Cao Cao Escapes

Romance of the Three Kingdoms
by Luo Guanzhong
Today's excerpt from Chapter 4

25
Upon hearing this explanation, the county governor personally untied his ropes, and helped him onto a chair. He then paid ritual obeisance, saying, "You truly are a loyal servant of the country!" Cao Cao also gave obeisance, and asked for the county governor's name. The county governor said, "My surname is Chen, and my given name is Gong; my style name is Gongtai. My dear old mother and my wife are both in Dong Commandery. I am moved by your loyalty to the country; I would like to abandon my post and follow you on your escape." Cao was extremely happy. That night, Chen Gong collected some travel money, and gave Cao Cao a change of clothes; he also brought along two straight swords, one for each of them. They climbed onto their horses and rode toward his home village.

26
After riding for three days, they arrived at the area around Chenggao, just as it was turning dark. Cao used his riding crop to point to a thick forested area, saying to Gong, "There is a man who lives here who is my father's sworn brother; his surname is Lü, and his given name is Boshe. Let's go and ask him for news of my family, and see if he can put us up for the night; what do you say?" Gong said, "Perfect." The two rode to the front of the villa, got off of their horses, and entered in to see Boshe. She said, "I heard that the court has issued a warrant for your arrest, and that they are scouring the countryside for you. Your father has already fled to Chenliu. How were you able to make it here?" Cao told him the whole story up to that point, saying, "If it weren't for county governor Chen, I would be mincemeat by now." Boshe paid obeisance to Chen Gong, saying, "If the son of my sworn brother had not had you, the entire Cao family would have been decimated. Why don't you sit back and relax? Tonight, you can lodge in my humble abode." After he finished speaking, he got up to go inside. After a while, he came back out and said to Chen Gong, "I don't have any decent wine in the house. Allow me to travel to the village in the west to buy a jug for you." With that, he hurried off on his donkey.

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Continued next week. Tomorrow's installment from Lays of Ancient Rome by Macaulay.


More About This Story

This is one of four great novels from China, published when it was the most highly civilization in the world. Map shows China at the time of this story.

Chapter Summary: Deposing the Han emperor: Chenliu becomes emperor; plotting against the villain Dong: Mengde presents a dagger.

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This translation from Wikipedia. See license CC-BY-SA.

You Must All Serve the Tin Man

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
by L. Frank Baum

Today's selection from Chapter 9. The Queen of the Field Mice. Previously

At that moment several mice were seen running up as fast as their little legs could carry them, and when they saw their Queen they exclaimed:

"Oh, your Majesty, we thought you would be killed! How did you manage to escape the great Wildcat?" They all bowed so low to the little Queen that they almost stood upon their heads.

"This funny tin man," she answered, "killed the Wildcat and saved my life. So hereafter you must all serve him, and obey his slightest wish."

"We will!" cried all the mice, in a shrill chorus. And then they scampered in all directions, for Toto had awakened from his sleep, and seeing all these mice around him he gave one bark of delight and jumped right into the middle of the group. Toto had always loved to chase mice when he lived in Kansas, and he saw no harm in it.

But the Tin Woodman caught the dog in his arms and held him tight, while he called to the mice, "Come back! Come back! Toto shall not hurt you."

At this the Queen of the Mice stuck her head out from underneath a clump of grass and asked, in a timid voice, "Are you sure he will not bite us?"

"I will not let him," said the Woodman; "so do not be afraid."

---

Continued next week. Tomorrow's installment from Romance of the Three Kingdoms the great Chinese novel from the Middle Ages.

Remember Judy Garland's breakout movie of 1939; why wasn't the rest of Baum's Oz books made into movies?

Illustrated: cover of the book's first edition in 1900.

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Moorish Customs for Crime and Marriage

Innocents Abroad
by Mark Twain

You're reading from chapter 9. Previously

And in that way it was done. Therefore, if Blucher ever sees the inside of a mosque, he will have to cast aside his humanity and go in his natural character. We visited the jail and found Moorish prisoners making mats and baskets. (This thing of utilizing crime savors of civilization.) Murder is punished with death. A short time ago three murderers were taken beyond the city walls and shot. Moorish guns are not good, and neither are Moorish marksmen. In this instance they set up the poor criminals at long range, like so many targets, and practiced on them--kept them hopping about and dodging bullets for half an hour before they managed to drive the center.

When a man steals cattle, they cut off his right hand and left leg and nail them up in the marketplace as a warning to everybody. Their surgery is not artistic. They slice around the bone a little, then break off the limb. Sometimes the patient gets well; but, as a general thing, he don't. However, the Moorish heart is stout. The Moors were always brave. These criminals undergo the fearful operation without a wince, without a tremor of any kind, without a groan! No amount of suffering can bring down the pride of a Moor or make him shame his dignity with a cry.

Here, marriage is contracted by the parents of the parties to it. There are no valentines, no stolen interviews, no riding out, no courting in dim parlors, no lovers' quarrels and reconciliations--no nothing that is proper to approaching matrimony. The young man takes the girl his father selects for him, marries her, and after that she is unveiled, and he sees her for the first time. If after due acquaintance she suits him, he retains her; but if he suspects her purity, he bundles her back to her father; if he finds her diseased, the same; or if, after just and reasonable time is allowed her, she neglects to bear children, back she goes to the home of her childhood.

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Continued next week. Tomorrow's installment from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.

More About This Book

This travelogue cemented this rising author's reputation when it was published in 1869.

Chapter Summary: A Pilgrim--in Deadly Peril--How they Mended the Clock—Moorish Punishments for Crime--Marriage Customs--Looking Several ways for Sunday--Shrewd, Practice of Mohammedan Pilgrims--Reverence for Cats--Bliss of being a Consul-General

Photo: Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain) by Matthew Brady Feb. 7, 1871.

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Led By A Man Who Can Be Depended Upon

The Three Musketeers
by Alexandre Dumas

Today's excerpt is from Chapter 41.

At the end of a few minutes Monsieur raised his voice, and said, "I want for this mission three or four volunteers, led by a man who can be depended upon."

"As to the man to be depended upon, I have him under my hand, monsieur," said M. Dessessart, pointing to d'Artagnan; "and as to the four or five volunteers, Monsieur has but to make his intentions known, and the men will not be wanting."
"Four men of good will who will risk being killed with me!" said d'Artagnan, raising his sword.

Two of his comrades of the Guards immediately sprang forward, and two other soldiers having joined them, the number was deemed sufficient. D'Artagnan declined all others, being unwilling to take the first chance from those who had the priority.

It was not known whether, after the taking of the bastion, the Rochellais had evacuated it or left a garrison in it; the object then was to examine the place near enough to verify the reports.

D'Artagnan set out with his four companions, and followed the trench; the two Guards marched abreast with him, and the two soldiers followed behind.

They arrived thus, screened by the lining of the trench, till they came within a hundred paces of the bastion. There, on turning round, d'Artagnan perceived that the two soldiers had disappeared.

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Continued next week. Tomorrow's installment from Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain.


More About This Book

This French novel, written in 1844 has been the subject of numerous movies. The 2004 Disney poster advertises the latest.

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Menelaus Answers Hector’s Proposal

The Illiad
by Homer

We are journeying through Book 3. Previously

When Hector heard this he was glad, and went about among the Trojan ranks holding his spear by the middle to keep them back, and they all sat down at his bidding: but the Achaeans still aimed at him with stones and arrows, till Agamemnon shouted to them saying, "Hold, Argives, shoot not, sons of the Achaeans; Hector desires to speak."

They ceased taking aim and were still, whereon Hector spoke. "Hear from my mouth," said he, "Trojans and Achaeans, the saying of Alexandrus, through whom this quarrel has come about. He bids the Trojans and Achaeans lay their armour upon the ground, while he and Menelaus fight in the midst of you for Helen and all her wealth. Let him who shall be victorious and prove to be the better man take the woman and all she has, to bear them to his own home, but let the rest swear to a solemn covenant of peace."

Thus he spoke, and they all held their peace, till Menelaus of the loud battle-cry addressed them. "And now," he said, "hear me too, for it is I who am the most aggrieved. I deem that the parting of Achaeans and Trojans is at hand, as well it may be, seeing how much have suffered for my quarrel with Alexandrus and the wrong he did me. Let him who shall die, die, and let the others fight no more. Bring, then, two lambs, a white ram and a black ewe, for Earth and Sun, and we will bring a third for Jove. Moreover, you shall bid Priam come, that he may swear to the covenant himself; for his sons are high-handed and ill to trust, and the oaths of Jove must not be transgressed or taken in vain. Young men's minds are light as air, but when an old man comes he looks before and after, deeming that which shall be fairest upon both sides."

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Continued next week. Tomorrow's installment from The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas.


More About This Book

From the earliest days of Ancient Greece, the author(s) of this poem were contemporaries of the writers of the Bible's Old Testament.

Summary of Third Book: Alexandria, also called Paris, challenges Menelaus--Helen and Priam view the Achaeans from the wall--The covenant--Paris and Menelaus fight, and Paris is worsted--Venus carries him off to save him--Scene between him and Helen.

Painting: The Wrath of Achilles by Michael Drolling, 1819.

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Lovely Maidens Tight with Secrets

Thousand and One Nights

Today's excerpt is from the story of The Porter And The Three Ladies Of Baghdad.

Dost thou not see that for pleasure four several things combine,
Instruments four, harp, hautboy and gittern and psaltery?
And unto these, four perfumes answer and correspond, Violets,
roses and myrtle and blood-red anemone.
Nor is our pleasure perfect, unless four things have we, Money
and wine and gardens and mistress fair and free.

And ye are three and need a fourth, who should be a man, witty, sensible and discreet, one who can keep counsel.' When they heard what he said, it amused them and they laughed at him and replied, 'What have we to do with that, we who are girls and fear to entrust our secrets to those who will not keep them? For we have read, in such and such a history, what says Ibn eth Thumam:

Tell not thy secrets: keep them with all thy might. A secret
revealed is a secret lost outright.
If thine own bosom cannot thy secrets hold, Why expect more
reserve from another wight?

Or, as well says Abou Nuwas on the same subject:

The fool, that to men doth his secrets avow, Deserves to be
marked with a brand on the brow.'

'By your lives,' rejoined the porter, 'I am a man of sense and discretion, well read in books and chronicles. I make known what is fair and conceal what is foul, and as says the poet:

None keeps a secret but the man who's trusty and discreet. A
secret's ever safely placed with honest folk and leal;
And secrets trusted unto me are in a locked-up house Whose keys
are lost and on whose door is set the Cadi's seal.

When the girls heard this, the eldest one said to him, 'Thou knowest that we have laid out much money in preparing this entertainment: hast thou aught to offer us in return? For we will not let thee sit with us and be our boon companion and gaze on our bright fair faces, except thou pay down thy share of the cost. Dost thou not know the saying:

Love without money
Is not worth a penny?'

---

Continued next week. Tomorrow's installment from The Illiad by Homer.


More About This Book

From the Arab world: these stories date back to the Middle Ages.

Picture: Queen Scheherazade tells her stories to King Shahryār.

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Cao Cao Caught

Romance of the Three Kingdoms
by Luo Guanzhong
Today's excerpt from Chapter 4

23
Let us now turn to Cao Cao, who was fleeing the city and galloping toward Qiao Commandery. He was detained by garrison soldiers as he traveled past Zhongmu County, and was taken to the county governor. Cao said, "I am a traveling merchant. My surname is Huangfu." The county governor took a close look at Cao Cao; after muttering to himself for a while, he said, "When I was seeking a post in Luoyang, I had known you as Cao Cao. Why are you being evasive? Take him and throw him into a cell; tomorrow, we will hand him over to the authorities in the capital, and ask for the reward." All of the garrison soldiers received extra rations of food and wine, then left.

24
At midnight, the county governor ordered his personal aides to discreetly escort Cao Cao to the rear courtyard for questioning; he asked, "I have heard that the chancellor treats you very well, so why have you brought such trouble upon yourself?" Cao said, "'How can a little songbird understand the ambitions of a grand swan?' You have captured me, and now you can leisurely turn me over to the authorities and collect your reward. Why ask more questions!" The county governor ordered his attendants to withdraw, and then said to Cao, "Don't think so little of me. I'm not some yokel official; I just haven't yet met someone to call lord, that's all." Cao said, "My ancestors have eaten the bounty of the Han for generations. If I didn't think of a way to serve my country, how would I be any different from an animal? I subjugated myself to Zhuo because I wanted to seize upon the opportunity to plot against him, so that this evil could be removed from the world. The fact that I was not successful is the will of heaven!" The county governor said, "Where were you heading on this trip?" Cao said, "I was returning to my home village. I was hoping to issue a forged imperial edict which would call on all of the nobles to raise armies and defeat Dong Zhuo."

---

Continued next week. Tomorrow's installment from Lays of Ancient Rome by Macaulay.



More About This Story

This is one of four great novels from China, published when it was the most highly civilization in the world. Map shows China at the time of this story.

Chapter Summary: Deposing the Han emperor: Chenliu becomes emperor; plotting against the villain Dong: Mengde presents a dagger.

More information here:

Check the right column

More of This Series

This translation from Wikipedia. See license CC-BY-SA.