And Judas-tree in flower before the door.[1]
A few steps farther on was a neat bamboo hedge, on the other side of which, towards the north, he found a small house, with three columns, the door of which was locked; and another, towards the south, with its window shaded by the broad leaves of a plaintain-tree. The door was barred by a clothes-horse,[2] on which was hanging an embroidered petticoat; and, on seeing this, Wang stepped back, knowing that he had got to the ladies' quarters; but his presence had already been noticed inside, and, in another mement, out came his heroine of the boat. Overjoyed at seeing her, he was on the point of grasping her hand, when suddenly the girl's father arrived, and, in his consternation, Wang waked up, and found that it was all a dream. Every incident of it, however, remained clear and distinct in his mind, and he took care to say nothing about it to anybody, for fear of destroying its reality.
Another year passed away, and he went again to Chinkiang, where lived an official, named Hsü, who was an old friend of the family, and who invited Wang to come and take a cup of wine with him. On his way thither, Wang lost his way, but at length reached a village which seemed familiar to him, and which he soon found, by the door with the magnolia inside, to be identical in every particular with the village of his dream. He went in through the
- ↑ From a poem by P'an T'ang-shên, which runs:—
Her rustic home stands by the Tung-t'ing lake.
Ye who would there a pure libation pour,
Look for mud walls, a roof of rushy make,
And Judas-tree in flower before the door.The Chinese believe that the Judas-tree will only bloom where fraternal love prevails.
- ↑ I have already observed that men and women should not let their hands touch when passing things to each other (see No. XL., note 2); neither is it considered proper for persons of different sexes to hang their clothes on the same clothes-horse. (See Appendix, note 42.)
With regard to shaking hands, I have omitted to mention how objectionable this custom is in the eyes of the Chinese, as in vogue among foreigners, without reference to sex. They believe that a bad man might easily secrete some noxious drug in the palm of his hand, and so convey it into the system of any woman, who would then be at his mercy.
