Treating A Headache, A Famous Physician Dies;
Giving The Last Words, The Crafty Hero Departs.

As has been said, the Prince of Hanzhong swooned on hearing the terrible news of the death of the two Guans, father and son. His officers went to his help, and when he had recovered sufficiently, they led him to his private apartments.

"My lord, control your grief," said Zhuge Liang. "Life and death are fixed by fate. Guan Yu brought the evil upon himself by his harshness and haughtiness. You must now take care of your health and mature your vengeance."

"When we swore brotherhood in the Peach Garden, we pledged ourselves to live or die together. What enjoyment of riches and honors is there for me now that my brother is gone?"

Just then he saw Guan Yu's son, Guan Xing, coming in weeping in deep distress. At sight of the youth, Liu Bei uttered a great cry and again sank to the earth. By and by he came to, and spent the whole day weeping and swooning at intervals. For three days he refused all nourishment, and he wept so bitterly that his garments were wetted, and there were spots of blood. Zhuge Liang and the others tried every means to soothe him, but he was inconsolable.

"I swear I will not live under the same heaven as Sun Quan," cried he.

"It is said that the head of your brother has been sent to Cao Cao, but Cao Cao has buried the remains with the rites of a princely noble," said Zhuge Liang.

"Why did he do that?" asked Liu Bei.

"Because Sun Quan thought thereby to bring evil upon Cao Cao. But Cao Cao saw through the subterfuge and has buried your brother with great honor so that your anger may burn against Wu."

"I want to send my armies to punish Wu and appease my wrath," said Liu Bei.

"No; you may not do that. Wu wishes to move you to smite Wei, and Wei wishes you to attack Wu, each harboring the malevolent design of taking advantage of the quarrel. You would do well, my lord, to keep your armies at home. Put on mourning for Guan Yu, and wait till Wei and Wu are at war. That will be your time."

The other officers supported Zhuge Liang, and Liu Bei listened. Presently his grief spent itself, and he began to take food again. An edict was promulgated enjoining mourning dress upon all officials. The Prince went outside the south gate to summon the spirit home, and sacrificed and wailed a whole day for the dead warrior, his brother.

In Luoyang, although Cao Cao had given honorable burial to the remains of Guan Yu, yet he was continually haunted by the dead man's spirit. Every night when he closed his eyes, he saw Guan Yu as he knew the warrior so well in the flesh. These visions made him nervous, and he sought the advice of his officers. Some suggested the building of new rooms for his own use.

"There is much witchcraft and malign influence in this old Palace at Luoyang. Build a new Palace for your own occupation," said they.

"I would, and it should be called 'The New Foundation'," said he. "But where is the good architect?"

Jia Xu said, "There is one Su Yue, a very cunning artificer in Luoyang."

Su Yue was called and set to work on the plans for a nine-hall pavilion for Cao Cao's own use. It had verandahs and upper rooms as well. His plans pleased Cao Cao greatly.

"You have planned just such a place as I wished, only where will you find the main beam for such a building?"

"I know a certain tree that will serve," said the architect. "About ten miles from the city there is the Pool of the Leaping Dragon. Near it is a shrine, and beside that grows a fine pear tree. It is over a hundred spans high, and that will serve for the roof tree."

Cao Cao at once sent people to fell the tree. But after one whole day of labor they came back to say they could make no impression on it neither with saw nor ax. Cao Cao, doubting their word, went to see. When he had dismounted and stood by the tree, he could not but admire its size and proportions, as it rose above him tall, straight and branched till the wide-spreading and symmetrical top reached into the clouds. But he bade the men attack it again.

Then a few aged people of the village came and said, "The tree has stood here some centuries and is the haunt of a spirit. We think it should not be cut down."

Cao Cao grew annoyed, saying, "I have gone to and fro in the world now some thirty years, and there is no one, from the Emperor to the commoner, who does not fear me. What spirit is there who dares oppose my wish?"

Drawing the sword he was wearing, Cao Cao went up to the tree and slashed at the trunk. The tree groaned as he struck, and blood stains spattered his dress. Terror-stricken, he threw down the sword, mounted his horse and galloped off.

But that evening when he retired to rest, he could not sleep. He rose, went into the outer room, and sat there leaning on a low table. Suddenly a man appeared with his hair unbound, dressed in black and carrying a naked sword.

The visitor came straight toward Cao Cao, stopped in front of him and, pointing, cried out, "Behold the Spirit of the Pear Tree! You may desire to build your nine-hall pavilion, and you may contemplate rebellion. But when you began to attack my sacred tree, the number of your days was accomplished. I am come now to slay you."

"Where are the guards?" shouted Cao Cao in terror.

The figure struck at him with the sword. Cao Cao cried out and then awoke. His head was aching unbearably.

They sought the best physicians for him, but they failed to relieve the terrible pain. Sympathy for their lord was universal among Cao Cao's subordinates.

Hua Xin one day said to his master, "My lord, have you heard of Hua Tuo?"

"Do you mean him of Qiao who cured Zhou Tai?"

"Yes; that is he," replied Hua Xin.

"I have heard something of his fame, but I know nothing of his capabilities in his art."

"He is very clever; there are few so skillful. If one is ill and calls him in, he knows immediately whether to use drugs, or the needle, or the cutlery, and the patient finds relief at once. Let one suffer from an internal complaint and drugs are ineffectual, with a dose of hashish he throws the patient into a state of perfect insensibility and then opens the abdomen and washes the affected organs with a medicament. The patient feels no pain. When the cleansing is complete, he sews up the wound with thread, dresses it, and in a month or less the patient is well. This shows you how skillful he is.

"One day Hua Tuo was traveling, when he heard a man by the wayside groaning with pain. 'That is dyspepsia,' said Hua Tuo. And further questions confirmed the diagnosis. He prescribed long draughts of the juice of garlic as an emetic, and the man vomited a worm. After this the man was quite well.

"Chen Deng, the Governor of Guangling, suffered from a heavy feeling at the heart. His face was red and congested, and he had no appetite. Hua Tuo gave him a drug, and he threw up many internal wriggling parasites with red heads. The Governor asked what had caused the trouble, and Hua Tuo told him that he ate too much strong smelling fish. He could cure Chen Deng this once, but in three years the disease would recur, and then nothing could save him. Three later Chen Deng died.

"Another man had a tumor between the eyes, and it itched intolerably. Hua Tuo examined it and said there was a bird in it. The tumor was opened, and, surely enough, a canary flew out. The patient was relieved.

[e] Bian Que is the earliest of the legendary doctors of Chinese medicine after the time of the Yellow Emperor and his advisors. Credited with incredible healing knowledge, stories of his life and treatments are used in teaching and known to all Chinese medicine practitioners today. .....

"A dog bit a man's toe, and two tumorous growths ensued, one of which itched intolerably and the other pained severely. Hua Tuo said the painful one contained ten needles, and the other a couple of chess pips, black and white. He opened the two swellings, and the contents were as he had said. Really he is of the same class of physician as masters Bian Que* and Zang Kong of old times. He lives at Jincheng, not far away, and could be here very soon."

Cao Cao summoned him. As soon as he arrived, Hua Tuo felt the pulse and made careful examination.

"Prince, your headaches are due to a malignant humor within the brain case. The humor is too thick to get out. Swallowing drugs will do no good. But I propose to administer a dose of hashish, then open the brain case and remove the thickened humor. That will be a radical cure."

"You mean you want to kill me?" cried Cao Cao angrily.

"O Prince, you have heard how I cured Guan Yu of the poison that had got into his bones? I scraped them, and he did not hesitate a moment. Your malady is trifling, and why do you mistrust me?"

"A painful arm may be scraped, but how can you cut open a man's head? The fact is you have conspired with some of Guan Yu's friends to take this opportunity to make away with me in revenge for his death."

Cao Cao told his lictors to hale Hua Tuo to gaol, and there he was tortured to try to find who were his accomplices.

Jia Xu pleaded for him, saying, "The man possesses rare skills. To kill him is to waste his talents."

But the intervention was of no avail.

"The man wants to get a chance to kill me. He is the same sort of scoundrel as Ji Ping."

The wretched physician was subjected to worse sufferings.

His gaoler was a certain Wu, nicknamed "The Gaoler" by nearly everybody. He was kindly disposed to Hua Tuo and saw that Hua Tuo was well fed.

Hua Tuo conceived a liking for his gaoler and said to him one day, "I am doomed, I know. The pity is that my Black Bag treatise on medicine may be lost. You have been most kind to me, and as I have no other way of recompensing you, I will give you a letter to my wife telling her to send the Black Bag, and I will give it to you that you may carry on my art."

Wu the Gaoler rejoiced greatly, saying, "If I have that book, I will throw away the menial position of gaoler, travel about the country healing sick folks, and spread your virtue."

The letter was written and given to Wu the Gaoler, who lost no time in traveling to Jincheng to meet with Hua Tuo's wife, and she gave him the Black Bag to bring back to Hua Tuo. After Hua Tuo had read through the book carefully, he presented it to Wu the Gaoler, who took it home and hid it away.

Ten days after this, Hua Tuo died in prison. Wu the Gaoler bought a coffin and had him buried. This done, he quitted the prison and went home. But when he asked for the book, he found that his wife had discovered it and was using it to light the fire. He snatched away what was left of it, but a whole volume was missing, and what was left amounted only to several pages. He vented his anger in cursing his wife.

But she retorted, saying, "If you become such a learned person as Hua Tuo, you will only die in prison like him. What good did it all do him?"

It struck Wu the Gaoler that there was something in what she said, and he ceased grumbling at her. But the upshot of all this was that the learning in the "Treatise of the Black Bag" was finally lost to the world, for what was left only contained the recipes relating to domestic animals.

 [hip, hip, hip]
Hua Tuo was the ablest of physician,
Seeing what diseases were lurking within beings.
Alas! That he died, and his writings
Followed him to the Nine Golden Springs.
[yip, yip, yip]
 

Meanwhile, Cao Cao became worse, the uncertainty of the intentions of his rivals aggravating his disease not a little. Then they said an envoy had come with letter from Wu, and it ran like this:

"Thy servant, Sun Quan, has long seen destiny indicates Your Highness as master of all, and looks forward with confidence to your early accession to the dignity of the Son of God. If you will send your armies to destroy Liu Bei and sweep rebellion from the two River Lands, thy servant at the head of his armies will submi............