The Outing

Long, long ago before he got married and had a family, the now-crippled and solitary old peasant had received a holy book from a stranger who was on a pilgrimage, he had said. The old peasant had learned some of the words in school before schooling and the use of the local language had been forbidden. Over the years, he had read it on occasion, sometimes with his family, but there was much he did not understand. While it was a prized possession, sacred writings were illegal so it was never spoken of with others. Ever since the terrible famine which took the lives of his wife and two children and many other villagers, he alone knew of the book.

One day the young emperor came through the village in his imperial chair sedan attended by hundreds of servants and bodyguards. The remote countryside was notoriously filled with bandits and no one of status ever traveled without a large retinue that included armed soldiers.

Stories had circulated about peculiar beliefs among the peasants and the emperor wanted to judge the situation for himself. In village after village, he heard the same story. There was no foreign religion being practiced here. Everyone—men and women, young and old—swore unending allegiance to His Magnificence. Houses were ransacked and looted—though there was very little to steal in the countryside—however no religious articles ever turned up.

But in one village, an old hare-lipped woman rambled on and on about this and that and happened to mention the name of a foreign prophet. The villagers told the old woman to shut up and begged the emperor to ignore her because she was a fool. Nevertheless, the emperor inquired about this foreigner, and the old woman talked about a book, a sacred book. The villagers again tried to make the old woman keep quiet, but this aroused the emperor's curiosity more. He insisted on seeing the book. The old woman pointed to an old man and said, "He has one." Then, she pointed to several others and said, "They have it, too."

"Bring me the book," commanded the emperor, but no one moved. No one admitted to having the book. The emperor grew impatient and turning to his guards said, "Accompany these peasants to their homes and find that book. Turn their homes upside down and inside out ... but get that book ... every single copy."

After an hour or so, the guards returned with six books. The emperor opened one of the volumes but couldn't make out the writing, so he said to the peasant who appeared to be the leader, "Read this to me." The peasant said he couldn't read. The emperor pointed to several others and ordered them to read. No one would. "We cannot read Your Magnificence, because we have no school to learn how to read." After consulting his chief advisor, the emperor directed anyone from his entourage who could read this strange hand to come forward and tell what was written in this mysterious book. Several came forward but none could recognize the language and all left shaking their heads at this undecipherable writing.

The emperor, now convinced that this book was a threat to his kingdom, had all of the copies piled in the middle of the village to be burned. The emperor demanded that the old hare-lipped woman start the fire, but she refused and ran screaming down the road, pulling her white hair out by the roots. Next, the emperor looked to the village elder who also refused. Without warning, one of the soldiers struck the man with a sword and the peasant collapsed to the ground.

From the village crowd, a man stepped out and proceeded to take the flame from one of the guards and set the pile of books alight. The peasants gasped in fright and muttered unintelligible words as if reciting them. The man who had stepped out looked at the emperor, bowed and said, "As you wished, Your Magnificence."

The emperor was greatly surprised at the man's action and words, which on one hand paid proper obeisance to the young emperor and on the other hand intervened to prevent a slaughter of his neighbours. Much impressed, the emperor rewarded the man by appointing him the emperor's guardian of the village.

Satisfied that he had snuffed out a rebellion in his kingdom, the emperor ordered the imperial chair sedan to return to the palace where a celebration was decreed for the following day.

Next day, as the emperor was being fêted, the village elder who had been murdered was given full burial rites, and for the occasion, the old cripple retrieved his secreted volume from a hole in a gnarled and barren old apple tree and read what words he could to the people.