| Provincial Graduate Wang meets...: |
Sitting there in the seat of honour, he shouted: 「Monk! Take my donkey to the manger in the back yard, unsaddle it and give it plenty of hay. After my business here I have to go to a feast with Bailiff Huang of the county yamen.」 Having given these orders, he hoisted one foot on to the bench, and started massaging the small of his back with his fists, saying, 「I envy you farmers these days. This New Year I've got invitations from everybody in the magistrate's yamen, literally everybody! And I have to go to wish them all the season's greetings. I trot about on this donkey to the countyseat and back until my head reels. And this damned beast stumbled on the road and threw me, so that my backside is still sore.」 |
