 Humour in the House of Commons by Sir Henry W. Lucy, in the Multilingual 1910 collection. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Ruth Golding New York Times, 27th of November, 1910 Sir Henry W. Lucy writes of a little known side of Parliament, men who use wit to win points in debate. I have a vivid recollection of landing on the Cunard Wharf at New York during a recent visit to the United States, and finding myself confronted by a group of a dozen strangers who gave me friendly greeting. I soon learned that they were representatives of a mighty press bent upon interviewing the latest arrival. Invariably, their shorter catechism began with the query, What do you think is the difference between American and English humour? In considering the matter, especially in reference to the House of Commons, it may be well to attempt to define humour. What is truth, judicial-minded pilot for Lawnley asked? What is humour, I inquire of the dictionary? The answer is a facetious or jocular turn of mind in conversation, the disposition to find, or the faculty of finding, ludicrous aspects or suggestions in common facts or notions. The definition is admirable, leaving little to be desired. It may be supplemented by what Thackeray wrote of Dickens. I should call humour a mixture of love and wit. That too is excellent, happily suggesting the difference between wit and humour. Wit is apt to scorch. Humour plays round a victim with lambent flame that does not or should not singe a hair. Dickens was a humourist with a tendency toward the farcical. Thackeray was a humourist upon occasion apt to cut with the fine razor edge of wit. That every nation has its style of humour as distinctive as its language is a fact easier to be conscious of than to explain. The humour of the American, the French, the English, the Irish and the Scotch nations are absolutely distinct. The difference is indefinable. I should say that where affinity comes in it is closer between the Americans and the Scotch than between any other two races. With respect to American humour and English, a difference that leaps to the eye is that one is dry, the other humid. As becomes their younger blood, their rolling prairies and their exhilarating atmosphere, Americans are in the matter of humour more extravagant than the English. There is a delicious gravity about it refreshing to the heart. In some of its phases it begins at the pace of a funeral march, abruptly, surprisingly finishing up at a gallop. A tone of assumed melancholy in the writings of Artemis Ward supplies the necessary background to the sudden illumination of his humour. Mark Twain's manner, whether in conversation or in writing, was also weighted by supreme gravity, which makes the joke more effective when it is flashed forth. What an ornament and safeguard is humour, Emerson wrote, discoursing upon Sir Walter Scott. Far better than wit for a poet and writer. It is a genius itself and so defends from mediocrity. Often in a railway train, in an omnibus, too frequently at a dinner table, I observe a man and wife, who, it is obvious, are incapable of discovering ludicrous aspects or suggestions in common facts or notions. I suppose there are millions of respectable, honest households where from morning till night nobody laughs. The odd thing is that there are few things mankind is more grateful for than to be made to laugh, nor does it need a supreme touch of humour to satisfy desire. The House of Commons, in which, after close and intimate study ending through nearly forty years, I find the most perfect microcosm of the British race. The desire to be amused is almost abject. A minister who, expanding a bill, has furtively supplied himself with a tumbler of slightly coloured water, and enforcing his argument with sweeping gesture upsets the tumbler, is almost sure to get his bill read a second time without a division. A private member who, concluding his speech, sits down on his hat, in cautiously placed on the bench behind him, is a prime favourite for the rest of the evening. This particular development of unconscious humour is likely to pawl by frequency of repetition. Last session it gained an effective accessory. A member, speaking from behind the treasury bench, resuming his seat at the close of the speech, crashed down on the hat of his neighbour. It is good form in these circumstances for the victim to betray no annoyance. He should absolutely ignore the incident, affecting to regard it as part of ordinary parliamentary proceedings. In this case it happened that the owner of the outraged hat followed its assailant in debate. Taking up the wreck, straightening it out with the air of being quite accustomed to find it in this plight, he commenced his speech with the familiar remark, The honourable member who has just sat down. On your hat! said another member, completing the sentence. Let me write the songs of the people and I don't care who makes their laws, is a frequently quoted aphorism. It may be paraphrased in a form truthfully applicable to the House of Commons. Let us make the House laugh and I don't care who convinces it by argument. This yearning after the lighter side of things is natural and irresistible. Having sat for eight or ten hours listening to a succession of speakers hammering away at a technical or otherwise tiresome topic, there is great refreshment in a burst of laughter. From period to period following on a series of general elections the House of Commons necessarily varies in individuality of character and consequently in general tone and aspect, but it never loses its thirst for amusement. As hinted at in the case of the crushed hats it is so grateful for any contribution to its amusement that it is not particular as to the delicacy of the humour or the poignancy of the wit. Time was when the Irish members supplied both with rich generosity. They flooded the House of Commons with rich and rare individuality of the kind here to fore familiar to the Saxons chiefly in the novels of Lever and Lover. That type has disappeared from the present house. The only Irish member who today habitually rises to flights of humour is Mr Tim Healy and his style is severely sardonic. For the rest the modern Irish member is as prosy as he is fluent, his harangues being unlit by heaven-sent flashes of wit or humour. Amid many other distinct types I recall a serious-mannered Irish member named Blake, whose memory is kept green by a brief correspondence he read to a delighted House. It was casually introduced in a speech delivered in debate on an Irish Sunday closing-bill. Mr Blake, taking the House into friendly confidence, informed it that he had an uncle who regularly took six tumblers of whiskey-toddy per day. After much consideration he felt it his duty to write and remonstrate with his earring relative. The letter ran thus. My dear uncle, I write to say how pleased I should be if you could see your way to giving up your six glasses of whiskey a day. I am sure you would find many advantages in doing so. The greatest of which would be that as I am persuaded it would be the means of lengthening your days. The uncle replied, my dear nephew, I am much obliged to you for your dutiful letter. I was so struck by what you said, in particular by your kind wish to lengthen my days that last Friday I gave up the whiskey. I believe you're right, my boy, as to my days being lengthened, for, be dad, it was the longest day I ever remember. Another hero of old coercion days was an Irish member named Pine. The land league and the Irish office were at the time at grips, the former having promulgated their historic edict forbidding the payment of rent. Mr Pine one night told the house, not less delighted on the Unionist side than among the home rulers how he got over the difficulty. Taking out his watch he showed those seated near him how on its back was roughly engraved the legend, pay no rent. Whenever in troubled times a peasant farmer came to him for advice as to what they should do under pressure of the landlord clamouring for his dues, Mr Pine solemnly shook his head. I cannot, he said, express my views on the subject for Mr Balfour, then Chief Secretary, says they are illegal. But I'll tell you what I'll do, I'll show you what time of day it is. And holding out his watch the perturbed tenant read upon it the admonitory legend. Since I first knew the house, a period of time closely approaching two-score years, there has always been some privileged gesture permitted to flout authority with the freedom granted to the court full in earlier times. The earliest of whom I have personal recollections was Bernal Osborn, a well-known character in the parliament that sawed Israeli in power as well as in office, a concatenation of circumstances not there to fore familiar. His wit was rather corrosive than genial. He chiefly shone in the form of personal observations detrimental to the person concerned. One day, when the question of the union of church and state was under discussion, some one interposed a correction of one of Osborn's wild assertions. Turning upon him with rude stare, Osborn said, I do not know who the honourable gentleman is, but he looks like a non-conformist. The humour of this wants explaining. It lies in the incongruity of the suggestion that there are distinctive features in a man's appearance in these modern days that would cause him to be recognised as a non-conformist. The implication was that the interrupter was ignorant, muddle-headed, ill-mannered, and therefore a non-conformist. Such as it was, the jest had a great reception, notably from the church party. Horseman was contemporary with Bernal Osborn during the term of his wearing the cap and bells, and in course of time succeeded him. His wit was as artificial as his style was stilted. He was memorable rather as being the cause of other people saying good things than of saying them himself. Disraeli hit him off with scathing fidelity when he described him as a superior person. Jacob Bright, brother of the Great Tribune, a well-meaning but exceedingly dull personage following Horseman in debate, accidentally stumbled on one of his only two bon mots, both undesigned. Meaning to allude to Horseman as the chartered Libertine of debate, he substituted the adjective shattered. This happening at a time when Horseman's decadence was a matter of general comment. The un-aimed shot went home. Jacob Bright's other verbal success was when Lord Randolph Churchill, then member for Woodstock, was reaching the zenith of famous leader of the fourth party. Bright alluded to him in debate as the honourable member for Woodcock. To the quick fancy of the house, ever on the lookout for amusement, this verbal error seemed to fit so exactly Lord Randolph's habit of cock-a-hooping that the name stuck. Next in succession came Sir Wilfred Lawson, who wore the cap and jangled the bells for a longer period than either of his immediate predecessors. His style differed from theirs. It was scarcely less personal, but was ever more genial. Notwithstanding his fanaticism in the matter of teatotalism, he was gifted with a large fund of common sense and some political acumen. Through his mind flashed those bright lights revealing hidden points of resemblance between apparent incongruities, the sudden making clear of which mainly constitutes what we call humour. There was a member of the House of Commons, Thomas Collins by name, who, though exceedingly wealthy, was careful about many things, especially odd sixpences. Returned for Nersborough at a by-election, some days elapsed before he put in an appearance at the House. Oh, isn't it, somebody said to Sir Wilfred, that Tom Collins doesn't turn up? Not at all, not at all, said Sir Wilfred. He's waiting for an excursion train. One other story Sir Wilfred kept for private circulation, which was a pity, since, if told to the speaker, it would have brought down the House. One day, on a weekend visit to the country, the rigid apostle of temperance made the acquaintance of a sharp young lady of some seven summers, with whom he held lively conversation. On leaving her he said, Now, my dear, we have been talking some time. I'm sure you have no idea who I am. Oh, yes I have, Missy replied. You are the celebrated drunkard! Although wit and humour are powerful accessories to influence in the House of Commons, it cannot be said that the present House presents sparkling specimens of the cult. Mr. Balfour has a keen sense of humour. But in this matter he is rather receptive and contributive. Nevertheless, from time to time he enlivens his discourse with little assides that delight his audience. Mr. Asquith resembles his great leader, Mr. Gladstone, in as much as it is the fashion to deny him a sense of humour. He is actually less open to the imputation than was Mr. Gladstone. For the latter, as to Rab, the dog immortalised by Dr. Brown, life was too serious for him to find room for frivolities. Yet those admitted to the privilege of social intercourse with Mr. Gladstone will testify that he had a considerable fund of humourous stories which lost no point in the telling. His face in later days wrinkling into a marvellous smile as he spoke. To those who knew him only in his capacity in the House of Commons or on the public platform it will come as a shock to know that there was a time, certainly it was in university days, when the great statesman not only sang Jim Crow but performed the usual saltatory accompaniment. Mr. Asquith, mellowed by success, assured of his position as leader of the House of Commons, has of late developed a tendency to humour he would do well to cultivate. For the rest, with two exceptions, his Majesty's ministers are not accustomed to disturbed debate by the evolution of eruptive laughter. When in opposition of freelance below the gangway Mr. Lloyd George's speech was full of quips and cranks. Sobered by the responsibility of office he is more reticent. But when he gets away from school and goes playing on public platforms in the provinces, old habit asserts itself. Mr. Winston Churchill, when he lets himself go, brims over with audacious sayings that frequently rise to the height of wit. By unwritten law, in obedience to an instinct unmistakably felt, though difficult to define, it does not do for a young minister to be funny on the treasury bench. In years to come, when the President of the Board of Trade has reached the preeminence he is resolved to obtain, he will have a free hand and may be trusted to use it. Meanwhile we have his characterisation of a variation from the paled pathway of truth marked in connection with the controversy that raged round Chinese labour in South Africa. His attention being called to the matter by a question addressed to him while he was undersecretary for the colonies, he admitted that the statement challenged was a terminological inexactitude. The phrase has stuck and is found useful in cases where it is desirable to refrain from plain language and call a man a confirmed liar. The wittiest man known to the House of Commons since the days of Disraeli, whom he was an appreciative pupil, was Sir William Harcourt. His forte was rather witt than humour, by far the more dangerous weapon. That he was conscious of the distinction appeared in a letter intended for publication which some years before his death he addressed to me. Humour, he wrote, above all good humour, is the salt of life, and for many years you have applied this antiseptic to the House of Commons with a delicate touch that never wounds. Harcourt, it must be admitted, assuming that punishment was merited, did not mind whom he wounded so that he worked off his joke. He hit out all round with fine impartiality that spared neither friend nor foe. He was, perhaps, even brighter in private conversations than in public speech. His sallies when unprepared were more effective. He brought his impromptu down to the House of Commons written out on full-scat paper, and the rustle of turned-over manuscript is deadly accessory to a joke. Nevertheless, he was a great joy to the House and has left behind him no successor. End of humour in the House of Commons by Sir Henry W. Lucy. Chapter one of The Oriental Rose, or the teachings of Abdul Baha, which traced the chart of the Shining Pathway by Mary Hanford Ford in the multilingual 1910 collection. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Read by Nicholas James Bridgewater. Forward. In the preparation of the present volume, I have been deeply indebted to M. Nicola, Secretary of the Persian Legation in Paris, who has written a biography entitled Sayed Ali Mohammed di Le Bab, which is indicative of profound research in both the Persian and Arabic tongues. It is, however, lacking in discrimination as it uses the untruthful and partisan Mohammedan memorials of the Bab as of equal authority with those written by his friends and it is therefore necessary to cull its pages. As the book has not been translated into English, I have taken the liberty of borrowing frankly from its contents in much that touches upon the story of the Bab and Goratul Ain. I must also express my obligations to Gobano's famous monograph upon the Bab. It would be impossible, however, to put into words the treasure of what I owe to my own visit to Akka and to the long line of traveling Americans returning from that prison city, each of whom perhaps has added a color, an outline, or a bit of sunshine to the ensemble of the booklet here offered. May I hope it has caught some fragrance of sweet rich roses of sandalwood and myrrh? All the travelers have come back like pilgrims of a new hope bubbling and overflowing with the ideas, impressions, and suggestions drawn from their visit to this inspiring spiritual center and their contact with Abdul Baha. Each has illustrated the reply given by the servant of God to the questioner who asked him, Why do all the guests who visit you come away with shining countenances? He said with his beautiful smile, I cannot tell you, but in all those upon whom I look I see only my father's face. The author, The Oriental Rose or The Shining Pathway, Chapter 1, The Coming of the Bob. Have you ever heard of Abbas Effendi? He is known to his followers as Abdul Baha, which means the servant of God. He has been, for many years, a political prisoner in Akka, the ancient prison city of the Turkish Sultan. But his name is beginning to be whispered everywhere as a symbol of the love which frees, which warms the heart and stirs the world to betterment. Akka was once known as Akre and its walls frown upon the traveler as darkly as in the day when Richard Cerdelion stormed them with his tumultuous crusaders. But since the restoration of the constitution in Turkey and the abdication of Abdul Hamid, openings have been cut in these strong defences and the gates are no longer closed and barred. In the August which followed the wonderful July day that gave the turbaned people the franchise, Abdul Hamid issued a strange decree setting free every prisoner held that day within the confines of the empire and thus Abbas Effendi was liberated. He had been confined within the walls of Akka since 1868 and had been a prisoner since he was a boy of nine and perhaps even the promulgation of the constitution would not have broken his bonds. He said to an American guest, Whenever I thought of freedom I could not but remember the many sufferers languishing in prison so I was not able to pray for my own liberation. I must pray for the freedom of all and I was made happy because at last liberty was granted to every imprisoned one as well as to myself. For thirty years Abdul Baha has not been confined within prison walls but simply within the limits of the town of Akka and since 1892 he has been the center of the great Bahaist movement that has brought light to the Orient and the Occident. For many decades troops of pilgrims have poured into Akka from all parts of the world Western merchant and Oriental dreamer have jostled one another in the streets of the prison city seeking the great message of peace and unity of loving service that has quickened the heart of mankind from the center of oppression. In spite of the surveillance of the suspicious Turkish police the mansion of Abdul Baha has sheltered countless foreign guests and English, German, French and American pilgrims have left its generous portals to carry back to their own rushing and progressive commonwealths a sense of the splendor of life that they had never before suspected. The house of Abbas Effendi is an oriental structure built round a court and its situation just beside the sea wall of Akka gives its upper chambers a wonderful outlook over the Mediterranean. Upon the roof is a simple apartment furnished with the merest necessaries which the teacher of man occupies during the greater part of the year. It frequently contains no bed for Abdul Baha is continually giving away this necessity of civilized existence. It is impossible to buy a bed in Akka and so when this lover of his kind during his morning walk finds a fever-stricken sufferer tossing upon the bare ground he straightway sends him his bed and lies upon the hard floor himself until someone discovers his plight and provides him with a new one. Let no one commiserate him too much in such a sacrifice however for Abdul Baha's body is of such slight import to him that he probably sleeps as sweetly on the uncovered boards as on his narrow cot and nothing would drive slumber from his eyes so quickly as the consciousness that another needs his couch. To understand the mission of Abdul Baha and its significance to the world we must go back to the year of his birth in 1844 and to the Persian city of Shiraz where in that same year Muhammad Ali first cried his message into the listening air and received his title of the Bob or Gate. He was accepted immediately by many followers as the eagerly expected Mahdi. Muhammad in tradition had lovingly preserved the holy legend of the 12th Imam who had disappeared 260 years after the coming of Muhammad and whose return was promised in a thousand years. The expiration of that period brought the date 1260 of the Islamic chronology which corresponds with 1844 of our era. In Chicago a temple is in process of erection to which funds have been contributed by all the religions of the world and yet its building is in the hands of Americans. It is to be called the Mashregol Azkhar which means the dawning place of prayer and is the result of the widespread movement which the Bob initiated in 1844. As we shall see this is a movement of unity and brotherhood far reaching in its consequences. For years Americans have been dispatching missionaries to the Orient and pouring forth generous floods of money to Christianize the heathen and now suddenly they have become so Christianized that they have sent a contribution of something like $5,000 as their portion towards this great place of prayer in the Occident where they realize that the time of fulfillment has come for all that Christ taught. The message of the Bob was for the establishment of a world religion which would unite all creeds and teach men to realize that God is one and the same in every faith that has brought truth to the human heart. Such a teaching must have seemed dangerously heretical to the narrow and theological Muhammadan priesthood and therefore the devotees of this new cult great and simple as it is have suffered terrible persecution but its tenets have laid a solid foundation of unity, equality and brotherhood throughout Persia and Turkey which has been manifested recently in the constitutional reforms of those countries. Thirty years ago also Paul Baha wrote a book entitled The Mysterious Forces of Civilization which has just been translated into English but it has circulated among his oriental disciples from its first production giving them ideas of rational and noble human relationships such as can only be realized under a free and constitutional government. The western world is accustomed to regard Muhammad as an imposter who misled his followers and taught them to persecute the Christians but the student has discovered that Muhammad so far from persecuting the Christians wrote out an oath for their protection which he obliged his followers to sign. He reverenced Christ as a prophet of God and necessarily respected the believers in the religion he founded but Muhammad's death was followed by the immediate degradation of his noble teaching. Muhammad's daughter Fatima was a remarkable woman devoted to the preservation of her father's cult in its spiritual integrity her husband Ali became his true interpreter and was designated by the prophet as the one who should stand in his place to keep the faith pure but because Ali was an apostle of peace he was set aside and the warlike Omar interpolated a new propaganda which the world still misnames that of Muhammad in which the sword asserts the place of the divine word. A schism arose consequently among the religionaries of Islam. The followers of Ali became the Shiite sect and those of Omar the Sunites. The Shiites have always been the repository of Muhammad's mystical teaching they have been poets and lovers of peace ponderers of their sacred scriptures the Persian Muhammadans are all Shiite while the Turks on the contrary are all Sunite and adherents of Omar so while the Sunites have controlled the political machinery of the later Muhammadanism the Shiites have preferred its Sufis its poets and Sufsayers it is remarkable that Muhammad should have foretold the coming of the twelve Imams or holy men who must keep fresh his teachings in the heart of man and not only the date of the last one but his reappearance in the year 1260 this accounts for the excitement in regard to the rising of the Mahdi in Africa and Arabia in recent years Mahdi means the inspired or well directed one the Mahdi is the expected Imam whose rise would revolutionize the world and establish the kingdom of God on the earth as his zealous converts believed when Muhammad Ali announced his identity with this wonderful one for whom the soul of his people yearned many accepted him immediately the Muhammadan Mullahs demanded of him sternly who are you? he replied I am that one for whom you have been waiting a thousand years but the Mullahs refused to recognize him as the true one because they looked for a royal personage surrounded by state and splendor bearing many titles and the inhabitant of purely symbolic localities to be sure Muhammad Ali fulfilled the requirements in that he was a descendant of Muhammad wearing the green turban and was a young man of barely 25 when he began to deliver his message but the Mullahs had conceived a far more worldly image of a different personage and besides the Bob did not proclaim the doctrine they wished to hear they demanded that he should reinforce their authority and strengthen their already deeply entrenched theology of degenerate Muhammadanism instead of that he announced the coming of a new day of God when all men should become brothers forgetting their religious differences in the kinship of one universal and loving father moreover he spoke of himself as merely the herald of another who was to follow him who was to be Baha'u'llah the glory of God or him whom God shall manifest this precious effulgence of the Almighty he described most lovingly as the greatest revelator of God whom the world had ever known he assured his followers that while he himself would be martyred the greater one would soon dawn upon the horizon and that they should see him when they asked how they might know him the Bob replied earnestly every word of his utterance will be so thrilling that you cannot mistake him if he recites a verse from the Quran to feel in the marvel of his tone that he is the promised one so do not yield to the conventional fear of being in the wrong and thus sacrifice the greatest joy of human life the joy of recognizing a manifestation of God in his day the Shiite tradition in regard to the appearance of the imams men is very exact Jabred Abdullah reports that Muhammad himself foretold their coming and said of the 12th this 12th imam is he to whom God will give the victory from the rising to the setting and it is he who will be concealed among his sectaries and his saints while he is hidden no one will believe in his reign except the chosen ones to whose hearts God will give faith when Jabber inquired if the imam would be of value to his followers even in concealment the prophet responded surely he will I swear it by him who has made me his prophet his faithful ones will be resplendent in his light the concealed reign will be as glorious to them as is the son to other men among the traditional books of Islam the prescience of the Bob's arrival is so constant that one wonders how anyone could have failed to recognize him and it is plainly spoken that his falsifiers shall be found in great mullers or clergy the true one is called sometimes the call M literally the one who arises it is said of him the perfection of Moses the splendor of Jesus and the patience of Job shall be in him and his friends shall be abused during his time the heads shall be just as the heads of the Turks and Dalenites were exchanged as presents they shall be slain and burnt terrified with fear and appalled the earth shall be died with their blood and lamentation and wailing shall prevail among their women these are indeed my friends again the events of his days are definitely foretold in the prediction of the martyrdom at Zorah which is identified as the city of Rey an ancient city near which Tehran is built thus runs the tradition which Bahá'u'lláh repeats in the Iqan has thou entered the city of Rey yes I replied he inquired has thou visited the cattle market yes has thou seen the black mountain upon the right hand of the road there is Zorah where they will slay 80 men of the children of certain ones all of whom are free from guilt who will kill them I questioned he said the children of Persia and in that very spot these eighty poor creatures were tortured to death for no crime except that they accepted the revelation of the true one Muhammad said of Ali I am the city of knowledge and Ali is the gate there too if there were no gate the city could not be entered so each Imam was known as a gate and naturally Muhammad Ali gave himself this title which was perpetuated by his followers another element of extreme radicalism in his teaching which was necessarily obnoxious to the established faith of the clergy was that there should be no priesthood in the new day but that all should teach the truth of God in the leisure permitted by ordinary avocations in this the wealthy and powerful mullahs saw the destruction of their caste and privilege and they could not combat too earnestly a revelation the spread of which must reduce them to the condition of the average man the bob also insisted upon the equality of the sexes and taught that the seclusion of women according to the Muhammadin law should cease and that men must take but one wife his followers among the women therefore took off their veils and went about as freely as English women while their teaching and speaking were marked by a peculiar eloquence and power as advocates of the new faith the bob was extremely fond of symbolism and pondered deeply on the spiritual significance of numbers and mathematical forms the numbers 19 and 9 were especially sacred to him and as 19 is the series of years constituting the lunar cycle and provides a more exact chronology for the earth than the movement of the sun he established a new chronology for his followers according to which there shall be a year of 19 months each containing 19 days he spoke of the awakening of which he represented the dawning point as an ellipse which is an oblong larger in the middle than at the ends he called himself the first point or nucta of this ellipse while the glory of God or him whom God shall manifest should constitute its mighty center the bob was the precursor of Bahá'u'lláh and yet he also was heralded in his turn for the completion of the prophesied time was recognized by Muhammadan students and many were looking for the 12th Imam the great Imam Mahdi Muhammad Ali was an orphan and was reared by his uncle who intended that he should become a merchant like himself he received therefore only the very limited education which is deemed sufficient for such a business in Persia when he was about 19 years of age he was sent by his uncle on a business mission to Boucher and from there went to Karbala where are the tombs of the Imams though intended for the career of a merchant Muhammad Ali was an exceedingly devout young man he loved to ponder the holy scriptures and was often sunk in meditation upon their hidden meanings all traditions agree that he was of a peculiarly charming personality he was beautiful to look upon as a gift of eloquent and magnetic speech which would have rendered him irresistible if he had been left free to teach his great truth at the time of his visit to Karbala one of the most distinguished Muhammadan savants was delivering his lectures there to a crowd of students and among his disciples were two who became the most noted among the early followers of the Bab himself Mullah Sadeh who later was known as Khurasani and Hussein Bushrui afterwards called the Babul Bab or Gate of the Bab he was the first convert of the Bab Khurasani has told us of his initial meeting with his master while at Karbala Muhammad Ali was accustomed to go to the mosque at the same hour every day where he would stand lost in meditation for a long time Khurasani felt strongly attracted towards him and determined to address him he did so upon his next visit to the mosque but the young man put his finger on his lip and turned away without response Khurasani somewhat angered at this rebuff left the place of devotion at the same time as the stranger but resolved never to speak to him again Muhammad Ali however hastened toward him as soon as they were outside the limits of the sacred edifice and excused himself so engagingly for his apparent discurtersy that he could not fail of pardon the young devotee explained that while in the house of prayer he felt it wrong to allow even a vagrant thought to linger in his mind and could not therefore indulge in conversation of mundane affairs Khurasani therefore invited him to come to his house the following evening when he would be honored by a visit from the holy teacher Sheikh Qalsem and some of his most distinguished pupils what a joy to be present in an assembly where the most heavenly light of God will be spoken of Muhammad Ali replied with much delight upon the following evening however the company had all gathered before the stranger appeared the prayers had begun and Mullah Hussein Bushrui was discoursing upon the martyrdom of the Imam Hussein Muhammad Ali stood upon the threshold it is the Persian custom that all shall rise when a person of special distinction enters a room but Sheikh Qalsem was too independent to attend to such points of etiquette and was never accustomed to notice in any fashion the entrance of belated guests as the beautiful unknown paused upon the threshold however Sheikh Qalsem rose and naturally all followed his example while a thrill ran through the assembly touching the heart of each one Mullah Hussein Bushrui to whom this advent was to prove of supreme importance stopped speechless for a moment while the stranger apparently unconscious of the excitement he had caused sank modestly into a seat near the door Sheikh Qalsem begged him to station himself among the more honored guests but the young stranger from Shiraz refused and sat quietly until all had taken their departure then Khurasani insisted that he should be seated more worthily and rising without further protest he possessed himself of the place which Sheikh Qalsem had occupied shortly afterward the gifted Shirazi was no longer seen in Karbala but he was not forgotten he returned to Shiraz where in a few years he made the amazing announcement of his mission which he repeated at Mecca where he went on the holy pilgrimage but not as an Orthodox Muhammadan before the death of old Sheikh Qalsem he had told his chosen disciples that they would see the Imam Mahdi but some of these have repeated the predictions of the old seer Suleiman Khan Qalihi suffered a horrible death as martyr for his acceptance of the Babs teaching and he said the Sheikh promised me that I should see the reappearance of the Imam Mahdi you will be there he declared and you will give him your faith Mullah Hussein Bosh Rui demanded with insistence how the manifestation would appear and the Sheikh replied by quoting a verse from the sacred writings I cannot speak more definitely but the Son of Truth from whatever dawning point it may rise will illumine all the horizons and the mirrors of the hearts of those who love it well it will adjust them in such fashion that they will receive the emanations of light and knowledge before the Sheikh passed away he announced his approaching departure to his followers and reiterated his prophecy of the coming of the true one all broke forth into lamentation and loudest among them was Karim Khan the old Sheikh fixed his eyes upon him and exclaimed Dog! you do not wish that I go and that after me the absolute truth shall be manifested the aged seer looking into the soul of the man whose complaints massacred the heir recognized the Judas of the group for Karim Khan became the successor of Sheikh Kaozem the greatest of the Olamar and the most terrible persecutor of the Bab and his devoted followers in fact with the vizier Al-Ghasi he was responsible for the murderous execution of the Bab the remainder of the group was prominent in the early movement of the Bab and some of its members were numbered as those living letters who spelled the new knowledge of God into the heart of the world after the death of Sheikh Kaozem they spent 40 days in Kufa praying in the mosque and preparing themselves for the great mission they felt was before them then they separated to find the Imam who they were convinced was somewhere in Persia and to whom they believed they would be led is it not a beautiful picture this group of praying men gathered first about the reverend figure of the seer who warned them of the approaching wonder and then after his serene departure waiting together for the confirmation they were certain would come they scattered at length to look for the dawning place of the light three of them, Bushrui, Khurasani and Mullah Ali Gohar were united by a friendship which never lessened Bushrui in his wanderings reached Shiraz just at the moment when the Bab gave the first announcement of his mission come to me all ye seekers for the gate of divine wisdom is opened through my person we can imagine how Bushrui fell at his feet quite vanquished by the light in his face by the love that radiated from him and he became his first missionary the Bab sent him forth to Isfahan to Khurasan and at length to Tehran bearing letters to the Shah and his vizier Aghasi and also to two very different persons Mirza Hossein Ali who should later become Baha'u'llah and to Mirza Yahya his half-brother this latter individual was known to subsequent history as Subhe Azal when Hossein Ali was recognized as the promised one his half-brother craving this honor for himself claimed it and became the founder of a schism which had no existence except on paper Western historians have discussed his pretensions as if they had importance and Professor Brown of Cambridge who wrote the narrative of Persian travel and the volumes on Subhe Azal did not discover that the disciples of the latter never numbered more than 60 most of whom were members of his own family Brown spent a day with him in his imprisonment at Cyprus and filled with sympathy that the tale of trouble he poured into the Englishman's ears Brown wrote a history in his defense he did not reflect that the prisoner was the victim of his own vanity and held absolutely no place in the fulfillment of the Bob's prophecy as the followers of the gate well knew probably the true one perceived as he wrote the letters what was the destiny of each recipient for all things seemed clear in his vision of the future the Shah and Vizier Al-Ghorsi threw carelessly aside the documents delivered to them announcing the dawn of a new day in which the justice of God must reign and Al-Ghorsi was inspired only by that bitter persecution of the true one which ended in his death it would be interesting to follow Mullah Bushri in his progress through Persia and his picturesque encounter with the fellow students of Sheikh Qasem it was a simple message that he delivered to these brothers in truth I have found him he is in Shiraz go and see for yourself and they went Bushri was a militant personality worthy of confidence and his friends were in the habit of trusting him innumerable stories are told of the charm and potency reflected in the personality of the true one of his miraculous wisdom and the swift and intuitive power which enabled him to meet and overthrow his adversaries invariably with such ease that he would have conquered the world if he had been left at liberty as one reads one is reminded of the apocryphal tales which reveal to us perhaps the personality of Jesus Christ and the exquisite gospel stories which picture him in the house of the publican or in the court of Pilate with Martha and Mary or on the mountain with the intimate group of those he loved what was it that rendered him different from all others that would have rescued him invulnerable and irresistible had he chosen to be so it was the breath of God upon him the heavenly effulgent shining into his perfect mirror and as we read these later stories it seems that the light is again gleaming in our dark world the clergy of Shiraz enraged at the persistence of the Bob in preaching his truth and convinced that he was ignorant and unlettered and could not withstand them in public debate arranged a grand council in the mosque of the city where they commanded him to retract his dangerous teachings threatening him with fearful tortures if he refused the Bob however mounted the pulpit and gave a discourse so eloquent so replete with the learning of his adversaries so convincing in its declaration of his own claims that the antagonists who came to shame him witnessed the conversion of their own public shortly afterwards the Shah and the Vizier Agassi moved by the fame of this episode sent Sheikh Yahya to Shiraz to reduce this dangerous heretic to submission and bring back to the court an account of his unquestionable charlatanry Sheikh Yahya was an honourable and really devout person by no means so conventionally conservative in his faith as his superiors supposed his first interview with the Bob interested him tremendously and left him in spite of his mission impressed with the sincerity and illumination of this unique personage at length he asked the true one for a commentary upon the surat 108 of the Quran the Bob was famous for the illuminated verses which he delivered extemporaneously at the request of anyone who desired an utterance or discourse upon sacred subjects in this case the response was immediate and surprising the Bob gave the commentary and Sheikh Yahya realised after long pondering upon this very passage but he had never committed it to writing or spoken of it to anyone it was preserved alone in the treasure house of his soul he bowed and departed deeply troubled what was this man was he a prophet of God could an imposter, a charlatan possess such illumination, such insight he pondered long and finally decided that he would cast lots with God so to speak on this momentous decision he had always been conventionally received at the house of the Bob where a servant opened the door and conducted him into the presence of the true one he decided that on his next visit he would knock softly at the door and if contrary to custom the Bob himself came to admit him took his hand and did not relinquish it until he was led into the reception chamber he would accept him as a manifestation of God as the one in fact who had been longed for for a thousand years he prayed earnestly before he started on his momentous journey the following day he tapped gently on the door the Bob himself unclosed it grasped his hand led him into the salon and only released his clasp when he had seated him in his chair then the soul of Sheikh Yahya rose within him he embraced the true one and confessed his faith in him the Bob rejoiced over him with a special happiness for he was an enlightened man he accepted gladly the mission the Bob laid upon him and wrote to the Shah and Vizier Al-Ghasi of his conversion as a matter of course his life in this world was completely ruined by this courageous decision but eternity became his and he had no regrets he suffered martyrdom soon afterward and was not long separated from his beloved master end of chapter one of the Oriental Rose or the teachings of Abdul Baha which traced the chart of the Shining Pathway by Mary Hanford Ford Chinese Folklore Tales The Beautiful Daughter of Louis Kung by Jay McGowan in the multilingual 1910 collection this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org in one of the central provinces of this long-lived empire of China there lived in very early times a man of the name of Chang he was a person of a bright active nature which made him enjoy life and caused him to be popular amongst his companions and with a favorite with everyone who knew him but he was also a scholar well versed in the literature of his country and he spent every moment that he could spare in the study of the great writings of the famous men of former days in order that he might be interrupted as little as possible in his pursuit of learning he engaged a room in a famous monastery some miles away from his own home the only inhabitants of this monastery were a dozen or so Buddhist priests who except when they were engaged in the daily services of the temple lived a quiet, humdrum, lazy kind of existence which harmonized well with the solitude and the majestic stillness of the mountain scenery that they were surrounded this monastery was indeed one of the most beautiful in China it was situated on the slope of a hill looking down upon a lovely valley where the natural solitude was as complete as the most devoted hermit could desire the only means of getting to it were the narrow hill footpaths along which the worshippers from the great city and the scattered villages wound in and out on festival days when they came trooping to the temple to make their offerings to the famous god and shrived within Chan was a diligent student and rarely indulged in recreation of any kind occasionally when his mind became oppressed with excessive study he would go for a quiet walk along the hillside but these occasions were few and far between for he made up for every hour he spent away from his beloved books by still closer application to them in the hours that followed one day he was strolling in an aimless kind of way on the hillside when suddenly a party of hunters from the neighboring city of eternal spring came dashing into view they were a merry group and full of excitement for they had just sighted a fox which Chan had seen a moment before flying away at his highest speed in mortal dread of its pursuers prominent amongst the hunters was a young girl mounted on a fiery little steed so full of spirit and so eager to follow in the mad chase after the prey that its rider seemed to have some difficulty in restraining it the girl herself was a perfect picture her face was the loveliest that Chan had ever looked upon and her figure which her trim hunting dress showed off to the utmost advantage was graceful in the extreme as she swept by him with her face flushed with excitement and her features all aglow with health Chan felt at once that he had lost his heart and that he was deeply and profoundly in love with her on making inquiries he found that she was named Willow that she was the daughter of the chief Mandarin of the town in which she lived and that she was intensely fond of the chase and delighted in galloping over the hills and valleys in the pursuit of the wild animals to be found there so powerfully had Chan's mind been affected by what he had seen of Willow that he had already begun to entertain serious thoughts of making her his wife but while his mind was full of this delightful prospect he was plunged into the deepest grief by hearing that she had suddenly died for some days he was so stricken with sorrow that he lost all interest in life and could do nothing but dwell on the memory of her whom he had come to love with all the devotion of his heart a few weeks after the news of her death the quiet of the retreat was one day broken by a huge procession which wound its way along the mountain path leading to the monastery doors on looking out Chan saw that many of the men in this procession were dressed in sackcloth and that in front of it was a band of musicians producing weird shrill notes on their various instruments by these signs Chan knew that what he saw was a funeral and he expected to see the long line of mourners pass on to some spot on the hillside where the dead would be buried instead of that however they entered through the great gates of the monastery and the coffin, the red pall of which told him that it contained the body of a woman was carried into an inner room of the building and laid on trestles that had been made ready for it after the mourners had dispersed Chan asked one of the priests the name of the woman who had died and how it was that the coffin was laid within the precincts of the temple instead of in the house of the deceased where it could be looked after by her relatives and where the customary sacrifices to the spirit of the dead could be offered more conveniently than in the monastery the Bonzi replied that this was a peculiar case calling for special treatment the father of the poor young girl who died so suddenly he said was the mandarin of the neighboring city of eternal spring just after the death of his daughter an order came from the emperor transferring him to another district a thousand miles from here the command was very urgent that he should proceed without delay to take up his post in the far-off province and that he was to allow nothing to hinder him from doing so he could not carry his daughter's body with him on so long a journey and no time was permitted him to take the coffin to his home where she might be buried amongst her own kindred it was equally impossible to deposit the coffin in the yamen he was about to leave for the new mandarin who was soon to arrive would certainly object to have the body of a stranger in such close proximity to his family it might bring him bad luck and his career as an official might end in disaster permission was therefore asked by our abbot to allow the coffin to be placed in one of our vacant rooms until the father someday in the future can come and bear the body of his beloved daughter to the home of his ancestors there to be laid at rest amongst his own people this request was readily granted for whilst he was in office the mandarin showed us many favors and his daughter was a beautiful girl who was beloved by everyone and so we were only too glad to do anything in our power to help in this unhappy matter Chan was profoundly moved when he realized that the woman whom he had loved as his own life lay dead within a chamber only a few steps away from his own his passion instead of being crushed out of his heart by the thought that she was utterly beyond his reach and by no possibility could ever be more to him than a memory to grow in intensity as he became conscious that it was an absolutely hopeless one on that very same evening about midnight when silence rested on the monastery and the priests were all wrapped in slumber Chan with a lighted taper in his hand stole with noiseless footsteps along the dark passages into the chamber of death where his beloved lay kneeling beside the coffin in emotion and trembling accents he called upon Willow to listen to the story of his passion he spoke to her just as though she was standing face to face with him and he told her how he had fallen in love with her on the day on which he had caught a glimpse of her as she galloped in pursuit of the fox that had fled through the valley from the hunters he had planned, he told her to make her his wife and he described in tones through which the tears could be heard to run how heartbroken he was when he heard of her death I want to see you he continued for I feel that I cannot live without you you are near to me and yet oh how far away can you not come from the land of shadows where you are now and comfort me by one vision of your fair face and one sound of the voice that would fill my soul with the sweetest music for many months the comfort of Chan's life was this nightly visit to the chamber where his dead love lay not a single night passed without his going to tell her of the unalterable and undying affection that filled his heart and whilst the temple lay shrouded in darkness and the only sounds that broke the stillness were those inexplicable ones in which nature seems to indulge when man is removed by sleep from the scene Chan was uttering those love notes which had lain deeply hidden within his soul but which now in the utter desolation of his heart burst forth to ease his pain by their mere expression one night as he was sitting pouring over his books he happened to turn around and was startled to see the figure of a young girl standing just inside the door of his room it seemed perfectly human and yet it was so ethereal that it had the appearance of a spirit of the other world as he looked at the girl with a wondering gaze a smile lit up her beautiful features and he then discovered to his great joy that she was none other than Willow his lost love whom he had desparate of ever seeing again with her face wreathed in smiles and sat down beside him and said in a timid, modest way I am here tonight in response to the great love which has never faltered since the day I died that is the magnet which has had the power of drawing me from the land of shadows I felt it there and many speak about it in that sunless country even Yam Lo the lord of the spirits the dreary world has been moved by your unchanging devotion so much so that he has given me permission to come and see you in order that I might tell you how deeply my heart is moved by the profound affection that you have exhibited for me all these months during which you never had any expectation of it being returned for many months this sweet intercourse between Chan and his beloved Willow was carried on and no one in the whole monastery knew anything about it the interviews always took place about midnight and Willow who seemed to pass with freedom through closed doors or the stoutest walls invariably vanished during the small hours of the morning one evening while they were conversing on topics agreeable to them both burdened her heart to Chan and told him how unhappy she was in the world of spirits you know she said that before I died I was not married and so I am only a wandering spirit with no place where I can rest and no friends to whom I can but take myself I travel here and there and everywhere feeling that no one cares for me there are no ties to find me to any particular for a young girl like me this is a very sad and sorrowful state of things there is another thing that adds to my sorrow in the land of shadows she went on to say with a mournful look on her lovely countenance I was very fond of hunting when I was in my father's home and many a wild animal was slain collecting expeditions which I took an active part this has all told against me in the world in which I am now living and for the share I took in destroying life I have to suffer my many pains and penalties which are hard for me to my sin has been great she said and so I wish to make special offerings in this temple to the goddess of mercy and implore her to send down to the other world a good report of me and intercede with him to forgive the sins of which I have been guilty if you will do this for me I promise that after I have been born again into the world I will never forget you and if you like to wait for me I shall willingly become your wife and serve you with the deepest devotion of which my heart is capable as long as heaven will permit you and me to live together as husband and wife from this time much to the astonishment of the priests and the monastery Chan began to show unwanted enthusiasm for the service of the goddess and would sometimes spend hours before her image and repeat long prayers to her this was all the more remarkable as the scholar had rarely if ever shown any desire to have anything to do with the numerous gods which were enshrined in various parts of the temple after some months of this daily appeal to the goddess of mercy Willow informed him that his prayers had been so far successful that the misery of her lot in the land of shadows had been greatly mitigated the pleadings of the goddess with Yan Lo had so influenced his heart towards Willow that she believed her great sin in the destruction of animal life had been forgiven and there were signs that the dread ruler of the underworld was looking upon her with kindness Chan was delighted with this news and his prayers and offerings became still more frequent and more fervent he little dreamed that his devotion to the goddess would be the means of his speedy separation from Willow but so it was one evening she came as usual to see him but instead of entering with a smiling face and laughter in her eyes she was weeping bitterly as though she were in the direst sorrow Chan was in the greatest distress when he saw this and asked her to explain the reason for her grief the reason for my tears she said is because after this evening I shall not see you again your petitions to the goddess have had such a powerful effect in her mind that she has used all her influence with Yamlou to induce him to set me free from the misery of the land of shadows and so I am to leave that sunless country and to be brought as she uttered these words her tears began to flow once more and her whole frame was convulsed with sobbing I am glad she said that I am to be born once more and live amongst men but I cannot bear the thought of having to be separated for so long from you let us not grieve too much however it is our fate and we may not rebel against it Yamlou has been kinder to me than he has ever been to anyone in the past for he has revealed to me the family to which I am to be born and the place where they live so if you come to me in 18 years you will find me waiting for you your love has been so great that it has entered into my very soul and there is nothing that can ever efface it from my heart a thousand rebirths may take place but never shall I love anyone Chan professed that he was greatly comforted by this confession of her love but all the same he felt in despair when he thought of the future when next I shall see you he said with a sigh I shall be getting so old that you, a young girl in the first flush of womanhood will not care to look at me my hair will have turned grey and my face will be marked with wrinkles and in the rebirth you will have forgotten the place in the land of shadows and the memory of me will have banished from your heart forever Willow looked with loving but sorrowful eyes upon her lover as he was expressing his concern about the future but quickly assured him that nothing in the world would ever cause her to cease to remember him with the tenderest affection in order to comfort you she said let me tell you of two things that the dread Yamlou out of consideration for your love for me has granted me two things which he has never bestowed upon any of the mortal who has come within the region of his rule the first is he has allowed me to inspect the book of life and death in which is recorded the history of every human being with the times of their rebirths and the places in which they are to be born I want you this very minute to write down the secret which has been revealed to me as to my new name and family and the place where I shall reside so that you will have no difficulty when eighteen years hence you shall come to claim me as your wife the next is a gift so precious that I have no words in which to express my gratitude words having been bestowed upon me it is this I am given the privilege of not forgetting what has taken place during my stay in the land of shadows and so when I am reborn into another part of China with a new father and mother I shall hold within my memory my recollection of you the years will pass quickly for I shall be looking for you this day eighteen years hence will be the happiest in my life for it will bring you to me never more to be separated but I must hasten on she hurriedly exclaimed for the footsteps of fate are moving steadily towards me in a few minutes the gates of Hades will have closed against me and Willow will have vanished and I shall be a babe once more with my new life before me but a minute more has left me and I seem to have so much to say farewell never forget me I shall ever remember you but my time has come as she uttered these words a smile of ineffable sweetness flashed across her beautiful face and she was gone Chan was inexpressibly sad that the loss he had sustained by the rebirth of Willow and in order to drive away his sorrow he threw his heart and soul into his studies his books became his constant companions and he tried to find in them a solace for the loneliness which had come upon him since the visits of Willow had ceased he also became a diligent worshipper of the idols and especially of the goddess of mercy who had played such an important part in the history of his beloved Willow the years went slowly by and Chan began to feel that he was growing old his hair became dashed with silver threads and wrinkles appeared in his forehead under his eyes the strain of waiting for the one woman who had taken complete possession of his heart had been too much for him as the time drew near too when he should go to meet her a great and nervous dread began to fill him with anxiety would she recognize him and would she, a young girl of 18 be content to accept as a husband a man so advanced in years as he now was these questions were constantly flashing through his brain at last only a few months remained before he was to set out on his journey to the distant province where Yang Lo had decided that Willow was to begin her new life on earth he was sitting one evening in his study brooding over the great problem that would be solved before long when a man dressed in black silently entered the room looking on Chan with a kindly smile which seemed to find its way instantly to his heart he informed him that he was a fairy from the western heaven and that he had been specially deputed by the rulers there to render him all the assistance in his power at this particular crisis full of anxiety we have all heard in that far-off fairy land he continued of the devotion you have shown to Willow and how during all the years which have intervened since you saw her last you have never faltered in your love for her such affection is rare among mortals and the dwellers in fairy land would like to help in bringing together two such loving hearts for let me assure you that however strong your feeling for the one whom you are so anxious to see again she on her part is just as deeply in love with you and is now counting the days until she will be able to see you and until you need never again be parted from each other in order to assist in this happy consummation I want you to take a short trip with me it will only take a few hours and you will then find that something has happened to remove all your fears as to how you will be received by Willow the fairy man then led Chan to the door and gave a wave of his hand in the direction of the sky instantly the sound of the fluttering and swish of wings was heard and in a moment a splendid eagle landed gracefully at their feet taking their seats upon its back they found themselves flashing at lightning speed away through the darkness of the night higher and higher they rose till they had pierced the heavy masses of clouds which hung hovering in the sky swift as an arrow the eagle still cleft its way upward until the clouds had vanished to an infinite distance below them and still onward they were born in the mighty stillness of an expanse where no human being had ever traveled before Chan felt his heart throb with a nervousness which he could not control what if the bird should tire he thought and he should be dropped into the fathomless abyss below life's journey would then come to a tragic end where too was he being carried and how should he ever be able to return to his borrowed home on the earth having more and more agitated when the very took hold of his hand and in a voice which at once stilled his fears assured him that there was not the least danger in this journey through the air we are safe here he assured him as though we were standing upon a mountain whose roots lie miles below the surface of the earth and see he continued pointing to something in the distance we shall arrive at our destination for a few seconds true enough he had hardly finished speaking when a land fairer than Chan had ever seen on earth or pictured in imagination loomed up suddenly in front of them and before he could gather together his astonished thoughts the eagle had landed them on its shores and without spread wings was soaring into the mystery of the unknown beyond the fairy now led Chan along a road surrounded by the most glittering beauty rare flowers graceful trees and birds which made the groves resound with the sweetest music were objects that kept his mind in one continual state of delight before long they arrived in front of a magnificent palace so grand and vast that Chan felt afraid to enter within its portals or even tread the avenue leading up to it Chan smore his companion relieved Chan's anxiety by assuring him that he was an expected guest and that the queen of this very country had sent him to earth specially to invite him to come and visit her in order that she might bestow upon him a blessing which would enrich the whole of his life and would enable him to spend many happy years with her whom he had loved with such devotion Chan was ushered into a large reception hall where he was met by a very stately lady with a face full of benevolence whom he had once recognized from the images he had often worshiped as the goddess of mercy he was startled when he discovered in what august presence he was standing and began to tremble with excitement as he realized that here an actual life was the famous personage whose image was worshiped by the millions of China and whose influence spread even into the land of shadows seeing Chan's humility and evident terror of her the goddess spoke to him in a gentle loving voice and told him to have no fear where she had summoned him to her presence not to rebuke but to comfort him I know your story she said and I think it is a beautiful one before I was raised to the high position I now occupy I was at one time a woman like Willow and I can sympathize with her in her devotion to you because of the wonderful love you have shown her from the first moment that you saw her I know too your anxiety about your age and your fear lest when Willow sees you with the marks of advancing years upon you her love may die out and you will be left with your heart broken and in despair I have foreseen this difficulty going to have it removed the fairy who brought you here she continued will now take you round the palace grounds and if you will carry out my wishes the fears which have been troubling you for years shall entirely vanish you will then meet Willow with the heart as light as that of any man in the flush of youth who awaits the coming of the bridal chair which bears his future wife to his home Chan at once without any hesitation followed his guide through the spacious grounds which surrounded the palace and was finally led to the edge of a beautiful little lake empowered amongst trees and ferns and rare and fragrant flowers it was the most exquisite scene on which his vision had ever rested with a kindly look at his companion the fairy said this beautiful piece of water goes by the name of the fountain of eternal youth and it is the queen's express desire that you should base it quickly undressing Chan plunged into the pool and for a moment sank beneath the surface of the waters emerging quickly from them a delightful feeling of newborn strength seemed to be creeping in at every pore of his body the sense of advancing age passed away and the years of youth appeared to come back to him again he felt as though he were a young man once more for the weary doubts which for some years past had made his footsteps lag had gone with his first plunge into those fragrant waters by and by he came out of this fountain of eternal youth with the visions and ambitions of his young manhood rushing through his brain which seemed of late to have become dull and sluggish had recovered the impetus which in earlier years had carried him so successfully through many a severe examination his thoughts too about Willow had so completely changed that instead of dreading the day when he should stand before her his one passionate desire now was to start upon his journey to keep his appointment with her Chan and the fairy then proceeded to the vast and boundless expanse which boarded the palace of the goddess and found a magnificent dragon waiting to convey them back to earth no sooner had they taken their seats on its back that it fled with the swiftness of the wind through the untrodden spaces of the air until at length the mountains came looming out of the dim and shadowy distance and with a rush Chan found himself safely landed at the door of the temple from which he had taken his departure his amazing journey to the western heaven whilst these wonderful things were taking place Willow or rather precious pearl as she had been named by her new parents who of course had no knowledge of her previous history had grown up to be a most beautiful and fascinating woman during all these years she had never ceased to look forward with an anxious heart to the day when she would once more meet the man to whom she had betrothed herself 18 years ago laterally she had begun to count the days that must still elapse before she could see him again she never forgot the night in the temple when she bade him goodbye just before she was reborn into this world the day and the hour had been stamped upon her memory and since then the years had seemed to travel with halting lead in feet as though they were lost to move on but now only a few months remained and no doubt ever entered her brain that Chan would fail her just about this time her mother had an offer of marriage for her from a very wealthy and distinguished family and contrary to the usual custom of mothers in China she asked her daughter what she thought of the proposal pearl was distressed beyond measure and prayed and entreated her mother on no account to broach the subject of her again as she could never entertain any proposition of the kind amazed at such a statement her mother begged her to explain her reason for such strange views girls at your age she said are usually betrothed and are thinking of having homes of their own this is the universal custom throughout the empire and therefore there must be some serious reason while you will not allow me to make arrangements for your being a lie to some respectable family pearl had been feeling that the time was drawing near when she would have to divulge the secret of her love affair and she considered that now was the best opportunity for doing so to the astonishment therefore of her mother who believed that she was romancing she told her the whole story of the past how Chan had fallen in love with her and how after she had died and had come under the control of Yan Luo in the land of shadows that dread lord had permitted her spirit to visit her lover in the temple where her body had been laid until a lucky resting place would be found for it on the hillside she also explained how it had been agreed between them that she was to wait for him until after the lapse of 18 years when she would be old enough to become his wife in a few months time the time will be up she concluded and so I beseech you not to speak of my being betrothed to anyone else for I feel that if I am compelled to marry any other than Chan I shall die the mother was thunderstruck at this wonderful story which her daughter told her she could only imagine that Pearl had in some way or another been bewitched and was under a fatal delusion that she was in love with some hero of romance to whom she believed she was betrothed still her daughter had always been most loving and devoted to her and had shown more brightness and ability than Chinese girls of her age usually possessed her mother did not like therefore for what she considered her ridiculous ideas so she determined to try another plan to cure her of her folly what age was this man Chan she asked when you entered into this engagement with him he was just 30 Pearl replied he was of a very good family and a scholar and had distinguished himself for his proficiency in the ancient literature of China oh then he must be nearly 50 now a fine mate he would make for you a young girl of only 18 but who knows how he may have changed since last you saw him his hair must be turning grey and his teeth may have fallen out and for anything you know he may have been dead and buried so long ago that by this time they have taken up his bones and nothing is left of him but what the funeral urn may contain of his ashes oh I do pray that nothing of that kind has happened to him cried Pearl in a tone of voice which showed the anguish she was suffering let us leave the question for a few months and then when he comes for me as I know he will you will find by personal knowledge what a splendid man he is and how entirely worthy he is of being your son-in-law on the day which had been appointed under such romantic circumstances 18 years before Chan arrived in the town and after taking a room in an inn and making certain inquiries he made his way to the home where he believed that Willow resided on his arrival however he was a roughly told by the servant that no such person as Willow lived there and that they did not like strangers coming about the house indeed he was given plainly to understand that the sooner he left the better one would be pleased this treatment was of course part of a scheme devised by Pearl's parents to frustrate any plans that Chan might have formed for seeing her they were determined not to give their daughter to a man so old as he must be and therefore they decided that an interview between the two must be prevented at all Chan was greatly distressed at the rebuff which he had received had Willow after all made a mistake 18 years ago when she gave him the name of this town as the place where her new home was to be he had carefully written it down at her dictation and it had been burned into his brain all the years since no there could be no mistake on that point if there were any then it was one that had been made purposely by Yamlow and ordered to deceive them both that idea however was unthinkable and so there must be something else to account for his not finding Willow as he had expected he had once made inquiries at the end at which he was staying and found that there was a daughter at the very house to which he had gone and that in almost every particular the description he was given of her corresponded with his beloved Willow in the meantime poor Pearl was in a state of the greatest anxiety the eventful day on which she was to meet her lover had opened for her with keen expectation of meeting him after their long separation she had never for one moment doubted that he would keep his engagement with her an instinct which she could not explain made her feel certain that he was still alive and that nothing in the world would prevent him from meeting her as had been agreed upon between them at that eventful parting in the temple 18 years before as the day wore on however and there were no signs of Chan Pearl's distress became exceedingly pitiful and when I came and her mother declared that nothing had been seen of him she was so stricken with despair that she lost all consciousness and had to be carried to bed where she lay in a kind of trance from which for some time it seemed impossible to arouse her when at last she did regain consciousness her mother tried to comfort her by saying that perhaps Chan was dead or that he had forgotten her in the long years and that therefore she must not grieve too much you are a young girl she said and you have a long life before you Chan is an old man by this time no doubt he has long ago married and the home ties which he has formed have caused him to forget you but you need not be broken hearted on that account there are many other men who will be more suitable for you than he could possibly by and by we shall arrange a marriage for you and then life will appear to you very different from what it does now instead of being comforted however Pearl was only the more distressed by her mother's words her love which had begun in the land of shadows and which had been growing in her heart for the last 18 years was not one to be easily put aside by such plausible arguments as those she had just listened to the result was that she had a relapse and for several days her life was in great danger the father and mother fearing now that their daughter would die determined as there seemed no other remedy to bring Chan to their home and see whether his presence would not deliver Pearl from the danger in which the doctor declared she undoubtedly was the father accordingly went to the inn where he knew staying and to his immense surprise he found him to be a young man of about 25 highly polished in manner and possessed of unusual intelligence for some time he utterly refused to believe that this handsome young fellow was really the man with whom Pearl was so deeply in love and it was not until Chan had told him the romantic story of his life that he could at all believe that he was not being imposed upon eventually however he was so taken with Chan that he became determined to do all in his power to bring about his marriage with his daughter come with me at once he said and see if your presence will not do more than the cleverest doctors in the town have been able to accomplish Pearl has been so distressed at not seeing you that she is now seriously ill and we have been afraid that she would die of a broken heart when they arrived at the house Chan was taken into the sick room and the girl gazed into his face with a look of wonderment I do not seem to recognize you she said in a feeble voice you are much younger than Chan and although there is something about you that reminds me of him I cannot realize that you are the same person with whom my spirit 18 years ago held fellowship in the monastery where my body lay unburied Chan proceeded to explain the mystery four years he said my mind was troubled about the difference between our ages I was afraid that when you saw me with gray hairs and with wrinkles on my face your love would receive a shock and you might regret that you had ever pledged yourself to me although you had banished from my sight my prayers still continued to be offered to the goddess of mercy she had heard them for you you remember when you were in the land of shadows and through her intercession Yamlou had forgiven your sins and had made life easier for you in that gloomy country I still continued to pray to her hoping in some vague way that she would intervene to bring about and that when in due time I should meet you again every obstacle to our mutual love would be forever removed one day a fairy came into the very room where your spirit had often conversed with me he carried me away with him to the western heaven and brought me into the very presence of the goddess of mercy she gave directions for me to bathe in the fountain of eternal youth and I became young again that is why you see me now with a young face and a young nature but my heart and its love for you has never changed and never will as long as life lasts as he was telling this entrancing story a look of devoted love spread over the beautiful countenance of pearl she gradually became instinct with life and before he had finished speaking the lassitude and exhaustion which had seemed to threaten her very life entirely disappeared a rosy look came over her face and her cold black eyes flashed with hidden fires now I know she cried that you are Chen you are so charged that when I first caught sight of you my heart sank within me for I had pictured an older man and I could not at once realize that you were the same Chen who showed such unbounded love for me in the years gone by it was not that I should have loved you less even though you had really been older my heart would never have changed it was only my doubt as to your reality that made me hesitate but now my happiness is indeed great her sense through the goodness of the goddess you have recovered your youth I need not fear that the difference between our years may in the near future bring to us an eternal separation in a few days Pearl was once more herself again her parents delighted with the romantic turn that things had taken and highly pleased with Chen himself arranged for the betrothal of their daughter to him and in the course of a few months the loving couple were united in marriage and so after years of waiting a happy consummation was accomplished which heaven and the goddess of mercy and even the dread ruler of the land of shadows had each taken a share in bringing about and for many and many a long year the story of Chen and his wife was spread abroad throughout the region in which they lived end of Chinese folklore tales the beautiful daughter of Liukeng by Jane McGowan read by Susan Tracy