Beyo Besides worming his way into the heart of the Emperor, the fox became a general favourite with the ladies of the palace. No sooner had the girl gone to her room for the night than Fox Sprite followed her. This lovely flower that has bloomed of late within his household is still unmarried. Could he have been sure that she would be made Empress it might have been different, but with so many others sharing Chow-sin's favour, her promotion to first place in the Great One's household was by no means certain. At last one of the viceroy's best friends came to him, saying, "Noble lord, it is useless to continue the struggle. On the last night of their journey Su-nan and his daughter stopped for rest and food at a large inn. The book reads much more like a very long psycho-analytical English essay that relies on a lot of assumptions to comment on foot binding than actual historical details and analysis of foot binding. How did it come about and what did it leave in its wake? the end. Gradually people outside the palace began to hear of this absurd fashion. Feet altered by foot binding were known as lotus feet, and the shoes made for these feet were known as lotus shoes. the end. The bones of the toes were bent backwards and broken, so eager were the elders to have their daughters grow up into tiny-footed maidens. At the same time, she doesn't sacrifice characterization--what's great about Bound is not only how developed the characters are, but also how complex their personalities and motivations are. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. Instead she's at a party, accidentally leaves her gold shoe behind, it gets sold, the prince buys the show, and the prince wants to marry the woman it belonged too. She loves to garden and bake bread, and even dreams of moving to the woods and becoming a naturalist. In this way they thought to increase their chances of finding favour with the Emperor. The viceroy, as he knew, was a man of iron. Never before had a subject of the Middle Kingdom offered such an insult to a ruler. "Marvel of marvels!" Add the imperial seal to the message.". The beautiful maiden for whom Chow-sin had given up so many hundreds of his soldiers, would clearly have great power over the Emperor. When Su-nan received the imperial message his heart was hot with anger against his sovereign. Just a nice one time read. The only thing different was that Xing Xing never met the prince before she agreed to marry him. This was hard work, and if it had not been for the coolness and skill of a young goddess all would have failed. The only thing different was that Xing Xing never met the prince before she agreed to marry him. Lesson Planet. When the fox noticed this, at first he was somewhat annoyed, but, feeling that no one else would know, he did not take the trouble to change the fox feet back to human form. Now the chance for which Fox Sprite had been waiting had come. In the very beginning of all things, when the gods were creating the world, at last the time came to separate the earth from the heavens. "Rather would I go into the palace and be the lowest among Chow-sin's women than to be the cause of all this grief," she cried, in desperation. When I am the Emperor's wife," laughing, "I shall find a way to punish him, for no one can give a man more pain that his wife can, if she desires to do so. First of all, this is my second fairy re-telling by Ms. Donna Jo Napoli, having read. There's a lot of pressure on the girls to have small feet in order to find a … He called together his advisers and commanded that an army, double the size of the first one, should be sent to Su-nan's country to destroy the fields and villages of the people who had risen up against him. ", "I must find a woman just like her," said the Emperor, "and take her to wife. But what will become of the real me? At a time when most Chinese people existed only a few rice bowls away from starvation, being able to … Imbued with an interesting twist, this story is very much worth reading. 4.5 - A Cinderella retelling that takes place in China during the Ming times. Bound to be alone and unmarried, with no parents to arrange for a suitable husband. The next day the travellers arrived at the capital and Su-nan presented himself before Chow-sin, the Emperor, leading Fox Sprite with him. Lu-o ordered Fox Sprite to spare himself no trouble in making the wicked ruler suffer for his impudence. He will never know. Foot-binding was a practice first carried out on young girls in Tang Dynasty China to restrict their normal growth and make their feet as small as possible. Foot binding also demonstrated male economic power. It became almost impossible for parents to get husbands for their daughters unless the girls had suffered the severe pains of foot-binding. This novel by Donna Jo Napoli follows a girl named Xing Xing tending to her stepmother and stepsister after the death of her father. "He is stark mad," laughed his courtiers behind his back, "to fall in love with a statue. Bound to a life of servitude as a young girl in ancient China, where the life of a woman is valued less than that of livestock. Then and there she determined to punish the Emperor. I have mixed feelings for this book; on the one hand the story moves along at a good pace and you can see Xing Xing's life (how she is able to draw small comfort from just being called her name, how strongly she believes in the spirits of her father and mother, her stepmother's disdain) and you are given a very detailed accounting of what life could have been like back then. Books on LibraryThing tagged footbinding. When men and women were put on the earth Lu-o helped them greatly by setting an example of purity and kindness. 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