"Ai ya!" Wu-ma suddenly trembled and rushed out shouting and wailing.
After staring stupidly at the wall for a moment, Ah Q slowly put his hands on the bench and raised himself to his feet, sensing that something was very much amiss. Hastily he stuck his pipe through his sash and started for the milling room. Bang! a heavy blow fell on his head. He turned around and found the licentiate standing before him with a heavy bamboo stick.
"You monster! Have you gone mad?"
The big bamboo stick fell again. Ah Q put up his hands to protect his head and received the blows on his finger joints. He dashed out of the kitchen, receiving another blow on his back.
"Wang-pa-tan!" the licentiate hurled after him the favorite epithet of the official world.
Ah Q fled into the milling room and stood there, nursing his aching fingers. Wang-pa-tan[1] kept ringing in his ears. This was an epithet which none of the villagers used but was only effected by their betters who hobnobbed with officials; for that reason it impressed him deeply and struck him with awe. He thought no more of women. Curiously enough the rebuke and beating seemed to have had a quieting effect on him and to have purged him of all anxieties. He set to work pounding rice. As he became warmer he stopped and took off his shirt.
Now the commotion without, which had been drowned out by his pounding, reached him. Being addicted to the excitement of crowds, Ah Q left the milling room and turned his steps in the direction of the noise, which led him to the inner court. In the twilight he could make out quite a num-
- ↑ Literally, turtle egg; son of a prostitute or a cuckold.
