Stumpy Tiger Wang and his wife, Ten Feet of Steel, went out with a patrol. . .
Zheng [an enemy] muttered an incantation under his breath, and a cloud of black vapor spewed from the top of his helmet. In the cloud stood a heavenly spirit in golden armor. Panic-stricken, Stumpy Tiger floundered, and Zheng ran him through with a lance.
When Ten Feet of Steel saw her husband fall, she charged Zheng, brandishing her two steel-blue swords. They fought briefly, and Zheng turned and galloped away. Burning for vengeance, the girl raced after him. Zheng put aside his lance and, from a silver pouch, drew out a gold-plated bronze brick. Suddenly, he twisted around and flung it at his pursuer’s forehead. It struck squarely, and Ten Feet of Steel fell dead.
Such is a typical scene in 水滸傳, Water Margin Story, also translated as Outlaws of the Marsh by Shi Nai’an and Luo Guanzhong, written around 1350. It is one of the four Chinese classics.
It is a long tale, involving hundreds of characters from all stations of society. Its ostensible themes are shame and honor. Its hidden theme is the unpredictability of life.
When Ten Feet of Steel dies, the author gives her this brief eulogy:
Poor beautiful female warrior, her life was gone like a dream of spring!
It seems insufficient. Ten Feet of Steel is one of the main characters of the novel, and her death on page 1,581 (out of 1,650 pages) seems to require more than a mere line. But—no. This is a world where unexpected sorrow is so typical as to be unremarkable.
And sometimes, that seems to be the world we truly live in.
* Orlando Bartro is the author of Toward Two Words, a comical & surreal novel about a man who finds yet another woman he never knew, usually available at Amazon for $4.91.
