You are sufficiently
like your sister to deceive those who do not know you very well,
especially in a wedding garment. You must do it. That is decided. The
nurse can go with you to arrange your hair.... And in this way, if our
son-in-law dies, Liu will have neither my daughter nor her equipment."
When the wife of Liu received Sun's proposal from the mouth of the
go-between, she hesitated for a moment. But then she reflected on the
false situation in which she would be placed by refusing. So, masking
her thoughts beneath a smile, she agreed to the arrangement.
On the day fixed for the marriage, Yu-lang was constrained to disguise
himself. But two grave difficulties presented themselves. First
with regard to his feet: how was it possible for him to imitate his
sister's ravishing golden lotuses, so like to sphinx heads, and the
balancing of her light steps, a swaying of flowers in the soft
breeze? They gave him a petticoat which reached to the ground, and he
practised his sister's gait, at which she laughed until she cried. The
next question was his ear-rings. It so happened that his left lobe had
been pierced; for in his childhood they had made him wear one ring,
in order to persuade the evil spirits that he was a girl, whose
death would be of no importance. Everybody knows that the Jinn always
endeavor to rob us of that which is truly dear to us, and leave
untouched that which is of no value.
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