The tools are still to be seen suspended to the top, and, in spite of the trick having been found out and punished, such is the love of Chinese for the marvellous, that the Pekingese believe to this day that they were left there by Lu-pan, after repairing the temple. MENG CHENG'S JOURNEY TO THE GREAT WALL. In tracing back time's ever flowing stream, At once a wife, a widow, yet a maid, No jade could be more pure, no snow be whiter; Ages have passed, it shines out clearer, brighter. Couched in rude language though the tale may be, My efforts will not altogether fail, Should my rough verses but succeed in wringing In Kuating city ages long ago,* There lived, as local chronicles still show, A man named Mêng-lung-té, who, with his wife, Tranquil and happy, for no other care Disturbed their peace, save that they had no heir; Then were they blessed, they craved for nothing more. At length their fondest hopes were gratified, Help to support the props round which they twine, * Upwards of two thousand years ago. With joy, then, o'er this little pledge they hung, Cheng;* Nor was it ever changed, the name they gave, Years passed, the little Mêng Cheng grew apace, Her budding charms unfolded one by one, * The first name a child receives is called its "Milk name," and is equivalent to our Christian name.' Children can be named on any day after their birth, from the 3rd to the 30th or "full moon or "complete month.” The 3rd and 30th days after the birth of a child are the favourite days for the ceremony of giving it its "Milk name." Each day developing some lovelier grace, Her birthday dawned: the happy parents blessed "You're now sixteen, as each revolving year Invite a son-in-law to assume our name," * This, for your sake, must be our highest aim; A person having no male children, and not wishing his family name to become extinct, can, if he choose, invite a person to marry his daughter, which he does through the medium of the go-between. On marriage, the bridegroom becomes a member of his father-in-law's family; the first son assumes his mother's maiden name, and inherits the family property, his descendants doing the same in perpetuity; the remainder of the bridegroom's children retain his name. |