"Clouds paired with rain, snow with wind, evening sunlight with clear skies. Arriving geese paired with departing swallows, roosting birds with chirping insects.
A three-foot sword, a six-jun bow, north of the mountains paired with east of the river. On earth, the Palace of Summer Coolness; in heaven, the Palace of Vast Cold..."
What were geese? What were swallows?
They didn't have those here in Leiner.
What was a foot? What was a jun? Where was north of the mountains? What place was east of the river?
And what was the Palace of Summer Coolness? Where was the Palace of Vast Cold?
Some questions remained obscure without careful study, and studying them could deliver quite a shock.
This went far beyond a simple failure to adapt to local conditions.
Compared with other works laden with even more allusions, however, this was merely a little obscure and tongue-twisting in pursuit of atmosphere and literary elegance.
Inventing sorrow to compose a new verse-people could go to crazy lengths for a rhyme.
The Lainer people found that acceptable.
Especially after Roland explained it all, the more everyone understood the terms and their meanings, the more deeply they admired the exquisite wording and allusions.
The shortcomings immediately became strengths.
"Seris really is beautiful, with such breadth and depth!"
"Absolutely incredible! After reading this piece, I feel as though my literary cultivation has improved!"
As for the Thousand Character Classic, Roland had already laid the groundwork for that work long ago.
Now he presented a more complete version, though he had still cut a few unexplainable allusions, and once again delivered a stunning impact.
"The Thousand Character Classic is ingeniously conceived and covers the use of nearly a thousand Seris characters. The members of the Calligraphy Association and I all use it as a model