THE INCOMPARABLE LADY
A STORY OF CHINA WITH A MORAL
It is recorded that when the Pearl Empress (his mother) asked of thephilosophic Yellow Emperor which he considered the most beautiful of theImperial concubines, he replied instantly: "The Lady A-Kuei": and whenthe Royal Parent in profound astonishment demanded bow this couldbe, having regard to the exquisite beauties in question, the Emperorreplied;
"I have never seen her. It was dark when I entered the Dragon Chamberand dusk of dawn when I rose and left her."
Then said the Pearl Princess;
"Possibly the harmony of her voice solaced the Son of Heaven?"
But he replied;
"She spoke not."
And the Pearl Empress rejoined:
"Her limbs then are doubtless softer than the kingfisher's plumage?"
But the Yellow Emperor replied;
"Doubtless. Yet I have not touched them. I was that night immersed inspeculations on the Yin and the Yang. How then should I touch a woman?"
And the Pearl Empress was silent from very great amazement, not daringto question further but marveling how the thing might be. And seeingthis, the Yellow Emperor recited a poem to the following effect:
"It is said that Power rules the world And who shall gainsay it? But Loveliness is the head-jewel upon the brow of Power."
And when the Empress had listened with reverence to the Imperial Poet,she quitted the August Presence.
Immediately, having entered her own palace of the Tranquil MotherlyVirtues, she caused the Lady A-Kuei to be summoned to her presence, whocame, habited in a purple robe and with pins of jade and coral in herhair. And the Pearl Empress considered her attentively, recalling theperfect features of the White Jade Concubine, the ambrosial smile of thePrincess of Feminine Propriety, and the willow-leaf eyebrows of the Ladyof Chen, and her astonishment was excessive, because the Lady A-Kueicould not in beauty approach any one of these ladies. Reflecting furthershe then placed her behind the screen, and summoned the court artist, LoCheng, who had been formerly commissioned to paint the heavenlyfeatures of the Emperor's Ladies, mirrored in still water, though he hadnaturally not been permitted to view the beauties themselves. Of him theEmpress demanded:
"Who is the most beautiful--which the most priceless jewel of thedwellers in the Dragon Palace?"
And, with humility, Lo Cheng replied:
"What mortal man shall decide between the white Crane and the Swan,or between the paeony flower and the lotus?" And having thus said heremained silent, and in him was no help. Finally and after exhortationthe Pearl Empress condescended to threaten him with the loss of a headso useless to himself and to her majesty. Then, in great fear and hastehe replied:
"Of all the flowers that adorn the garden of the Sun of Heaven, the LadyA-Kuei is the fittest to be gathered by the Imperial Hand, and this ismy deliberate opinion."
Now, hearing this statement, the Pearl Empress was submerged inbewilderment, knowing that the Lady A-Kuei had modestly retired when theartist had depicted the reflection of the assembled loveliness of theInner Chambers, as not counting herself worthy of portraiture, and herfeatures were therefore unknown to him. Nor could the Empress furtherquestion the artist, for when she had done so, he replied only:
"This is the secret of the Son of Heaven," and, having gainedpermission, he swiftly departed.
Nor could the Lady A-Kuei herself aid her Imperial Majesty, for on beingquestioned she was overwhelmed with modesty and confusion, and withstammering lips could only repeat:
"This is the secret of his Divine Majesty," imploring with the utmosthumility, forgiveness from the Imperial Mother.
The Pearl Empress was unable to eat her supper. In vain were spreadbefore her the delicacies of the Empire. She could but trifle with ashark's fin and a "Silver Ear" fungus and a dish of slugs entrapped uponroses, with the dew-like pearls upon them. Her burning curiosity hadwholly deprived her of appetite, nor could the amusing exertions ofthe Palace mimes, or a lantern fete upon the lake restore her toany composure. "This circumstance will cause my flight on the Dragon(death)," she said to herself, "unless I succeed in unveiling themystery. What therefore should be my next proceeding?"
And so, deeply reflecting, she caused the Chief of the Eunuchs to summonthe Princess of Feminine Propriety, the White Jade Concubine and all theother exalted beauties of the Heavenly Palace.
In due course of time these ladies arrived, paying suitable respect andobeisance to the Mother of his Divine Majesty. They were resplendent inking-fisher ornaments, in jewels of jade, crystal and coral, in robesof silk and gauze, and still more resplendent in charms that notthe Celestial Empire itself could equal, setting aside entirely allcountries of the foreign barbarians. And in grace and elegance ofmanners, in skill in the arts of poetry and the lute, what could surpassthem?
Like a parterre of flowers they surrounded her Majesty, and awaited herpleasure with perfect decorum, when, having saluted them with affabilityshe thus addressed them--"Lovely ones--ladies distinguished by theparticular attention of your sovereign and mine, I have sent for youto resolve a doubt and a difficulty. On questioning our sovereign as towhom he regarded as the loveliest of his garden of beauty he benignantlyreplied: "The Lady A-Kuei is incomparable," and though this may well be,he further graciously added that he had never seen her. Nor, on pursuingthe subject, could I learn the Imperial reason. The artist Lo Chengfollows in his Master's footsteps, he also never having seen the favoredlady, and he and she reply to me that this is an Imperial secret.Declare to me therefore if your perspicacity and the feminine interestwhich every lady property takes in the other can unravel this mystery,for my liver is tormented with anxiety beyond measure."
As soon as the Pearl Empress had spoken she realized that she hadcommitted a great indiscretion. A babel of voices, of cries, questionsand contradictions instantly arose. Decorum was abandoned. The Lady ofChen swooned, nor could she be revived for an hour, and the Princess ofFeminine Propriety and the White Jade Concubine could be dragged apartonly by the united efforts of six of the Palace matrons, so great wastheir fury the one with the other, each accusing each of encouragementto the Lady A-Kuei's pretensions. So also with the remaining ladies.Shrieks resounded through the Hall of Virtuous Tranquillity, and whenthe Pearl Empress attempted to pour oil on the troubled waters byspeaking soothing and comfortable words, the august Voice was entirelyinaudible in the tumult.
All sought at length in united indignation for the Lady A-Kuei, but shehad modestly withdrawn to the Pearl Pavilion in the Imperial Garden and,foreseeing anxieties, had there secured herself on hearing the openingof the Royal Speech.
Finally the ladies were led away by their attendants, weeping,lamenting, raging, according to their several dispositions, and thePearl Empress, left with her own maidens, beheld the floor strewn withjade pins, kingfisher and coral jewels, and even with fragments of silkand gauze. Nor was she any nearer the solution of the desired secret.
That night she tossed upon a bed sleepless though heaped with down,and her mind raged like a fire up and down all possible answers to theriddle, but none would serve. Then, at the dawn, raising herself on oneaugust elbow she called to her venerable nurse and foster mother, theLady Ma, wise and resourceful in the affairs and difficulties of women,and, repeating the circumstances, demanded her counsel.
The Lady Ma considering the matter long and deeply, slowly replied:
"This is a great riddle and dangerous, for to intermeddle with thedivine secrets is the high road to the Yellow Springs (death). But thechild of my breasts and my exalted Mistress shall never ask in vain, fora thwarted curiosity is dangerous as a suppressed fever. I will concealmyself nightly in the Dragon Bedchamber and this will certainly unveilthe truth. And if I perish I perish."
It is impossible to describe how the Empress heaped Lady Ma with costlyjewels and silken brocades and taels of silver beyond measuring--how sheplaced on her breast the amulet of jade that had guarded herself fromall evil
influences, how she called the ancestral spirits to witnessthat she would provide for the Lady Ma's remotest descendants if shelost her life in this sublime devotion to duty.
That night Lady Ma concealed herself behind the Imperial couch in theDragon Chamber, to await the coming of the Son of Heaven. Slowly drippedthe water-clock as the minutes fled away; sorely ached the venerablelimbs of the Lady Ma as she crouched in the shadows and saw the risingmoon scattering silver through the elegant traceries of carved ebony andivory; wildly beat her heart as delicately tripping footsteps approachedthe Dragon Chamber, and the Princess of Feminine Propriety, attended byher maidens, ascended the Imperial Couch and hastily dismissed them. Yetno sweet repose awaited this favored lady. The Lady Ma could hear hersmothered sobs, her muttered exclamations--nay could even feel thecouch itself tremble as the Princess uttered the hated name of the LadyA-Kuei, the poison of jealousy running in every vein. It was impossiblefor Lady Ma to decide which was the most virulent, this, or the poisonof curiosity in the heart of the Pearl Empress. Though she loved not thePrincess she was compelled to pity such suffering. But all thought wasbanished by the approach of the Yellow Emperor, prepared for repose andunattended, in simple but divine grandeur.
It cannot indeed be supposed that a Celestial Emperor is human, yetthere was mortality in the start which his Augustness gave when thePrincess of Feminine Propriety flinging herself from the Dragon couch,threw herself at his feet and with tears that flowed like that riverknown as "The Sorrow of China," demanded to know what she had done thatanother should be preferred before her; reciting in frantic haste suchimperfections of the Lady A-Kuei's appearance as she could recall (orinvent) in the haste of that agitating moment.
"That one of her eyes is larger than the other--no human being candoubt" sobbed the lady--"and surely your Divine Majesty cannot be awarethat her hair reaches but to her waist, and that there is a brown moleon the nape of her neck? When she sings it resembles the croak of thecrow. It is true that most of the Palace ladies are chosen for anythingbut beauty, yet she is the most ill-favored. And is it this--thisbat-faced lady who is preferred to me! Would I had never been born: Yeteven your Majesty's own lips have told me I am fair!"
The Yellow Emperor supported the form of the Princess in his arms.There are moments when even a Son of Heaven is but human. "Fair as therainbow," he murmured, and the Princess faintly smiled; then gatheringthe resolution of the Philosopher he added manfully--"But the LadyA-Kuei is incomparable. And the reason is--"
The Lady Ma eagerly stretched her head forward with a hand to eitherear. But the Princess of Feminine Propriety with one shriek had swoonedand in the hurry of summoning attendants and causing her to be conveyedto her own apartments that precious sentence was never completed.
Still the Lady Ma groveled behind the Dragon Couch as the Son ofHeaven, left alone, approached the veranda and apostrophizing the moon,murmured--
"O loveliest pale watcher of the destinies of men, illuminate the beautyof the Lady A-Kuei, and grant that I who have never seen that beauty maynever see it, but remain its constant admirer!" So saying, he soughthis solitary couch and slept, while the Lady Ma, in a torment ofbewilderment, glided from the room.
The matter remained in suspense for several days. The White JadeConcubine was the next lady commanded to the Dragon Chamber, and againthe Lady Ma was in her post of observation. Much she heard, much shesaw that was not to the point, but the scene ended as before by thedismissal of the lady in tears, and the departure of the Lady Ma inignorance of the secret.
The Emperor's peace was ended.
The singular circumstance was that the Lady A-Kuei was never summonedby the Yellow Emperor. Eagerly as the Empress watched, no token ofaffection for her was ever visible. Nothing could be detected. It wasinexplicable. Finally, devoured by curiosity that gave her no respite,she resolved on a stratagem that should dispel the mystery, though itcarried with it a risk on which she trembled to reflect. It was theafternoon of a languid summer day, and the Yellow Emperor, almostunattended, had come to pay a visit of filial respect to the PearlEmpress. She received him with the ceremony due to her sovereign in theporcelain pavilion of the Eastern Gardens, with the lotos fish pondsbefore them, and a faint breeze occasionally tinkling the crystalwind-bells that decorated the shrubs on the cloud and dragon-wroughtslopes of the marble approach. A bird of brilliant plumage uttered a cryof reverence from its gold cage as the Son of Heaven entered. As washis occasional custom, and after suitable inquiries as to his parent'shealth, the attendants were all dismissed out of earshot and the Emperorleaned on his cushions and gazed reflectively into the sunshineoutside. So had the Court Artist represented him as "The Incarnation ofPhilosophic Calm."
"These gardens are fair," said the Empress after a respectful silence,moving her fan illustrated with the emblem of Immortality--the Ho Bird.
"Fair indeed," returned the Emperor.--"It might be supposed that allsorrow and disturbance would be shut without the Forbidden Precincts.Yet it is not so. And though the figures of my ladies moving among theflowers appear at this distance instinct with joy, yet--"
He was silent.
"They know not," said the Empress with solemnity "that death entered theForbidden Precincts but last night. A disembodied spirit has returned toits place and doubtless exists in bliss." "Indeed?" returned the YellowEmperor with indifference--"yet if the spirit is absorbed into theSource whence it came, and the bones have crumbled into nothingness,where does the Ego exist? The dead are venerable, but no longer ofinterest."
"Not even when they were loved in life?" said the Empress, caressing thebird in the cage with one jewelled finger, but attentively observingher son from the corner of her august eye. "They were; they are not," heremarked sententiously and stifling a yawn; it was a drowsy afternoon."But who is it that has abandoned us? Surely not the Lady Ma--yourMajesty's faithful foster-mother?"
"A younger, a lovelier spirit has sought the Yellow Springs," repliedthe trembling Empress. "I regret to inform your Majesty that a suddenconvulsion last night deprived the Lady A-Kuei of life. I would notpermit the news to reach you lest it should break your august night'srest."
There was a silence, then the Emperor turned his eyes serenely upon hisImperial Mother. "That the statement of my august Parent is merely--letus say--allegoric--does not detract from its interest. But had the LadyA-Kuei in truth departed to the Yellow Springs I should none the lesshave received the news without uneasiness. What though the sun set--isnot the memory of his light all surpassing?"
No longer could the Pearl Empress endure the excess of her curiosity.Deeply kowtowing, imploring pardon, with raised hands and tears which noson dare neglect, she besought the Emperor to enlighten her as to thismystery, recounting his praises of the lady and his admission that hehad never beheld her, and all the circumstances connected with thisremarkable episode. She omitted only, (from considerations of delicacyand others,) the vigils of the Lady Ma in the Dragon Chamber. TheEmperor, sighing, looked upon the ground, and for a time was silent.Then he replied as follows:
"Willingly would I have kept silence, but what child dare withstand theplea of a parent? Is it necessary to inform the Heavenly Empress thatbeauty seen is beauty made familiar and that familiarity is the foeof admiration? How is it possible that I should see the Princess ofFeminine Propriety, for instance, by night and day without becomingaware of her imperfections as well as her graces? How awake in the nightwithout hearing the snoring of the White Jade Concubine and consideringthe mouth from which it issues as the less lovely. How partake of thesociety of any woman without finding her chattering as the crane, avidof admiration, jealous, destructive of philosophy, fatal to composure,fevered with curiosity; a creature, in short, a little above the gibbon,but infinitely below the notice of the sage, save as a temporary measureof amusement in itself unworthy the philosopher. The faces of all myladies are known to me. All are fair and all alike. But one night, as Ilay in the Dragon Couch, lost in speculation, absorbed in contemplationof t
he Yin and the Yang, the night passed for the solitary dreamer as adream. In the darkness of the dawn I rose still dreaming, and departedto the Pearl Pavilion in the garden, and there remained an hour viewingthe sunrise and experiencing ineffable opinions on the destiny of man.Returning then to a couch which I believed to have been that of thesolitary philosopher I observed a depression where another form hadlain, and in it a jade hairpin such as is worn by my junior beauties.Petrified with amazement at the display of such reserve, suchcontinence, such august self-restraint, I perceived that, lost inmy thoughts, I had had an unimagined companion and that this gentlereminder was from her gentle hand. But whom? I knew not. I then observedLo Cheng the Court Artist in attendance and immediately despatched himto make secret enquiry and ascertain the name and circumstances of thatbeauty who, unknown, had shared my vigil. I learnt on his return thatit was the Lady A-Kuei. I had entered the Dragon Chamber in a lowmoonlight, and guessed not her presence. She spoke no word. Finding herImperial Master thus absorbed, she invited no attention, nor in any wayobtruded her beauties upon my notice. Scarcely did she draw breath. Yetreflect upon what she might have done! The night passed and I remainedentirely unconscious of her presence, and out of respect she would notsleep but remained reverently and modestly awake, assisting, if it mayso be expressed, at a humble distance, in the speculations which held meprisoner. What a pearl was here! On learning these details by Lo Chengfrom her own roseate lips, and remembering the unexampled temptationshe had resisted (for well she knew that had she touched the Emperorthe Philosopher had vanished) I despatched an august rescript to thisfavored Lady, conferring on her the degree of Incomparable Beauty of theFirst Rank. On condition of secrecy."
The Pearl Empress, still in deepest bewilderment, besought his majestyto proceed. He did so, with his usual dignity.
"Though my mind could not wholly restrain its admiration, yet secrecywas necessary, for had the facts been known, every lady, from thePrincess of Feminine Propriety to the Junior Beauty of the Bed Chamberwould henceforward have observed only silence and a frigid decorum inthe Dragon Bed Chamber. And though the Emperor be a philosopher, yet aphilosopher is still a man, and there are moments when decorum--"
The Emperor paused discreetly; then resumed.
"The world should not be composed entirely of A-Kueis, yet in my mind Ibehold the Incomparable Lady fair beyond expression. Like the moon shesails glorious in the heavens to be adored only in vision as the onewoman who could respect the absorption of the Emperor, and of whosebeauty as she lay beside him the philosopher could remain unconsciousand therefore untroubled in body. To see her, to find her earthly,would be an experience for which the Emperor might have courage, but thephilosopher never. And attached to all this is a moral:"
The Pearl Empress urgently inquired its nature.
"Let the wisdom of my august parent discern it," said the Emperorsententiously.
"And the future?" she inquired.
"The--let us call it parable--" said the Emperor politely--"with whichyour Majesty was good enough to entertain me, has suggested a precautionto my mind. I see now a lovely form moving among the flowers. It ispossible that it may be the Incomparable Lady, or that at any moment Imay come upon her and my ideal be shattered. This must be safeguarded.I might command her retirement to her native province, but who shallinsure me against the weakness of my own heart demanding her return?No. Let Your Majesty's words spoken--well--in parable, be fulfilled intruth. I shall give orders to the Chief Eunuch that the IncomparableLady tonight shall drink the Draught of Crushed Pearls, and be thusrestored to the sphere that alone is worthy of her. Thus are allanxieties soothed, and the honours offered to her virtuous spirit shallbe a glorious repayment of the ideal that will ever illuminate my soul."
The Empress was speechless. She had borne the Emperor in her womb, butthe philosopher outsoared her comprehension. She retired, leaving hisMajesty in a reverie, endeavoring herself to grasp the moral of whichhe had spoken, for the guidance of herself and the ladies concerned. Butwhether it inculcated reserve or the reverse in the Dragon Chamber, andwhat the Imperial ladies should follow as an example she was, to theend of her life, totally unable to say. Philosophy indeed walks on theheights. We cannot all expect to follow it.
That night the Incomparable Lady drank the Draught of Crushed Pearls.
The Princess of Feminine Propriety and the White Jade Concubine,learning these circumstances, redoubled their charms, their coquetriesand their efforts to occupy what may be described as the inner sanctuaryof the Emperor's esteem. Both lived to a green old age, wealthy andhonored, alike firm in the conviction that if the Incomparable Lady hadnot shown herself so superior to temptation the Emperor might have beenon the whole better pleased, whatever the sufferings of the philosopher.Both lived to be the tyrants of many generations of beauties at theCelestial Court. Both were assiduous in their devotions before thespirit tablet of the departed lady, and in recommending her example ofreserve and humility to every damsel whom it might concern.
It will probably occur to the reader of this unique but veracious storythat there is more in it than meets the eye, and more than the onemoral alluded to by the Emperor according to the point of view of thedifferent actors.
To the discernment of the reader it must accordingly be left.
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