A man fond of quietness

一人極好靜，而所居介於銅鐵匠之間，朝夕咶耳，甚苦之，常曰：“此兩家若有遷居之日，我願作東款謝。”一日二匠忽並至曰：“我等且遷矣。足下素許作東，特來叩頭。”問其期。曰：“只在明日。”其人大喜，遂盛欵之，酒後問曰：“汝兩家遷於何䖏。”二匠曰：“我遷在他屋裡，他遷在我屋裡。”

There was once a man who was extremely fond of quietness but lived between a coppersmith and a blacksmith. The noises banging his ears from morning till night gave him such a pain that [he] often said, “If these two families ever move, I will be glad to treat them to a meal to thank them.”

One day, the two smiths suddenly came over together, saying, “We are going to move. You used to promise a meal, so we are here to express our gratitude.” [The man] asked about the day of removal. [They] said, “Tomorrow.” The man was very happy and gave them a sumptuous feast. After a few cups, [he] asked, “Where are you two going to move to?” The two smiths said, “I will move to his house and he to mine.”

* Feng Menglong 馮夢龍 (1574-1646), Xiaofu 笑府 (Fuzhou: Haixia wenyi chubanshe, 1992), 6.104-105.

A gilt copper box from the Qing dynasty (1644-1911)

Image credit: National Palace Museum, Taipei 銅鎏金盒。國立故宮博物院，台北，CC BY 4.0 @ www.npm.gov.tw