ANONYMOUS.
? 13th century
[From a work entitled Mên shih hsin yü, or “Chats while Lice-catching.”]
INTERPRETATION.
TWO lines from a poem of the T‘ang dynasty were once set as a test to a company of painters. The lines ran thus:
Some tender sprays of budding green, with a tiny splash of red,―
A little goes a long way to put spring thoughts in one’s head.
All the painters sought for their interpretations in plants and in hints of the pink blossoms of spring, and all failed alike, with the single exception of one artist, who produced the picture of a kiosque on a cliff, faintly seen in a setting of green willows, with a beautiful girl (dressed according to custom in red) standing up and leaning on the balustrade.[1] The others admitted their defeat, for such a picture may really be said to interpret the thought of the poet.
- ↑ In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.
