by Lao She
Treating me with the utmost courtesy once again, Scorpion asked if I would be willing to stay outside all night and guard the bales of reverie leaves that hadn’t yet been hauled inside. He explained that the soldiers would have to return since it was very late already.
It occurred to me that if only I had a flashlight, this would be an excellent opportunity to take a night tour of Cat City all by myself. Unfortunately, both my flashlights were still in the spacecraft; moreover, both had no doubt been smashed in the crash. Even though I had originally looked forward to staying with Scorpion so I might see the inside of his house, I agreed. Judging from the experience I had gained through living in the reverie forest, sleeping inside wouldn’t necessarily be any more comfortable than sleeping in the open air. Scorpion, pleased with my assent, dismissed the soldiers and pulled himself back over the wall on one of the big ropes.
I was left alone. A gentle breeze was blowing and the stars were twice as bright as usual. There was a strong hint of autumn in the air and I felt in good spirits. Unfortunately, there was a foul-smelling ditch outside the house that prevented me from tranquilly enjoying the hush of evening. I tore open one of the bales and ate a few of the leaves, partially in order to dispel my hunger and partially in order to withstand the foul air.
I started wandering around and unconsciously began to think about a number of questions. Why was it that the Cat People were so raucously conspicuous during the day yet so quietly hidden away at night? Was it a sign that the society was not secure? So many people all skulking into this single row of houses with no ventilation, no light, nothing but flies, foul air, and filth – was that living? Why were there no windows or doors? Why of course! It must be that they were afraid of thieves! They had tossed hygiene to the wind for the sake of security; and yet such filth would breed diseases that would plunder their very lives from within. Once more I saw the giant finger of destruction pointed down at Cat City, and I trembled a bit.
A contagious disease like cholera or scarlet fever could sweep this entire city clean of all traces of life within a single week! The more I looked at the city, the uglier it was to me: a large ugly shadow under starlight that issued not the slightest sound, but only gave off a foul stench.
I took several bales of reverie leaves and spread them out on a spot far removed from the stinking ditch. I lay down on top of them and watched the stars. It wasn’t an uncomfortable bed, yet I felt a bit lonely and even began to envy the Cat People a bit. Filth, stench and no ventilation, but at least old and young, they lived together as a family. And me? Alone on Mars with only the stars for company! Worse yet, I had to guard the reverie leaves for Scorpion. It was really quite amusing in a bittersweet way.
I was slowly dozing off, but two contradictory thoughts within my mind seemed to prevent me from crossing the threshold to dreamland. On one hand, I felt that I ought to faithfully guard the reverie leaves for Scorpion; but on the other hand, why should I care about his damned leaves? Just as I was at this half-awake, half-asleep juncture, someone patted me on the shoulder. I immediately sat up, thinking that I was perhaps dreaming. I rubbed my eyes. There were two Cat People standing in front of me. (When you run into someone in a place where you definitely knew there was no one to begin with, you automatically think of ghosts. It seems that primitive superstitions can still catch us civilised people off guard and give us a good fright.)
Although I hadn’t looked at them carefully, I was already certain that they were not ordinary Cat People, for they’d had the nerve to slap me on the shoulder. I hadn’t thought of going for my gun either; for the moment I seemed to forget that I was on Mars. ‘Please sit down.’ I don’t know what prompted me to say this. Perhaps like other oft-used, polite phrases, it just came automatically.
The two Cat People sat down without the slightest reserve. Now that really made me feel good, for during my many days in Cat Country, no one had ever before freely and openly accepted my greeting.
‘I am a foreigner too,’ said the thinner of the two. It was apparent they had not rehearsed what they were going to say before coming, for they listened respectfully to each other. They were not at all like Scorpion in conversation, who monopolised things without giving anyone a chance to get a word in.
‘I’ve come from Earth,’ I said.
‘Oh!’ With one voice they expressed their astonishment. ‘We’ve wanted to get into contact with another planet for a long time, but have never been able to before. We are really quite honoured to meet a man from Earth.’ They stood up together as if to demonstrate their deference. I felt that I had entered ‘human’ society once again, but I felt strangely uncomfortable for precisely that reason; I said nothing polite in return.
They sat down again and asked quite a few questions about Earth. I really liked these two. Their speech was clear, simple and not overloaded with polite phrases, and yet in everything they said they still managed to express that kind of mutual respect that exists between friends. ‘Just right’ is the best phrase I can think of to describe it. If speech that is ‘just right’ is the result of a clear thought process, then in intelligence these two were infinitely superior to Scorpion.
Their country – Light Country – was, they told me, seven days’ journey from here. Their occupation was the same as mine, safeguarding the reverie leaves for the landlords. After I had asked them quite a bit about Light Country, they got down to business.
‘Mr Earth,’ (what a respectful form of address!) the fat one said, ‘we have two purposes in coming to you: in the first place, we’d like to invite you to live with us; and in the second place, we’d like to make off with these reverie leaves.’
That second purpose really startled me!
‘Explain our second purpose to Mr Earth,’ said the fat one to the thin one, ‘he still doesn’t seem to understand what we mean.’
‘Mr Earth,’ the thin one said with a smile, ‘I’m afraid that we really gave you quite a start, didn’t we? Put your mind at ease. We’ve certainly not come to use force. We’ve just come to talk things over. Now, to be sure, Scorpion’s reverie leaves are in your safekeeping, but if you loyally guard them for him, he won’t be especially grateful to you; and if you confiscate them, he won’t especially hate you either. You have to realise that the Cat People have an entirely different way of looking at things than we do.’
But you’re both Cat People too, I thought to myself.
He seemed to have guessed what I was thinking and smiled again, ‘That’s right, our ancestors were all cats, just like —’
‘My ancestors were apes.’ I smiled too.
‘Why yes, then we are all animals. We are all capable of coming up with evil ideas because our ancestors were not very honourable to begin with.’ He looked me up and down and was probably acknowledging to himself that I really did resemble an ape. Then he said, ‘Let’s get back to this business of Scorpion. If you faithfully guard his leaves for him, he won’t be at all grateful to you. On the other hand, if you seize half of the reverie leaves, then he can spread it around that he has been robbed and that will give him a good excuse to jack up the price on what’s left. A rich man will have been robbed and the poor will pay for it; no matter how you look at it, Scorpion won’t take a beating.’
‘But that’s Scorpion’s business, not mine. As long as I have accepted his commission to guard the leaves, I ought not to take advantage of him.’
‘You’re perfectly right, of course, Mr Earth. In our country we see things exactly the same way you do. But it doesn’t seem fair that we should be forced to be honest here in Cat Country while the Cat People themselves are free to engage in hanky-panky. To tell the truth, it’s a disgrace to Mars that a country like this should still exist. We’re so ashamed of it that we don’t even bother to treat cat-men as men at all.’
‘For that very reason, we ought to be all the more honest and upright. Even if they aren’t men, we must still act as men ourselves.’ I said this very decisively.
&nb
sp; The fat one picked up the conversation. ‘That’s right, Mr Earth. We certainly don’t want to make you act against your conscience. Our intention in coming here was simply to warn you not to let the Cat People take advantage of you. We foreigners have to look out for each other.’
‘Excuse me,’ I asked, ‘but is Cat Country’s present poverty and weakness due to the fact that a number of foreign countries have ganged up on her?’
‘Well, that’s part of it. But here on Mars, the mere lack of military power is, in itself, not enough to cause a nation to lose its position vis-à-vis other states. That only happens when the people lose their individual integrity and the country gradually loses its national integrity, for no one wants to cooperate with a country that has lost its integrity. One must admit that, on occasion, the other countries have dealt unreasonably with Cat Country. And yet, who would want to damage the amity that exists between equal powers just for the sake of sticking up for a state that has no national integrity to begin with? There are a number of other poor and weak countries on Mars, but they haven’t lost their international prestige merely because of poverty and weakness. Besides, there are many reasons for the weakness of a state. To be sure, natural calamities and poor topography are enough to make a country weak and poor, and that kind of weakness and poverty can move others to sympathy. But lack of integrity is brought about by the people themselves, and this kind of self-inflicted debility is incapable of inspiring any kind of sympathy. Let’s take Scorpion as an example. Now you came from Earth as a guest, not a slave. But did he ever invite you to go to his home to relax for a bit? Did he ever ask if you were hungry? No. He only asks you to guard his reverie leaves. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to stir you up in order to get you to steal from him; I’m simply explaining to you why it is that we foreigners disdain the Cat People. Now let’s get back to the first question.’ The fat one took a breath and let the thin one pick up where he had left off.
‘If tomorrow, Mr Earth, you demand to live in Scorpion’s home, he’ll certainly refuse you. Why? Well, you’ll find that out for yourself later on. But at any rate, you have to have a place to live and that’s partially our purpose in coming to you. Now, the foreigners here live in a separate place to the west of Cat City. Regardless of nationality, all of the foreigners live there in something like a big, happy family. The two of us are presently taking our turn of duty on the welcoming committee of the foreign enclave. It’s our job to welcome people who already know of our enclave and to notify those who don’t. We have people circulate around Cat City every day in order to report new arrivals. Why have we organised such a community? Because the filthy habits of the natives here are past all rectification: their food is little different from poison and their doctors – well, they really don’t have any. There are other reasons too that I won’t spell out for you right now. At any rate, our purpose in coming here proceeds entirely from concern over your welfare. I think that you can probably believe that, Mr Earth.’
I did have faith in their honesty. I also guessed a few of the reasons they hadn’t explained. But since I had come to Cat City, I was determined to see it firsthand. Perhaps it would be more beneficial to me if I saw another country first. (I could tell on the basis of these two men that Light Country was undoubtedly much more civilised than Cat Country.) However, it is not often that one has the opportunity to observe the extinction of an entire civilisation. It wasn’t at all the case that I was observing Cat Country’s history with the same attitude that I might watch a tragedy on the stage; it was rather that I really hoped I might be of some help to the Cat People. I can’t say that I felt any sympathy for Scorpion, but then Scorpion couldn’t be taken as representative of all Cat Country. Nor did I suspect these two foreigners of lying, but I simply had to see for myself.
They guessed what I was thinking and the fat one said, ‘You don’t have to decide right away. We will welcome you whenever you decide to come. To get to the enclave, you go straight west from here. It is best to go at night when it is not so crowded. When you get outside the city, keep right on going and before long, you’ll come to it. Goodbye, Mr Earth.’
They didn’t seem the slightest bit put out by me. They were simply open and honest people who could well understand my position. I was really quite grateful to them.
‘Thank you,’ I said, ‘I’ll certainly visit your place in the future, but first I want to see the people here.’
‘Be careful what you eat! Goodbye,’ they said in unison.
No, I simply couldn’t give up on the Cat People and go to live in the foreign enclave. It certainly wasn’t the case that the Cat People couldn’t be trained for better things. Consider how tractable they were. They kept right on smiling even when the soldiers were using their heads as drums, and then when it turned dark, they went right to sleep without a peep. Could one seriously think such a people would be difficult to manage? I was sure that if they only had a good leader, they would be the most peaceful and law-abiding citizens of the universe.
I couldn’t get to sleep. A number of lively and colourful scenes appeared before my eyes: the reconstruction of Cat City into a place that would resemble a flower park . . . music . . . sculpture . . . learning . . . flowers . . . birds . . . order . . . cleanliness . . . beauty . . .
THREE GENERATIONS
AFTER SCORPION had moved all of the reverie leaves inside, he didn’t even so much as thank me for my help. Where I lived, he told me, was certainly none of his business, but I simply couldn’t live in his home for a thousand and one reasons that made it simply out of the question. Finally he said, ‘Besides, you’d lose status if you stayed with us! You’re a foreigner. Why don’t you live in the foreign settlement?’ He had stated straight out what the two Light Country people had been too polite to say – what shameless candour!
Rather than taking offence, I explained to him in great detail my reasons for wanting to live in Cat City. I even went so far as to hint to him that, even if it wasn’t convenient to have me live at his place, I’d still like to see what his home was like. Then afterwards I would go and look for another place by myself. But he wouldn’t even let me have so much as a peek at his place. His refusal was, of course, anticipated. In the several months I had spent in the reverie forest, I had never been able to find out where he lived. Perhaps he was afraid I might make off with his leaves. I told him that if I really intended to abscond with his crop, I would have made my move last night. What would I have to gain by waiting until he had the leaves all stored away and then taking the extra trouble of stealing them back again? He shook his head: there were women in his home who could not, of course, receive male guests. That was a very powerful reason. But I wouldn’t do his women any harm by just looking at them – but ‘just looking’ of course wasn’t what Scorpion had in mind.
An old cat-head appeared on top of the wall: a head of white hair and a pursed-up pig’s mouth that looked like a quince dried in the wind. The old cat began shouting, ‘We don’t want any foreigners! We don’t want any foreigners! No, no, no!’ This must be Scorpion’s father.
I didn’t lose my temper; on the contrary, I began to admire this old cat with the dried-quince mouth, for he was not only unafraid of foreigners, but even dared to look down on them. Perhaps his disdain proceeded from ignorance, but no matter how you looked at it, there was something more to be said for his attitude than that of his son.
A young cat-man called me to one side, and Scorpion took advantage of the diversion to crawl back up the wall. A young Cat Person! I had been hoping to meet one. When it turned out to be Scorpion’s son, I was doubly delighted. I had now seen three generations. Although the quince-mouthed old man and Scorpion were still active and enjoyed great power, they were, after all, people who had seen their day. If I wanted to ascertain whether or not there was any hope of curing the Cat People’s disease, then I’d have to take their pulse through their young people.
‘You’ve come from a distant place?’ Young Scorpion
– actually, he had another name, but I called him this for the sake of convenience – asked me.
‘Very, very far! Tell me is that old man your grandfather?’
‘Yes. Grandfather thinks that all of our troubles were brought in by the foreigners and that’s why he hates them so!’
‘Does he eat reverie leaves too?’
‘Yes. He thinks that since reverie leaves were brought in from abroad in the first place, he disgraces the foreigners by eating them so that the wrong is not on his part, but theirs.’
A crowd started to gather around us. They all popped wide their eyes and let their mouths hang open as they watched me the way one would study a freak.
‘Couldn’t we find some quieter place where we might chat?’
‘They’ll follow us wherever we go, so we might as well talk right here. They’re not interested in hearing what we say, anyway. They just want to see how you open your mouth and blink your eyes.’
I found young Scorpion’s candour delightful.
‘Fine,’ I couldn’t very well insist on the point, ‘and your father?’
‘He’s a “new” man. At least he was a new man twenty years ago. Back then, he was opposed to eating reverie leaves, but now he has inherited grandfather’s reverie forest. Twenty years ago he came out for women’s rights, but now he won’t even let you inside the house because he doesn’t want to expose his women to you. Grandfather often says that I’ll be the same way later. He says that young people like new things and are curious about everything, but when they arrive at middle age, they begin to look back fondly to the bequeathed patterns of their ancestors. You see, grandfather is totally ignorant of foreign things, and therefore he takes the rules handed down to us by our ancestors as the ultimate norms for getting along in the world. My father, on the other hand, knows something about foreign things. When he was young, he even wanted to copy everything from the foreigners. Now he merely uses what little he knows of foreign things as a tool for maintaining his own advantage. He uses foreign methods where he feels they are practically applicable and, in that regard, he is not so stiff-necked as grandfather, but when it comes to the overall purpose of life, their views are no different.’