The Cloud Dream of the Nine | Page 5

to linger over the beauties of the scenery
through which he passed. [pxix]
The story unfolds with fascinating perplexity the love drama of nine.
The maidens are all peerless in beauty, virtue, talent, goodness and
charm. So generous is the flame of Master Yang's affection that he
enshrines each love with apparently equal and unabated warmth. Of the

eight maidens, seven openly declared their choice of Yang as their
master and one was sought deliberately by him. No shade of jealousy
mars the perfect affinity of the nine.
Yang easily won the highest place in the Government Competitive
Examination and became a master of literary rank. This raised him
from obscurity to fame and from poverty to wealth. "His name shook
the city. All the nobility and peers who had marriageable daughters
strove together in their applications through go-betweens."
But Yang had already decided to offer marriage to the only daughter of
a certain Justice Cheung. Disguised as a Taoist priestess, he had gained
entry into the inner court of the Cheung household some days before
the examination. In the presence of the ladies of the family he had
played on his harp and had sung with a voice of unearthly sweetness
certain songs that had been taught to him by genii.
The young lady sat attentively listening while she identified in turn
each song, "Feathery Robes," "The Garden of Green Gems and Trees,"
"The Distant Barbarian " and others. She defined one as "the supreme
expression of all music," the thought of which ran, she said, "He
travelled through all the nine provinces and found no place in which to
rest his heart." The young lady so amazed Yang by her accuracy and
skill in divining and revealing the nature [pxx] and history of the rare
music that finally, "kneeling, he cast more incense on the fire and
played the famous 'Nam-hoon Palace of King Soon.'" On which she
quoted, "The south wind is warm and sweet and bears away on its
wings the sorrows of the world." "This is lovely," the young lady said,
"and fills one's heart to overflowing. Even though you know others I
have no desire to hear them."
She would have left the apartment, but the disguised Yang humbly
begged permission to play and sing one other. He straightened the
bridge of his harp and "the music seemed far distant at first, awakening
a sense of delight and calling the soul to a fast and lively way. The
flowers of the court opened out at the sound of it; the swallows in pairs
swung through their delightful dancings; the orioles sang in chorus to
each other. The young mistress dropped her head, closed her eyes and

sat silent for a moment till the part was reached which tells how the
phoenix came back to his native land gliding across the wide expanse
of sea looking for his mate. She looked at the pretended priestess, the
red blushes mounted to her cheeks and drove even the pale colour from
her brow. She quietly arose and went into her own apartment."
Neither her mother nor any of the attendants understood why the young
mistress had retired, nor could they persuade her to return. But in the
privacy of her chamber, Jewel, for that was the name of the young lady,
spoke to her adopted sister, Cloudlet.
"Cloudlet, my dear, you know I have been careful of my behaviour as
the Book of Rites requires, guarding my thoughts as pearls and jewels,
and that my [pxxi] feet have never ventured outside the middle
gates. . . . I, an unmarried girl of the inner quarters, have sat for two full
hours face to face with a strange man unblushingly talking to him.
When I heard the song of the phoenix seeking her mate I looked closely
into the priestess's face. Assuredly it was not a girl's face at all. Did
anyone ever hear such a thing in the world before? I cannot tell this
even to my mother."
Cloudlet pleaded for the young man whose beauty and powers were so
unusual. But Jewel was not to be moved, and when later Master Yang
formally called on Justice Cheung and proposed marriage and the
Justice was honoured by his proposal and delighted to accept it, Jewel's
scruples were hard to overcome. She felt that the young man must be
punished, and to "save her face" determined to carry out a scheme of
revenge on her affianced. Her plan needed the help of her beloved
adopted sister Cloudlet, who, as we have seen, had conceived a
partiality for the bold lover Yang. According to custom Yang was
invited to stay at a guest house in the grounds of the Cheung residence,
and was treated as a loved son by the Justice