among the celebrities of old. Just then the attendants handed her some exquisitely fragrant tea, and stood glittering round her hke a bank of beautiful embroidery. In a few moments the young lady arose and descended from the kiosque ; at which one of her attendants cried out, "Is your Highness too fatigued by riding to take a turn in the swing?" The princess replied that she was not ; and immediately some held her under the shoulders, while others seized her arms, and others, again, arranged her petticoats and supported her feet. Thus they helped her into the swing, she herself stretching out her shining arms, and putting her feet into a suitable pair of slippers;[1] and then — away she went, light as a flying-swallow, far up into the fleecy clouds. As soon as she had had enough, the attendants helped her out, and one of them exclaimed, "Truly, your Highness is a perfect angel!" At this the young lady laughed, and walked away, Ch'en gazing after her in a state of semi-consciousness, until, at length, the voices died away, and he and his servant crept forth. Walking up and down near the swing, he suddenly espied a red handkerchief near the paling, which he knew had been dropped by one of the young ladies ; and, thrust- ing it joyfully into his sleeve, he walked up and entered the kiosque. There, upon a table, lay writing materials, and taking out the handkerchief he indited upon it the following lines : —
What form divine was just now sporting nigh?—
'Twas she, I trow, of "golden lily" fame;
Her charms the moon's fair denizens might shame,
Her fairy footsteps bear her to the sky.
Humming this stanza to himself, Ch'en walked along seeking for the path by which he had entered; but every door was securely barred, and he knew not what to do. So he went back to the kiosque, when suddenly one of the young ladies appeared, and asked him in astonishment what he did there. "I have lost my way," replied Ch'en ;
harem; hence his establishment came to be called the Palace of Small Waists.
- ↑ Probably of felt or some such material, to prevent the young lady from slipping as she stood, in this case, not sat, in the swing. Chinese girls swing either standing or sitting.
