Page:A history of Chinese literature - Giles.djvu/444

 432 CHINESE LITERATURE

" ' Tis rapture in the warm spring days to drop the tempting fly In the green pool where deep and still the darkling waters lie ; And if the fishes dare not touch the bait your Highness flings, They know that only dragons are a fitting sport for kings"

Liu Chi (nth cent. A.D.) was a youth who had gained some notoriety by his fondness for strange phraseology, which was much reprobated by the great Ou-yang Hsiu. When the latter was Grand Examiner, one of the candi- dates sent in a doggerel triplet as follows :

" The universe is in labour, All things are produced. And among them the Sage"

"This must be Liu Chi," cried Ou-yang, and ran a red-ink pen through the composition, adding these two lines :

" The undergraduate jokes, The examiner ploughs?

Later on, about the year 1060, Ou-yang was very much struck by the essay of a certain candidate, and placed him first on the list. When the names were read out, he found that the first man was Liu Chi, who had changed his name to Liu Yiin.

Chang Hsiian-tsu was a wit of the Han dynasty. When he was only eight years old, some one laughed at him for having lost several teeth, and said, "What are those dog-holes in your mouth for ? " "They are there," replied Chang, " to let puppies like you run in and out."

Collections of wit and humour of the Joe Miller type are often to be seen in the hands of Chinese readers, and may be bought at any bookstall. Like many novels of the cheap and worthless class, not to be mentioned with the masterpieces of fiction described in this volume,

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