III. An Additional Account of Ah Q’s Victories

CHAPTER III

AN ADDITIONAL ACCOUNT OF AH Q’S VICTORIES

ALTHOUGH Ah Q was always gaining victories after his own manner, it was not until he had received the smack from the Venerable Mr. Chao that his name became well known.

He handed the ti-pao two hundred cash for wine money and lay down, seething with anger. He later thought to himself, “The present condition of the world is unutterable: sons striking their fathers …” Thus, it came about that his mind pictured the Venerable Mr. Chao’s austere bearing; pictured him for the time being as his son. Blithe and merry he gradually became and, rising from his bed, made his way to the wine shop, singing “The Youthful Widow at Her Husband’s Grave.” At that particular moment, he felt that the Venerable Mr. Chao was a degree superior to other people.

Thereafter, strange to relate, it actually came about that the people seemed to respect Ah Q all the more. On Ah Q’s own part, he thought that this might have been due to the fact that he was the Venerable Mr. Chao’s father, but the fact was that he was not.

It was a general custom in Weichuang that if the seventh-born cuffed the eighth-born, or perhaps, Li The Fourth struck Chang The Third the matter was not taken seriously. Thus it was absolutely necessary that a man of the Venerable Mr. Chao’s rank be involved in such an affair before the Weichuangites could perpetuate the event by means of a monument of gossip. As soon as the monument of gossip had been put up, the giver of the blow, having already enjoyed fame, the receiver, deriving it from the glory of the former, also acquired fame. That the error was Ah Q’s goes without saying Why so? Because the Venerable Mr. Chao never was in the wrong! But if Ah Q was in the wrong, why did people seem even more respectful toward him? That is hard to explain. As a matter of conjecture, it may have been that although Ah Q had received a smack for saying that he was the Venerable Mr. Chao’s relative, the others may have feared that there might have been some truth in his statement, and so in the end, there was nothing like being more respectful to him in order to be on the safe side. Otherwise, it may have been like the case of the sacrificial bull in the Confucian Temple; that is, although the bull was an animal and in the same class with pigs and sheep, still, the scholars of old did not dare after the saint’s chopsticks had touched the sacrificial offering, to move the animal without due decorum.

Thereafter, Ah Q felt serenely happy for many years.

It was on a spring day that he was walking along, intoxicated, when, in the sunlight at the foot of a wall, he espied Wang-hu, sitting there stripped to the waist… This Wang-hu was full of scabs and profusely bewhiskered from ear to ear; and every one called him Wang Ringworm Whiskers. Ah Q avoided the term “ringworm,” but despised him vehemently. Ah Q’s idea was that the ringworm marks were no source of wonderment, but whiskers, and a chain of them! That, indeed, was too novel, too extraordinary, and enough to cause one to look down upon the owner of them. With this in mind, he sat down beside Wang-hu. Ordinarily, Ah Q would not have had the courage to sit down beside another person, but what was there for him to fear in sitting beside Wang-hu? To be frank, the fact that he was sitting beside him must be considered an honor to his companion.

After Ah Q slipped off his tattered short lined coat, Wang~hu?s actions became irritating and Ah Q gradually lost his temper, each of his ringworm scars coloring red. He flung his garment on the ground and after expectorating, shouted: “Worm!”

“Mangy-hide dog, whom are you cursing?” sneered Wang-hu, lifting his eyes disdainfully.

In spite of the fact that of late Ah Q had, as compared with former times, received more respect from people and had become a least bit more vain and self-respecting, still in dealing with ordinary folk, who were accustomed to fighting, he was humble and meek; but on this occasion he waxed exceeding bold. This creature, Wang-hu, with a cheek full of whiskers, would he dare to say anything disrespectful?

“The one who answers me is the one to be reviled!” cried Ah Q, with his arms akimbo.

“Do your bones itch for a thrashing?” queried Wang-hu, also jumping to his feet and throwing on his coat.

Ah Q thought that his opponent was about to flee, and rushing upon him, raised his fist to cuff him, but before his fist had reached Wang-hu’s body, the latter had grasped it and with one yank sent Ah Q sprawling. On the instant, his queue was seized by Wang-hu; he was dragged to the wall, where, as was the custom, his head was knocked.

“A gentleman moves only his mouth and not his hands!” shouted Ah Q, with his head twisted to one side.

But Wang-hu did not seem to be a gentleman and, what was more, took no notice of these words, but bumped Ah Q’s head against the wall five times. He then used the utmost of his strength and gave him one push which sent him tumbling over a distance of six feet. It was then that Wang-hu walked away satisfied.

This, in Ah Q’s mind, should have been considered the first humiliation which he had suffered, because in times past, when he had ridiculed Wang-hu on account of his chains of whiskers, the latter had never ridiculed him; nor had Wang-hu raised a hand against him. But now, quite contrary to expectation, he had raised his hand. It seemed as if the saying of the populace had come true; namely, “The emperor has discontinued the examinations and Hsiu-ts’ai and Chu-jen are no longer needed.” For this reason, there would be a loss in the austere bearing of the Chao family, and so would others be taking him lightly too, implying that any loss in prestige on the part of the Chaos would reflect on himself; so Ah Q still considered himself a Chao.

Ah Q stood in vacant stupidity. A person approached from a distance who, on arrival, proved to be one of Ah Q’s enemies. This was the man Ah Q hated most vehemently; he was the eldest son of the Venerable Mr. Chin. In the past, he had gone to the city and attended a foreign school; thence, he went to Japan; how, it was not known. He returned to his home half a year later; his legs had become straight and his queue was not to be seen. His mother wailed loudly more than ten times; his wife jumped into the well three times. Wherever his mother went thereafter, she would say: “His queue was been cut off by evil companions after they had made him drunken with wine. By right, he could have been a great official; now there is no other course excepting to let his queue grow again before we say any more.” But Ah Q was loath to believe a word of this and purposely dubbed him “False Foreigner” and accused him of acting as a spy for foreigners. As soon as he saw him, he would, without fail, curse him under his breath.

Ah Q also deeply hated and cut off all relations with him on account of his false queue. Now if the queue were not real, the person in question did not have the requisite qualifications of a human being; and since his wife had not jumped into the well the fourth time, she was not a good woman. The “False Foreigner” drew nearer.

“Bald pate! Ass!” Ordinarily Ah Q would have muttered under his breath, not allowing his words to become audible; but on this occasion, because he was in the heat of his fury and because he craved for vengeance, the words slipped out unconsciously.

The “bald pate” held a walking stick of yellow lacquer―what Ah Q termed the stick of wails—and advanced with great strides. Ah Q realized on the moment that he was in for a thrashing and stood with his whole body taut against the coming attack. He hunched up his shoulders and waited—and, in truth, there was a whacking sound, which seemed to be without a doubt dealt at his head.

“I meant him!” explained Ah Q, pointing to a small boy who was near at hand.

Biff, whack, whack!

In Ah Q’s opinion, this should have been considered the second humiliation in his life; yet, fortunately after the beating, it seemed as if the matter had become a closed chapter for all time, and contrary to all expectation, he felt somewhat relaxed throughout his whole body. Added to this, the precious ability to forget, inherited from his ancestors, had come into effect. He therefore sauntered along slowly; by the time he had arrived at the door of the wine shop, he had early experienced a feeling of exhilaration.

But from the opposite direction came a small nun from the Convent of Quiet Self-Improvement. Even in ordinary times, Ah Q was sure to let out a mouthful of profanity whenever he set eyes on her; so what of this occasion, immediately after his humiliation? Recalling the late defeat, animosity filled his thoughts.

“I did not know why I had such bad luck to-day, but at the bottom of it all, it was because I saw YOU!” he thought to himself. He advanced, expectorated, and shouted: “Huh! Peh!”

The little nun ignored him altogether and merely walked on with her head lowered. Ah Q ran close to her side; thrusting out his hand, he touched her newly shorn scalp; and laughing derisively, jeered: “Bald pate, hurry on; your monk is waiting for you.”

“Why do you molest me?” cried the little nun, her face flushed crimson, as she hastily stepped along.

Hearty laughter came from the men in the wine shop. Ah Q, on noticing that his actions were meeting with plaudits from the onlookers, grew all the more blithe and replied with an ambiguous quip.

He pinched the nun’s cheek and the men in the wine shop continued laughing loudly. Feeling bhe more elated because of the cheers of the spectators, Ah Q tightened his fingers and gave an additional twist before he let go.

In the course of this fray, he had long forgotten Wang-hu, had forgotten the “False Foreigner”; and it seemed as if he had been completely avenged for the bad luck of the day. And strange to relate, his whole body, which had undergone the thrashing, felt light, relaxed, and buoyant; and he moved along as if on pinions which might waft him heavenward at any moment.

“That sonless, grandsonless Ah Q!” screamed the little nun from a distance, in a lachrymose voice.

“Ha, ha, ha!” laughed Ah Q altogether merry.

“Ha, ha, ha!” bellowed the cronies in the. wine shop quite hilariously.