Feng's mother, having
filched a golden trifle from her son's bag, went to sell it to the
same jeweler who had made it for Chou. On being denounced before the
Governor, mother and son were apprehended, and all the jewels were
discovered in their house. Torture found them words, and the whole
matter became clear. Erh-lang had actually believed that he saw a
ghost, and was released. Feng was sentenced to slow death, and strips
were torn one by one from his body by the executioner. His mother was
only strangled.
As for Erh-lang, his heart stayed faithful to the girl he had
so greatly loved. At every feast he went to the temple of the
Marshal-of-the-Five-Ways, and burned incense, so that the pleasant
smoke of it might ascend to the palace of the soul of little
Victorious-Immortal. His fidelity touched even the rough heart of Chou
and, when he came to die a few years later, his body was buried in the
same tomb with her whom his arms had known only in sleep.
_Nao fan lou to ch'ing sheng hsien (Chou Victorious-Immortal,
of abundant love, overthrows the Pavilion
of the Fan). Hsing shih heng yen
(1627), 14th Tale._
THE ERROR OF THE EMBROIDERED SLIPPER
The sun is in our eyes
And we think we are running out towards joy;
Our heart pulls us down
And we shall never know the way of the sky
Or the end of all things.
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