328 CHINESE LITERATURE
the second wife. After a few misunderstandings the truth comes out, and the second wife, who is in full sympathy with the first, recommends her to step into the study and leave a note for the husband. This note, in the shape of some uncomplimentary verses, is found by the latter together with the pictures which have been hung up against the wall; the second wife introduces the first; there is an explanation ; and the curtain, if there was such a thing in a Chinese theatre, would fall upon the final happiness of the husband and his two wives.
Of course, in the above sketch of a play, which is about as long as one of Shakespeare's, a good many side- touches have been left out. Its chief beauties, according to Chinese critics, are to be found in the glorification of duty to the sovereign, of filial piety to a husband's parents, and of accommodating behaviour on the part of the second wife tending so directly to the preservation of peace under complicated circumstances. The forged letter is looked upon as a weak spot, as the hero would know his father's handwriting, and so with other points which it has been suggested should be cut out. " But because a stork's neck is too long," says an editor, "you can't very well remedy the defect by taking a piece off." On the other hand, the pathetic character of the play gives it a high value with the Chinese ; for, as we are told in the prologue, " it is much easier to make people laugh than cry." And if we can believe all that is said on this score, every successive generation has duly paid its tribute of tears to the Pi Pa Chi.
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