Lu Jung (1436–1494)
A-liu was a servant boy in the house of Chou Yüan-su of T’ai-ts’ang.2 By nature, he was doltish and unruly, but Yüs an-su kept him around anyway.
Once Yüan-su asked him to do the sweeping and he spent the whole morning moving the broom but couldn’t even finish a single room. When his master upbraided him, A-liu threw the broom on the floor and said, “If you’re so good at sweeping, why bother me with it?”
Occasionally Yüan-su would go somewhere else and he’d have A-liu watch the gate. But he couldn’t even remember the names of those visitors with whom he was familiar. If Yüan-su asked who had come, he’d invariably say, “One of ’em was short and fat; one of ’em was skinny and bearded; one of ’em was pretty good-looking; one of ’em was so old and crippled he had to lean on a cane.” Later, he realized that it was too hard to remember what everybody looked like, so he closed the gate and refused to greet guests any longer.
Yüan-su’s family had a collection of ancient bronze vessels.3 Once when some guests came, he put them out on display. A-liu waited until the guests left and then secretly went up and tapped on the vessels. “This stuff is bronze, isn’t it?” he asked himself. “How come it’s so black and tarnished?” So he went outside and got some sand and pebbles that he used along with water to give the vessels a good scrubbing.
Yüan-su had a couch with short legs that was missing one of them. He asked A-liu to cut off the branch of a tree to fix it. Grasping an ax and a saw, A-liu traipsed around the garden for an entire day. When he returned, A-liu held up two fingers like a forked branch and said, “All tree branches grow upward. I couldn’t find any that point downward.” The whole family burst into laughter when they heard him say this.
Once Yüan-su planted several new willows in front of his house. Afraid that the neighbor’s children would tug at them, he asked A-liu to guard them. When the time came for A-liu to eat, he pulled up the willows and brought them into the house for safekeeping. The ridiculous things that A-liu did were mostly of this sort.
Yüan-su had an excellent calligraphic hand in the regular script and was a particularly good painter. One day as he was preparing his inks, he said playfully to A-liu, “Can you do this?” “What’s so hard about that?” answered A-liu. Whereupon Yüan-su asked him to paint something. The density and consistency with which A-liu applied the inks were like those of someone who was long practiced in painting. Yüs an-su tested him repeatedly, and everything he produced met with people’s approval.
From that time on, Yüan-su employed A-liu especially as a painter, never abandoning him to the end of his life.
Translated by Victor H. Mair
The author became a Presented Scholar in 1466 and filled a succession of middle-level posts in the bureaucracy. He was known more for his erudition than for his literary ability, but wrote a number of perceptive and charming essays.
1. The name of the main character in this sketch probably means something like “hang around” or “stick around.” The prefix “a” indicates that he is most likely of low birth.
2. Located in the modern-day province of Kiangsu.
3. These are specified as tsun (for wine), yi (also for wine), ting (tripot for cooking), and tui (for serving food).