Literature of antiquity and the Middle Ages - Summary - 2019

The story of the beauty of Lee
Bo Xingjiang (? -862)

In ancient times, a son of a distinguished dignitary grew up in a family, a boy of extraordinary gifts. The father was proud of him.

It's time to go to the state examinations in the capital. The young man drove into Chang'an through the gates of the quarter of fun and immediately noticed a beauty near one of the houses. It seems that the young man also noted. From our people, our hero learned that the girl Lee was greedy and insidious, but still brought her acquaintance with her. And she was enchanted by him. They settled together. The young man threw away friends, classes, know about theatrical performances, and dared for feasts. First, money was running out. Then it was necessary to sell horses, crew, and there was a turn for the servants.

The beauty, seeing that her beloved was impoverished, conceived a deceitful plan. Lured him into the house allegedly by his aunt, and she hid himself under the pretext of a mother's sudden illness. The young man was looking for her, but unsuccessfully. I realized that he was just overwhelmed. From grief, he began to quench, and people, seeing how close he was to death, brought him to the funeral home.

However, the troublesome employees of the funeral bureau unfortunate gradually came to their senses and began to help the owner. Especially he succeeded in singing burial cries, became known in the city. Soon, even the rival funeral office smothered him, and when the competition between the competitors was organized, it was the young man who brought his victory to the new owner with his singing.

In trouble, the father, who turned out to be in the capital, knew in the executor of his own son's funeral chants and beat him in anger with his whips until half-dead. The comrades tried to look after him, but were desperate: a barely alive young man wandered around the city asking for giftedness. He accidentally got into the house of his beloved. Terrified of the committed, the beauty began to look after him and succeeded. Then she conceived again to encourage the young man to the sciences. For two years from day to day, she forced her to practice before returning to his former knowledge. A year has passed to make them shine. The young man's exams passed so that the glory about him grew throughout the country. But beauty Lee did not calm down. She made her lover work harder. Finally, at the Moscow Examinations, he turned out to be the best and received a high state post.

Going along with the beautiful Lee to the new place of service, he met his own father, who, admiring the successes of his son, forgave him all the transgressions. Moreover, having learned about the role played by his beloved in the life of a young man, his father insisted on their marriage as soon as possible. The beauty has become a truly exemplary wife, and amongst their descendants, in many ways, we meet worthy scholars and statesmen.