All Men Are Brothers – [Shui Hu Chuan] – Prologue #2
“CHANG, THE HEAVENLY TEACHER, CHIEF OF THE TAOISTS, BESEECHES THE GODS TO DRIVE AWAY THE EVIL FLUX. THE COMMANDER HUNG, IN HEEDLESSNESS, FREES THE SPIRITS.”
Now at the great Western Mountain Hua there was a certain Ch’en T’uan, who was a Taoist hermit. He was a man of deep religion and of great virtue and he could divine the winds and the clouds. One day he rode an ass and went down the mountain and as he was going along the road that led to the great Hua Mountain, he heard the travelers by the way say, “The Emperor has given his seat to the officer Chao.” When Ch’en T’uan heard this he was pleased in his heart. He placed one hand over his brow and laughed there loudly upon the ass’s back so that he even fell to the earth with his great laughter. When men asked him for the reason of his laughing that scholar said, “From this time on peace will reign in our land. Truly is it Heaven’s will above that this Chao shall be Emperor and so it is in accord also with the kingdom of the earth beneath and between these, it accords also with the hearts of men.”
From this year of Ken Shen, Chao took the throne and he opened his dynasty. He reigned for seventeen years and all the earth was at peace. After him his brother reigned, the Emperor T’ai Chung, and he reigned twenty and two years and he gave the throne to the Emperor Chen Chung. Chen Chung gave it in turn to Jen Chung.
Now this Emperor Jen Chung was in truth The Barefoot God From Heaven and when he was born a mortal babe he wept without ceasing night and day. His father, the Emperor, put forth proclamations calling for some physician to come and heal his ill, and the very heart of Heaven was moved with pity. Then did Heaven send the god T’ai Po from a certain western star to come to earth and he changed himself into a very old man and he came and he tore down the imperial proclamation and he said that he could still the imperial babe’s weeping.
The guard who was in charge of the proclamation led him into the palace and there the old man saw the Emperor, and the Emperor commanded him to enter into the private palace and see the babe. The old man entered straightway and he lifted up the babe and he whispered certain words into the babe’s ear and the babe ceased its weeping. Now the old man would not tell his surname or his name, but those who watched saw him change into a wind and vanish.
And what were these words the old man told into the babe’s ear? He said, “The Star Of Wisdom guides you, the Star Of War protects you.”
And truly was it that Heaven sent these two stars down to aid this Emperor Jen Chung. The Star Of Wisdom was the most learned Pao Chen, he who was lord of the southern court in K’ai Feng and chief scholar of the imperial palace. The Star Of War was Ti Ch’ing, the great warrior who went to chastise the rebellious kingdom of Hsi Hsia. These two great statesmen came forth and they supported this Emperor and he reigned for forty and two years. From the first year he began to reign, called the year Kuei Hai, until the ninth year of the time called T’ien Shen, in those years the country was at peace and the harvests of the five grains were plentiful and the people went merrily to their work. If aught was dropped upon the road, none picked it up nor were the doors of houses locked at night. So it was during the first nine years.
From the first year of the period called Ming Tao until the third year of Huang Yu, these nine years were also filled with prosperity and these years were the second period. From the fourth year of Huang Yu to the second year of Chia Yu, these nine years the fields bore more heavily yet, and this was the third period. Thus these three periods passed, twenty-seven in all, and they were called the three periods of greatest peace and prosperity. Then did the people rejoice. But who could foresee that joy must end and sorrow come?
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