Kai Lung Unrolls His Mat
Dust-jacket from the first edition
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| Author | Ernest Bramah |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | Kai Lung |
| Genre | Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Richards Press |
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Publication date
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1928 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | vii, 344 pp |
| Preceded by | Kai Lung's Golden Hours |
| Followed by | The Moon of Much Gladness |
Kai Lung Unrolls His Mat is a fantasy novel by Ernest Bramah. It was first published in 1928 and has been reprinted a number of times since, most notably as the sixty-fourth volume of the celebrated Ballantine Adult Fantasy series in February, 1974.
This book consists of three parts. In the first, Kai Lung's village has been pillaged by the evil Ming Shu, and not only have his house and garden been destroyed, his wife has also been taken away. It is left to the story-teller's wits to think of a plan to defeat Ming Shu, and reclaim his property.
In the second part, Kai Lung overhears a neighbor using an improper analogy, and decides to educate him by providing an example of a properly composed piece of prose.
In the third part, Kai Lung receives the distinction of being allowed to practise his craft before any official within three and a half li of his residence, provided that official is not engaged in important business at the time, and is authorized to style himself as "Literary Instructor to the Shades of Female Ancestors". He then finds a suitable occasion to launch into one of his narratives.
Unrolling his mat is something Kai Lung does very often (usually under a mulberry tree), to tell his tales.
Kai Lung adventures usually serve as mere excuses to bring up side stories along the way, which typically take up the better part of a Kai Lung book. However, this is one of the few books that has a purposeful main narrative as well as intriguing side stories.
Kai Lung comes home one day to meet his wife, but finds everything in a state of disarray. An elderly neighbour tells him that the village has been devastated by Ming Shu. Kai Lung goes in the direction of Ming Shu. Along the way, he meets barbarians, a poor farmer named Thang, a bandless captain in the city of Chi-U, and finally (disguised as Mang-hi, a foreigner from the land of Kham) Ming Shu himself.
A sage, finding sleep to be an unwelcome obstruction to his pursuit of enlightenment, cuts off his eyelids and throws them away. At the spot where his eyelids land grows a shrub whose leaves look like his eyelids. Later, during a famine, the shrub is rediscovered and used to make a potion that soon becomes famous enough to catch the attention of the emperor, who subsequently bestows great honors on Wan.
A case of two people with the same fingerprints creates difficulties which are resolved by the mandarin Wong Tsoi.
A ring of thieves realizes that its members don't need to take the trouble to steal to make a living, if they exact a tribute from everyone in the town in return for a promise not to give them any trouble.
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Wikipedia