“I can have no such happiness,” said she. “Go and see whether there is an inn near by, where people cook their own food, that I may go and lodge there.”
Mr Chiu, seeing that something had gone wrong, knelt down, careless of his silk clothes and all the crowd of onlookers, and said:
“O mother, I do not know what may have displeased you, but if I have offended you in any way, I ask you to forgive my fault,” but his mother would not answer him a word.
Mr Chiu, finding that he could make nothing of the old lady, sent for his wife, hoping that she might persuade her to leave the chair and go into the Yamen. By this time the court was full of people who had gathered to see what was going on. Her Excellency, young Mrs Chiu, came out in her long robes and satin shoes, and kneeling down upon the stone pavement, besought Mrs Chiu, saying:
“What is wrong with you, mother? We do not know why you are so angry with us. Please tell your daughter what is the matter, and why you will not come into the house.”
“There can be no such happiness for me,” said the old lady shortly, and then she said no more. Young Mrs Chiu’s tears fell freely and she began again to beseech her mother-in-law to forgive whatever might have offended her, and not to shame her son in the eyes of his friends and neighbours.
On this the angry dame left her chair and walked into the midst of the guests and the crowd of onlookers. Then she stamped one of her large feet upon the stones and turning to her son said:
“Your father did not find fault with my feet, who are you to be ashamed of them? My heart is right, therefore Heaven has given me good fortune; looks do not matter.” His Excellency bore her anger with grace and patience, and when she had said all she wished to say, at last was able to persuade her to enter the Yamen.
It would be a mistake to think that old Mrs Chiu would not go into her son’s house only because she was angry. The Chinese despise the man who is ashamed of his parents or poor relations. The old woman’s big feet showed that she had been of the working class. She acted as she did, not from obstinacy or temper, but because she wished that neither she herself nor her distinguished son should be ashamed of their humble beginnings.
The honour paid by children to their parents, such as this story tells of, has kept the better heart of China alive amid much evil, and has made her people more ready to join in the worship of our Father which is in Heaven.