nerous steeds,
who knelt to receive their riders; yet, when they all did meet to throw
light upon the required page of destiny, was not their brightness dimmed
when they perceived, as they read it, that it was full of tears, and
that joy floated but as a bubble? The wise men sighed as the decree of
fate was handed down to them, and with their faces to the earth, thus
did they impart the contents of the revealed page to the magnificent
Youantee.
"The brother of the sun and moon would wed. Beauty shall be laid at the
golden feet, but the pearl beyond price will be found and lost. There
will be joy and there will be sorrow. Joy in life, sorrow both in life
and death; for a black dragon, foe to the celestial empire, threatens
like an overhanging cloud. More the stars dare not reveal."
Ti-tum, till-lilly, ti-tum, ti.
* * * * *
Here the pacha looked at Mustapha and nodded his head in approbation, as
much as to say, "Now we are coming to the point." Mustapha bowed, and
the Chinese poet continued.
* * * * *
The golden eyes of the great Youantee were filled with silver tears when
the page of destiny was made known; but the sun of hope rose, and bore
away the sacred dew to heaven. Then called he the minister, ever to be
disgraced in story, Suchong Pollyhong Ka-te-tow, and the emperor desired
him to make a progress through the universe, his dominions, to find out
the most beautiful maidens, to be brought to the celestial feet, at the
coming feast of Lanthorns. But before they could be permitted to shoot
up the rays of love through the mist of glory which surrounded the
imperial throne--before their charms were to make the attempt upon the
heart of magnanimity, it was necessary, that all their portraits should
be submitted to the great Youantee, in the Hall of Delight. That is to
say, out of the twenty thousand virgins whose images were to be
impressed upon the ivory, one hundred only, selected by a committee of
taste, composed of the first class mandarins and princes, were to be
honoured by the beam of the celestial eye.
The avaricious, gold-seeking, Suchong Pollyhong Ka-te-tow had performed
his task; wealth poured into his coffers from the ambitious parents, who
longed to boast of an alliance with the brother of the sun and moon, and
many were the ill-favoured whose portraits were dismissed by the
committee of taste, with surprise at the minister's ideas
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