LETTER XI
Concerning the game which we should call "Locusts," and the deeper significance of its acts. The solicitous warning of one passing inwards and the complication occasioned by his ill-chosen words. Concerning that victory already dimly foreshadowed.
VENERATED SIRE,--This barbarian game of agile grass-hoppers is notconducted in the best spirit of a really well-balanced display, andalthough the one now inscribing his emotions certainly achieved a widepopularity, and wore his fig leaves with becoming modesty, he has neversince been quite free from an overhanging doubt that the compliments andgenial remarks with which he was assailed owed their modulation to anunsubstantial atmosphere of two-edged significance which for a periodenveloped all whom he approached; as in the faces of maidens concealedbehind fans when he passed, the down-drawn lips and up-raised eyesof those of fuller maturity, the practice in most of his own kindof turning aside, pressing their hands about their middle parts, andbending forward into a swollen attitude devoid of grace, on the spur ofa sudden remembrance, and in the auspicious but undeniably embarrassingmanner in which all the unfledged ones of the village clustered abouthis retiring footsteps, saluting him continually as one "James," uponwhom had been conferred the gratifying title of "Sunny." Thus may theoutline of the combat be recounted.
From each opposing group eleven were chosen as a band, and we of ourcompany putting on a robe of distinctive green (while they elected tobe regarded as an assemblage of brown crickets), we presently came to asuitable spot where the trial was to be decided. So far this personhad reasonably assumed that at a preconcerted signal the contest wouldbegin, all rising into the air together, uttering cries of menace,bounding unceasingly and in every way displaying the dexterity of ourproportions. Indeed, in the reasonableness of this expectation it cannotbe a matter for reproach to one of the green grass-hoppers--who need notbe further indicated--that he had already begun a well-simulated noteof challenge to those around clad in brown, and to leap upwards ina preparatory essay, when the ever-alert Sir Philip took himaffectionately by the arm, on the plea that the seclusion of aneighbouring pavilion afforded a desirable shade.
Beyond that point it is difficult to convey an accurately grouped andfully spread-out design of the encounter. In itself the scheme andintention of counterfeiting the domestic life and rivalries of twoopposing bands of insects was pleasantly conceived, and might have beencarried out with harmonious precision, but, after the manner of theseremote tribes, the original project had been overshadowed and the purityof the imagination lost beneath a mass of inconsistent detail. Tothis imperfection must it be laid that when at length this person wasrecalled from the obscurity of the pagoda and the alluring society ofa maiden of the village, to whom he was endeavouring to expound thestrategy of the game, and called upon to engage actively in it, hecourteously admitted to those who led him forth that he had not the mostshadowy-outlined idea of what was required of him.
Nevertheless they bound about his legs a frilled armour, ingeniouslyfashioned to represent the ribbed leanness of the insect's shank,encased his hands and feet in covers to a like purpose, and pressingupon him a wooden club indicated that the time had come for him toprove his merit by venturing alone into the midst of the eleven brownadversaries who stood at a distance in poised and expectant attitudes.
Assuredly, benignant one, this sport of contending locusts began, as oneapproached nearer to it, to wear no more pacific a face than if it hadbeen a carnage of the hurl-headlong or the curved-hook varieties. Insuch a competition, it occurred to him, how little deference would bepaid to this one's title of "Established Genius," or how inadequatelywould he be protected by his undoubted capacity of leaping upwards,and even in a sideway direction, for no matter how vigorously hemight propel himself, or how successfully he might endeavour to remainself-sustained in the air, the ill-destined moment could not be longdeferred when he must come down again into the midst of the eleven--alldoubtless concealing weapons as massive and fatally-destructive as hisown. This prospect, to a person of quiescent taste, whose chiefdelight lay in contemplating the philosophical subtleties of the higherClassics, was in itself devoid of glamour, but with what funerealpigments shall he describe his sinking emotions when one of his ownband, approaching him as he went, whispered in his ear, "Look out atthis end; they kick up like the very devil. And their man behind thewicket is really smart; if you give him half a chance he'll haveyour stumps down before you can say 'knife.'" Shorn of its uncouthfamiliarity, this was a charitable warning that they into whosestronghold I was turning my footsteps--perhaps first deceiving myalertness with a proffered friendship--would kick with the ferocity ofuntamed demons, and that one in particular, whose description, to myadded despair, I was unable to retain, was known to possess a formidableknife, with which it was his intention to cut off this person's legs atthe first opportunity, before he could be accused of the act. Truly, "Toone whom he would utterly destroy Buddha sends a lucky dream."
Behind lay the pagoda (though the fact that this one did admittedly turnround for a period need not be too critically dwelt upon), with threetiers of maidens, some already waving their hands as an encouragingtoken; on each side a barrier of prickly growth inopportunely presenteditself, while in front the eleven kicking crickets stood waiting, andamong them lurked the one grasping a doubly-edged blade of a highlyproficient keenness.
There are occasional moments in the life of a person when he as theinward perception of retiring for a few paces and looking back in orderto consider his general appearance and to judge how he is situatedwith regard to himself, to review his past life in a spirit of judicialseverity, to arrange definitely upon a future composed entirely of actsof benevolence, and to examine the working of destiny at large. In sucha scrutiny I now began to understand that it would perhaps have beenmore harmonious to my love of contemplative repose if I had consideredthe disadvantages closer before venturing into this barbarian region,or, at least, if I had used the occasion profitably to advance anargument tending towards a somewhat fuller allowance of taels from yourbenevolent sleeve. Our own virtuous and flower-strewn land, it is true,does not possess an immunity from every trifling drawback. The HoangHo--to concede specifically the existence of some of these--frequentlybursts through its restraining barriers and indiscriminately sweepsaway all those who are so ill-advised as to dwell within reach of itsmalignant influence. From time to time wars and insurrections are foundto be necessary, and no matter how morally-intentioned and humanelyconducted, they necessarily result in the violation, dismemberment orextirpation of many thousand polite and dispassionate persons who haveno concern with either side. Towns are repeatedly consumed by fire,districts scourged by leprosy, and provinces swept by famine. The stormsare admittedly more fatal than elsewhere, the thunderbolts larger, morenumerous, and all unerringly directed, while the extremities of heat andcold render life really uncongenial for the greater part of each year.The poor, having no money to secure justice, are evilly used, whereasthe wealthy, having too much, are assailed legally by the grossand powerful for the purpose of extorting their riches. Robbers andassassins lurk in every cave; vast hoards of pirates blacken the surfaceof every river; and mandarins of the nine degrees must make a livelihoodby some means or other. By day, therefore, it is inadvisable to go forthand encounter human beings, while none but the shallow-headed would riska meeting with the countless demons and vampires which move by night. Toone who has spent many moons among these foreign apparitions the absenceof drains, roads, illustrated message-parchments, maidens whose voicesmay be heard protesting upon ringing a wire, loaves of conflictingdimensions, persons who strive to put their faces upon everyadvertisement, pens which emit fountains when carried in the pocket,a profusion of make-strong foods, and an Encyclopaedia Mongolia, mayundoubtedly be mentioned as constituting a material deficiency. Affairsare not being altogether reputably conducted during the crisis; it cannever be quite definitely asserted what the next action of the versatileand high-spirited Dowager Empress will be
; and here it is freelycontended that the Pure and Immortal Empire is incapable of remainingin one piece for much longer. These, and other inconveniences of a likenature, which the fastidious might distort into actual hardships, havenever been denied, yet at no period of the nine thousand years of ourcivilisation has it been the custom to lure out the unwary, on the pleaof an agreeable entertainment, and then to abandon him into the societyof eleven club-bearing adversaries, one of whom may be depicted as inthe act of imparting an unnecessary polish to the edge of his alreadypreternaturally acute weapon, while those of his own band offer noprotection, and three tiers of very richly-dressed maidens encourage himto his fate by refined gestures of approval.
Doubtless this person had unconsciously allowed his inner meditationsto carry him away, as it may be expressed, for when he emerged from thisstrain of reverie it was to discover himself in the chariot-road and--soincongruously may be the actions when the controlling intelligence iswithdrawn--even proceeding at a somewhat undignified pace in a directionimmediately opposed to an encounter with the brown locusts. Fromthis mortifying position he was happily saved by emerging from thesethought-dreams before it was too late to return, and, also, if thedetail is not too insignificant to be related, by the fact that certainchosen runners from his own company had reached a point in the roadbefore him, and now stood joining their outstretched arms across thepassage and raising gravity-dispelling cries. Smiling acquiescently,therefore, this person returned in their midst, and receiving a newweapon, his own club having been absent-mindedly mislaid, he again setforth warily to the encounter.
Yet in this he did not altogether neglect a discreet prudence. Thesympathetic person to whom he was indebted for the pointed allusion hadspecifically declared that they who used their feet with the desperatesavagery of baffled spectres guarded the nearer limits of theirposition, the intention of his timely hint assuredly being that I shouldseek to approach from the opposite end, where, doubtless, the morehumane and conciliatory grass-hoppers were assembled. Thus guided I nowset forth in a widely-circuitous direction, having the point where Imeant to open an attack clearly before my eyes, yet seeking to delivera more effective onslaught by reaching it to some extent unperceived andto this end creeping forward in the protecting shadow of the long grassand untrimmed herbage.
Whether the one already referred to had incapably failed to express hisreal meaning, or whether he was tremulous by nature and inordinatelyself-deficient, concerns the narration less than the fact that he hadadmittedly produced a state of things largely in excess of the actual.There is no longer any serviceable pretext for maintaining thatthose guarding any point of their position were other than mild andbenevolent, while the only edged weapon displayed was one courteouslyproduced to aid this person's ineffectual struggles to extricate himselfwhen, by some obscure movement, he had most ignobly entangled hispigtail about the claws of his sandal.
Ignorant of this, the true state of things, I was still advancing subtlywhen one wearing the emblems of our band appeared from among the browninsects and came towards me. "Courage!" I exclaimed in a guarded tone,raising my head cautiously and rejoiced to find that I should not bealone. "Here is one clad in green bearing succour, who will, moreover,obstinately defend his stumps to the last extremity."
"That's right," replied the opportune person agreeably; "we need a fewlike that. But do get up on your hind legs and come along, there's agood fellow. You can play at bears in the nursery when we get back, ifyou want."
Certainly one can simulate the movements of wild animals in amarket-garden if the impersonation is thought to be desirable, yetthe reasonable analogy of the saying is elusive in the extreme, andI followed the ally who had thus betrayed my presence with a deep-setmisgiving although in the absence of a more trustworthy guide, and inthe suspicion that some point of my every ordinary strategy had beeninept, I was compelled to mould myself identically into his advice.
Scarcely had he left me, and I was endeavouring to dispel any idea oftreachery towards those about by actions of graceful courtesy, whenone--unworthy of burial--standing a score of paces distant, (to whom,indeed, this person was at the moment bowing with almost passionatevehemence, inspired by the conviction that he, for his part, wasengaged in a like attention,) suddenly cast a missile--which, somewhatdouble-facedly, he had hitherto held concealed in his closed hand--withundeviating force and accuracy. So unexpected was the movement,so painfully-impressed the vindictive contact, that I should haveinstinctively seized the offensively-directed object and contemptuouslyhurled it back again, if the consequence of the blow had not deprivedmy mind of all retaliatory ambitions. In this emergency was manifesteda magnanimous act worthy of the incense of a poem, for a person standingimmediately by, seeing how this one was balanced in his emotions, pickedup the missile, and although one of the foremost of the opposing band,very obligingly flung it back at the assailant. Even an outcast wouldnot have passed this without a suitable tribute, and turning to him,I was remarking appreciatively that men were not divided by seas andwooden barriers, but by the unchecked and conflicting lusts of the mind,when the unclean and weed-nurtured traitor twenty paces distant, takinga degraded advantage from this person's attitude, again propelled hisweapon with an even more concentrated perfidy than before. At this newoutrage every brown cricket shrank from the attitude of alert vigourwhich hitherto he had maintained, and as though to disassociatethemselves from the stain of complicity all crossed over and took up newpositions.
Up to this point, majestic head, in order to represent the adventurein its proper sequence, it has been advisable to present the details asthey arose before the eyes of a reliable and dispassionate gazer. Now,however, it is no less seemly to declare that this barbarian sportof leaping insects is not so discreditably shallow as it had at firstappeared, while in every action there may be found an apt but hiddensymbol. Thus the presence of the two green locusts in the midst ofothers of a dissimilar nature represents the unending strife by whicheven the most pacific are ever surrounded. The fragile erection ofsticks (behind which this person at first sought to defend himselfuntil led into a more exposed position by one garbed in white,) may beregarded as the home and altar, and adequately depicts the hollownessof the protection it affords and the necessity of reliantly emerging todefy an invader rather than lurking discreditably among its recesses.The missile is the equivalent of a precise and immediate danger, thewooden club the natural instinct for defence with which all livingcreatures are endowed, so that when the peril is for the time drivenaway the opportunity is at hand for the display of virtuous amusements,the exchanging of hospitality, and the beating of professional drums aswe would say. Thus, at the next attack the one sharing the enterprisewith me struck the missile so proficiently that its recovery engaged theattention of all our adversaries, and then began to exhibit his powersby running and leaping towards me. Recognising that the actual moment ofthe display had arrived, this person at once emitted a penetrating cryof concentrated challenge, and also began to leap upwards and about,and with so much energy that the highly achieved limits of his flightsurprised even himself.
As for the bystanders, esteemed, those who opposed us, and the membersof our own band, although this leaping sportiveness is a competitionmore regarded and practised among all orders than the pursuit ofcommercial eminence, or even than the allurements of the sublimestClassics, it may be truly imagined that never before had they witnessedso remarkable a game cricket. From the pagoda a loud cry of wonderacclaimed the dexterity of this person's efforts; the three tiers ofmaidens climbed one upon another in their anxiety to lose no detail ofthe adventure, and outstanders from distant points began to assemble.The brown enemy at once abandoned themselves to a panic, and for themost part cast themselves incapably to the ground, rolling from side toside in an access of emotion; the two arbiters clad in white conferredtogether, doubtless on the uselessness of further contest, while theally who had summoned me to take a part instead of being encouraged todisplay his agility in a like manner c
ontinued to run slavishly frompoint to point, while I overcame the distances in a series of inspiredbounds.
In the meanwhile the sounds of encouragement from the ever-increasingmultitude grew like the falling of a sudden coast storm among the ripeleaves of a tea-plantation, and with them the voices of many callingupon my name and inciting me to further and even higher achievementsreached my ears. Not to grow small in the eyes of these estimablepersons I continued in my flight, and abandoning all set movements andlimits, I began to traverse the field in every direction, becoming moreproficient with each effort, imparting to myself a sideway and evenbackward motion while yet in the upper spaces, remaining poised for anappreciable period, and lightly, yet with graceful ease, avoiding theembraces of those who would have detained me. Undoubtedly I could havemaintained this supremacy until our band might justly have claimed thereward, had not the flattering cries of approval caused an indiscreetmistake, for the alarm being spread in the village that a conflagrationof imposing ferocity was raging, an ornamental chariot conveying a bandof warriors clad in brass armour presently entered into the strife, anddiscovering no fire to occupy their charitable energies they misguidedlyhonoured this offensive person by propelling a solid column of thepurest and most refreshing water against his ignoble body when at thepoint of his highest flight. This introduction of a thunderbolt into theeveryday life of an insect must be of questionable authenticity, yetnot feeling sufficiently instructed in the lesser details of thesportiveness to challenge the device, I suffered myself to be ledtowards the pavilion with no more struggling than enough to remove theignominy of an unresisting surrender, pleasantly remarking to thosewho bore me along that to a person of philosophical poise the writtendestiny was as apparent in the falling leaf as in the rising sun,pointing the saying thus: "Although the Desert of Shan-tz is boundless,and mankind number a million million, yet in it Li-hing encountered hismother-in-law." Changing to meet another of our company setting forthwith a club to make the venture, I was permitted for a moment toengage him; whereupon thrusting into his hand a leather charm againstill-directed efforts, and instructing him to bind it about his head, Iencouraged him with the imperishable watch-word of the Emperor Tsin Su,"The stars are indeed small, but their light carries as far as that ofthe full moon."
At the steps of the pagoda so great was the throng of those who wouldhave overwhelmed me with their gracious attention, that had not thisperson's neck become practically automatic by ceaseless use of late, hewould have been utterly unequal to the emergency. As it was, he couldonly bestow a superficial hand-wave upon a company of gold-embroideredmusicians who greeted his return with appropriate melody, and a glanceof well-indicated regret that he had no fuller means of conveying hiscomplicated emotions, in the direction of the uppermost tier of maidens.Then the awaiting Sir Philip took him firmly towards the inner part ofthe pavilion, and announced, so adroitly and with such high-spiritedvigour had this one maintained the conflict, that it had been resolutelyagreed on all sides not to make a test of his competence any further.
Thereupon a band of very sumptuously arrayed nymphs drew near withofferings of liquid fat and a variety of crimson fruit, which it iscustomary to grind together on the platter--unapproachable in theresult, certainly, yet incredibly elusive to the unwary in the manner ofbruising, and practically ineradicable upon the more delicate shadesof silk garment. In such a situation the one who is now relating thevarious incidents of the day may be imagined by a broad-minded andaffectionate sire: partaking of this native fruit and oil, and from timeto time expressing his insatiable anguish that he continually failsto become more proficient in controlling the oblique movements of theviands, while the less successful crickets are constrained to perseverein the combat, and the ever-present note of evasive purport is raisedby a voice from behind a screen exclaiming, "Out afore? That he may havebeen, but do he think we was a-going to give he out afore? No, maaster,us doant a-have a circus every day hereabouts."
Thus may this imagination of competitive locusts be set forth tothe end. If a fuller proof of what an unostentatious self-effacementhesitates to enlarge upon were required, it might be found in thebarbarian printed leaf, for the next day this person saw a public recordof the strife, in which his own name was followed by a numerical emblemsignifying that he had not stumbled or proved incompetent in any oneparticular. Sir Philip, I beheld with pained surprise, had obtuselysuffered himself to be caught out in the committal of fifty-nine setoffences.
With a not unnatural anticipation that, as a result of this painstakingdescription, this person will find two well-equipped camps of contendinglocusts in Yuen-ping on his return.
KONG HO.
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