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The rat wife (2)
When they reached the house the old woman, after lighting the
lamp and setting food before him, proceeded to speak as follows:
- "Knowing, sir, that you would shortly arrive, we sold all our
grain except about twenty piculs. We cannot take this with us so
far; but a mile or so to the north of the village, at the first house
you come to, there lives a man named Tan Erh-chuan, who often
buys grain from me. Oblige me by taking a sack with you on your
mule and proceeding thither at once. Tell Mr. Tan that the old
lady of the southern village has several piculs of grain which she
wishes to sell in order to get money for a journey, and beg him to
send some animals to carry it." The old woman then gave him a
sack of grain; and Hsi Shan, whipping up. his mule, was soon at
the place; and, knocking at the door, a great fat fellow came out,
to whom he told his errand. Emptying the sack he had brought,
he went back himself first; and before long a couple of men
arrived leading five mules. The old woman took them into the
granary, which was a cellar below ground, and Hsi Shan, going
down himself, held the measure and grasped the smoothing-bar,
while the mother poured the grain into the measure and the
daughter received it in the sack. In a little while the men had got a
load, with which they went off, returning altogether four times
before all the grain was exhausted. They then paid the old
woman, who kept one man and two mules, and, packing up her
things, set off towards the east.
After they had traveled some seven miles, day began to break;
and by-and-by they reached a market-town, where the old woman hired animals and sent back Tan's servant.
When they arrived at Hsi Shan's home he related the whole
story to his parents, who were very pleased at what had happened, and provided separate apartments for the old lady; and
after choosing a lucky day, A-chien was married to San-lang. The
old woman prepared a handsome trousseau; and as for A-chien
herself, she spoke but little, seldom losing her temper, and if any-
one addressed her she would only reply with a smile. She employed all her time in spinning, and thus became a general
favorite with all alike. "Tell your brother," said she to San-lang, "that when he happens to pass our old residence he will do
well not to make any mention of my mother and myself."
In three or four years' time the Hsi family had made plenty of
money, and San-lang had taken his bachelor's degree, when one
day Hsi Shan happened to pass a night with the people who lived
next door to the house where he had met A-chien. After telling
them the story of his having had nowhere to sleep, and taking
refuge with the old man and woman, his host said to him, "You
must be mistaken, sir; the house you allude to belongs to my
uncle, but was abandoned three years ago in consequence of its
being haunted. It has now been uninhabited for a long time.
What old man and woman can have entertained you there?" Hsi
Shan was very much astonished at this, but did not put much
faith in what he heard.
Meanwhile his host continued, "For ten years no one dared
enter the house; however, one day the back wall fell down, and
my uncle, going to look at it, found, half-buried underneath the
ruins, a large rat, almost as big as a cat. It was still moving, and
my uncle went off to call for assistance, but when he got back the
rat had disappeared. Every one suspected some supernatural
agency to be at work, though on returning to the spot ten days
afterwards nothing was to be either heard or seen; and about a
year subsequently the place was inhabited once more."
Hsi Shan was more than ever amazed at what he now heard,
and on reaching home told the family what had occurred; for he
feared that his brother's wife was not a human being, and became rather anxious about him. San-lang himself continued to be
much attached to A-chien; but by-and-by the other members of
the family let A-chien perceive that they had suspicions about
her. So one night she complained to San-lang, saying, "I have
been a good wife to you for some years, but now I am no longer
regarded as a human being. I pray you give me my divorce, and
seek for yourself some worthier mate." She then burst into a
flood of tears; whereupon San-lang said, "You should know my
feelings by this time. Ever since you entered the house the family
has prospered; and that prosperity is entirely due to you. Who
can say it is not so ?"
"I know full well," replied A-chien, "what you feel; still there
are the others, and I do not wish to share the fate of an autumn
fan.
At length San-lang succeeded in pacifying her; but Hsi Shan
could not dismiss the subject from his thoughts, and gave out
that he was going to get a first-rate mouser, with a view to testing
A-chien. She did not seem very frightened at this, though evidently
ill at ease; and one night she told San-lang that her mother was
not very well, and that he needn't come to bid her good-night as
usual. In the morning mother and daughter had disappeared.
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