When I was Governor in those parts, I went with some friends to call upon Chang, and spent a merry time with him over a stoup of wine. And as I pledged my host, I said, “Are you aware, sir, how perfect is the happiness you enjoy? happiness that I would not exchange even for the diadem of a prince. Does not the Book of Changes speak of the crane’s voice sounding in solitude, and the harmony which prevails among its young? Does not the Book of Poetry tell us that the crane’s note rings through the marsh, and is heard far away in the sky? For the crane is a bird of purity and retirement, taking its pleasure beyond the limits of this dusty world of ours. Therefore it has been made an emblem of the virtuous man and of the lettered recluse; and to cherish such pets in one’s home should entail rather profit than harm. Yet the love of cranes once lost a kingdom.[1]
“Then we have had Edicts prohibiting the use of wine, the greatest curse, as ’twas said, of the curses which afflict mankind. Yet there have been those who attained immortality thereby, and made themselves heroes for ever.
“Ah! ’tis but the prince, who, though pure as the crane itself, dares not indulge a passion for wine. An he do so, it may cost him his throne. But for the lettered recluse of the hill-side, what odds if he perish in his cups? And what harm can his cranes bring to him? Thus, sir, it is that the joys of the prince and the hermit may not be mentioned together.”
“True enough!” cried Chang, smiling, as he proceeded to sing the Song of the Cranes:―
"Away! away! my birds, fly westwards now,
To wheel on high and gaze on all below;
To swoop together, pinions closed, to earth;
To soar aloft once more among the clouds;
To wander all day long in sedgy vale;
To gather duckweed in the stony marsh.
Come back! come back! beneath the lengthening shades,
Your serge-clad master stands, guitar in hand.
’Tis he that feeds you from his slender store:
Come back! come back! nor linger in the west.”
- ↑ Alluding to a certain feudal prince who lavished his revenues upon cranes.
