The Wind That Tramps the World (collection)/The Month the Almonds Bloom

The Month the Almonds Bloom
Over the shadowy wall of the Chinese garden the
moon rose like a golden lantern, bringing into sharp
silhouette the fronds of the trees against the velvet
sky. Like fireflies the stars flitted about in the blue
glory. A soft breeze sighed lazily through the willows
laden with perfumes of pungent fragrance.
Upon the high wall, little Lee Cheng perched and
crooned to the moon. He sang tiny verses of his own
inventing, odd little fragments that gave him pleasure
and pleasure was all that he desired.
Lee Cheng was very small and very young. Nobody
knew his age nor anything about him. He lingered
in the gorgeous garden of Woo Fung, the renowned
philosopher who had discovered him wandering listlessly
in the narrow alleys of Canton and taken him
to his lovely garden near the Pearl River.
Woo Fung was a Jade Master whose fame had
spread throughout the Empire. Rich merchants came
from far and near to consult him about Jades or
Nephrites which they imagined were different to all
known specimens. He was an expert in this most delightful
of gems, the only one that is pleasurable to
the touch as well as to the sight. Only a poet can truly ​appreciate the splendor of

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