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THE COUNTERFEIT OLD WOMAN
During the Ch'eng-Hua period of our dynasty, there lived at Shantung
a young man named Flowering Mulberry, whose parents possessed a
sufficient fortune. He had just bound up his hair beneath his man's
bonnet; his fresh and rosy complexion added to the delicate charm of
his features.
One day, as he was going to visit an uncle in a neighboring village,
he was overtaken on the way by a heavy storm of rain, and ran for
shelter into a disused temple; and there, seated on the ground waiting
for the rain to stop, was an old woman. Flowering Mulberry sat down
and, since the storm grew more violent, resigned himself to wait.
Finding him beautiful, the old woman began to converse and ingratiate
herself with him, until at length she came across to him, and finally
her hands wandered gently over his body.
He found this an agreeable manner of passing the time, but said after
a little while: "How is it that, although you are a woman, you have
the voice of a man?"
"My son, I will tell you the truth, but you must not reveal it to
anybody. I am not really a woman, but a man. When I was little, I used
often to disguise myself and mimic the shrill tones of young girls;
and I even learned to sew just as well as they. I used often to go to
the neighboring market towns, pretending that I was a young girl and
offering to do needlework; and my skill was soon much admired by all
the dwellers in the houses where I worked.
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