The Parasols Béla Balázs
The Cloak of Dreams,
08/2010, Letnik:
3
Book Chapter
There once lived a man by the name of Yang-Tsu. He was a peddler and spent the entire day wandering from street to street with a basket hanging from his chest. In this way he managed to see all the ...splendors of the rich city. He saw the magnificent mandarins with their retinues. He saw the powerful warriors with the shadows of distant adventures on their faces. And he felt the aroma of almonds coming from the invisible ladies in the veiled, gilt-embroidered sedan chairs that smacked him in his sweaty face.
In the evening, however, when he returned home
Recognized internationally as one of the foremost film critics and filmmakers in the early days of cinema, and famous for writing the libretto for Béla Bartók’s operaBluebeard’s Castlein 1911, Béla ...Balázs was also a prolific writer of fairy tales and a political activist who often compromised his ideals to survive the turbulent years he spent in exile, first in Austria and Germany during the 1920s and then in the Soviet Union during the 1930s and 1940s. He was not an easy man, but the times were not easy on him. One of his biographers, Joseph Zsuffa, summarizes his
The Opium Smokers Béla Balázs
The Cloak of Dreams,
08/2010, Letnik:
3
Book Chapter
Once upon a time there were two friends, Hu-Fu and Chen-Hu. They never spoke with another because they were deaf-mutes. The first time they crossed paths was when they were out begging and a rich ...stranger came walking by them. Hu-Fu stood still and pretended to be blind. Chen-Hu lifted his foot and pretended to be lame. But the stranger didn’t give either one of them anything because they didn’t block his way. They didn’t block his way because neither wanted to ruin the other’s chance for some business. After the stranger had passed by them, Hu-Fu opened his eyes,
Most of the publications ofThe Cloak of Dreamsin German, Italian, and English and the biographies of Béla Balázs refer to Mariette Lydis as a Greek millionaire and painter and merely give her birth ...and death dates, or they do not refer to her at all. In fact, Mariette Lydis was a gifted painter and illustrator, whose adventurous life and accomplishments are worth a book.
She was born in Baden, near Vienna, as Marietta Ronsperger on August 24, 1887. Very little is known of her youth, for she was reluctant to write about her personal life. Nevertheless, some biographical
The poet Li-Tai-Pe sang so gloriously that his songs intoxicated the gods above, and they often became inebriated and dropped to the earth from the clouds like little sleeping birds from their nest. ...This is why Li-Tai-Pe was so highly honored during his lifetime. Temples were built on mountain peaks in his honor. The emperor presented him with the most beautiful empress clothes, and the most beautiful empress undressed him. And when he stayed in a city, the men of this city would go looking for him with worried expressions on their faces, and they searched in all the gutters of
The Cloak of Dreams Balázs, Béla
The Cloak of Dreams,
08/2010, Letnik:
3
Book Chapter
The emperor Ming-Huang, a descendant of the T’ang dynasty, had a wife named Nai-Fe, who was as beautiful as the moon in May. However, they were never seen conversing with one another, sitting ...together, or holding hands. His wife Nai-Fe only appeared when the emperor put on his marvelous embroidered cloak. Then she walked behind him, keeping a great distance between them, and the yearning of her soul rested on him with her gaze. Let me tell you how all this came about.
Ming-Huang had a glorious garden that had such a powerful fragrance you could fetch an aroma out
The Moon Fish Béla Balázs
The Cloak of Dreams,
08/2010, Letnik:
3
Book Chapter
Once upon a time there lived a fisherman in Manchuria, and his name was Sia. One day a fox stole his net from him, and ever since then he fished only with a rod, which didn’t help him catch many ...fish. He became so poor that he had to live in a cave, and this cave was so small that he hit his head on the ceiling whenever he stood up in bed, and when he stretched his arms, they touched the walls. However, Sia didn’t want to change his trade, because only if you pursue one course to its
Once upon a time there was a wild and strong robber by the name of Yuan-Dzsau. He was so wild and strong that nobody could withstand him. Courage radiated from his eyes like glowing lances, and they ...emanated such power that he broke the shields of his enemies with his glance.
One day he attacked a merchant in the forest just as this man was counting his gold coins in the shade of a chestnut tree. Yuan-Dzsau stabbed him to death with his dagger. Then he sat down in the shadow to count the stolen gold. However, the blood of
