文苑

梁啟超三拒紅顏知己

國學大師梁啟超自小聰明，17歲參加鄉試成了舉人。當時主持鄉試的考官、清末著名維新派人士李瑞棼，對梁啟超的才華極為賞識，當即請人做媒，將堂妹李惠仙許配給他。

然而百日變法失敗，康有為、梁啟超匆匆逃亡日本，李惠仙只得避居澳門。

不久，28歲的梁啟超應康有為之召，前去美國檀香山辦理保皇事宜，在那里邂逅了美麗大方的何惠珍。當時，梁啟超在檀香山演講，何惠珍為其擔任翻譯，兩人配合默契，演講活動盛況空前。此時，何惠珍對才華橫溢的梁啟超暗生情愫，悄悄向他表白了愛慕之情：“今生今世，我之心唯有先生……”

“不行，我家中已經有妻子了。” 梁啟超明確地拒絕了她。

初遭拒絕，何惠珍不僅沒有氣餒，反而為梁啟超的忠貞感到快慰。事后，為博取梁啟超的好感，她動員父親為康、梁捐了一筆款，并托人設宴向梁啟超交接捐款事宜。席間，梁啟超又一次見到何惠珍。這次何惠珍提出一個讓梁啟超心驚的要求：“我情愿下嫁梁先生做小。”

晚上回到寓所，梁啟超心情久久不能平靜。他知道，何惠珍畢業于美國名牌大學，她作出這樣的決定其癡情實在令人感動。他們在事業上確實可以相互扶持，可是他和妻子李惠仙這些年來一直相濡以沫，感情深厚，怎能讓妻子傷心？為此，他連夜給在日本的妻子寫了一封信：“余歸寓后，愈益思念惠珍，由敬重之心生出愛戀之念來，幾乎不能自持……不知惠仙聞此事將笑我乎，抑或惱我乎？” 梁啟超心想，妻子接信后，定會生出一些醋意來，大罵他一頓。

很快，妻子回信了。梁啟超打開信后，這次真讓他大大愣住了，妻子竟然樂意成全他的婚事。李惠仙說：“我遠在日本，不能照顧，先生身邊若有個情投意合的何小姐照顧，豈不更好？”

梁啟超在妻子的寬容面前慚愧萬分，將妻子的信轉給何惠珍。何惠珍一看信，欣喜地笑了，說道：“惠仙姐賢德，我就向她學習，我們就做先生身邊的娥皇、女英吧。”

然而梁啟超卻提筆為何惠珍寫了一首詩：“一夫一妻世界會，我與瀏陽實創之（“瀏陽”指譚嗣同）。尊重公權割私愛，須將身做后人師。”聰慧的何惠珍馬上明白了梁啟超的意思，她眼淚汪汪地拿著梁啟超贈給她的一張自題詩詞的小像，一步三回頭地離開了梁啟超。

1924年9月，李惠仙因病逝世。癡心不改的何惠珍聽到李惠仙病逝的消息，急忙找到梁啟超，一面勸慰其節哀，一面尋機重續秦晉。沒想到梁啟超以“年邁不想再婚”為由，第三次婉拒了她。何惠珍心有不甘，多次上門，梁啟超都避而不見，萬般無奈的何惠珍只好揮淚告別……

梁實秋先生評價梁啟超時曾說，梁（啟超）先生學問是第一，道德人品是第一，他是名副其實的大師。（胤凌）

鄧拓說“三十六計”

有一次，丁一嵐問鄧拓：“古人為什么只說三十六計呢？”

鄧拓說，古人所謂三十六計，原來并沒有詳細的內容，只是借太陽六六之數，表示陰謀詭計多端而已。后人加以推演，才出現了不同的解釋。其實像這樣的問題，大可不必過于拘泥具體數字，以致食古不化。“三十六”這個數目很多，例如三十六村，三十六犬，三十六禽，三十六國，三十六行等等都是，而引申為三十六計的，大概以《南齊書·王敬則傳》為最早。人們常說三十六計走為上策，其實，如果沒有其他計算，要走也走不了。佛教中對108這個數字也有多次記載：據古籍《鴻雪因緣記》說：“素聞撞鐘之法，各有不同。河南云，前后三十六，中發三十六，共成一百零八聲；京都云，緊十八，緩十八，六遍湊成一百零八。”可見各地寺院敲鐘的節奏、韻律不一定相同，但敲的數均為108下。佛教中人認為有108種煩惱，敲108下，人聽了便可消除這些煩惱，否極泰來。你看《水滸》中梁山泊好漢108人，《紅樓夢》全書108回，書中登“情榜”的人也恰為108人。中國古代建筑藝術，西藏的大昭寺，雄獅伏戰108人。青海塔爾寺的大經堂，直徑一米的巨柱108條，北京天壇的下層樓板108塊，青銅峽黃河岸邊有12個塔群，總數恰為108，108這個數字實際成為佛語的代表。中國人喜歡和六打交道。十八般武藝，孫悟空七十二變化，都是六的倍數。因此，我們對三十六計究竟是哪些，其實沒有必要去深究。

（摘自《才子鄧拓》）

清初曾用假“傳國璽”

清太宗皇太極于天聰九年（1635年）征剿察哈爾的貝勒多爾袞得勝回朝，自稱獲得了一方元代的傳國璽。

清太宗對此十分重視，在宮廷舉行了隆重的受寶大典：一朝文武三跪九叩，燃香吹螺。皇太極付諭說：“此玉璽乃歷代帝王所用之寶。”次年他便依照漢族王朝模式建號改制，建國號為大清，并正式采用“皇帝”稱號。此后一段時間，他發布的許多文書上都用了此寶。

然而奇怪的是這方重要的“傳國璽寶”，后來突然停止了使用，因為那個皇太極時代的“傳國璽”壓根兒就是個假貨。

到了乾隆十三年，乾隆傳旨將“寶”上的字跡磨去，于是當年造假的證據被一勞永逸地銷毀了。（胡忠良）

趣詩兩首

（一）

有一次乾隆郊游，隨從文臣甚眾。當走過一座陵墓時，乾隆想考一考隨從文臣的才學，便指著墓前的石像，問一翰林：“這石像叫什么名字？”

那翰林答道：“這石像叫仲翁。”

其實，石像應叫翁仲。翁仲傳說為秦時巨人。秦始皇二十六年，初兼天下。有巨人出現于臨洮，高有五丈，腳印有六尺長。后來大家便把這巨人的形象鑄成銅像、刻成石像，立于墓道兩側作為護墓人，通稱之為翁仲。

乾隆見翰林學士翁仲說成仲翁，非常生氣，便即興寫了一首詩：

翁仲如何作仲翁，

十年窗下少夫功，

而今不許為林翰，

貶到蘇州作判通。

乾隆在詩中故意將“功夫”“翰林”“通判”三詞統統顛倒過來，用一連串的反語對這無知的翰林進行奚落、戲弄，尤其是后尾的“判通”，與“半通”諧音，更增添了詩的嘲諷意味。

（二）

《苕溪漁隱叢話》記載，宋朝大詩人王安石曾經寫過這樣一首謎語：

佳人佯醉索人扶，

露出胸前白雪膚，

走入繡幃尋不見，

任它風雨滿江湖。

乍一看此詩像是一首寫才子佳人的艷詩。大意是：美人假裝醉倒要人來扶，袒著胸露出雪白的肌膚，她躲入羅帳便隱身不見，哪管它風雨滿江滿湖。實際上，這是一首要人們猜四位唐宋詩人姓名的謎語。謎底四個人名，三個用諧音、一個用隱意：假倒（賈島）、里白（李白）、羅隱、拚浪（潘閬）。（摘自《文字趣談》）

Literary Anecdotes

Liang Qichao Said No Three Times

Liang Qichao (1873-1929) became a provincial graduate at 17. Li Ruifen， an official in charge of the empirical examination at the provincial level， appreciated Liang’s gift very much and knew the young man would go far. He married his cousin Li Huixian to Liang.

When the 100-Day Reform in 1889 aborted， Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao fled to Japan. Liang’s wife had to flee to Macao to avoid trouble. Shortly afterwards， the 28-year-old Liang was summoned by Kang Youwei to Honolulu to plot for royalist activities. It was in Honolulu that Liang Qichao met with He Huizhen， his interpreter at a public speech. Miss He fell in love with Liang at first sight and boldly proposed marriage to Liang. Liang said he was married.

He Huizhen did not feel discouraged. Instead， she felt happy and relieved with Liang’s fidelity. In order to win Liang’s heart， the girl asked her father to donate a sum of money and invited Liang to a banquet on the pretext of making arrangements for handing over the cash. Liang met the girl at the banquet. During the dinner， He Huizhen proposed again， saying she was willing to be Liang’s concubine.

Liang was touched. He knew that He Huizhen， a graduate from a famed US university， could help him considerably if they got married. Liang wrote to his wife in Japan. Soon her wife’s reply came. Liang was astonished to learn that his wife agreed to accept He Huizhen.

But Liang said no to the marriage proposal， saying that he had championed monogamy in China and would stick to his principle.

In September， 1924， Liang’s wife passed away. Learning the news， He Huizhen came to Liang again. She expressed her condolences and wanted to marry Liang again. Liang said he was too old to marry again. He Huizhen tried repeatedly in vein. In the end， Liang refused to see her. She gave up.

Deng Tuo Talked about 36 Strategies

Ding Yilan one day asked Deng Tuo (1912-1966， a writer who died during the Cultural Revolution) why the ancient people confined themselves to thirty-six strategies only.

Deng Tuo explained that in the past thirty-six strategies were only a general number used to indicate how complicated plots were. Specific explanations came forth later.

He went on to comment， “We don’t have to be pedantic about the number of the strategies. People also talk about thirty-six houses， thirty-six dogs， thirty-six states， and thirty-six professions， to name just a few categories. Even though the best of the thirty-six strategy is said to take flight， you cannot succeed in fleeing if the strategies taken before all fail to work. Buddhist classics have descriptions about the number 108. In a Buddhist practice， the 108 strikes of a bell are organized in several subsections at different speeds at different temples. In classic novels， 108 is the number of heroes， chapters， or characters in a list， etc. In Buddhist architecture， the Grand Sutra Hall of Ta’er Temple in Qing Province has 108 stone pillars that measures 1 meter in diameter; the ground floor of the Temple of Heaven in Beijing is composed of 108 floorboards; the 12 pagoda groups near the Qingtong Gorge of the Yellow River consists of 108 pagodas altogether， etc. Chinese people have a penchant for the number 6. Therefore we don’t have to be pedantic about the thirty-six strategies.?

Fake Great Seal

In 1635， a military chief of the Qing Dynasty in the making came back to the court after a big victory. He submitted a great seal which he claimed to have been used by the Yuan Dynasty rulers.

Huang Taiji took the great seal seriously. A grand ceremony was held to accept the godsend. In 1636， he set up the Qing Dynasty in the imitation of the Chinese rulers?practice and officially called himself emperor. For a while， all the documents he issued carried the print of this great seal.

Strangely， however， the court suddenly stopped using the great seal. It turned out that they found the state seal was merely a fake.

In the thirteenth year (1748) of Emperor Qianlong， the reining emperor ordered to have the carved characters removed from the seal， thus eliminating the trace of the forgery forever.

(Translated by David)