Once upon a time...
I'd like to tell you a little story...
Once upon a time, the emperor of China was unhappy. This was bad news for the Mandarins within his court as it was not uncommon for the emperor to "slice off the odd head" when he felt unhappy. It didn't cheer him up but it somehow felt good!
The chief Mandarin called the others to a meeting.
"We must decide how best to make the emperor happy" he said. "Too many of us are losing our heads for this to continue."
The others nodded eagerly.
"Let's have a competition to see who can cheer the emperor up. The winner could have half the kingdom or some such nonsense," said one of the eldest mandarins.
They all agreed and the major-domo went to see the emperor with the idea. Soon after, proclamations were issued across the empire declaring that whoever could cheer the emperor up for more than half an hour could claim a rich estate and marry one of the many emperors' sons or daughters.
Before long, crowds thronged to the palace in the hope of winning the prize.
The emperor looked on glumly as singers, acrobats, magicians and entertainers all tried to cheer the emperor up - all to no avail.
Three weeks had passed from the first people arriving and still the emperor was glum. The mandarins were getting worried!
One day, a little old man came along and asked the emperor if he would kindly step outside to the palace gardens. The emperor was intrigued. In the gardens, a tent had been erected. The tent was completely bare except for two holes about the size of dinner plates. Above each hole was a Chinese pictogram denoting "In" and "Out."
The emperor was puzzled and asked the old man to explain.
"Sire" he said. "Kindly ask one of your scribes to write a question on a scroll and place the scroll into the hole marked "In." Wait a few minutes and the answer will appear on a scroll from the hole marked "Out" as if by magic!"
The emperor summoned a scribe. He asked the question "Which is my most favourite wife?" the scribe wrote (the emperor has quite a collection!). Of course, all this was written in Chinese pictograms.
The scroll was passed into the hole marked "In." The emperor waited patiently until a few minutes later a scroll appeared from the "Out" hole.
In beautiful Chinese, the emperor read "Your favourite wife is your first wife - Tigerlily."
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