The night did bring a great storm,accompanied by

frightening thunderclaps.Lightning swept over the roofop,followed by a deafening crash of thunder.Cuicui quiv- cred in the dark.Grandpa woke up,too.Sensing her fear,and worried that she might catch cold,he got up to cover her with a sheet.Grandpa said:

“Cuicui,don't be afraid!

Cuicui replied,“Im not.”Meanwhile she thought to her- self:“Grandfather,I'm not afraid because you'te here!”

There came another roll of thunder,and then,overpower- ing the sound of the rain,the deadening sound of something giving way.Both of them were sure that the hanging cliffs by the stream bank must have caved in!They feared that their boat was crushed under collapsing rocks from the cliffs.

Grandfather and granddaughter kept silent in their beds,

listening to the sound of the rain and thunder.

Even with the downpour,Cuicui was soon asleep again.

When she woke up,it was already daylight.The rain had

stopped without her noticing She heard only the sound of tor-

rents from the gullies entering the stream from the mountains

on both sides.Cuicui got up out of bed.Seeing Grandpa still

sound asleep,she opened the door and went out.The ground

in front of the house had become a dich and water splashed

past in a muddy stream from behind the pagoda,having come

straight down from the bluffs.Newly formed channels of water

were everywhere.The vegetable garden was flooded,its sprouts

all covered with sand and gravel.Going over to the stream,she

could see that the water had risen so high that it was already

brimming over the dock.Soon it would reach the tea vat.The

path down to the dock was like a little river,splashing yellow

mud.The cable over the stream used to pull the boat across

was already under water,and the ferryboat,previously ticd up

beneath the cliffs,was nowhere to be found.

Observing that the blufs in front of the house had not

collapsed,after all,Cuicui at first failed to notice that the

ferryboat had disappeared.But as she looked up and down

for it,she involuntarily turned around,and the white pagoda

behind the house was gone.Startled by the enormity of the

loss,she hurried out to the back of the house.The pagoda had

collapsed into a big mass of bricks and stones.Cuicui was too

scared to know what to do next,so she shrilly called out for

her grandpa.When Grandpa did not get up or answer her,

she ran into the house and shook him back and forth.Still he

made no sound.The old man had died as the thunderstorm faded away.

Cuicui began to wail.

Before long,someone going on business from Chadong to East Sichuan arrived at the stream and called out for the ferry.Cuicui was at the stove,crying as she heated water with which to wash the corpse of her grandpa.

The man thought the ferryman's family must be asleep and he was in a hurry to cross.When his calls went unan- swered,he threw a stone across the stream onto the roof of the house.Sniveling and crying,Cuicui ran out and faced the high cliffs by the stream.

“Hey,it's late!Bring the boat over!”

“The boat has left us!”

“Where's your grandfather?He's in charge of the boat.Its his responsibility!”

“Yes,it's his responsibiliy,and he did it for ffty years— and now he's dead!”

Cuicui blubbered as she spoke to the man on the other side of the stream.When he heard that the old ferryman had died,he realized he must return to town and report the news.

He said:

“Is he really dead?Don't cry,I'll go back to town and tell

people.They'll get you a boat and whatever else you need!"

When he got back to Chadong,he reported the news to every friend in sight,and soon everyone knew about it,inside

the town and out.Fleetmaster Shunshun of River Street sent somcone to find an empty boat.Carrying a plain,unpainted coffin,it was dispatched right away,to be poled upriver to Green Creek Hill.Horseman Yang and an old soldier hurried over to the site on their own,where they felled several dozen giant bamboos and bound them together with vines to form a raft as a temporary ferryboat.When the makeshift raft was ready,they poled it to the shore outside Cuicui's house.The old soldier manned the raft for ferry passengers,while Yang hurried to Cuicui's house to see the deceased.His eyes brim- ming over with tears,he stroked his dead friend,now stiff as a board,as he lay in bed.Then he busied himself making the necessary preparations.Others came to help out,and the coffin arrived on the boat sent over from the big river.An old Daoist priest from town ferried across on the raft,bringing his ritual musical instruments,an old sackcloth Daoist robe, and an old rooster,the better to intone scripture,make his waterside pronouncements,and fulfll his other ritual duties. People came and went from the house.Cuicui simply sat on a low stool by the hearth,sobbing.

Come noon,Fleetmaster Shunshun arrived,too,follow- ing a servant who carried a bag of rice,a vat of wine,and a large slab of pork hindquarters.He said to Cuicui:

“Cuicui,I heard about your grandfather's death.Death happens to us all when we get old.Don't you worry,Ill take care of you!”

He looked around and went home.In the afternoon,the body was put into the coffin.People who had come to help began returning home.By evening,the only ones left were the old Daoist priest,Horseman Yang,and two young workers that Shunshun had sent over from his house.Before dusk fell, the old pricst cut out some flower shapes from red and green paper and fashioned candlesticks from yellow mud.When it was dark,a yellow candle was lit on the small table in front of the casket.There was incense,and other little candles were lit all around the cofin as the old Daoist priest put on his blue hempen gown and began the funeral rite of circling the coffin.The old priest went in front,carrying a paper streamer to lead the way,followed by the filially pious daughter and the horseman in the rear,slowly going in a circle around the lonely casket.The two hired men stood in an empty space by the stove,clanging a gong and cymbals to make noise.The old Daoist walked with his eyes closed,singing and chanting to comfort the spirit of the deceased.When he got to the part about the deceased spirit going to the Western Paradise, where fragrant fHowers bloomed all year long,the old horse- man raised high a wooden tray of the paper Howers and scat- tered them over the coffin,to symbolize the bliss of paradise. At midnight,the cercmony came to an end.They set off firecrackers and the candles nearly burned out.With tears still streaming down her face,Cuicui hastened to the kitchen to stoke the fire and prepare a midnight meal for those who

had assisted.After the meal,the old priest lay down in the bed of the deceased and slept.The others attended the coffin through the night,as was the custom.The old horseman sang funeral songs to help the others pass the time,tapping out the rhythm on a wooden grain measuring cup as his drum.He sang songs about children who were legendary exemplars of filial piety:about Wang Xiang,who lay naked on top of ice to catch a fish for his mean stepmother,and little Huang Xiang, who fanned the pillow of his sick father against the heat and warmed him with his own body to ward off the cold.

Completely exhausted from crying and working the live- long day,Cuicui rested her head on the front of the coffin and drifted off to sleep,but the two hired hands and the horse- man,having caten and drunk a few cups of wine,were in high spirits.They traded off singing their funeral songs.Cui- cui suddenly reawakened,as if from a dream.She came to the terrible realization that Grandpa was dead,whereupon she took up her anguished weeping again.

“Don't cry,Cuicui,that won't bring him back!”

The old horseman went on to tell a joke about a bride crying on her wedding day,spiced up with a few vulgar expressions that had the two workers howling with laughtet.The yellow dog barked outside the house.Cuicui went out and looked up. The air buzzed with the sound of insects.The moonlight was grand and bright stars were inlaid in the dark blue sky,creating an atmosphere of calm and sereniry.Cuicui thought to herself:

“Can it be true?Is Grandfather really dead?”

The old horseman had followed her outside,for he knew that girls did not always show their emotions.A fire might linger under the embers without a trace;with her grandpa gone,and having lost all hope for herself,she might jump off the bluffs or hang herself,following Grandpa in death.How could they know?Therefore,he kept a constant watch over

Cuicui.

Seeing Cuicui standing there in a daze and not turning to him for a long while,the old horseman coughed and said,

“Cuicui,the dew is falling.Aren't you cold?”

“I don't feel cold.”

“It is fine out here!”

“Oh!”she exclaimed softly,seeing a big shooting star.

Then,in the south,another shooting star coursed down to earth.An owl hooted on the opposite shore.

“Cuicui,”the old horseman said to her softly,having already come up beside her:“Go indoors and sleep a while. Don't let your thoughts run wild!"

Cuicui quietly returned to her grandpa's coffin.She sat on the floor and began sobbing again.The two workers standing guard in the house were already fast asleep.

The horseman said,faintly:“Don't cry!Don't!You'l break your grandfather's heart.It's no good to cry your eyes red and your voice hoarse.Listen,I know exactly what your grandfather intended.Leave it all to me.I'll arrange every-

thing so it works out right,so I can face your grandfather.I'm

up to it—I can do whatever is needed.I want this ferryboat to

go to someone that your grandfather liked and that you like

If someone gets in the way,I may be old,but I can still wield

my scythe and deal with him.Don't worry,Cuicui,I'll take

care of everything!”

Somewhere far away,a cock crowed.The old Daoist priest

mumbled to himself,half asleep,in bed:“Is it daylight?Time

to rise and shine!”