The Month the Almonds Bloom
Over the shadowy wall of the Chinese garden the moon rose like a golden lantern, bringing into sharp silhouette the fronds of the trees against the velvet sky. Like fireflies the stars flitted about in the blue glory. A soft breeze sighed lazily through the willows laden with perfumes of pungent fragrance.
Upon the high wall, little Lee Cheng perched and crooned to the moon. He sang tiny verses of his own inventing, odd little fragments that gave him pleasure and pleasure was all that he desired.
Lee Cheng was very small and very young. Nobody knew his age nor anything about him. He lingered in the gorgeous garden of Woo Fung, the renowned philosopher who had discovered him wandering listlessly in the narrow alleys of Canton and taken him to his lovely garden near the Pearl River.
Woo Fung was a Jade Master whose fame had spread throughout the Empire. Rich merchants came from far and near to consult him about Jades or Nephrites which they imagined were different to all known specimens. He was an expert in this most delightful of gems, the only one that is pleasurable to the touch as well as to the sight. Only a poet can truly
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