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015 - Contrary Chueh Chun · Shen of the Sea- A Book for Children

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  Speaker 1: Section fourteen of Shen of the Sea, A Book for Children.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Toby Wedgel. Schn of
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  Speaker 1: the Sea, A Book for Children by Arthur Bowie Chrisman.
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  Speaker 1: Contrary Juejun. The most contrary man that ever drew a
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  Speaker 1: full dozen breaths was Juejun, living in d'ending Village, thirty
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  Speaker 1: minutes by donkey by up and down very bad road
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  Speaker 1: north of the Great Wall, the far famed Chinese Wall.
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  Speaker 1: Queer Duejun had been named Madza by his honorable parents.
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  Speaker 1: He had been named Madza, which means face rather ugly.
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  Speaker 1: He himself changed his name to Juejun, which means absolutely beautiful.
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  Speaker 1: The good people of d'anding village lived tidh lee and
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  Speaker 1: made houses above ground. Dud Jun lived in a cave,
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  Speaker 1: a deep and winding fox den below ground. Such of
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  Speaker 1: the neighbors, as were permitted by law to wear hats,
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  Speaker 1: wore little round hats on their heads. Drid Jun wore
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  Speaker 1: hats on his feet. Moreover, he wore straw hats in
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  Speaker 1: winter fur in summer. On his head perched an ancient sandal.
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  Speaker 1: He pretended that the arrangement was excellent. The sandal shaded
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  Speaker 1: his eyes, yet permitted his head to remain cool. The neighbors,
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  Speaker 1: when going upon long journeys, commonly rode their shaggy mountain ponies.
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  Speaker 1: Drid Jun, when setting forth on an arduous trip, say
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  Speaker 1: fifty miles, was most likely to walk, but to go
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  Speaker 1: from his fox layer home to the nest of his
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  Speaker 1: speckled hen, he invariably rode his little donkey Yu yu Jing.
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  Speaker 1: Aunt to Dridjun willed her obstinate nephew thirty thousand cash,
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  Speaker 1: just when his purse was at its flattest. The neighbors
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  Speaker 1: gathered round Judgun to congratulate and envy him. Said they,
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  Speaker 1: what a fortunate person are you, dear Dridjeen. The thirty
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  Speaker 1: thousand cash that your late lamented aunt Yu eu Jing
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  Speaker 1: left will set you up in noble style. A most
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  Speaker 1: opportune windfall. Was that plenty of luck you have. But
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  Speaker 1: Dridgeon nodded his head. He always nodded his head to
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  Speaker 1: show that he differed. Quite the contrary, said Dridgeon, I
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  Speaker 1: fear me honorable neighbors that my aunt's bequest is an
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  Speaker 1: ill thing. Altogether, it is luck the worst. Thirty thousand
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  Speaker 1: cash are so heavy that I shall be compelled to
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  Speaker 1: make at least two trips to fetch them. Besides, the
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  Speaker 1: beggars will be annoying me without let up from break
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  Speaker 1: of day till I break their heads and think of thieves.
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  Speaker 1: The money will bring me ill, I am sure. And
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  Speaker 1: Dridgeon laughed heartily, for that was his way of expressing sorrow. However,
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  Speaker 1: Dridgeun's excellent wife knew how to manage him. She said,
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  Speaker 1: quite right, if I were you, I wouldn't dream of
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  Speaker 1: going for the fortune, and I wouldn't once think of
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  Speaker 1: writing the donkey, not once. And she spoke as if
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  Speaker 1: she meant her words. Therefore, upon his donkey, the contrary
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  Speaker 1: husband started for Sunbu, where his beloved aunt had lived
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  Speaker 1: in left riches. Immediately outside the ending village, the traveler
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  Speaker 1: was forced to cross a river. The current was swift,
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  Speaker 1: and it washed the hat shoes from Dridgeun's feet down
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  Speaker 1: The stream swirled the hats with their owner in splashy
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  Speaker 1: pursuit the neighbors who had gathered to bid Old Contrary
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  Speaker 1: a fine journey were loud in lamentation over his loss.
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  Speaker 1: They exclaimed, beating their breasts. Oh, Drideun, we are so
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  Speaker 1: sorry that you have lost your hat shoes, so utterly sorry.
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  Speaker 1: With our eyes we weep for you and cry, alas,
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  Speaker 1: what terrible luck it is, demon sent luck in truth.
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  Speaker 1: But Dredjun paused in his splashing and answered them, why no,
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  Speaker 1: I dare say it is not bad luck at all,
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  Speaker 1: Quite the opposite, my esteemed neighbors. It may be very fortunate. Indeed,
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  Speaker 1: he wept to show that he was well pleased. Meanwhile,
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  Speaker 1: the onward swept hat shoes disappeared from view. Dredjun raced
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  Speaker 1: along the bank, calling and anxiously scanning the water for
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  Speaker 1: a trace of his lost property. The neighbors too hurried.
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  Speaker 1: After one, leading the donkey. Rounding a willow draped elbow
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  Speaker 1: of the river, Dredgeun stumbled over a boat that had
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  Speaker 1: drifted ashore, fell headlong and heavily, his chin plowing a
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  Speaker 1: prodigious furrow in the sand. Up panted the neighbors, shouting alas,
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  Speaker 1: likewise a lack, what woe, such woe, poor Dredgeuhn, how
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  Speaker 1: we ache for you our own bones pain out of sympathy.
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  Speaker 1: What a horrible calamity. Dredjun stretched out a hand to
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  Speaker 1: pick up his two hat shoes drifted against a willow bough,
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  Speaker 1: said he rather indistinctly, because of the sand in his mouth.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing of the kind, greatly respected neighbors. My fall was
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  Speaker 1: most beneficial, for it placed me nearly atop my lost shoes.
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  Speaker 1: Otherwise I might never have found them, He sobbed to
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  Speaker 1: prove his joy. It is doubtful if the others heard.
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  Speaker 1: They inquisitive fellows that they were, had hands and eyes
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  Speaker 1: and tongues busy as they investigated the boat that had
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  Speaker 1: caused Dredgoon's downfall. Lifting a dress and unpromising raincloth, they
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  Speaker 1: discovered underneath a cargo of precious tribute silks. Only the
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  Speaker 1: best stuff, such as are sent in tribute to His
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  Speaker 1: Majesty the Emperor. There were bales of silk and sown
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  Speaker 1: garments of silk. There were reds and greens, and purples,
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  Speaker 1: browns and blacks, and gold, orange, blue and pink. They
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  Speaker 1: surpassed the rainbow in vivid hue. How marvelous, gasped the neighbors.
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  Speaker 1: Your fortune is made, judjehen, What stupendous luck. We who
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  Speaker 1: have always been your truest friends, aiding you with turnips
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  Speaker 1: and money in time of need, now rejoice with you.
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  Speaker 1: Dudjun nodded, I must beg leave to disagree on That
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  Speaker 1: was his contradiction. It is no very good luck. I
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  Speaker 1: would sooner have stepped on a fretful tiger. Really, it
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  Speaker 1: is terrible finding this boat. The neighbors squinted eyes at
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  Speaker 1: each other and spoke a pity that you won't take
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  Speaker 1: the find, howbeit good for us, we can make profitable
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  Speaker 1: use of these things. They were silly to say that.
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  Speaker 1: Dridge Un promptly loaded his donkey with silks, a burdenworth
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  Speaker 1: even in the beggar's market, double or more the thirty
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  Speaker 1: thousand cash left by his aunt. He donned the most
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  Speaker 1: slightly lilac colored coat, and departed thus, with his donkey laden,
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  Speaker 1: and his own back resplendent. Dredgeun fared onward towards Sunpu
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  Speaker 1: scarce had he gone too late when a band of
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  Speaker 1: brigands espied him. There goes old dud je Un, said
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  Speaker 1: a brigand he is too poor to rob that donkey
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  Speaker 1: of his is older than my own. Dear great grandfather
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  Speaker 1: and possesses a most deplorable temper. But the robber chief spoke, nonsense,
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  Speaker 1: you shallow pate. Look at his lilac robe, look at
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  Speaker 1: the silks upon his beast. We could scarcely have better fortune,
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  Speaker 1: though we opened sacks within our noble emperor's treasury. So
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  Speaker 1: the robbers fell upon Dredgun and stripped him of his stuffs,
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  Speaker 1: his donkey, his robe, his purse. All they took. It
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  Speaker 1: was a well placed traveler who returned to de ending
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  Speaker 1: village and related his misadventure. The villagers, to a man
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  Speaker 1: sympathized greatly. Our hearts go out to you, most excellent
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  Speaker 1: dredge Un. They condoled, undoubtedly you have suffered. How you
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  Speaker 1: must grieve, and we also grieve. It is all pleasure
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  Speaker 1: swept away. Stubborn Dredgeun could not agree, said he who knows,
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  Speaker 1: but that it was good luck. Had I continued through
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  Speaker 1: the mountains, I might have been killed by falling rocks.
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  Speaker 1: Think of that, beyond doubt. The robber saved my life.
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  Speaker 1: Yet you, my supposed friends, say it was bad luck.
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  Speaker 1: Early next morning, Jedgun's ancient donkey returned to the village.
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  Speaker 1: She had broken loose from the brigands and ambled home
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  Speaker 1: with all her load of silks. Intact, how the neighbors rejoiced.
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  Speaker 1: A person might easily have thought that the little donkey
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  Speaker 1: belonged to them. So jubilant were they. Oh, John, awake,
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  Speaker 1: they screamed, Here is your donkey, all hearty and hail,
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  Speaker 1: with not so much as a yard of silk missing.
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  Speaker 1: What wonderful, wonderful luck? Jedjun said, I'm afraid, good, gracious, yes,
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  Speaker 1: it's very bad luck. No good can come of this.
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  Speaker 1: It's unfortunate as can be, alas alas, Nor was he
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  Speaker 1: far wrong? That very morning, while ministering to a wound
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  Speaker 1: upon the donkey, that sinful little beast kicked with such
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  Speaker 1: violence as to break her master's leg. The somewhat inquisitive
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  Speaker 1: neighbor gathered as bees gathered to the blossoming beans. Oh oh, oh,
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  Speaker 1: they screamed, what is the matter? Did the shameless donkey
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  Speaker 1: kick our handsome neighbor? Truly she did, laughed Dridgeon, so
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  Speaker 1: hard that I think my leg has come apart. And
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  Speaker 1: as he thought, so it was he could not walk.
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  Speaker 1: The neighbors redoubled their wails, asking each other is not
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  Speaker 1: that the extreme height of ill fortune not at all
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  Speaker 1: denied old Dridgeon, perhaps a trifle grumpily, in my opinion,
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  Speaker 1: it may be a blessing. It, no doubt, will save
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  Speaker 1: me from something worse. Besides, it convinces me that my
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  Speaker 1: donkey is very strong despite her age. By darkest midnight,
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  Speaker 1: the cawn of the warlike Tartars, with fifty thousand men
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  Speaker 1: down to raid such villages as had rather foolishly been
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  Speaker 1: built outside the great wall, d'ending suffered. Every able bodied
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  Speaker 1: man was taken prisoner. Only the very strong, the extremely ancient,
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  Speaker 1: the lame, the blind, and the bed ridden were left
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  Speaker 1: in their homes. Dred Jun was one of those thus spared.
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  Speaker 1: Lameness and age were in his favor. By torchlight, a toothless,
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  Speaker 1: grinning old neighbor dropped into Dridun's cave to say that
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  Speaker 1: the danger was no more. The Tartars are gone, my
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  Speaker 1: admirable friend, Dridjuhn, and so are all of our young
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  Speaker 1: men and our goods, even to how's chimneys. I think
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  Speaker 1: you and I are about the only ones spared. How
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  Speaker 1: fortunate we are. It may be all very fortunate for
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  Speaker 1: you put in Dridjehn. But as for me, I have
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  Speaker 1: a feeling that things could be much better and still
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  Speaker 1: be not so good. I wish the tartars had carried
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  Speaker 1: me into captivity astride my own poor lost donkey, for
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  Speaker 1: of course his donkey was gone again with the dawning.
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  Speaker 1: His majesty, the Emperor jing Dong, entered the village to
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  Speaker 1: learn of its losses. He was told that all of
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  Speaker 1: the men, save half a dozen, Judgeun among them, had
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  Speaker 1: been carried off. Why wasn't dudge un taken, asked the Emperor.
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  Speaker 1: He was told a cripple for ninety years in a day.
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  Speaker 1: Why wasn't Dridge un taken? Asked the Emperor, Because, Noble
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  Speaker 1: Majesty answered a villager kneeling three times and knocking his
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  Speaker 1: head on the ground thrice with each kneeling, Because most
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  Speaker 1: gracious light of the Sun and beauty of the moon,
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  Speaker 1: Lord of the Earth and sea and sky, drid Jun
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  Speaker 1: was kicked by his own donkey, And I well remember
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  Speaker 1: his saying at the time that it was extremely fortunate
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  Speaker 1: his leg was broken. A blessing, those were his words,
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  Speaker 1: and they were true. What say you, thundered the emperor
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  Speaker 1: A blessing to be crippled. Why then, this Dridgeon must
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  Speaker 1: have known beforehand that the tartars were coming to carry
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  Speaker 1: away my people. He must have known it, and knowing
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  Speaker 1: gave us no warning. Bid this traitorous fellow appear, Soldiers,
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  Speaker 1: go headsman, draw your sword. Fortunately, Dredgun's wife heard the
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  Speaker 1: Emperor's command. Swiftly she ran home. As she entered the cave,
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  Speaker 1: Dredgun sneezed. Kocho. The sneeze led to an excellent idea,
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  Speaker 1: said the wife. Aha, Aha, with much emphasis. You were
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  Speaker 1: out in your boat on the river last week, and
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  Speaker 1: now you have a cold. Adding with proper severity, don't
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  Speaker 1: you go near the river again? Do you hear? She
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  Speaker 1: knew very well what would happen? My husband come back
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  Speaker 1: lame as he was. Dridge Un promptly left the cave
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  Speaker 1: and got into his boat. The good wife smiled and screamed,
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  Speaker 1: don't row with such vicar. Soldiers ran to the bank
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  Speaker 1: of the stream and called come back, and louder they shouted,
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  Speaker 1: come back. That was extremely foolish of them. They should
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  Speaker 1: have said go on. Contrary to the last, dredge Un
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  Speaker 1: sat the wrong way in his boat and rowed for
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  Speaker 1: dear life end of Section fourteen.