Page:The works of Li Po - Obata.djvu/94

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��40. ON SEEING OFF MENG HAOJAN

��GSL <fch- ^y friend bade farewell at the Yellow Crane House,

)y{ ^v And went down eastward to Willow Valley

rf- %& Amid the flowers and mists of March.

fs^J^Zr The lonely sail in the distance

-^ Vanished at last beyond the blue sky.

a ^» And I could see only the river

Flowing along the border of heaven.

�� ��The Yellow Crane House stood till a recent date not far from the city of Wu-chang, Hupeh, on a hill overlooking the Yangtze-hiang.

Once upon a time a dead man of Shuh, traveling on the bach of a yellow crane, stopped here to rest. Hence the name of the house.

There is another interesting story just as authentic, according to which: there stood here a tavern kept by a man whose name was Chin, to whom one day a tall rugged professor in rags came and asked very compla- cently, "I haven* t money, will you give me wine?" The tavern keeper was game; he readily offered to thb stranger the biggest tumbler and allowed him to help himself to all the wine he wanted day after day for half a year. At last the professor said to Chin, "I owe you some wine money. I'll pay you now." So saying, he took lemon peels and with it smeared on the wall a picture of a yellow crane, which at the clapping of his hands came to life and danced to the tune of his song.

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