Produced by Juliet Sutherland and Project Gutenberg
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Translated by H. BENCRAFT JOLY
This translation was suggested not by any pretensions to range myselfamong the ranks of the body of sinologues, but by the perplexities anddifficulties experienced by me as a student in Peking, when, at thecompletion of the Tzu Erh Chi, I had to plunge in the maze of the HungLou Meng.
Shortcomings are, I feel sure, to be discovered, both in the prose, aswell as among the doggerel and uncouth rhymes, in which the text hasbeen more adhered to than rhythm; but I shall feel satisfied with theresult, if I succeed, even in the least degree, in affording a helpinghand to present and future students of the Chinese language.
H. BENCRAFT JOLY, H.B.M. Vice-Consulate, Macao, 1st September, 1891.
Chen Shih-yin, in a vision, apprehends perception and spirituality.
Chia Yü-ts'un, in the (windy and dusty) world, cherishes fond thoughts
of a beautiful maiden.
This is the opening section; this the first chapter. Subsequent to thevisions of a dream which he had, on some previous occasion, experienced,the writer personally relates, he designedly concealed the truecircumstances, and borrowed the attributes of perception andspirituality to relate this story of the Record of the Stone. With thispurpose, he made use of such designations as Chen Shih-yin (truth underthe garb of fiction) and the like. What are, however, the eventsrecorded in this work? Who are the dramatis personae?
Wearied with the drudgery experienced of late in the world, the authorspeaking for himself, goes on to explain, with the lack of success whichattended every single concern, I suddenly bethought myself of thewomankind of past ages. Passing one by one under a minute scrutiny, Ifelt that in action and in lore, one and all were far above me; that inspite of the majesty of my manliness, I could not, in point of fact,compare with these characters of the gentle sex. And my shame forsooththen knew no bounds; while regret, on the other hand, was of no avail,as there was not even a remote possibility of a day of remedy.
On this very day it was that I became desirous to compile, in aconnected form, for publication throughout the world, with a view to(universal) information, how that I bear inexorable and manifoldretribution; inasmuch as what time, by the sustenance of the benevolenceof Heaven, and the virtue of my ancestors, my apparel was rich and fine,and as what days my fare was savory and sumptuous, I disregarded thebounty of education and nurture of father and mother, and paid no heedto the virtue of precept and injunction of teachers and friends, withthe result that I incurred the punishment, of failure recently in theleast trifle, and the reckless waste of half my lifetime. There havebeen meanwhile, generation after generation, those in the innerchambers, the whole mass of whom could not, on any account, be, throughmy influence, allowed to fall into extinction, in order that I, unfilialas I have been, may have the means to screen my own shortcomings.
Hence it is that the thatched shed, with bamboo mat windows, the