Page:A history of Chinese literature - Giles.djvu/432

 420 CHINESE LITERATURE

and pointing at the rainbow, or even at the sun, moon, and stars. In all these cases, periods will be cut off from the life of the offender, and if his life is exhausted while any guilt still remains unexpiated, the punishment due will be carried on to the account of his descendants.

The second of the two works under consideration is the Yu Li CHao Chuan, a description of the Ten Courts of Purgatory in the nether world, through some or all of which every erring soul must pass before being allowed to be born again into this world under another form, or to be permanently transferred to the eternal bliss reserved for the righteous alone.

In the Fifth Court, for instance, the sinners are hurried away by bull- headed, horse-faced demons to a famous terrace, where their physical punishments are aggravated by a view of their old homes :

"This terrace is curved in front like a bow; it looks east, west, and south. It is eighty-one // from one extreme to the other. The back part is like the string of a bow ; it is enclosed by a wall of sharp swords. It is 490 feet high ; its sides are knife-blades ; and the whole is in sixty-three storeys. No good shade comes to this terrace ; neither do those whose balance of good and evil is exact. Wicked souls alone behold their homes close by, and can see and hear what is going on. They hear old and young talking together ; they see their last wishes disregarded and their instructions dis- obeyed. Everything seems to have undergone a change. The property they scraped together with so much trouble is dissipated and gone. The husband thinks of taking another wife ; the widow meditates second nup- tials. Strangers are in possession of the old estate ; there is nothing to divide amongst the children. Debts long

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