Wushan Lesser Guai Lesser Yaoguais
Description
One spring, the Webbed Hollow hosted a grand flower-viewing banquet. A young guai from Mount Wushan, having delivered their gifts, saw the ladies chatting and laughing at the feast and decided to join the other guais in the cave for drinks and merriment.
After a few cups of wine, the guais began to jest with each other. A pig guai remarked, “Your cave is truly luxurious, with banquets for every season and festival. Unlike our place, where the lady is very strict, and there’s hardly any fun.”
A proud insect guai responded, “Our ladies often host banquets to keep the mistress company, so she doesn’t feel lonely. We may not compare to the heavens, but our second mistress has some businesses in the mortal world, so we’re not short on silver. It’s tough, though; if she didn’t find ways to bring in money, we wouldn’t have made it this far.”
Another pig guai added, “Your ladies are all so beautiful and elegant. I wonder which celestial mountain is fortunate enough to have them.”
The insect guai laughed, “Our ladies can’t leave this place. The businesses outside are managed by carefully chosen people. Since we only accept husbands who marry into the family, the talented men don’t want to come, and the ladies don’t fancy those who do. Look over there, those four from Venom Mountain, their family is in decline, and their descendants are unworthy. Only one is somewhat acceptable, but the ladies refuse to marry him, saying whoever gets unlucky will marry him on a fateful day.”
The guais laughed heartily, enjoying themselves, when suddenly there was a shout, “Something terrible has happened! Something terrible!”
A panting pig guai in charge ran over, shouting, “The ladies in the cave have lost their minds. They got into a fight with our mistress over a few words from a maid and even smashed the gifts that were brought.”
The guais were all startled. The clever ones quickly wrapped some food in lotus leaves and handed it to the pig guai as an apology, “Next time, we’ll make sure there’s no misunderstanding. Sorry for spoiling the fun.”
“All right, all right!” The pig guais took the food and hurriedly followed the steward out, asking, “What exactly happened?”
“Who knows? It’s very strange. Every time we come, there’s a commotion. I’ve heard their mistress is always quite muddle-headed…”
Poetry
A long mouth, a rounded belly, born incomplete,
A bulky form, for tasty treats it competes.
Greedy for flavors, it craves delight,
Wagging its tongue, it speaks in spite.
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