Kai Lung's Golden Hours is a fantasy

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

 novel by Ernest Bramah

Ernest Bramah

Ernest Bramah , born Ernest Brammah Smith, was an English author. He published 21 books and numerous short stories and features. His humorous works were ranked with Jerome K Jerome, and W.W. Jacobs, his detective stories with Conan Doyle, his politico-science fiction with H.G. Wells and his...

. It was first published in hardcover in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 by Grant Richards Ltd. in October, 1922, and there have been numerous editions since. The first edition included a preface by Hilaire Belloc

Hilaire Belloc

Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc was an Anglo-French writer and historian who became a naturalised British subject in 1902. He was one of the most prolific writers in England during the early twentieth century. He was known as a writer, orator, poet, satirist, man of letters and political activist...

, which has also been a feature of every edition since. Its importance in the history of fantasy literature was recognized by its reissuing by Ballantine Books

Ballantine Books

Ballantine Books is a major book publisher located in the United States, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann AG in 1998 and remains part of that company today. Ballantine's logo is a...

 as the forty-fifth volume of the celebrated Ballantine Adult Fantasy series

Ballantine Adult Fantasy series

The Ballantine Adult Fantasy series was an imprint of Ballantine Books. Launched in 1969 , the series reissued a number of works of fantasy literature, which were out of print or dispersed in back issues of pulp magazines , in cheap paperback form—including works...

 in April, 1972. The Ballantine edition includes an introduction by Lin Carter

Lin Carter

Linwood Vrooman Carter was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft and Grail Undwin.-Life:Carter was born in St. Petersburg, Florida...

.

Plot introduction

As with other Kai Lung novels, the main plot serves primarily as a vehicle for the presentation of the gem-like, aphorism-laden stories told by the protagonist Kai Lung, an itinerant story-teller of ancient China. In Kai Lung's Golden Hours he is brought before the court of the Mandarin Shan Tien on charges of treason by the Mandarin's confidential agent Ming-shu. In a unique defense, Kai Lung recites his beguiling tales to the Mandarin, successfully postponing his conviction time after time until he is finally set free. In the process he attains the love and hand of the maiden Hwa-Mei.

Contents

• "Preface" (Hilaire Belloc
  Hilaire Belloc
  Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc was an Anglo-French writer and historian who became a naturalised British subject in 1902. He was one of the most prolific writers in England during the early twentieth century. He was known as a writer, orator, poet, satirist, man of letters and political activist...
  
  )

1. "The Encountering of Six within a Wood"
2. "The Inexorable Justice of the Mandarin Shan Tien"
   "The Story of Wong T'sin and the Willow Plate Embellishment"
3. "The Degraded Persistence of the Effete Ming-shu"
   "The Story of Ning, the Captive God, and the Dreams that mark his Race"
4. "The Inopportune Behaviour of the Covetous Li-loe"
   "The Story of Wong Pao and the Minstrel"
5. "The Timely Intervention of the Mandarin Shan Tien's Lucky Day"
   "The Story of Lao Ting and the Luminous Insect"
6. "The High-minded Strategy of the Amiable Hwa-mei"
   "The Story of Weng Cho; or, the One Devoid of Name"
7. "Not Concerned with any Particular Attribute of Those who are Involved"
   "The Story of Wang Ho and the Burial Robe"
8. "The Timely Disputation among Those of an Inner Chamber of Yu-Ping"
   "The Story of Chang Tao, Melodious Vision and the Dragon"
9. "The Propitious Dissension between Two whose General Attributes have already been sufficiently Described"
   "The Story of Yuen Yan, of the Barber Chou-hu, and His Wife, Tsae-che"
10. "The Incredible Obtuseness of Those who had Opposed the Virtuous Kai Lung"
    "The Story of Hien and the Chief Examiner"
11. "Of Which it is Written: 'In Shallow Water Dragons become the Laughing-stock of Shrimps'"
12. "The Out-passing into a State of Assured Felicity of the Much-Enduring Two With Whom These Printed Leaves Have Chiefly Been Concerned"
    "The Story of the Loyalty of Ten-teh, the Fisherman"

Copyright

The copyright

Copyright

Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...

 for this story has expired in the United States, and thus now resides in the public domain

Public domain

Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...

. The text is available via Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks". Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books...

.

External links

• Another etext of the novel