{"id":10477,"date":"2025-12-01T16:59:54","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T16:59:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vidgop.co.il\/?page_id=10477"},"modified":"2025-12-25T10:42:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T10:42:07","slug":"the-trial","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/vidgop.co.il\/en\/books-2\/the-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"The Trial"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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The Trial<\/h3>\n

Translated by Leo Shtutin; Published in miniMAG\u00a0magazine<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cTeacher,\u201d said Zhang with a bow, \u201cI have been most diligent. I have studied hard. I have learned all I could learn. I am ready for many a challenge. I can face down a tiger one on one. Womanly cunning does not frighten me. My self-confidence will enable me to overcome any and all obstacles. Now, I have heard tell that pupils of yours must submit themselves to certain trials. Test me, then, O respected one.\u201d\n\nThe teacher, Xian Zhi by name, fixed Zhang with an unblinking gaze.\n\n\u201cEsteemed Zhang,\u201d he said at length, bowing, \u201cno one knows when a man\u2019s time for learning might draw to an end. We know only that a man might learn everything, and know nothing. Tell me, why do you wish to undergo the examination?\u201d\n\nZhang\u2019s reply was swift. The matter had evidently been giving him pause for thought.\n\n\u201cWhen I pass the examination,\u201d he said, \u201cI shall know that I have completed my learning. I shall know that I am fearless and intelligent, and that my spirit is strong.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut do you not know this already?\u201d asked his teacher.\n\n\u201cI do.\u201d Zhang looked at him stubbornly. \u201cI do. But I want to undergo the trials nonetheless.\u201d\n\n\u201cThey don\u2019t scare you, then?\u201d\n\n\u201cThey don\u2019t!\u201d fearless Zhang replied. \u201cI have heard tell that those who fail the examination perish. But I am prepared even for that.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell then,\u201d said Xian Zhi, \u201che who seeks out trials finds them. You wish to triumph or to die. You shall have your wish. I\u2019ll set you three tests.\u201d\n\nHe paused, snorted, glanced at Zhang.\n\n\u201cThose who wish to acquire qi<\/em>,\u201d he began, \u201coughtn\u2019t to limit themselves to a single woman. They ought to have three, nine, eleven and more. Possess ten women or more in the span of a single night and you shall achieve longevity. Hold back your seed, the better to direct it into a roiling stream, and you shall achieve immortality.\u201d\n\nZhang grew flustered.\n\n\u201cBut, teacher,\u201d he said with trepidation, \u201cI have not had eleven women, or nine, or three. I have not even had one!\u201d\n\n\u201cWell then,\u201d said Xian Zhi, \u201cbetter start with a duo. Those two, for instance, entwined in an embrace as they proceed down that path.\u201d\n\nZhang leapt to his feet in an access of agitation, only to sink to the ground once more.\n\n\u201cBut they\u2019re caressing one another, teacher. How am I to\u2014\u201d\n\n\u201cSo much the better!\u201d Xian Zhi exclaimed. \u201cThere are two yin<\/em> waiting for you at once.\u201d\n\nZhang grew utterly unnerved.\n\n\u201cBut they do not love me!\u201d he cried.\n\n\u201cHow do you know?\u201d said the teacher.\n\n\u201c\u2026Yes, but I<\/em> ought to love them<\/em>, at the very least.\u201d\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t you love them already?\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat are you waiting for, then? Go and love them.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said Zhang, \u201cI cannot.\u201d And he burst into tears.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Xian Zhi, \u201clet us go then, you and I, for a stroll in the gardens of the Yellow Emperor.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat lies in store for us there, teacher?\u201d asked Zhang. \u201cWhat dangers await us?\u201d\n\n\u201cDangers?\u201d Xian Zhi thought awhile. \u201cOh! There may be any number, but they cannot be predicted. Even your beloved tigers could doubtless gain access to the gardens if they took it into their heads to do so.\u201d\n\nThey began their stroll. Every now and then Zhang looked about him warily.\n\n\u201cWhere are those tigers hiding?\u201d he asked over and over, and assumed a host of combat stances, each more menacing than the last. But Xian Zhi remained silent. Not until they had reached the very end of the path did he call out to his pupil.\n\n\u201cTake a look,\u201d he said, \u201cat how this lizard has concealed itself in the branches of the old elm. Does it know of our existence? Do we trouble it as we amble past?\u201d\n\n\u201cTeacher,\u201d Zhang asked again, \u201cI see the lizard, but where are the tigers?\u201d\n\n\u201cCan you see, my good Zhang, that bamboo whose trunk has arrowed into the heart of the cypress\u2019s branches? Does it muse on the Yellow Emperor, in whose honour these gardens are named?\u201d\n\n\u201cI cannot answer your question. Forgive me, but I find it obscure. What I should very much like to know is, where are those tigers hiding?!\u201d\n\n\u201cMy dear Zhang,\u201d said his teacher, \u201cI\u2019m afraid I must disappoint you. It would appear that the gardens of the Yellow Emperor are devoid of tigers. Nobody has ever encountered one here.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut, teacher,\u201d Zhang cried in astonishment, \u201cwhat exactly did this test involve, then?\u201d\n\n\u201cStrolling,\u201d Xian Zhi replied.\n\nHe sat himself down on the grass, looked into Zhang\u2019s eyes, and told him to focus on his gaze.\n\n\u201cMy dear Zhang,\u201d he said, \u201cif you wish to undergo the final trial, you must embark on a journey to the Yan\u2019e region. When your eyes grow weary, close them, and you shall be transported to Yan\u2019e.\u201d\n\nZhang continued to hold his teacher\u2019s gaze. Presently his eyes closed, his body began rocking hither and thither, his head fell back, and he froze stock-still. Xian Zhi kept his eyes ever on his pupil. All sound vanished for Zhang, along with grass, trees and teacher. He embarked on his journey. A quarter-hour later he returned.\n\n\u201cHow much time has elapsed?\u201d was his first question.\n\n\u201cI believe, esteemed Zhang, that you know the answer better than I do.\u201d\n\n\u201cSix months,\u201d Zhang said, astonished. \u201cWhat strange people inhabit the Yan\u2019e region\u2014they\u2019re all one-legged. They didn\u2019t even know there are people with two. The locals went into raptures over me. I was made Emperor of the Celestial Kingdom! I had a vast palace and a thousand servants. Each and every woman there sought out my love. My riches were incalculable\u2014\u201d\n\n\u201cBut tell me, my dear Zhang,\u201d interjected Xian Zhi, \u201cwhom do you feel yourself to be now?\u201d\n\n\u201cNow?\u201d Zhang said. \u201cOh, I still feel like an emperor!\u201d\n\n\u201cLook around, venerable Zhang. Everybody in our midst also has the good fortune to possess two legs.\u201d\n\nZhang looked around. \u201cTrue enough,\u201d he said. \u201cStrangely, though, I still feel like an emperor!\u201d\n\n\u201cMy dear friend,\u201d said the teacher, \u201cbefore disenchantment sets in, and doubts begin to torment you, would you not wish, perhaps, to embark on another journey, this time to the province of the White Clouds?\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well!\u201d Zhang exclaimed. \u201cIf what awaits there is what awaited me in Yan\u2019e, I should be only too happy to go.\u201d\n\nOnce again he focused his gaze on Xian Zhi\u2019s, then closed his eyes. It all vanished\u2014sound, glade, teacher, the world entire. Xian Zhi scrutinised him ever more fixedly. A quarter-hour later he returned.\n\n\u201cTeacher,\u201d he cried at once, \u201cwhat a dreadful place I have been to! I spent half a year or so there. Its denizens are all one-armed. They do not so much as suspect that normal folk have two. They treated me with contempt. Branded me a freak of nature. Brought their children to gawk at me! It was a dog\u2019s life for me there. Not one woman deigned to glance in my direction. I lived like the poorest of paupers, begging for alms. My deformity meant I was barred from entering teahouses. I was the most despised man in the entire province of the White Clouds!\u201d\n\n\u201cBut now you have returned, respect-worthy Zhang,\u201d the teacher said, scrutinising him, \u201cand you\u2019re surrounded by people who are just like you. How do you feel now you\u2019re back?\u201d\n\n\u201cTeacher,\u201d said Zhang, his voice laced with sorrow and surprise, \u201cI know we all have two arms, but I still feel hideous and worthy of contempt. I want to conceal myself in the shadow of that beech, lest anyone catch sight of me and my deformity!\u201d\n\n\u201cBut having two arms is not regarded as a deformity amongst us, esteemed Zhang!\u201d\n\n\u201cI know, I know,\u201d Zhang cried, \u201cbut I cannot help the way I perceive things. I feel misshapen!\u201d\n\n\u201cAlas, my dear Zhang,\u201d began Xian Zhi, \u201cyou subjected yourself to three tests and failed to pass a single one. You opted for dispassion when love was the name of the game. You cast about for non-existent tigers instead of inhaling the scent of grass. You allowed yourself to rise in your own estimation solely because you rose in the estimation of others, and you were willing to regard yourself as a nonentity solely because others came to regard you as such. What, then, do you want now?\u201d\n\nZhang abased his head and buried it in his hands, despondent. An instant later, however, he proudly straightened up and declared, \u201cI did not pass your tests. Well then! I am ready to accept death!\u201d\n\n\u201cMy poor Zhang,\u201d Xian Zhi said sadly, \u201cdo clouds know of the wind? And when the wind chases clouds across the boundless sky, does it believe it is subjecting them to trials?.. You were hungry for an examination, and an examination is what you got. You want death, and death shall come. Await it.\u201d\n\nBowing to his pupil, Xian Zhi glanced at him a final time, turned on his heel and with light nimble steps proceeded down a path leading to a beech thicket. Zhang turned to watch him go, but he had already vanished.\n\nZhang spent many years awaiting death on that glade. His body stiffened and his hair grew out, its tangled ends meeting the earth. Rain and wind lashed at his bulk. His clothing rotted, leaving nothing but tatters about his waist. Struggling to move his swollen tongue, he informed passerby that womanly cunning did not frighten him, that he was capable of facing down a tiger one on one, that his self-confidence would enable him to overcome any and all obstacles. And nor was he lying, our pupil Zhang, he was telling the purest truth.\n\nOn festal days crowds of gawkers gathered round him and marvelled at the courage of this man.\n\nZhang is still awaiting death today.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\u00a9 Jonathan Vidgop\u00a0 | Artist A. Gorenstein<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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