Page:Leaves from my Chinese Scrapbook - Balfour, 1887.djvu/69

 The Emperor refused, sharply reproving him for ingratitude, and the snubbed official meekly thanked His Majesty for not acceding to his request. The gift of a fur cloak, especially when the fur round the neck of the animal is retained and made up, is another and more comprehensible occasion for thanksgiving; and so is the permission to ride on horseback through certain portions of the Imperial enclosure, which are sacred ground as regards less favoured servants of the Throne. One of the most amusing incidents in connection with this practice of perpetual thanksgiving occurred not very long ago. A Manchu officer of high rank, no less a personage indeed than Wulahsich'ungah, President of the Board of Ceremonies, returned thanks for the honour of having been invited to a sacrificial feast by the Emperor. Next day, however, a terrible snubbing was administered to Wulahsich'ungah. The Emperor had received his expression of gratitude with astonishment, for, as it happened, he had never been invited to the feast at all! "His name," says the Decree, "does not appear in the list of guests approved of by Us, and in thus thanking Us he has been guilty of a great piece of carelessness." The unfortunate President is then and there to be committed to the Board of Punishments for the determination of a penalty; and he will probably be less eager to thank the Emperor for invitations not accorded to him in future. It is a remarkable fact that Wulahsich'ungah does not express his gratitude either for the snubbing or the omission of his name from the list of guests; but as a loyal subject he no doubt is duly conscious of the honour done to him in both instances. If, however, the Emperor exacts all this deference and professional gratitude from his