Page:Frank Owen - The Scarlett Hill, 1941.djvu/285

RV 280 (AN LU-SHAN) with all its magic music, fragrance of jewels and music of color. The jovial crowds in Lantern Street slowed traffic to snail-pace.

On the evening of the fifteenth, when "The Feast of Lanterns" reached its peak and even the moon was in carnival spirit, Yang Kuei-fei, accompanied by the Emperor and An Lu-shan, mingled with the populace in the crowded lanes of the gaudily decorated bazaars. She wore a veil so that her identity might not be discovered. As for the Emperor and An Lu-shan, nothing in their costumes suggested that they were other than rich farmers or prosperous merchants.

Though Yang Kuei-fei was unaware of it, her high position at Court had considerably advanced the importance of girl babies. Always the T'angs wished for sons, but it is not true that they were cruel to their daughters. Now, however, girl babies had won some measure of equality with their brothers. The people said, "Be not glad at the birth of a son nor sad at the birth of a daughter; the sovereign regards a woman as a door lintel."

That night everyone carried a lantern. Throughout the Empire ten million lanterns burned. There were even small lanterns for children. Yang Kuei-fei's lantern was formed like a red hibiscus flower, Ming Huang's a peony, while An Lu-shan's resembled a willow-tree. In the streets were lanterns of every variety, shape and hue. They glittered in the distance like fireflies. RV 280 (280)