why do you all bully me?" she said. However, Yun made it up with her, and she was finally pacified.     Yun was at first very quiet and loved to hear me talk, but I gradually taught her the art of conversation as one leads a cricket with a blade of grass. She then gradually learnt the art of conversation. For instance, at meals, s...

    My father Chiafu was very fond of adopting children; hence I had twenty-six adopted brothers. My mother, too, had nine adopted daughters, among whom Miss Wang, the second, and Miss Yu, the sixth, were Yun's best friends.      Wang was a kind of a tomboy and a great drinker, while Yu was straightforward and very fond of talking. When they came together, they used to chase me out, so that the three of them could sleep in the same bed.  I knew Miss Yu was responsible for this, and once I said to her in fun, "When you get married. I am going to invite your husband to come and keep him for ten days at a stretch." I'll come here, too, then," said Miss Yu, "and sleep in the same bed with Yun. Won't that be fun?" At this Yun and Wang merely smiled.  At this time, my younger brother Ch'it'ang was going to get married, and we moved to Ts'angmi Alley by the Bridge of Drinking Horses. The house was quite big, but not so nice and secluded as the ...

    While we were thus bandying words about, it was already midnight, and we saw the wind had blown away the clouds in the sky and there appeared the full moon, round like a chariot wheel, and we were greatly delighted. And so we began to drink by the side of the window, but before we had tasted three cups, we heard suddenly the noise of a splash under the bridge, as if someone had fallen into the water. We looked out through the window and saw there was not a thing, for the water was as smooth as a mirror, except that we heard the noise of a duck scampering in the marshes. I knew that there was a ghost of some one who had been drowned by the side of the Ts'anglang Pavilion, but knowing that Yun was very timid, I dared not mention it to her. And Yun sighed and said, "Alas! Whence cometh this noise?" and we shuddered all over. Quickly we shut the window and carried the wine pot pack into the room. The light of a rapeseed oil lamp was then burning as small as a pea, and the...

    That night, the moon was shining beautifully and when I looked down at the creek, the ripples shone like silvery chains. We were wearing light silk dresses and sitting together with a small fan in our hands, before the window overlooking the creek.      Looking up at the sky, we saw the clouds sailing through the heavens, changing at every moment into a myriad forms, and Yun said, "This moon is common to the whole universe. I wonder if there is another pair of lovers quite as passionate as ourselves looking at the same moon tonight?"      And I said, "Oh! There are plenty of people who will be sitting in the cool evening and looking at the moon, and perhaps also many women enjoying and appreciating the clouds in their chambers; but when a husband and wife are looking at the moon together, I hardly think that the clouds will form the subject of their conversation."  By and by, the candle-lights went out, the moon sank in the sky, and we re...

    I am by nature unconventional and  straightforward, but Yun was a  stickler   for forms, like the  Confucian   schoolmasters.       Whenever I put on a dress for her or tidied up her sleeves, she would say "So much obliged" again and again. And when I passed her a towel or a fan, she would always stand up to receive it.      At first I disliked this and said to her, "Do you mean to tie me down with all this ceremony? There is a proverb which says, ‘One who is overcourteous is crafty.' "      Yun blushed all over and said, "I am merely trying to be polite and respectful, why do you charge me with craftiness?" "True respect is in the heart, and does not require such empty forms,” said I, but Yun said, “There is no more intimate relationship than that between children and their parents. Do you mean to say that children should behave freely towards their parents and keep their respect only in their hear...

    One day Yun asked me, "Of all the ancient authors, which one should we regard as the master?"  And I replied, "Chankuots'eh and Chuangtzu are noted for their agility of thought and expressiveness of style, K'uang Heng and Liu Hsiang are known for their classic severity, Ssuma Ch'ien and Pan Ku are known for their breadth of knowledge, Han Yu is known for his mellow qualities, LiuTsungyuan for his rugged beauty, Ouyang Hsiu for his romantic abandon, and the Su's, father and sons, are known for their sustained eloquence. There are, besides, writings like the political essays of Chia Yi and Tung Chungshu, the euphuistic prose of Yu Hsin and Hsu Ling, the memorandums of Loh Chih, and others more than one can enumerate. True appreciation, however, must come from the reader himself."  "The ancient literature," Yun said, "depends for its appeal on the depth of thought and greatness of spirit, which I am afraid it is difficult for a woman ...

    Now, when I came home for the wedding, it had been agreed that as soon as the ceremonies were over, I should go back at once to my father's place in order to resume my studies. So when I got this news, I did not know what to do. I was afraid Yun might break into tears, but on the other hand she tried to look cheerful and comforted me and urged me to go, and packed up things for me. Only that night I noticed that she did not look quite her usual self. At the time of parting, she whispered to me, "Take good care of yourself, for there will be no one to look after you."     When I went up on board the boat, I saw the peach and pear trees on the banks were in full bloom, but I felt like a lonely bird that had lost its companions and as if the world was going to collapse around me. As soon as I arrived, my father left the place and crossed the river for an eastward destination.     Thus three months passed, which seemed to me like ten insufferable long years...

      That day, we were kept busy entaining guests and towards evening, music was played.     After midnight, on the morning of twenty-fourth, I, as the bride's brother, sent my sister away and came back towards three o'clock. The room was then pervaded with quietness, bathed in the silent glow of the candle-lights. I went in and saw Yun's bride's companion was taking a nap down in front of our bed on the floor, while Yun had taken off her bridal costume, but had not yet gone to bed. She was bending her beautiful white neck before the bright candles, quite absorded reading a book. I patted her on the shoulder and said, "Sister, why are you working so hard? You must be quite tired with the full days we've had." Quickly Yun turned her head and stood up saying, "I was going to bed when I opened the book-case and saw this book and have not been able to leave it since. Now my sleepiness is all gone. I have heard of the name of Western Chamber for a long ti...

    That night, when I came back from outside the city, whither I had accompanied my girl cousin the bride, it was already midnight, and I felt very hungry and asked for something to eat. A maid-servant gave me some dried dates, which were sweet for me. Yun secretly pulled me by the sleeve into her room, and I saw that she had hidden away a bowl of warm congee and some dishes to go with it. I was beginning to take up the chopsticks and eat it with great gusto when Yun's boy cousin Yuheng called out, "sister Su, come quick!" Yun quickly shut the door and said, "I am very tired and going to bed." Yuheng forced the door open and, seeing the situation, he said with a malicious smile at Yun, "So that's it! A while ago I asked for congee and you said there was no more, but you really meant to keep it for your future husband." Yun was greatly embarrassed and everybody laughed at her, including the servants. On my part, I rushed away home with an old serva...

    When I was thirteen years old, I went with my mother to her maiden home and there we met. As we were two young innocent children, she allowed me to read her poems. I was quite struck by her talent, but feared that she was too clever to be happy. Still I could not help thinking of her all the time, and once I told my mother, "If you were to choose a girl for me, I won't marry any one except Cousin Su." My mother also liked her being so gentle, so gave her her gold ring as a token for the betrothal.     This was on the sixteenth of the seventh moon in the year of 1775. In the winter of that year, one of my girl cousins (the daughter of another maternal uncle of mine) was going to get married and I again accompanied my mother to her maiden home. Yun was the same age as myself, but ten months older, and as we had been accustomed to calling each other "elder sister" and "younger brother" from childhood, I continued to call her "Sister Su". At ...

      I was born in 1763, under the reign of Ch'ienlung, on the twenty-second day of the eleventh moon.  The country was then in the heyday of peace and, moreover, I was born in a scholars' family, living by the side of the Ts'anglang Pavilion in Soochow. So altogether I may say the gods have been unusually kind to me.  Su Tungp'o said, "life is like a spring dream which vanishes without a trace." I should be ungrateful to the gods if I did not try to put my life down on record.     Since the Book of Poems begin with a poem on wedded love, I thought I would begin this book by speaking of my marital relations and then let other matters follow.     My only regret is that I was not properly educated in childhood, all I know is a simple language and I shall try only to record the real facts and real sentiments. I hope the reader will be kind enough not to scrutinize my grammar, which would be like looking for brilliance in a tarnished mirror. ...

1. We never really grow up. We learn how to act in public. 2. I only wish to face the sea, with spring flowers blossming. 3. May there be enough clouds in yours life to make a beautiful sunset. 4. I won't insult your intelligence by explanation it to you. 5. He who has overcome his fears will truly be free. 6. We must accept finite disappointement, but we must never lose infinite hope. 7. Freedom is the right of all sentient beings. 8. If someone is decreed by fate to be great, the child, you are the man. 9. When you are nothing at all, there is no more reason to be afraid. 10. The world may be full of cheating, however we never lack friends with a warm heart. 11. I always like walking in the rain, so no one can my tears. 12. I don't know if you know who you are until you lose who you are. 13. It is better to look at the sky than live there. 14. It is very simple to be happy, but it is very difficult to be simple. 15. Is your pale I wait, irony my obsession.

Inspiration 1. Single hand that wipes tears during failures is much better than countless hands that come together to clap on success. 2. May there be enough clouds is your life to make a beautiful sunset. 3. The traveller has to knock at every alien door to come to his own, and one has to wander through all the outer worlds to reach the innermost shrine at the end. 4. A bird is safe in its nest but that is not what its wings are made for. 5. The only thing predictable about life is its unpredictability. 6. We shouldn't blame, laugh at and envy anyone. We should be colorful in the sunshine, run in the winds and rains, dream your won dreams and go your own way. 7. Life is a pure flame, and we live by an invisible sun within us. 8. Hold infinity in the palm of your hand. And eternity in an hour. 9. Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction. 10. A great teacher has little external history to record. His li...

 Sad 1.  Never frown, even when you are sad, because you never kown who is falling in love with your smile. 2.  You will see exactly what life is worth, when all the rest has gone. 3.  If you are ever in trouble, don’t try to be brave, just run, just run away. 4.  You break her heart, I’ll break you neck. 5. Life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late. 6. Love is no longer a long time, love without many words. 7.  You want to hide a tree, then a forest is the best place to do it. 8.  I don’t have the strenghth to stay away from you anymore. 9.  Perhaps one day, you will show up at my door, and let me show you what the world has to offer. 10. S ome scenery, once to see into the heart, even in the moment, is eternal. 11.  Your future depends on your dreams. So go to sleep. 12.  The deepest love I think, later than apart, I will live as you like. 13.  With the whole world crumbling, we pick up this time to fall in love...

Confession 1.You make my heart smile. 2.  My heart is with you. 3.  To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world. 4.  Who travels for love finds a thousand miles not longer than one. 5.  I miss you so much already and I haven't even yet! 6.  Brief is life, but love is long. 7.  The soul cannot live without love. 8.  I love all the stars in the sky, but they are nothing compared to the ones in your eyes. 9.  I want to spend the rest of my life trying to make you happy. 10.  I don't know how you put up with me, but I am glad than you do. 11.  I was having a bad day, but then I thought of you and suddenly my world lit up. 12.  Tell me you are mine. I'll be yours thought all the years, till the end of time. 13.  There are two reaons why I wake up in the moring:my alarm clock and you. 14.  Being with you has made me so lame. But I think I like it. 15.  You can't deny what's between us.

  Gone with the wind 1. After all, tomorrow is another day! 2. We become the most familiar strangers. 3. Later, respectively, wander and suffer sorrow. 4. Land is not only thing in the world worth working for, worth fighting for, worth dying for. Because it's the only things that lasts. 5. I wish I could be more like you. 6. Whatever comes, I'll love you, just as I do now. Until I die. 7.In spite of you and me and the whole sily world going to pieces around us, I love you. 8. You're throwing away happiness with both hands, and reaching out for sth that will never make you happy. Flipped 1. And I realized Garrett was right about one thing: I have flipped, competely. 2. Some of us get dipped in flat, some in satin. some in gloss. But every once in a while you find someone who's iridescent, and when you do, nothing will ever compare. 3. Some days the sunsets would be purple and pink. And some days they were a blazing orange setting fire to the clouds on the horizon. It was...