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008 - Many Wives · Shen of the Sea- A Book for Children

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  Speaker 1: Section eight 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 Kimmie Weldon. Sheen of
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  Speaker 1: the Sea A Book for Children by Arthur Bowie Chrisman,
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  Speaker 1: Many Wives. This is the story that kung Lin tells
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  Speaker 1: hour after hour in the peaceful shade of bell that
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  Speaker 1: rings Offen Temple. The people have relish for Kunglin's favorite
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  Speaker 1: story and give him much money. The tattered old fellow
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  Speaker 1: sometimes receives as much as five cents in a single day,
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  Speaker 1: so outrageously fortune. It is kung Lin, the teller of tales.
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  Speaker 1: He does no work of any kind whatsoever, merely sits
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  Speaker 1: in the shade and talks, and hears the tinkle of
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  Speaker 1: coins in his bowl, and hears the people saying, it
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  Speaker 1: is well told, kung Ln. Here is some money, and
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  Speaker 1: I hope you find it as good as your story.
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  Speaker 1: Not all makers of yarns find such sympathetic hearers as
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  Speaker 1: the story is given by kung Ln. There once lived
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  Speaker 1: a maiden named Radiant Blossom, and she was still more
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  Speaker 1: lovely than the loveliest maiden. The face of Radiant Blossom
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  Speaker 1: was shaped like a seed of the melon. It was
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  Speaker 1: regularly oval wide at the brow, small as to chin.
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  Speaker 1: The maiden's eyebrows were like a leaf of the willow.
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  Speaker 1: Her eyes resembled the heart of an apricot. Her lips
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  Speaker 1: in color made cherries seem pale. Her feet were three
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  Speaker 1: inch golden lilies, and when she walked, she swayed as
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  Speaker 1: a poplar sways in summer zephyrs. Furthermore, she was skilled
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  Speaker 1: in embroidery. Her fingers coaxed sweetest music from flute and lute.
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  Speaker 1: Her voice had its only rival in a fountain of
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  Speaker 1: the palace, where water plashes on tuneful silver keys. A
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  Speaker 1: brief description this, But even so, where within the province
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  Speaker 1: of many rivers, journeying by boat of two sails or three,
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  Speaker 1: could one look for a maiden to surpass Radiant Blossom,
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  Speaker 1: daughter of Ming Chi, red buttoned, mandarin and proud. Here
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  Speaker 1: now of the reigning Emperor Wong Singh. That illustrious monarch
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  Speaker 1: was having a fine time in the ruling of his realm.
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  Speaker 1: He dined in heavy armor and slept with a saddle
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  Speaker 1: for Pillow. It was war here and battle there, and
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  Speaker 1: fighting in between. A dozen of his generals were in revolt.
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  Speaker 1: No sooner was a rebellion put down than two new ones,
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  Speaker 1: and worse took its place, And there was trouble elsewhere
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  Speaker 1: outside the empire. Fierce barbarians, led and inspired by their
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  Speaker 1: haughty chieftain wolf Heart, grew every day more impudent and threatening.
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  Speaker 1: Wolfhart openly boasted that with the coming of pleasant weather
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  Speaker 1: he intended to leap his horse over the Great Wall.
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  Speaker 1: Is it any wonder that Wang Sing's noble beard soon
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  Speaker 1: took on a hue like that of the lime which
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  Speaker 1: boys splash on fences. But Wang Sing was no weakling
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  Speaker 1: monarch to lose his crown in his head, saying it
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  Speaker 1: was willed by the fates. What else could I do?
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  Speaker 1: He called in a fearless old councilor known as Jing,
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  Speaker 1: who speaks only enough, said the Emperor, good Ching, Although
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  Speaker 1: you are ever up to your ears in a book,
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  Speaker 1: perhaps you have heard of my numerous troubles. A new
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  Speaker 1: one I think every day. What wis ching is the
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  Speaker 1: cure Ching who speaks only enough? Replied marriage. The Emperor
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  Speaker 1: raised his eyebrows. Marriage he could hardly believe it. Marriage
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  Speaker 1: to put down rebellion, A pause hunh Ching repeated, and
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  Speaker 1: a trifle louder marriage. Still, the emperor doubted, what marriage?
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  Speaker 1: Will marriage cause wolf heart to sheathe his sword? Marriage
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  Speaker 1: to tame the barbarian? It is foolishness, But surely I
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  Speaker 1: misunderstand your words. But indeed he did not, And there
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  Speaker 1: was only one word marriage. That was all the advice
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  Speaker 1: most mighty Wong Sing could get from word stingy Old Ching,
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  Speaker 1: who speaks only enough, however, is not enough always enough,
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  Speaker 1: is not a word to the wise like melonseeds planted
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  Speaker 1: in fertile ground. A little study soon convinced the puissant
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  Speaker 1: Wang Sing that Old Ching had given good advice. Immediately
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  Speaker 1: he acted upon it. He wrote to every Mandarin of
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  Speaker 1: any consequence within the bounds of his empire. The letters
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  Speaker 1: are too long to quote, but the sum of them
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  Speaker 1: was this, I wog Sing, ruler of the Earth and
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  Speaker 1: the moon and three fourths of the Sun, will consider
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  Speaker 1: it a favor to receive your beauteous thousand pieces of
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  Speaker 1: gold in marriage. Every Mandarin replied by sending to the
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  Speaker 1: palace a daughter. No magic could have stopped the rebellions,
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  Speaker 1: quicker revolt was at an end. Could a rebel leader,
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  Speaker 1: no matter how determined, continue to rebel when all his
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  Speaker 1: colonels and majors, and half of his captains were fathers
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  Speaker 1: in law to the emperor, It was impossible. The fighting
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  Speaker 1: was over in a twinkling. Marriage had done it for months.
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  Speaker 1: Came damsels to the royal Palace. And what damsels they were,
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  Speaker 1: short and tall, lean and stout, young and old, perfect
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  Speaker 1: beauties and perfectly horribles. They came and came and came.
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  Speaker 1: It is hard to number them with exact figures. Some
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  Speaker 1: histories say that five thousand maids came to Wong Sing
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  Speaker 1: his wives to be. Others vow to ten thousand. But
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  Speaker 1: why quarrel over a difference of a few thousand wives.
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  Speaker 1: The point is that they were numerous. Wong Sing was
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  Speaker 1: out of pocket several tons of gold for the construction
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  Speaker 1: of a wing to the palace for housing them all.
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  Speaker 1: Probably fifteen thousand was the correct figure. Surely the worst
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  Speaker 1: guess are in the world would in time conclude that
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  Speaker 1: the beautiful radiant Blossom was among the Emperor Wong's twenty
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  Speaker 1: thousand wives. Of a certainty, she was radiant blossom came
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  Speaker 1: to the palace in the month of ripening Apricots. It
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  Speaker 1: was midwinter before she so much as glimpsed her lord
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  Speaker 1: and master, the Emperor, And then she saw him only
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  Speaker 1: for a moment at a distance. For Wog Singh was
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  Speaker 1: very like the old man, or was it a woman
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  Speaker 1: who lived in a sandal or whatever it was? He
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  Speaker 1: had so many wives, he scarce knew what to do.
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  Speaker 1: And is it any wonder imagine a staid and settled
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  Speaker 1: old batcheler's sudden gain of five or thirty thousand or
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  Speaker 1: more wives. Poor Wog admitted a few dozen of them
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  Speaker 1: to her reception, and in less time than it takes
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  Speaker 1: to tell all of the palace physicians were busily binding
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  Speaker 1: ice to his fevered brow. They thought his mind was shattered.
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  Speaker 1: After that experience, the Emperor was more careful. He summoned
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  Speaker 1: the court artist one Lo Yang, and said, Lo Yang,
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  Speaker 1: I desire you to paint truthful portraits of all my wives.
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  Speaker 1: When the paintings are finished, bring them to me that
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  Speaker 1: I may decide which maid is most beautiful. Her I
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  Speaker 1: shall take as my really truly bride. Now, Lo Yang
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  Speaker 1: was an artist of ability in no denying, but he
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  Speaker 1: was a scamp and a half. The first portrait he
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  Speaker 1: painted was that of Ying Ning, a monstrous ugly maiden.
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  Speaker 1: But Ying Ning was quite rich and liberal. She gladdened
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  Speaker 1: Lo Yang's dishonest palm with gold, and he portrayed her
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  Speaker 1: as marvelously beautiful. Of all Lo Yang's paintings, the portrait
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  Speaker 1: of Ying Ning is most sightly. Yet she was the
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  Speaker 1: very ugliest of Wang Sing's many wives. By and bye,
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  Speaker 1: it came Radiant Blossom's turn to sit for a portrait.
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  Speaker 1: Lo Yang suggested that for a moderate weight of gold,
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  Speaker 1: say ten pounds, he could make his brush fairly outdo itself.
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  Speaker 1: Radiant Blossom refused with indignation, bribe you to paint me
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  Speaker 1: as I am not. Never Lo Yang begged for pardon.
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  Speaker 1: He seemed extremely penitent. He vowed that he would do
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  Speaker 1: his best work. But when the portrait was finished, it
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  Speaker 1: was enough to frighten the blind. The shameless rascal had
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  Speaker 1: made of lovely Radiant Blossom a gruesome crone, a witch,
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  Speaker 1: a slattern. Upon beholding it, the Emperor covered his eyes
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  Speaker 1: with a sleeve. Horrors, horror of horrors, Remove it instantly,
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  Speaker 1: Go go take it away. Such repulsive ugliness. It is
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  Speaker 1: a mere waste of words to add that Radiant Blossom
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  Speaker 1: was not chosen to be Wog Singh's own, really truly
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  Speaker 1: and well beloved bride. The braggart barbarian chief failed of
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  Speaker 1: his promise to leap over the great Wall. Knowing that
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  Speaker 1: Wang Sing's armies were united in stanch, wolf Heart boasted
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  Speaker 1: no more, and his impudence was hushed. He thought it
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  Speaker 1: just as well to keep the peace. And when Wang
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  Speaker 1: Sing doubled doubled his armies, the barbarian sent thick letters
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  Speaker 1: in which every line told of his long felt love
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  Speaker 1: and respect for the emperor. He had the audacity to
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  Speaker 1: ask Wang for a wife from the Imperial palace. Of course,
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  Speaker 1: that was purest impudence in a way, though wolf Hart
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  Speaker 1: probably thought that he was being extremely nice. The Emperor
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  Speaker 1: read an amaze. For a moment, it seemed that his
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  Speaker 1: face would burst into flame, so read it got then
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  Speaker 1: he smiled a wife. To be sure, I will send
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  Speaker 1: him a wife. Chancellor, what is the name of that
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  Speaker 1: maiden whose picture is so terrible? Radiant Blossom, Bid, Radiant Blossom,
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  Speaker 1: prepare for a long journey. I am sending her to
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  Speaker 1: the barbarian to be his wife. O ho ho, what
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  Speaker 1: a jest I should like to hear Wolfhart's rage when
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  Speaker 1: he views her. Ugh, I shudder when I think of
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  Speaker 1: that horrible crone. The maiden Radiant Blossom heard her sentence
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  Speaker 1: without the faintest stir of emotion. There came no pallor
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  Speaker 1: to her cheeks, no tremble moved her lips. Seemingly it
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  Speaker 1: mattered not at all to her, And while the other
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  Speaker 1: maidens wept for her fate, she smiled and brushed the
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  Speaker 1: string of her lute, humming butterfly that pleasured yesteryear. A
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  Speaker 1: few hours more, and Radiant Blossom was seated in a
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  Speaker 1: gilt and lacquered sedan chair, borne by poles on the
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  Speaker 1: shoulders of royal slaves, traveling in haste toward the setting sun.
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  Speaker 1: Poor Radiant Blossom, hastening into exile, pressing toward her doom
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  Speaker 1: to become the bride of a vandal. Not dew, but
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  Speaker 1: tears from the darkness descended. The Nightingale's song was a
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  Speaker 1: sobbing of pity. The very trees that lined the road
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  Speaker 1: sowed deep despair to the river, to the river where
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  Speaker 1: on the farther shore waited wolf Heart. The slaves hurried
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  Speaker 1: through the night. His Majesty Wuong Singh dressed him in
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  Speaker 1: rough clothing, and by another highway made even greater speed
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  Speaker 1: to the river. He wished to be near when their
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  Speaker 1: barbarian greeted his bride. He wished to gloat over wolf
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  Speaker 1: Heart's surprise and furious resentment, expecting a youthful and lotus
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  Speaker 1: like maiden. How the barbarian would rave to behold a
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  Speaker 1: withered hag. His majesty the Emperor expected to receive more
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  Speaker 1: than a little pleasure to pay him for the adventure.
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  Speaker 1: The light sidan that bore radiant blossoms sped down to
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  Speaker 1: the river. A flower hung sampan was waiting. The slaves
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  Speaker 1: put down their burden. Oars splashed the shore, sprang back.
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  Speaker 1: The swifting current was deep beneath. Did the curtains of
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  Speaker 1: the gilt suddan flutter aside? Was it a spirit that
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  Speaker 1: glided so quickly from the royal s'dan? A slave shouted warning.
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  Speaker 1: His cry was taken up by the others. The oars
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  Speaker 1: stopped short in stroke, torches flared. The boat listed heavily
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  Speaker 1: on its side as men's warmed to the railing. They
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  Speaker 1: talked and frightened squeaks where squeaked one there from another,
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  Speaker 1: and I see nothing. She is gone, drowned. The river
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  Speaker 1: took her to be his bride, drowned, and our next
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  Speaker 1: will pay. Wolf Heart uncovered his wrath in all its blackness.
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  Speaker 1: He spoke with such fury that Wang Singh became frightened
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  Speaker 1: and offered to send another bride, a dozen brides. The
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  Speaker 1: barbarian refused to accept brides. He demanded gold, much of it. Gold,
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  Speaker 1: he said, could not leap into the river, and even
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  Speaker 1: if it did leap from a boat, it would not
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  Speaker 1: necessarily be lost. For that matter, a maiden may leap
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  Speaker 1: from a boat and not necessarily be lost. Radiant Blossom
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  Speaker 1: had passed her early days in the province of many divers.
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  Speaker 1: Her home had been a river. She knew the waters
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  Speaker 1: as a friend. Having leaped from the boat, Radiant Blossom
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  Speaker 1: permitted the river to hide her for long. Deeply she swam,
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  Speaker 1: and the clouded current was a veil. At last, when
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  Speaker 1: she knew that the torches were far behind, she arose.
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  Speaker 1: The night was another veil. To the hut of a
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  Speaker 1: fisherman went Radiant Blossom. She received coarse clothing that made
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  Speaker 1: of her in look a different maiden. Thus glad she
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  Speaker 1: journeyed to the home of her father. Some time later,
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  Speaker 1: a portrait was brought to his majesty, the Emperor Wang Singh.
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  Speaker 1: The portrait was that of a beautiful maid. It bore
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  Speaker 1: no words. Wang sing offered much gold to any person
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  Speaker 1: who could tell him the name of one so beautiful.
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  Speaker 1: The maiden would make him a superlative wife. He wished
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  Speaker 1: to find her, but he never did. End of Section eight.