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I cannot understand a word of it
and have brought it here specially for you to decipher."
Genjia
the chief was baffled by the writing and passed
it on to his secretary in charge of documents.
After reading it, the secretary said, "This
document claims to be from the old chief. In it
he says that he has ascended to heaven and is now
serving as an official there, but he doesn't have
an official mansion. He asks you, Master, to send
him a carpenter -- the most skilled you have --
to direct the construction of such a mansion."
Genjia the chief thought
constantly of his father and was most concerned
to hear that he had nowhere to lay his head in
heaven. He sent for Genjia the carpenter, showed
him the document and ordered him to go to heaven
at once.
Genjia the carpenter was
greatly startled. He dared not refuse, however,
and could only plead for time, "How could I
disobey your order, Master! But I need some time
to prepare. Please allow me seven days. After
that time, please hold a Twig Burning Ceremony in
the hemp field behind my house to send me off.
Then I'll be able to ascend to heaven to build
the mansion for the old chief."
Genjia the chief
considered this request reasonable and willingly
agreed.
When Genjia the carpenter
left, he went round making a few investigations.
He wanted to find out where the chief had got
this idea. He eventually discovered that it had
originated in a classical document found by
Genjia the steward. He put two and two together
and concluded that it must be a sinister plot
against him hatched by the steward.
He went home and
consulted with his wife. "The most absurd
thing has happened. The chief wants me to go and
build a mansion in heaven. He must have been
tricked into it by Genjia the steward. I did not
dare refuse, but asked him to hold a Twig Burning
Ceremony behind our house before I go. It would
be no use trying to disobey him now. There is
only one way for me to get out of this alive. The
two of us must dig a tunnel under cover of night
leading from the field to our bedroom, and then
you can hide me there later. In a year's time I
will find some way to get even."
The wife was shocked by
this tale. Hatred for the steward filled the very
marrow of her bones. She was willing to do
anything to save her husband. So every day when
night fell, the two of them dug the tunnel in
secret. On the seventh day it was completed. They
sealed the entrance with a slab of stone and
scattered soil on it, so that people wouldn't
notice it.
The eighth day came, the
day for the carpenter to ascend to heaven. At the
head of a retinue of elders and stewards and with
a great din of bugles and drums, the chief came
to send him off. They made a pile of faggots in
the hemp field and asked Genjia the carpenter to
sling his tool-kit over his shoulder and carry
his bag in one hand. They made him stand in the
middle, lit the faggots and watched the smoke
rise, "carrying him up to heaven".
Genjia the steward was
afraid that as soon as the faggots were lit, the
carpenter would spoil everything by crying out in
terror. "Come on !" he shouted to the
crowd. "Blow your bugles and beat your drums!
Laugh and cheer! Genjia the carpenter is on his
way to heaven to build a mansion for our old
chief. Isn't that a wonderful thing!"
The chief came over to
have a look. Genjia the steward pointed gleefully
to the rising smoke and said, "Master, you
see, there goes his horse. Genjia the carpenter
is on his way to heaven."
The chief was delighted.
The moment the faggots
were lit and the smoke began rising into the sky,
Genjia the carpenter raised the slab and escaped
through the tunnel back to his own bedroom.
He confined himself to
his house for a whole year. His wife went to
great lengths to find milk, butter and other
nutritious food for him; and as he did no work,
by the end of that year he was plumper and fairer-skinned
than ever.
Meanwhile, Genjia the
steward tried a thousand and one ways of seducing
the carpenter's wife, and she tried a thousand
and one ways of avoiding him. He failed
completely to attain his goal.
While Genjia the
carpenter was hiding at home, he diligently
practiced the calligraphy of the Buddhist
scriptures. He prepared a document written in the
authentic style and kept it on his person. On the
first anniversary of his "ascent to heaven"
he went and stood on the very spot where he was
supposed to have been burned, the same tool-kit
on his shoulder and the same bag in his hand. He
called out, "How is everybody? I've just got
back from heaven."
His wife was the first to
come out. She pretended to be extremely surprised
and hurried over to report the news to the chief.
The chief was very happy
when he heard that Genjia the carpenter was back.
He gave him a hero's welcome with bugles and
drums, and invited him to stay in his mansion. He
wanted to find out how his father was faring in
heaven.
On meeting the chief,
Genjia the carpenter said in a very serious tone
of voice, "When I was constructing the
official mansion in heaven, the old chief treated
me with exceptional kindness, just as you always
do, Master. That's why I'm in such good shape!
The mansion is finished, and what a magnificent
building it is -- ten times the size of an
earthly mansion! Only one thing is lacking: a
steward. The old chief misses his old steward
dearly. He very much wants the steward to go up
to heaven and manage things for him. After a
period of time he can come back." This said,
he promptly produced the document and showed it
to the chief, adding that it was the old chief
who had asked him to bring it down.
Genjia the chief read the
document and was totally convinced by the whole
story. Presently he sent for Genjia the steward
and asked him to go and work for the old chief in
his newly-built mansion in heaven.
When Genjia the steward
saw Genjia the carpenter standing there and
looking so well after his "ascent to heaven,"
and when he heard the vivid description of heaven
given by the carpenter, he just didn't know what
to think. "Perhaps I really possess some
sort of magic power", he thought to himself.
"It was my idea for him to go to heaven, and
he actually seems to have done so! Perhaps it
really is possible to fly to heaven, and the old
chief really does have a new mansion there!"
He followed the
carpenter's example and asked for seven days to
get ready, and a Twig Burning Ceremony to be held
in the hemp field behind his house to send him
off to heaven. He thought that since Genjia the
carpenter could come back, he could too. On the
eighth day, as on the previous occasion, Genjia
the steward stood in the middle of the faggots
with a box on his shoulder and a bag in his hand.
As on the previous occasion, there was a great
din of bugles and drums, and the chief gave the
order to light the faggots and send him off to
heaven.
But the outcome this time
was somewhat different. One difference was that
after everything was over, a pile of charred
bones was found among the ashes. Another
difference was that the steward never came back.
He stayed on in heaven forever to help the old
chief run his mansion.
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