The Garden of Paradise 天国花园（4）

'Your sons are lively fellows,” said the Prince.
“Yes indeed,” she said, “but I can master them. Here comes the fourth.”
It was the East Wind, and he was dressed like a Chinaman.
“Oh, have you come from that quarter?” said the mother. “I thought you had been in the Garden of Paradise.”
“I am going there tomorrow,” said the East Wind. “It will be a hundred years tomorrow since I have been there. I have just come from China, where I danced round the porcelain tower till all the bells jingled. The officials were flogged in the streets. The bamboo canes were broken over their shoulders, and they were all people ranging from the first to the ninth rank. They shrieked ‘Many thanks, Father and benefactor， but they didn’t mean what they said. And I went on ringing the bells and singing Tsing, tsang, tsu!’ ”
“You’re quite uproarious about it!” said the old woman. “It’s a good thing you are going to the Garden of Paradise tomorrow; it always has a good effect on your behavior. Mind you drink deep of the well of wisdom, and bring a little bottleful home for me.”
“That I will,” said the East Wind. “But why have you put my brother from the south into the bag? Out with him! He must tell me about the phoenix. The Princess always wants to hear about that bird when I call every hundred years. Open the bag! Then you’ll be my sweetest
mother, and I’ll give you two pockets full of tea as green and fresh as when I picked it.”
“Well, for the sake of the tea, and because you are my darling, I will open my bag.”
She did open it and the South Wind crept out, but he was quite crestfallen because the strange Prince had seen his disgrace.
“Here is a palm leaf for the Princess!” said the South Wind. “The old phoenix, the only one in the world, gave it to me. He has scratched his whole history on it with his bill, for the hundred years of his life, and she can read it for herself. I saw how the phoenix set fire to his nest himself and sat on it while it burnt, like the widow of a Hindu. Oh, how the dry branches crackled, how it smoked, and what a smell there was! At last it all burst into flame and the old bird was burnt to ashes, but his egg lay glowing in the fire. It broke with a loud bang and the young oneflew out. Now it rules over all the birds, and it is the only phoenix in the world. He bit a hole in the leaf I gave you. That is his greeting to the Princess.”
“Let us have something to eat now," said the mother of the winds, and they all sat down to eat the roast stag. The Prince sat beside the East Wind, and they soon became good friends.