CHINESE FOLKLORE AND SOME WESTERN ANALOGIES. 585 



One sunny morning Mr. Chwang 



Was strolling leisurely along, 



Viewing the budding flowers and trees, 



Sniffing the fragrance-laden breeze, 



Staring at those who hurried by, 



Eai'li loaded with a good supply 



Of imitation sycee shoes. 



To l)urn — for friends defunct to use — 



Of dainty viands, oil and rice 



And wine to pour in sacrifice 



On tombs of friends who 'neath them slept. 



'Twas "third of the third " when graves are swept. 



Chwang sauntered on; at length, on looking round, 



He spied a cozy-looking burial gi'ound; 



"I'll turn in here and rest a bit," thonght he, 



"And muse a while on life's uncertainty; 



This quiet place just suits my pensive mood, 



I'll sit and moralize in pleasant solitude." 



So, sitting down upon a grassy knoll. 



He sighed; when all at once upon him stole 



A smothered sound of sorrow and distress, 



As if one wept in very bitterness. 



Mr. Chwang, hearing this, at once got up to see ,. 

 Who the sorrowing mourner could possibly be. 



When he saw a young woman fanning a grave. 

 Her three-inch gold lilies were bandaged up tight 

 In the deepest of mourning; her clothes, too, were white. 

 Of all the strange things he had read of or heard. 

 This one was by far the most strange and absurd; 



He had never heard tell of one fanning a grave. 



He stood looking on at this queer scene of woe 

 Unobserved, but astonished, and curious to know 



The reason the woman was fanning the grave. 

 He thought, in this case, the ))est thing he could do 

 Was to ask her himself; so without more ado. 

 He hemmed once or twice, then bowing his head, 

 Advanced to the woman and smilingly said: 



" I\Iay I ask, madam, why you are fanning that grave?" 



The woman, on this, glancing up with surprise, 

 Looked as tho' she could scarcely believe her own eyes 



When she saw a man watching her fanning the grave. 

 He was handsome, and might have been thirty or more; 

 Tlie garb of a Taoist he tastefully wore; 

 His kind manner soon put her quite at her ease. 

 So she answered demurely, " Listen, sir, if you please, 



And I'll tell you the reason I'm faiming this grave. 



"My husband, alas! whom I now (sob, sob) mourn, 

 A short time since (sob) to this grave (sob) was borne; 



And (sob) he lies buried in this (sob, sob) grave. 

 (Here she bitterly wept.) Ere my (sob) husband died. 

 He called me (sob) once (sob, sob) to his side. 

 And grasping my (sob) — with his dying lips said, 

 'When I'm gone (sob, sob) promise (sob) never to wed 

 Till the mold is (sob) dry on the top of my grave.' 

 SM 190U 41 



