The True Story of Ah Q (Leung)/Chapter 2
Not only are the surname and native district of Ah Q matters of uncertainty, but even his former doings are matters of doubt. This is due to the fact that the people of Weichuang merely made use of his services or made light of him, and never paid attention to his doings. Ah Q himself threw no light on these matters, but when he was engaged in verbal fusillades with others, he would dilate the pupils of his eyes and exclaim: "My ancestors . . . were greater than yours by a long shot! What sort of creature may you be considered, anyway!"
Having no family, Ah Q lived in the T'uku Temple of Weichuang. He had no steady trade, merely doing odd jobs for others: if wheat had to be cut, he cut it; if rice were to be ground, he ground it; if a boat were to be rowed, he rowed it. Should the period of work be long, he might live in the house of his temporary employer, but as soon as the work was over, he would take his leave. Thus it came about that whenever people were busy, they would call Ah Q to mind, but what they actually recalled was his services and not his doings, for as soon as the particular work was over, Ah Q himself had long been forgotten. So his doings are hardly worth mentioning.
It happened once that an old man said in laudatory tones, "Ah Q surely can work!" At that moment, Ah Q, in all his lanky leanness and bare to the waist, stood indolently before him. Outsiders were not sure whether this remark was sincerely meant or was just a sarcastic fling, but Ah Q, nevertheless, was highly delighted.
Ah Q had a very high opinion of himself and therefore held all the inhabitants of Weichuang in contempt, and those whom he held lowest were its two scholars whom he considered not worth the exertion of a smile. Scholars are likely to attain the rank of Hsiu-t'sai. The Venerable Mr. Chao and the Venerable Mr. Chin enjoyed the respect of the inhabitants not only because of their wealth but also because they were the fathers of scholars; but Ah Q, by the attitude he assumed, showed no special sign of respect for them. He thought to himself, "My sons will be greater than yours by a long shot!"
Besides, Ah Q had gone to the city a few times and naturally felt all the more satisfied with his own attainments. But he also heartily despised the city folk. For instance, a wooden bench, two feet by three inches, the Weichuangites called a long bench and so did he; while the city dwellers called it a tiao6 bench. "That is wrong," thought he. "How ludicrous!" For large-headed fish, fried in oil, the Weichuangites used, as a garnish, scallion leaves sliced half an inch in length, while the urbanites sliced the scallion leaves into silken shreds. He again thought, "That also is wrong and laughable!" The truth of the situation is that the Weichuangites were comical rustics, who had not seen the great outside world. They had never seen a city fried-fish!
Ah Q, with his "eminent ancestors," superior knowledge, and "real ability for work," was almost a complete man of parts, but it is regrettable that in his physical make-up there was a flaw. This very repulsive feature lay on his scalp where, in a few spots, at some time unknown, impetigo scars had appeared. Albeit they were on his own body, Ah Q did not seem to consider that they added to his self-esteem. For this reason, he tabooed the character lai which means mange or impetigo, and extended that taboo to all the characters with the sound lai. Afterwards, he widened the scope of the taboo to include such words as kuang, "bright," liang, "brilliant," and still later spread the taboo to "lamp" and "candle." Whenever these taboos were violated by others, and it mattered not whether it had been done intentionally or unintentionally, every one of Ah Q's scars would flush with fury. He would survey his offender, and if the latter happened to be a poor quarreler, he would revile him; if he happened to be puny, he would strike him. It is not known how it came about, but Ah Q eventually suffered many defeats and accordingly adopted a new policy, which, in general, was to glare at his offender with infuriated eyes.
And how was it to be understood that after Ah Q had adopted the infuriated-eye policy the ordinary run of Weichuangites found even more pleasure in teasing him? As soon as they set eyes on him, they would feign to be in great awe, gasping, "Hey there, it's brightening up!"
Ah Q, as was his habit, would become angry and direct his infuriated eyes at the offenders.
"So, there is a kerosene lamp here!" they would continue without fear.
Ah Q would have no recourse but to find words for retaliation and to sneer, "But you aren't even clever enough to have . . . !" At such a moment, the impetigo scars on his head seemed uncommon scars of a glorious and noble species. But we have already mentioned in the foregoing lines that Ah Q was a man of the world, so knew at once that he was about to break his own taboo, and spoke no more, in order to avoid the unutterable word.
The ordinary person would not let the matter rest here, but would continue teasing until in the end they would come to fisticuffs. On being defeated, Ah Q was grasped by his brownish queue and had his head knocked against the wall four or five times. It was then that ordinary folk felt fully satisfied that they had gained a triumph, and would leave. Ah Q would stand for a second, thinking in his heart: "I will consider that I have been beaten by my sons. Ah, the world is going to the dogs . . ." and accordingly, he in turn would feel satisfied at heart that the victory was his; and thus he would walk off.
Having turned this matter over in his heart, Ah Q would thereafter always find expression in words, so it came about that almost all who were in the habit of teasing him knew that he possessed a method whereby he maintained an unconquerable spirit; thus afterward, whenever they would clutch his brownish queue, they would forestall him, saying: "Ah Q, this is not a case of a son beating his father; it is a case of human beings beating an animal. Repeat the words yourself, 'Human beings beating an animal!'"
Holding on to his queue at the roots of the hair, Ah Q would set his head to one side and spurt out: "Beating an insect, is that to your satisfaction? I am an insect . . . now will you let me go?"
But in spite of the fact that he admitted that he was an insect, ordinary folk would not let him go; and wherever they happened to be, as in times past, they would give him five or six knocks and leave, feeling fully satisfied at heart that they had gained a victory. They were sure that Ah Q had met his Waterloo this time; but it was not ten minutes before Ah Q would walk off, feeling fully satisfied in his heart that he had gained the victory. He felt that he was the "foremost self-belittler"; and if the words, "self-belittler," were taken away from the phrase, the remaining "foremost" applied to him. Was not the candidate who receives the highest honor in the government examinations also first, "foremost," like himself? "And what kind of creature may you be considered?" he would think to himself.
After Ah Q had used these supreme strategies to conquer his enemy, he would run with added elation to the wine shop and gulp down a few bowls of wine, all the while joking with the others present, or exchanging verbal jabs, and after another victory there, would return happy to T'uku Temple, where he let his head sink into slumber.
If he happened to have money, he would be off to play dominoes. The whole crowd would be stooping on the ground, Ah Q, with perspiration streaming all over his face, sandwiched in the whole mass. He would bellow out in a voice louder than all the others, "Green Dragon 400!"
"Hey . . . open . . . there!" the stake holder, also with his face covered with perspiration, would sing out as he lifted the lid. "Tien-men leh (which made Ah Q lose with the Green Dragon)! Chiao-hui leh! Jen and Ch'uang-t'ang have no stakes on them. Hand over Ah Q's coppers!"
"Ch'uang-t'ang 100 . . . 150!"
To the tune of such chanting, Ah Q's money would gradually find its way to the loin purse of another, whose face was also streaming with perspiration. In the end, he would squeeze outside the crowd and stand there looking on, following with personal interest the ups and downs of some one else; and thus he continued until the game was ended. It was not until then that he would leave, all unwilling, and return to T'uku Temple. On the following day, he would go to work with eyes swollen from the lack of sleep.
But the truth of the saying, "How was it to be concluded that the loss of the old man's horse at the border country was not actually blessing?"7 was borne out when Ah Q had one unfortunate streak of winning, which proved to be for his own ill luck.
On that particular evening, Weichuang was holding festivities in honor of its gods and, as was the custom, a dramatic performance was being offered. Near the stage were the customary and numerous gambling tables. The racket of the gongs of the play seemed to be ten Chinese miles away from Ah Q's ears; the one thing he heard was the the singing voice of the lid-lifting stake holder. Ah Q kept winning; coppers turned into silver coin, coin into dollars, and dollars into high stacks. Ravished with delight, he cried out:
"Two dollars on tien-men!"
He did not know how it came about or who had started the fray. Sounds of profanity, sounds of blows, sounds of shuffling feet; there was one grand mass of confusion, from which he crawled away, not seeing the gambling tables, not seeing the people. On several parts of his body, it seemed very much as if there were somewhat of a smarting sensation, as if he had received a few knocks and kicks. A few onlookers stared at him in astonishment. He felt as if something were missing; on arriving at T'uku Temple, he steadied himself and then discovered that his pile of dollars was nowhere to be seen! Since most of the people attending the festival were not Weichuangites, where was he to seek the culprits?
Ah, glittering pile of dollars! And it had been his . . . now nowhere to be seen! To console himself, he let himself believe that the money had been taken away by his sons and in his misery there was nothing left for him except to call himself an insect. While he continued to feel miserable, he tasted, on this reversal of his fortunes, a portion of the bitter gall of defeat.
But anon he turned his defeat into victory. He raised his right hand, and with great strength, slapped his mouth twice. Followed a stinging sensation and a bit of pain. After this slapping, his heart felt consoled and his temper assuaged, for it seemed as if he himself had done the slapping and that another himself had received the slapping, and so it was not long before he felt as if he were hitting some one else — despite the fact that his lips were still smarting. He lay down fully satisfied in heart that he had gained a victory.
Presently he fell asleep.