The Favorite of Fortune and the Child of Ill Luck
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“And what have you done during all those long years?”
“I have been waiting for him to return.”
“Do you wish to marry some one else, seeing that he has been missing so long?”
“No, I will remain his wife until I die.”
When the emperor saw how faithful his wife was, he told her who he was, had her clothed in magnificent garments, and took her with him to his imperial palace. And there they lived in splendor and happiness.
After a few days the emperor said to his wife: “We spend every day in festivities, as though every day were New Year.”
“And why should we not celebrate,” answered his wife, “since we have now become emperor and empress?”
Yet his wife was a child of ill luck. When she had been empress no more than eighteen days, she fell sick and died. But her husband lived for many a long year.
Note: “The Favorite of Fortune and the Child of Ill Luck” is a traditionally narrated fairy-tale. The dragon is the symbol of imperial rule, and the New Year’s feasts, which old and young celebrate for weeks, is the greatest of Chinese festivals.
There was once an honest journeyman tailor, by name Labakan, who learned his trade with an excellent master in Alexandria. It could not be said that Labakan was unhandy with the needle; on the contrary, he could make excellent work: moreover, one would have done him injustice to have called him lazy. Nevertheless, his companions knew not what to make of him, for he would often sew for hours together so rapidly that the needle would glow in his hand, and the thread smoke, and that none could equal him.
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