A girl is sad,

Yun Erh began,

When she tries to divine on whom she will depend towards the end of life.

"My dear child!" laughingly exclaimed Hsueh P'an, "your worthy Mr. Hsueh still lives, and why do you give way to fears?"

"Don't confuse her!" remonstrated every one of the party, "don't muddle her!"

"A maiden is wounded at heart."

Yun Erh proceeded:

"When her mother beats and scolds her and never for an instant doth desist."

"It was only the other day," interposed Hsueh P'an, "that I saw your mother and that I told her that I would not have her beat you."

"If you still go on babbling," put in the company with one consent, "you'll be fined ten cups."

Hsueh P'an promptly administered himself a slap on the mouth. "How you lack the faculty of hearing!" he exclaimed. "You are not to say a word more!"

"A girl is glad,"

Yun Erh then resumed:

When her lover cannot brook to leave her and return home.

A maiden is joyful, When hushing the pan-pipe and double pipe, a stringed instrument she thrums.

At the end of her effusion, she at once began to sing:

"T'is the third day of the third moon, the nutmegs bloom; A maggot, lo, works hard to pierce into a flower; But though it ceaseless bores it cannot penetrate.

So crouching on the buds, it swing-like rocks itself.

My precious pet, my own dear little darling, If I don't choose to open how can you steal in?"

Finishing her song, she drank the "opening cup," after which she added: "the delicate peach-blossom," and thus complied with the exigencies of the rule.

Next came Hsueh P'an. "Is it for me to speak now?" Hsueh P'an asked.

"A maiden is sad..."

But a long time elapsed after these words were uttered and yet nothing further was heard.

"Sad for what?" Feng Tzu-ying laughingly asked. "Go on and tell us at once!"

Hsueh P'an was much perplexed. His eyes rolled about like a bell.

"A girl is sad..."

he hastily repeated. But here again he coughed twice before he proceeded.

"A girl is sad."

he said:

"When she marries a spouse who is a libertine."

This sentence so tickled the fancy of the company that they burst out into a loud fit of laughter.

"What amuses you so?" shouted Hsueh P'an, "is it likely that what I say is not correct? If a girl marries a man, who chooses to forget all virtue, how can she not feel sore at heart?"

But so heartily did they all laugh that their bodies were bent in two.

"What you say is quite right," they eagerly replied. "So proceed at once with the rest."

Hsueh P'an thereupon stared with vacant gaze.

"A girl is grieved...."

he added:

But after these few words he once more could find nothing to say.

"What is she grieved about?" they asked.

"When a huge monkey finds its way into the inner room."

Hsueh P'an retorted.

This reply set every one laughing. "He must be mulcted," they cried, "he must be mulcted. The first one could anyhow be overlooked; but this line is more unintelligible."

As they said this, they were about to pour the wine, when Pao-yu smilingly interfered. "The rhyme is all right," he observed.

"The master of the rules," Hsueh P'an remarked, "approves it in every way, so what are you people fussing about?"

Hearing this, the company eventually let the matter drop.

"The two lines, that follow, are still more difficult," suggested Yun Erh with a smile, "so you had better let me recite for you."

"Fiddlesticks!" exclaimed Hsueh P'an, "do you really fancy that I have no good ones! Just you listen to what I shall say.

"A girl is glad, When in the bridal room she lies, with flowery candles burning, and she is loth to rise at morn."

This sentiment filled one and all with amazement. "How supremely excellent this line is!" they e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed.

"A girl is joyful,"

Hsueh P'an resumed,

"During the consummation of wedlock."