I read a Chinese short story to Ben this evening.
About 400 years ago, during a rainy season, like England in April, a scholar with the wit of Stephen Fry named Xu Wenchang （徐文长）was staying with his friend, but he somehow overstayed his welcome.
His friend left a subtly written note, which read,
“下雨天留客天留我不留”
xià yǔ tiān liú kè tiān liú wǒ bǔ liú
（Literally: Rainy days keeping guest sky keep I not keep)
There was NO punctuation marks!
A very witty Mr Xu Wenchang (1521—1593)
What do butterflies mean to you? Freedom? Beauty?
If I say butterflies also mean a tragic love, like Romeo and Juliet, do you think it strange?
I use butterflies a lot in my cards. Sometimes I wonder, ‘What do they mean?’
Hopeful thoughts with butterfly
Here is a Chinese tragic love story, The Butterfly Lovers. The young lovers were Liang Shanbo (梁山伯, man) and Zhu Yingtai (祝英台, woman). Their names are normally shortened for Liang Zhu (梁祝).
Their tragic love is almost like that of Romeo and Juliet.
The basic story line is: Zhu pretended to be a boy and became Liang’s classmate; Liang didn’t know Zhu was a girl. They spent 3 years together as boys. Zhu was engaged to a rich man by her father later. Liang was too late. He died of a broken heart. Continue reading
