LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Frontispiece
| FACING PAGE | |
| All night the two sisters could be seen in their palace garden, stitching away by the light of the moon | 24 |
| For nine years Miao Shan thought only good thoughts and at last she became perfect | 36 |
| So fair did the maiden look there in the garden that the young mam, straightway fell in love with her | 60 |
| "Look at that cloud!" cried the Emperor. "There in the center. Is not that our dear daughter?" | 104 |
| The maiden gave a cry and fled down the path, her rosy robe floating behind her like the tail of a phoenix | 128 |
| Only the seventh, the fair spinning maid could not find her red robe and was forced to stay behind | 184 |
| The women and girls chased the butterflies with their fans to make them fly faster | 202 |
| The maiden called to the bird to bring her shoe back to her, but it did not listen | 250 |
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
THE POPULAR FOLK TALES which have been adapted in this book by the author, have been collected from many sources, among which mention should be made of E. T. C. Werner's "Myths and Legends of China" and "A Dictionary of Chinese Mythology"; Dr. John C. Ferguson's "Chinese Mythology"; The China Review; Edouard Chavannes "Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues, Extraits du Tripitaka Chinois"; Herbert A. Giles' translation of the tales of P'u Sung-ling; General Tcheng Ki-tong's "Les Plaisirs en China"; and Wang Chi Chen's translation of "The Dream of the Red Chamber. "
The author also wishes to express gratitude to Jen Tai, Chinese poet and critic, for assistance in checking the accuracy of her pictures of family life in Old China.
TALES OF A
CHINESE GRANDMOTHER
I
INSIDE THE BRIGHT RED GATE
THE TWO HALVES of the bright red gate in the gray wall had been opened for the day. Old Chang, the blue-gowned gatekeeper of the Ling household, had already wiped clean the glossy red varnish that covered their wood sides. He was now busy polishing the brass bird-heads from whose beaks hung heavy rings that served as gate handles.
"The Old Mistress will come soon. The gate must be in order," the man muttered to himself as he slowly rubbed the yellow metal.
Outside, along the narrow street of the Chinese city, between the gray walls that rose high on each side of it, men were passing back and forth on their early morning errands. Inside this red gate people were stirring. All the low one-story houses built round the Ling courtyards were coming to life.
In one of the inner courts two children, a boy named Ah Shung, and his sister, Yu Lang, stood before a door that opened upon a covered veranda under a curving roof of gray tiles.
"We are here, bowing before you, Grandmother," the boy said as he rapped on the wooden door frame.
"Are you well, Lao Lao?" asked the girl who was standing just behind him.
"Ai, Little Bear. Ai, my precious Jade Flower, it is you. Have you eaten already?" a voice called from within.
The two children bowed low as the old woman came to the door and stood there for a moment looking them over. Ah Shung and Yu Lang admired their grandmother. She was the oldest and thus the most important person they knew. In their land, where age was treated with such great respect, everyone wished to be thought as old as possible. The name their grandmother liked best to be called was "Lao Lao," which means "Old Old One."
In her elegant garments of dark silk lined with soft squirrel fur this old Chinese grandmother made a fine figure. She was