Smelling Essays 聞章
Smelling Essays is my adaptation of a story from
the Tales of A Chinese Studio (聊齋) since I don’t remember the exact details but the general
storyline. So if mine deviates from the
original, please excuse me. I remembered
this story as I was replying to an email to an Italki friend.
There were
three scholar candidates went visiting the sights as they headed towards the
capital for their Imperial examinations.
There they heard of a blind monk living in a mountain temple, who was
able to ascertain how good an essay was when it was burnt in front of him just
by smelling the smoke. So they decided
to see it for themselves after each having written an essay.
The first
one was burnt.
“Not
bad. Shows promise!”
The second
was burnt.
“Excellent!
Never have I smelt one so fragrant for a long time now.”
The last one
was burnt. Immediately the blind monk
rushed towards the bushes and started retching away in violence, ejecting what
he had for lunch.
He came back
in great anger,
“Why dost
play such a cruel joke on a poor blind monk? Just when you gave me something of
great pleasure, you suddenly take it away and dishing such gutter filth to me. Be off with you scoundrels before I forget
that I am an avowed monk!”
The young
scholars were afraid and left the temple grounds. Months later, they took their Imperial
examination. Alas, the one with the most
fragrance did not even make it onto the list! Even the one showed promise had
an honourable mention. The top scholar
of the land belonged to the one who cause such great grief to the monk.
As with
tradition, the top scholar returned home to pay respect before taking up his
faraway post, he passed by the temple again.
The more he thought of the prior incident, the angrier he became. At last he could bear no longer and decided
to test the monk again.
Once more
another essay was burnt. The monk
vehemently cried out,
“Take this
filth away. Not fit for human
consumption! I remember you know.
Weren’t you the one of a few months back who caused such me such violent
stomach convulsions? Why are you back again?”
When told
that the essay was from the First Candidate of the Land, the monk cried out
angrily,
“My eyes may
be hollow without sight but my nose knows what is of worth. Those examiners are truly blind. Besides, I am talking about their
essays. Not their destinies!”
Monday, May 20, 2013