y is either
itself liable to sudden transformations or else is the cause of them in
others. If Ts`ui were to marry a rich gentleman and become his pet, she
would forever be changing, as the clouds change to rain, or as the scaly
dragon turns into the horned dragon. I, for one, could never keep pace
with her transformations.

"Of old, Hsin of the Yin dynasty and Yu of the Chou dynasty ruled over
kingdoms of many thousand chariots, and their strength was very great.
Yet a single woman brought them to ruin, dissipating their hosts and
leading these monarchs to the assassin's knife. So that to this day they
are a laughing-stock to all the world. I know that my constancy could
not withstand such spells, and that is why I have curbed my passion."

At these words all who were present sighed deeply.

A few years afterwards Ts`ui married some one else and Chang also found
a wife. Happening once to pass the house where Ts`ui was living, he
called on her husband and asked to see her, saying he was her cousin.
The husband sent for her, but she would not come. Chang's vexation
showed itself in his face. Some one told Ts`ui of this and she secretly
wrote the poem:

_Since I have grown so lean, my face has lost its beauty.
I have tossed and turned so many times that I am too tired to leave
my bed.
It is not that I mind the others seeing
How ugly I have grown;
It is _you_ who have caused me to lose my beauty,
Yet it is _you_ I am ashamed should see me!_

Chang went away without meeting her, and a few days afterwards, when he
was leaving the town, wrote a poem of final farewell, which said:

_You cannot say that you are abandoned and deserted;
For you have found some one to love you.
Why do you not convert your broodings over the past
Into kindness to your present husband?_

After that they never heard of one another again. Many of Chang's
contemporaries praised the skill with which he extricated himself from
this entanglement.

[64] THE PITCHER

[_A.D. 779-831_]

I dreamt I climbed to a high, high plain;
And on the plain I found a deep well.
My throat was dry with climbing and I longed to drink;
And my eyes were eager to look into the cool shaft.
I walked round it; I looked right down;
I saw my image mirrored on the face of the pool.
An earthen pitcher was sinking into the black depths;
There was no rope to pull it to the