Kai Lung’s Golden Hours · Chapter
The Part Played by the Slave-Girl, Hia explained
Hia, a slave-girl of Sun Wei, encounters the deity Ning by a secluded pool.
What happens
Hia, a slave-girl of Sun Wei, encounters the deity Ning by a secluded pool. Through a cunning ruse, she tricks him into removing his magical nail-sheaths, which contain his power, and then escapes. Ning awakens stripped of his divine attributes and is forced into labor as a slave by Sun Wei.
Themes in this chapter
Wisdom and Cunning
Hia uses her wit and careful planning to trick Ning into giving up his magical nail-sheaths, demonstrating the power of intelligence over brute force.
Social Class and Hierarchy
The reversal of roles between the deity Ning and the slave-girl Hia highlights the fragility of social and divine hierarchies.
Characters to notice
- Hia
The slave-girl who cunningly tricks the deity Ning into removing his magical nail-sheaths, thereby stripping him of his power.
- Ning
A deity who is deceived by Hia into removing his nail-sheaths, losing his divine status and becoming a slave.
- Sun Wei
The owner of Hia, who later forces Ning into labor as a slave.
- Leou
The demon who enticed Ning into the encounter with Hia.
Key passages
“Among the remaining possessions that the hostility of the deities still left to Sun Wei at the time of these happenings was a young slave of many-sided attraction.”
Sun Wei still owned a young slave girl despite the gods' enmity.
Introduces Hia as a possession of Sun Wei.
“Then replied Hia, as she had been fully instructed against the emergency: 'The word has been spoken. But what is precious metal after listening to the pure gold of thy lips, or who shall again esteem gems while gazing upon the full round radiance of thy moon-like face? One thing only remains: remove the various sheaths from off thy hands...'”
Hia, following her plan, asks Ning to remove his nail-sheaths as her reward.
Key moment where Hia executes her cunning strategy.
“Then Hia, seeing that he could no longer control her movements, and that the end to which she had been bending was attained, gathered together the fruits of her conscientious strategy and fled.”
Hia collects the nail-sheaths and escapes while Ning is asleep.
Climax of Hia's successful deception.