Things Are Never What They Appear To Be
by Donald Smith
Emperor Qin was in his throne room,
which contained silk tapestries, fancy small chairs inlaid with jade, and
of course, his throne. Qin was sitting on his throne, which was made of
the rare, dark red wood mahogany. It had purple velvet cushions, and was
draped with light silk curtains. Suddenly his aide entered. Like all palace
staff he was dressed in fancy silk clothes, with jade and emeralds sewn
into them.
"My emperor, we have an invitation from the Chancellor of the province
Jin Jang. He sends his greetings and invites you to a feast at his palace,"
Emperor Qin's Aide announced.
"Again?" sighed Qin. "Oh, well. I suppose we'll have to accept
the man's offer."
Emperor Qin was being carried to the Chancellor's Palace when he saw two
men playing chess by the side of the road. Qin was being taught to play
chess by a teacher and was yearning for a game. Qin decided that a good
first game would be with a peasant, so he leaned out of his sedan chair
and yelled "I challenge you to a game of chess, Old Man!"
"Accepted," the man mumbled. When the Emperor returned, he fell
asleep, thinking of nothing but the chess game the next morning.
When the Old Man arrived at the palace the next morning, Qin had a fancy
chess board all set up. The chess board was made of marble, white marble
for the light squares, and black marble for the dark squares. The pieces
were carved from colored marble that corresponded with their side, and they
also had felt on the bottom. Qin and the Old Man sat down to play, and the
Old Man had checkmate in five moves.
"I'll get you for this old fool, if it's the last thing I do!!"
Qin screamed as the Old man ran from the palace.
"I want that man brought here and killed!" the Emperor told his
guards. "Find him and bring him before me." The guards went out
and one of them found the Old Man.
"We have orders to bring you before the Emperor to execute...."
Before he could finish his sentence, the guard fell into a trance as the
Old Man laid a spell on him which erased his memory. Then the old man walked
away, leaving the guard trying to learn how to walk all over again!
All the guards who found the Old Man suffered the same fate, until finally
the Old Man returned to the Emperor's palace, and went inside. The Emperor
saw the Old Man and yelled to his guards who were standing by his throne,
"Kill him!"
"Charge!" yelled the guards as they charged, but then fell over
as the Old Man laid the spell on them which erased their memories. Then
the Old Man changed into his true form, which was that of a strong young
man. This was when the Emperor realized that the "Old Man" was
really not a mortal, but a spirit god from heaven.
"Just because someone beats you
in chess doesn't mean you should try to kill them," the spirit said,
and with a kick of his heels he rose into heaven.
After the encounter, the Emperor was not such a sore loser and would remember
what had happened. For a while, he was a better man.
Even that wasn't enough. Again the Emperor challenged a man to chess, and
again he was beaten. As before, the Emperor sent his guards after the man.
The gods looked down and saw the guards bring the man before the Emperor,
who ordered his death. Just as the guard raised his spear, a bolt of lighting
shot down from heaven and killed the guards and hurt the Emperor.
"It looks like you haven't learned your lesson," said the young
spirit as he came down from heaven. Then he paused and added scornfully,
"Old Man." And from his fingertips he shot another bolt of lightning
and that is how Emperor Qin died his horrible death.
