The Cloud Dream of the Nine | Page 3

ones of the earth, sooner or later,
have gone thus to distant outlying sea coasts or to the hills. Have a care
for your health and do not grieve on my account." But those who heard
these brave words wept on the mother's behalf.
Kim Man-Choong wrote "The Cloud Dream of the Nine" while he was
an exile, and his aim in writing it was to cheer and comfort his mother.
The thought underlying the story is that earth's best attainments are
fleeting vanity and that without religion nothing avails. The book
became a favourite among the virtuous women of the day and for long
afterwards.
Kim Man-Choong matriculated in 1665 and was made later a famous
Doctor of Literature and President of the Confucian College. He was
exiled in 1689. On his death the State erected a Gate of Honour calling
attention to his filial piety and marking his title, Moon-hyo Kong,
Prince Moon-hyo. So says "Korea's Famous Men," Vol. III, page 205.

IV.--THE TALE
Far off in the glorious mountains of Eastern Asia, whose peaks "block
the clouds in their course and [pxiv] startle the world with the wonder
of their formation," there is an innermost group that is "charged with
divine influences." Since the days of the Chinese Deluge (B.C.
2205-2197) holy men and women and genii have been wont to dwell in
these mountain fastnesses, and no pen can ever record all the strange
and wonderful things that have happened there.
Here in the days of the Tang dynasty a priest from India who was a
"Master of the Six Temptations" was so moved by the marvellous
beauty of the hills that he built a monastery on Lotus Peak and there
preached the doctrines of the Buddha. Among his 600 disciples the
youngest, Song-jin, barely twenty, who was without guile and most
beautiful in face and form, had greater wisdom and goodness than all
the other followers, so that the Master chose him to be his successor
when he should "take his departure to the West."
But temptation befel Song-jin.
He was sent by the Master with a greeting to the Dragon King, who
feasted him and deceived him with wine. Although Song-jin refused
many times, saying, "Wine is a drink that upsets and maddens the soul
and is therefore strictly forbidden by the Buddha," he finally drank
three glasses and a "dizzy indistinctness possessed him." On his way
back to the monastery he sat by the bank of a stream to bathe his hot
face in the limpid water and reprimand himself for his sinfulness. He
thought also of the chiding he would receive from the Master.
But a strange and novel fragrance was wafted towards him. It was
"neither the perfume of orchid nor of musk," but of "something wholly
new and [pxv] not experienced before." It seemed to "dissipate the soul
of passion and uncleanliness." Song-jin decided to follow the course of
the stream until he should find the wonderful flowers.
He found, instead of flowers, eight fairy maidens seated on a stone
bridge.

These maidens were messengers sent by a Queen of the genii who had
become a Taoist by divine command and had settled on one of the
mountain peaks with a company of angelic boys and fairy girls. While
Song-jin was at the palace of the Dragon King, these eight fairy girls
were calling on the Master of the monastery with greetings and
offerings from their heavenly Queen. They had rested on the bridge to
admire the scenery and had dallied there fascinated by their own
reflections in the stream below.
Song-jin greeted them ceremoniously and told them that he was a
humble priest returning to his home in the monastery. "This stone
bridge is very narrow," he said, "and you goddesses being seated upon
it block the way. Will you not kindly take your lotus footsteps hence
and let me pass?" The fairies bowed in return and teased the young man.
They quoted the Book of Ceremony to the effect that "man goes to the
left and woman to the right," but they refused to budge and
recommended that Song-jin cross by some other way. They laughingly
challenged him: if he were a disciple of the Teacher Yook-kwan he
could follow the example of the great Talma who "crossed the ocean on
a leaf." At this Song-jin also laughed, and answered their challenge by
throwing before them a peach blossom that he carried in his hand. The
blossom immediately became four [pxvi] couplets of red flowers and
these again were transformed into eight jewels. The fairies each picked
up a jewel, then they looked towards Song-jin, laughed delightedly and
"mounted on the winds and sailed through the air."
There followed a period of darkness and misery for Song-jin. He tried
to