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Show 702 The National Geographic Magazine Gilbert Grosvenor Tower of Ten Thousand Fairies, a Taoist Shrine, Sits Astride Tai Shan's Pilgrim Way A passageway, called Cave of the True Hermit, leads visitors into the presence of three large religious statues. Life-size birds, made of bronze, perch on each corner of the twin roofs. Plaster keeps falling; beggars now occupy the cells once given to priests. with surprising speed. There are also alluring antiques, huge, graceful copper and brass urns with curving spouts. It is easy to linger too long by the wayside among people who have brought friendly manner to a fine art. Noticing a broken teapot which had been skillfully pieced together with brass rivets, my companion asked the host why he did not get a new pot. "But, lady," he answered, "don't you know that the flavor of the tea is much better from an old pot?" Beggars sit in the middle of the road, so that chair riders must be carried over them and their shallow wicker coin baskets. Their heart-rending whine is generally "Cash-a, cash-a, chih-pa" (Give cash, must eat). "Cash" is the one foreign word at their command, although the copper alloy coin with a square hole in the middle no longer circulates. Another familiar call is "Lao-yeh, t'ai-t'ai, k'e lien, k'e lien" (Old lord, lady, have pity, have pity). I have sometimes thought that the wail of Malvolio in the dark chamber must have been studied from a Chinese beggar. To give is an act of piety, a way of gaining merit; therefore the beggar is giving his benefactor an opportunity to advance in spiritual status. His is an honorable calling, for Buddha begged, and the begging bowl is a sign of priesthood. The modern priest, however, is often content to farm out the right to beg to humbler people. Crippled beggars, carried here for the pilgrim season, are often financial assets to their families. All children living on the Way are potential beggars. They play heartily in groups until they receive a signal that a pilgrim is coming; then they scamper, each to his appointed spot, and their gay voices change instantly to a moving wail. Many of them became my friends as they watched me paint, and I have had tea in their homes, which are congested with comfortable |