Artist’s inscription and signature (70 columns in semi-cursive script)
Liu Chen and Ruan Zhao were from Shan County [in present day Zhejiang Province]. Although they came from old Confucian families, they were also interested in medicine and were accustomed to remaining aloof from the world. Thus did they in the fifteenth year of Yongan [sic] [Yongping永平] reign of Han emperor Mingdi (A.D. 72), take up hoe and basket and set off for the Tiantai Mountains to gather herbs.
Entering the deep mountains, they filled their baskets with herbs. After a short rest they started back, but lost their way. Their food exhausted, the two men looked at one another and were filled with fear and despair. Suddenly they saw a peach tree growing from the mountainside, heavy with ripening fruit. The men clambered up the mountain and picked the fruit—each man eating two peaches—after which their strength returned.
Peaches in their hands, they descended the mountain, seeking the way back. The winding path was rugged and difficult to make out. Eventually they found themselves t the foot of the mountain, and there they saw a clear, cold stream flowing through a ravine. Rinsing their hands, the men scooped up the water and took a drink. Suddenly they saw rutabagas flowing down the mountain stream, followed by a cup filled with sesame rice. The two men looked at one another and exclaimed: “There must be a house nearby.”
The air about the mountains is dense,
The green peaks, lofty and contorted.
Gazing at them you are transported
To another world.
So they lifted up their baskets of herbs and waded into the stream. Because the water was nearly four feet deep, they lifted their robes in order to cross. After a third of a mile they found a small path, which led across a mountain to another stream.
The large stream at the foot of the mountain.
On the opposite side of the stream they saw two women whose marvelous beauty was of another world. The two women waved, calling Liu and Ruan by name as if they were old friends. When the two men crossed the stream the women giggled and said: “How late you are!” Their voices were dulcet, their fragrance alluring, as they spoke to the men and took them by the hand. Although they were [to the men] as brides, they behaved as if they had known them for many years. At first the two men suspected they might be witches, but gradually they lost their fear and regarded them as human.
The two women invited the men to accompany them home, leading them along a winding mountain paths through hills covered with blossoming peach trees. After about a mile they reached their residence, which was decorated in an extravagant manner beyond the likes of any mortal dwelling. To either side were serving women in light blue clothing, their manner sober and dignified, their appearance elegant and radiant as clouds. After a brief rest the women prepared a delicious meal of sesame rice and mountain goat, after which the men were no longer hungry. They inquired about the women’s families, but the ladies only laughed and made small talk, refusing to reveal anything. The two men eventually stopped asking. They realized these were strange women. And they observed that there were no men in the house.
In the courtyard a banquet was arranged, with wine and food set out to wish the men long life. After a few cups [of wine] guest immortals arrived at the ladies’ residence bringing peaches of longevity and announcing, “We have come to congratulate the grooms.” The two men paid their respects to the immortals, each of whom wore magical clothes and carried the musical instrument which they played in perfect harmony. For two or three hours the two men drank happily, while the two female immortals personally served them cups [of wine] and urged them to drink more. The beguiling melodies evoked an almost tangible sensation of spring, and the two men felt they were in paradise. The guests departed as the sun set.
The two women persuaded Liu and Ruan to remain for more than half a month, but then the men asked to return home. The women responded, “Coming upon us and living here is your good fortune. How can the herbal elixirs of the common world compare to this immortal dwelling?” So they begged the men to stay for half a year. Every day was like late spring, but the mournful cries of the mountain birds caused the two men to plead even more to return home. The women said, “Traces of your Karma have remained here, which is why you still feel this way.” So they summoned the other female immortals to bid them farewell with music, saying, “Not far from the mouth of this cave is a roadway leading to your home. It’s easy.”
The two men exited the cave and reached the roadway. They looked back but saw only the brilliant glow of peach blossoms and the layered greens of the mountain. When they arrived home, they recognized no one. Greatly perplexed, they made inquiries until they realized that [the villagers] were their seventh-generation descendants.
Finding that their homeland held neither close relations nor a place to live, the two men decided to reenter the Tiantai Mountains and seek out the roadway that they had just followed. But they way was obscured, and they became lost. Later, in the eighth year of the Taikang reign era of Jin Wudi (A.D. 287), the two again entered the Tiantai Mountains. What became of them remains unknown.
Painted and inscribed by Cangyun Shanren (Zhao Cangyun).[1]
劉晨、阮肇，剡縣人也，家世業儒，尤留意於醫，嘗飄然有霞表之氣味。漢明
帝永安十五年，二人攜鋤筥，往天台山採藥焉！
入山既深，尋藥方盈筥，少憩將返，迷失來路，且糧糗俱盡，二人相顧，方狼
狽失措。偶舉目見山頭有桃木樛然，桃實纍然。二人往山上取桃食之，人各食二
枚，如覺少健然。
食桃尤在手，下山求歸。路轉轉崎嶇，益難辨識。行次不覺至山麓，見澗中水流
潺然，清泠可可。二人以手挹水飲之，且各澡其手面。偶見蔓菁從山腹出，次
又有一杯流出，中有胡麻飯屑。二人相顧曰: “去人家不遠矣。”
巒氣滃鬱，山色螺聳。望中恍然，如接異境。
因負藥筥，以鋤挺探水，水纔四尺許，二人褰裳渡之。行及一里餘，得小徑，
又度一山，又見一溪焉。
山麓處大溪。
隔溪見二女顏色絕妙，世所未有，便揮手喚劉、阮姓名，似有舊交。二人渡溪，
二女喜笑而語，曰:“郎來何晚也！”意味和懌，香氣襲人，相語相攜，雖
合卺之協情，經數載未有如此之婉好也。二人始疑為媚，久之方辨識為人，而亦
不之懼焉。
二女因邀歸家，所過山徑崎嶇，滿山桃花爛然。行及三里餘，到其所居。廳館
朴廠，服飾非如人間所有。左右女侍息青衣，皆端正莊靚，爛然如雲。少憩，
煮胡麻飯、山羊脯，食之甘美。二人食方畢，不覺饑，欲訊家世，二女但相與
談笑亂之，略不之告，二人亦不敢固問，知其為異人。久之，亦不見其家有男
子也。
既而又當庭設席，陳酒肴為二人壽。方飛觴次，有數仙客持三、五仙桃至女
家，云來慶女婿，各至席。二人禮之，數仙客皆仙服，各出樂器奏之，肅
雝和鳴。暢飲逾二、三時候，二女親各舉巵勸二人酒。款曲之情，春氣可挹，
二子恍然如在天上也。日向暮，仙客各還去。
二女邀劉、阮偕止宿，約半月餘，二子求還。女答曰: “今來此，皆汝宿福所招
得。至予仙館，比之流俗，有此樂否?”遂懇留住及半年。天氣常如三春，山鳥
哀鳴，二子求歸甚切。女曰: “業根未滅，使令子心如此。”於是喚諸仙女，共
作鼓吹送劉、阮歸，遂告之曰: “從此山洞口出去不遠，至大道至家易矣。”
二人出洞口，行至大道，回首惟桃花燦爛，山色堆青而已。甫至家鄉，並無
相識，鄉里怪異，乃聞得七代子孫，傳上祖入山不出，不知今何在。
二子在鄉既無親屬，棲泊無所，卻同入天台山，尋當年所往。山路已迷，而
不知所在。後至晉武帝太康八年，二子復入天台，不知其所之也。
蒼雲山人畫書。
No artist's seals
[1] Translated by Maxwell K. Hearn in Maxwell K. Hearn and Wen C. Fong, Along the Riverbank: Chinese Painting from the C.C. Wang Family Collection, exhibition catalogue, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999, pp. 148-149. Modified.
