Chapters 71-73 We start this week with Cao Cao. First, he visits with a wealthy woman at “Indigo Field.” She was once captured and violated by the northern tribes. While there, she gave birth to two children and wrote “Eighteen Tunes for Foreign Flute” (p. 1275). We learn that
Nights 607-623 This is the story of Judar. He has two nasty brothers who mistreat him and his mother. Aside from that, Judar gets great luck and acquires many magical items. The most notable items are his saddlebags: they are like Bugs Bunny’s endless pockets: full of any
Chapters 69-70 This is the time for some of the old guys to shine. In Chapter 69, the old sage Guan Lu gives some advice from the Book of Changes. He refuses to explain the fates of Cao Cao and his men, but he does reveal the fate of
Nights 579-606 There are about 26 stories over 60 or so pages in these Nights. The frame involves a king’s son. He has been accused of sleeping with the king’s slave girl, and the king is torn between trusting his accuser (a woman) or his advisers. Over
Chapters 67-68 A couple nice episodes this week. In the first chapter, we root for Zhang Liao. It's unusual to cheer on one of Cao Cao’s men. But he’s a real hero as he holds off Hefei (this is certainly the reason he’s called
Nights 567-578 The City of Brass is a big memento mori. It is a massive tomb, with some of its bodies all perfectly preserved. Sort of like an Egyptian Pyramid. There are words all over with themes about how you can’t take your wealth with you when you
Most of the action here is with Xuande’s crew: Ma Chao defects to him, and Lord Guan fends off Lu Su’s assassination attempts. It’s a good narrative. I’m over halfway through Three Kingdoms, and I’m still finding myself curious to see what happens next. In
Nights 537-566 These are the nights of Sindbad, which I’ve compressed into a single week. It’s a longer week than normal; I’ll make up for it next week by limiting myself to just the nights of the City of Brass. Sindbad is among the most famous
Chapters 62-63 With the death of Pang Tong, things seem like they are falling apart for Liu Bei just as he is finally taking the Shu. It’s been interesting to see how the author makes Liu Bei remain heroic even as he conquers the Riverlands from his distant
Nights 508-536 The three nested stories from last week all end, each with a happy ending for all but the snake queen and the villains. Janshah has the best story. He wins a difficult bride: the beautiful Shamsa, a jinn woman whose bird costume lets her fly like a
Chapters 60-61 I’m happy to report that the new minor characters that ended Chapter 59 turned into a good plot related to our main characters. They bring us to Zhang Song, whose physical description reminded me of a frog (“an angular brow . . . a tapered skull; his nose was
Nights 483-507 Wow, this was a great week and quite a shift in style! This week we get the start of three nested stories: first Karim, then Buluqiya, then Janshah. Karim’s story starts off fine; the best part is how he gets trapped in a pit of honey