The mandarins were summoned by the great Youantee, the court in its splendour bowed down their heads into the dust of delight as they listened to the miracle of his eloquence. "Hear me, ye first chop mandarins, peers, lords, and princes of the empire. Listen to the words of Youantee. Hath not each bird that skims the air its partner in the nest? Hath not each beast its mate? Have not you all eyes which beam but upon you alone? Am I then so unfortunately great, or so greatly unfortunate, that I may not be permitted to descend to love? Even the brother of the sun and moon cannot, during his career on earth, exist alone. Seek, then, through the universe a maiden for thy lord, that like my brother, the sun, who sinks each night into the bosom of the ocean, I too may repose upon the bosom of my mate. Seek, I say, search each corner of the world, that its treasures may be poured forth at our golden feet, and one gem be selected for our especial wear. But first, O wise men and astrologers, summon ye the planets and stars of destiny, that they may ascertain whether, by this conjunction, aught of evil be threatened to our celestial person, or to our boundless empire."
Ti-tum, tilly-lilly, ti-tum, ti.
Where is the star which leaps not in his course with delight to obey the wishes of the brother of the sun and moon? Where was the planet that rejoiced not to a.s.sist so near a relative? Yes, they all hearkened, bowing down to the astrolabes of the astrologers, like generous steeds, who knelt to receive their riders; yet when they all did meet to throw light upon the required page of destiny, was not their brightness dimmed when they perceived as they read it that it was full of tears, and that joy floated but as a bubble? The wise men sighed as the decree of fate was handed down to them, and with their faces to the earth, thus did they impart the contents of the revealed page to the magnificent Youantee.
"The brother of the sun and moon would wed. Beauty shall be laid at the golden feet, but the pearl beyond price will be found and lost. There will be joy and there will be sorrow. Joy in life, sorrow both in life and death; for a black dragon, foe to the celestial empire, threatens like an overhanging cloud. More the stars dare not reveal."
Ti-tum, tilly-lilly, ti-tum, ti.
Here the pacha looked at Mustapha and nodded his head in approbation, as much as to say, "Now we are coming to the point." Mustapha bowed, and the Chinese poet continued.
The golden eyes of the great Youantee were filled with silver tears when the page of destiny was made known; but the sun of hope rose and bore away the sacred dew to heaven. Then called he the minister, ever to be disgraced in story, Suchong Pollyhong Ka-te-tow, and the emperor desired him to make a progress through the universe, his dominions, to find out the most beautiful maidens to be brought to the celestial feet at the coming feast of Lanterns. But before they could be permitted to shoot up the rays of love through the mist of glory which surrounded the imperial throne--before their charms were to make the attempt upon the heart of magnanimity, it was necessary that all their portraits should be submitted to the great Youantee, in the hail of delight. That is to say, out of the twenty thousand virgins whose images were to be impressed upon the ivory, one hundred only, selected by a committee of taste, composed of the first cla.s.s mandarins and princes, were to be honoured with the beam of the celestial eye.
The avaricious, gold-seeking, Suchong Pollyhong Kate-tow, had performed his task--wealth poured into his coffers from the ambitious parents, who longed to boast of an alliance with the brother of the sun and moon, and many were the ill-favoured whose portraits were dismissed by the committee of taste, with surprise at the minister"s ideas of beauty.
Now there was a certain mandarin, whose daughter had long been extolled through the province of Kartou as a miracle of beauty, and her father, Whanghang, brought her in a litter to the minister Suchong Pollyhong Ka-te-tow. He felt that her charms were piercing as an arrow and that he had found a fit mate for the brother of the sun and moon; but his avarice demanded a sum which the father would not pay. Refuse to send her portrait he dare not, it was therefore ordered to be taken as well as the others, and Whanghang considered himself as the father-in-law of the celestial Youantee. The young painter who was employed finished his task, then laid down his pencil, and died with grief and love of such perfection which he never could hope to obtain. The picture was sent to the vile minister, who reserved it for himself, and wrote the name of this pearl beyond price under that of another, unworthy to unloose her zone as her handmaiden. The committee of taste did, however, select that picture among the hundred to be placed in the hall of delight, not because the picture was beautiful, but because the fame of her beauty had reached the court, and they thought it right that the emperor should see the picture. The virgins, whose pictures were thus selected, were all ordered to repair to the imperial palace, and the magnificent Youantee entered the hall of delight, which was illumined with ten thousand lanterns, and cast his eyes over the portraits of the hundred beauties, but not one feature touched his heart, he turned away in disgust at the degenerate countenances of the age. "Is this all,"
exclaimed he, "that the world can lay at the feet of its lord?" And the committee of taste prostrated themselves when they beheld his indignation. "And this," exclaimed he, pointing to the supposed portrait of the daughter of Whanghang; "who is this presumptuous one who hath dared to disgrace with her features the hall of delight?"
"That, O emperor," said the wily Suchong Pollyhong Ka-te-tow, "is the far-famed beauty _Chaoukeun_, whose insolent father dared to say, that if it was not sent, he would lay his complaint at the celestial feet.
In her province the fame of her beauty was great, and I did not like to be accused of partiality, so it has been placed before the imperial eye."
"First, then," exclaimed the emperor, "let it be proclaimed, that the whole province of Kartou is peopled by fools, and levy upon it a fine of one hundred thousand ounces of gold, for its want of taste; and next, let this vain one be committed to perpetual seclusion in the eastern tower of the imperial palace. Let the other maidens be sent to their parents, for as yet there is not found a fit bride for the brother of the sun and moon."
The imperial mandates were obeyed; and thus was the first part of the prophecy fulfilled, that "the pearl beyond price would be _found_ and _lost_."
Ti-tum, tilly-lilly, ti-tum, tilly-lilly, ti-tum, ti.
Yes, she was lost, for the resplendent Chaoukeun was shut up to waste away her peerless beauty in sorrow and in solitude. One small terrace walk was the only spot permitted her on which to enjoy the breezes of heaven. Night was looking down in loveliness, with her countless eyes, upon the injustice and cruelty of men, when the magnificent Youantee, who had little imagined that the brother of the sun and moon would be doomed to swallow the bitter pillau of disappointment, as had been latterly his custom, quitted the palace to walk in the gardens and commune with his own thoughts, unattended. And it pleased destiny, that the pearl beyond price, the neglected Chaoukeun also was induced, by the beauty and stillness of the night, to press the sh.e.l.l sand which covered the terrace walk, with her diminutive feet, so diminutive, that she almost tottered in her gait. The tear trembled in her eye as she thought of her own happy home, and bitterly did she bewail that beauty, which, instead of raising her to a throne, had by malice and avarice condemned her to perpetual solitude. She looked upwards at the starry heaven, but felt no communion with its loveliness. She surveyed the garden of sweets from the terrace, but all appeared to be desolate. Of late, her only companions had been her tears and her lute, whose notes were as plaintive as her own.
"O my mother!" exclaimed she; "beloved, but too ambitious mother! but for one little hour to lay this head upon your bosom! Fatal hath been the dream you rejoiced in at my nativity--in which the moon shone out so brilliantly, and then descended into the earth at your feet. I have shone but a little, little time, and now am I buried, as it were, in the earth, at my joyous age. Immured in this solitary tower, my hopes destroyed--my portrait cannot have been seen--and now I am lost for ever. Thou lute, sole companion of my woes, let us join our voices of complaint. Let us fancy that the flowers are listening to our grief, and that the dews upon the half-closed petals are tears of pity for my misfortunes." And Chaoukeun struck her lute, and thus poured out her lament:--
"O tell me, thou all-glorious sun, Were there no earth to drink thy light, Would not, in vain, thy course be run, Thy reign be o"er a realm of night?
"Thus charms were born to be enthroned In hearts, and youth to be carest, And beauty is not, if not own"d, At least by one adoring breast."
Ti-tum, tilly-lilly, ti-tum, ti.
The musical notes of the peerless Chaoukeun were not thrown away only upon flowers deaf and dumb, they vibrated in the ears of the magnificent Youantee, who had sat down on the back of an enormous metal dragon, which had been placed in the walk under the terrace. The emperor listened with surprise at her soliloquy, with admiration at her enchanting song. For some minutes he remained in a profound reverie, and then rising from the dragon, he walked towards the gate of the tower, and clapped his hands. The eunuch made his appearance. "Keeper of the Yellow Tower," said the emperor, "but now I heard the sounds of a lute."
"Even so, O Sustenance of the world," responded the slave.
"Was it not rather an angel than a mortal, whose mellifluous notes accompanied the instrument?" said the magnificent Youantee.
"Certainly is she blessed beyond mortality, since her melody has found favour in the celestial ears," replied the black keeper of the Yellow Tower.
"Go then, and quickly summon all our highest officers of state, to lay their robes upon the ground, that she may pa.s.s over them to our presence at the dragon below the terrace."
The magnificent Youantee, brother of the sun and moon, returned to his former seat, filled with pleasing antic.i.p.ations, while the eunuch hastened to obey the celestial commands. The mandarins of the first cla.s.s hastened to obey the orders of Youantee; their furred and velvet cloaks, rich in gold and silver ornaments, were spread from the tower to the dragon at the terrace, forming a path rich and beautiful as the milky way in the heavens. The pearl beyond price, the peerless Chaoukeun, like the moon in her splendour, pa.s.sed over it into the presence of the great Youantee.
"Immortal Fo," exclaimed the emperor, as the attendants raised their lanterns, so as to throw light upon her countenance, "by what black mischance have such charms been hidden from our sight?"
Then did the peerless Chaoukeun narrate, in few words, the treachery and avarice of Suchong Pollyhong Ka-te-tow.
"Hasten, O mandarins, let the scissors of disgrace cut off the two tails of this wretch, and then let the sword of justice sever off his head."
But the rumour of his sentence flew on the wind to Suchong Pollyhong Ka-te-tow; and before the executioner could arrive, he had mounted a horse fleeter than the wind, and with the portrait of the peerless Chaoukeun in his vest, had left even rumour far behind.
Ti-tum, tilly-lilly, ti-tum, tilly-lilly, ti-tum, ti.
And to whom did the miscreant minister fly, to hide his devoted head?
He flew to the wild nations of the north, the riders of wild horses, with sharp scimitars and long lances. For three days and three nights did the hoofs of his fiery steed strike fire upon the flints, which he spurned in his impetuous course, and then, as an immortal poet hath already sung, "he bowed his head and died," With the portrait of the peerless Chaoukeun in his bosom, and his mandarin garments raised up under each arm, the miscreant Suchong Pollyhong Ka-te-tow reached the presence of the Great Khan. "O khan of Tartary," said he, "may thy sword be ever keen, thy lance unerring, and thy courser swift. I am thy slave. O thou who commandest an hundred thousand warriors--hath thy slave permission to address thee?"
"Speak, and be d.a.m.ned," replied the warrior chief, of few words, whose teeth were busy with some pounds of horse-flesh.
"Thou knowest, O khan, that it hath been the custom for ages, that the celestial empire should provide for thee a fair damsel for thy nuptial bed, and that this hath been the price paid by the celestial court, to prevent the ravages of thy insatiate warriors. O khan, there is a maid, whose lovely features I now have with me, most worthy to be raised up to thy nuptial couch." And the miscreant laid at the feet of the great khan the portrait of the peerless Chaoukeun.
The chief finished his repast, and then with his lance, turned over the image of the pearl beyond all price. He looked at it, then pa.s.sed it to those around him. The savage warriors stared at the lovely portrait, and admired it not--yet did they long for war. "Tell me, O chiefs,"
said the great khan, "is that baby-face you look at worth contending for?"
And, with one voice, the chiefs replied, that she was worthy to share the nuptial couch of the great khan.
"Be it so," replied he, "I am no judge of beauty. Let the encampment be broken up--this evening we move southwards." And the Tartar chief entered the northern provinces of the celestial empire, with his hundred thousand warriors, destroying all with fire and sword, proving his sincere wish to unite himself to the Chinese nation by the indiscriminate slaughter of man, woman, and child; and his ardent love for the peerless Chaoukeun, by making a nuptial torch of every town and village.
Ti-tum, tilly-lilly, ti-tum, ti.
But we must return to the celestial court, and astonish the world with the wonderful events which there took place. The astrologers and wise men had consulted the heavens, and had ascertained that on the thirty-third minute after the thirteenth hour, the marriage procession must set out, or the consummation would not be prosperous. Who can describe the pomp and glory of the spectacle, or give an adequate idea of its splendour? Alas! it would not be possible, even if it were attempted by ten thousand poets, each with ten thousand tongues of silver, singing for ten thousand years. Such, however, was the order of the procession.
First walked ten thousand officers of justice, with long bamboos, striking right and left to clear the way, to the cadence of soft music, blending with the plaintive cries of those who limped away and rubbed their shins.
Then marching, ten abreast, one hundred thousand lanterns to a.s.sist the sun, partially eclipsed by the splendour of the procession.
Next appeared, slowly keeping time to a dead march, five thousand decapitated criminals, each carrying his own head by its long tail of hair.
"Staffir Allah! What is that but a lie?" exclaimed the pacha. "Did you hear what the dog has dared to breathe into our ears, Mustapha?"
"Mighty pacha," replied the Chinaman, with humility, "if your wisdom p.r.o.nounces it to be a lie--a lie it most certainly must be; still it is not the lie of your slave, who but repeats the story as handed down by the immortal eastern poet."
"Nevertheless, there appears to be a trifling mistake," observed Mustapha. "Is the procession to proceed, O pacha?"
"Yes, yes; but by the Prophet, let the dog tremble, if again he presumes to laugh at our beards."