Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch
ORASHKB and author
Vol. 1 (1961)
ISSN 1991-7295
35
To begin with a few examples in poetry: the poet Ts'ao Chih (A.D. 192-232), son of Ts'ao Ts'ao and younger brother of the first Emperor of Wei, wrote about the knight errant in "The White Steed", also known as "The Knight Errant":
A white steed decked with a golden halter
Galloped past towards the north west.
"Who is the rider?' I enquired from a by-stander.
'A knight errant from the north' was the reply.
'He left his native district when he was young,
And spread his fame across the distant desert.
He always carries a fine sturdy bow
With arrows of bramble wood, long and short.
Pulling the string, he hits the target on the left;
Shooting from the right, he hits it again.
Looking up, he shoots an ape in flight;
Bending down, he hits the bull's-eye once more.
He is more agile than a monkey,
And as fierce as a leopard or dragon.
When alarms came from the frontier
That barbarian troops had made repeated raids,
And when a call to arms was heard from the north,
He mounted his steed and reached the frontier fort.
He rode on right into the land of the Huns,
Holding the Mongol tribes in high disdain.
He threw himself before the pointed swords
Without giving a thought to his own life.
He did not even worry about his parents,
Let alone his children and his wife.
His name entered the register of heroes;
His heart had no room for personal feelings.
He risked his life at a time of national disaster,
And regarded death merely as coming home'.10
This portrait of a knight errant may be a little idealized, for the poet is, in all probability, using the subject as an excuse to express his own frustrated patriotic wishes and military ambitions, being prevented from fulfilling these by his elder brother. Nevertheless, the poem remains a good illustration of some of the ideals of knight errantry. Notice, in particular, that the knight errant did not allow filial devotion to deter him from his heroic task.
10 Ts'ao Tzu-chien shih-chu (with notes by Huang Chieh, Peking, 1957), pp. 69-70.
2000