Page:Frank Owen - The Scarlett Hill, 1941.djvu/66

RV 61 (PORTRAIT OF AN EMPEROR) the father of many sons. Now it was too late, though it was not too late for Kao Li-shih to be an Elder Brother to the sons of the Emperor. Ming Huang was thankful that he had so worthy an administrator, for Kao was supreme master of three thousand eunuchs. His presence brought some measure of light to even the darkest moments. And yet he had once been accused of having a violent temper. Long before the accession of Ming Huang he had been sent up to the Palace during the extraordinary reign of the cruel Empress Wu How. Her refinements of torture reflected inventive genius. One of her favorites was to pour vinegar into the nostrils of her enemies. She had started as a concubine. Thereafter she schemed, murdered and mutilated until she was able to steal the very Empire. No one was strong enough to dispute her. When she gazed upon mighty Generals they became as impotent as eunuchs. Her eccentricities were legion. In the course of her reign she styled herself Sheng Shen Huang Ti which means "God Almighty." She insisted that nobody be allowed to say, "Her Majesty is as lovely as a lily." They were to say, "The lily is as lovely as Her Majesty."

Wu How spread the rumor that she was a Supreme Being with miraculous powers, yet when sickness overtook her she suffered as acutely as a rice gatherer dwelling in a grass hut. She tried to force flowers to grow at her command. For a test, she chose peonies. When she commanded them to bloom, they were deaf to her entreaties. She became so infuriated that she fell down, RV 61 (61)