Chapter 1

甄士隐梦幻识通灵

贾雨村风尘怀闺秀

The Goddess Nuwa 女娲 leaves one block of stone unused in repairing the sky; it shrinks and waits at Greensickness Peak. A Buddhist monk (Impervioso 茫茫大人), with a Daoist (Mysterioso 渺渺真人), picks it up, sensing its magic properties.

Later, Vanitas 空空道人, a Daoist, finds a large stone in the same place. The inscription reveals it to be the same stone having attained Nirvana, and the stone then offers literary criticism and a story to Vanitas, who copies it down. He changes his name to Brother Amor 情僧, and the story eventually is worked on by Cao Xueqin 曹雪芹.

Zhen Shiyin 甄士隐, in Suzhou, overhears the monk and the Daoist discussing the stone and the Fairy Disenchantment 警幻仙子. She is sending down together a group of amorous souls, including Crimson Pearl 绛珠草, to be joined by the stone who had been infatuated with Crimson Pearl, leading to a debt of tears. Shiyin feels the stone, before the monk and Daoist take it through an arch marked ‘Land of Illusion’. Zhen wakes from his dream and sees a monk and a Daoist, who comment on the misfortune his daughter Yinglian 英莲 will bring.

Poor student Jia Yucun 贾雨村 spots a beautiful girl (Lucky 娇杏) in the Zhen household, then sets out for the capital to take the civil service examinations with a gift of money from Zhen. Later, the Zhens lose their daughter, and their house burns down; they go to stay with Zhen’s father-in-law Feng Su 封肃, but become very poor. Zhen hears a mad Daoist singing, and goes off with him. His wife sees a familiar looking mandarin pass by.