Page:A history of Chinese literature - Giles.djvu/182

 170 CHINESE LITERATURE

Three thousand peerless beauties adorned

the apartments of the monarch's harem, Yet always his Majesty reserved

his attentions for her alone. Passing her life in a "golden house" l

with fair girls to wait on her, She was daily wafted to ecstasy

on the wine fumes of the banquet-hall. Her sisters and her brothers, one and all,

were raised to the rank of nobles. Alas ! for the ill-omened glories

which she conferred on her family. For thus it came about that fathers and mothers

through the length and breadth of the empire Rejoiced no longer over the birth of sons,

but over the birth of daughters. In the gorgeous palace

piercing the grey clouds above, Divine music, borne on the breeze,

is spread around on all sides ; Of song and the dance

to the guitar and flute, All through the live long day,

his Majesty never tires. But suddenly comes the roll

of the fish-skin war-drums, Breaking rudely upon the air

of the " Rainbow Skirt and Feather Jacket

FLIGHT. Clouds of dust envelop

the lofty gates of the capital. A thousand war-chariots and ten thousand horses

move towards the south-west. Feathers and jewels among the throng,

onwards and then a halt. A hundred \\ beyond the western gate,

leaving behind them the city walls,

1 Referring to A-chiao, one of the consorts of an Emperor of the Han dynasty. "Ah," said the latter when a boy, "if I could only get A-chiao, I would hare a golden house to keep her in."

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