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The Story of the Phoenix
A Chinese Fairy Tale
In the Book of the Ten Thousand Wonders there are three hundred and
thirty-three stories about the Phoenix, and this is one of them.
Printable version of
The Story of the Phoenix (3 pages, pdf file)
The Story of the Phoenix
Ta-Khai, Prince of Tartary, dreamed one night that he saw in a place where he
had never been before an enchantingly beautiful young maiden who could only be a
princess. He fell desperately in love with her, but before he could either move
or speak, she had vanished. When he awoke he called for his ink and brushes, and
drew her image on a piece of precious silk, and in one corner he wrote these
lines:
The flowers of the pæony
Will they ever bloom?
A day without her
Is like a hundred years.
He then summoned his ministers, and, showing them the portrait, asked if any one
could tell him the name of the beautiful maiden; but they all shook their heads
and stroked their beards. They did not know who she was.
 So
displeased was the prince that he sent them away in disgrace to the most
remote provinces of his kingdom. All the courtiers, the generals, the officers,
and every man and woman, high and low, who lived in the palace came in turn to
look at the picture. But they all had to confess their ignorance.
Ta-Khai then called upon the magicians of the kingdom to find out in magic ways
the name of the princess of his dreams, but their answers were so widely
different that the prince condemned them all to have their noses cut off. The
portrait was shown in the outer court of the palace from sunrise till sunset,
and travellers from all over the world came in every day, gazed upon the
beautiful face, and came out again. No-one could tell who she was.
Meanwhile the days were weighing heavily upon the shoulders of Ta-Khai, and he
became very unhappy; he forgot to eat, he forgot to drink, and he even forgot
which was day and which was night, what was in and what was out, what was left
and what was right. He spent his time roaming over the mountains and through the
woods crying aloud to the gods to end his life and his sorrow.
It was in this way, one day, that he came to the edge of a cliff. The valley
below was scattered with rocks, and the thought came to his mind that he had
been led to this place to put and to his misery. He was about to throw himself
into the depths below when suddenly a Phoenix flew across the valley and
appeared before him, saying:
“Why are you, a mighty Prince, standing here, looking so sad?”
Ta-Khai replied: “Nothing matters to me now but finding the beautiful girl for
whom my heart is thirsting, but how can I find her?”
And he told the bird his story.
The Phoenix replied:
“Without the help of Supreme Heaven it is not easy to acquire wisdom, but it is
a sign that Heaven has sent me to help you. I can make myself large enough to
carry the largest town upon my back, or small enough to pass through the
smallest keyhole, and I know all the princesses in all the palaces of the earth.
They all know my song, and I am their friend. Therefore show me the picture, Ta-Khai,
and I will tell you the name of the princess you saw in your dream.”
They went to the palace, and, when the portrait was shown, the bird became as
large as an elephant, and exclaimed, “Sit on my back, Ta-Khai, and I will carry
you to the place of your dream. There you will find Sai-Jen, the daughter of the
King of China, the princess of your dream.”
At nightfall they were flying over the palace of the king just above a
magnificent garden. And in the garden sat Sai-Jen, singing and playing upon the
lute. The Phoenix deposited the prince outside the wall near a place where
bamboos were growing and showed him how to cut twelve bamboos between the knots
to make a flute with a sound sweeter than the evening breeze on the forest
stream.
And as he blew gently across the pipes, they echoed the sound of the princess's
voice so harmoniously that she cried:
“I hear the distant notes of the song that I sing myself, although I can see
nothing but the flowers and the trees. It is a beautiful song, and it sounds
very sad, and full of longing.”
At that moment the wonderful bird, like a fire of many colours come down from
heaven, landed in front of the princess, dropping at her feet the portrait. She
opened her eyes in utter astonishment at the sight of her own image. And when
she had read the lines inscribed in the corner, she asked, trembling:
“Tell me, Phoenix, who is he, so near, but whom I cannot see, that knows the
sound of my voice and has never heard me, and can remember my face and has never
seen me?”
Then the bird spoke and told her the story of Ta-Khai's dream, adding:
“I come from him with this message; I brought him here on my wings. For many
days he has longed for this hour, let him now meet the princess of his dream and
heal the wound in his heart.”
Sai-Jen fell silent when Ta-Khai stood before her, so great was her love for
him. The Phoenix lit up the garden sumptuously, and a breath of love was
stirring the flowers under the stars.
It was in the palace of the King of China that were celebrated in the most
ancient and magnificent style the nuptials of Sai-Jen and Ta-Khai, Prince of
Tartary.
And this is one of the three hundred and thirty-three stories about the Phoenix
as it is told in the Book of the Ten Thousand Wonders.
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