China -- Court and courtiers -- Anecdotes; Cixi, Empress dowager of China, 1835-1908 -- Anecdotes; Empresses -- China -- Anecdotes
We then went to a theatrical performance. This represented all the
tree fairies and flower fairies celebrating their birthday. The Chinese
believe that all the trees and flowers have their own particular
fairies, the tree fairies being men and the flower fairies being women.
The costumes were very pretty and were chosen to blend with the green
trees and flowers which were on the stage. One of the costumes worn by a
lotus fairy was made of pink silk, worked so as to represent the petals
of the flower, the skirt being of green silk to represent the lotus
leaves. Whenever this fairy moved about the petals would move just
as though wafted by the breeze, like a natural flower. Several other
costumes representing different flowers were made in the same manner.
The scene was a woodland dell, surrounded with huge rocks perforated
with caves, out of which came innumerable small fairies bearing
decanters of wine. These small fairies represented the smaller flowers,
daisies, pomegranate blossoms, etc. The result can be better imagined
than described. All the fairies gathered together and drank the wine,
after which they commenced to sing, accompanied by stringed instruments,
played very softly. The final scene was a very fitting ending to the
performance. It represented a small rainbow which gradually descended
until it rested on the rocks; then each fairy in turn would sit upon
the rainbow which rose again and conveyed them through the clouds into
Heaven. This completed the celebration and we all retired to our rooms.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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