Page 194 - I Live in the Slums: Stories (The Margellos World Republic of Letters)

someone simply walk into the queen’s residence of his own accord?” This young
man had to suffer the consequences.
The villagers certainly didn’t know what the queen was thinking, much less
what she thought of them, but they had been born with a strict sense of propriety.
This led them to maintain a respectful distance from the queen. Perhaps this
awareness arose from communication between the two sides? Or perhaps from
certain age-old regulations for interpersonal relationships? The young man later

told people that the queen’s home was spotless. Hanging on one wall was the old
king’s crown. Although the furniture and utensils were old, they twinkled with
an imposing radiance in the gloominess. The king’s throne was on the living-
room carpet. In the dining room, an enormous coal lamp sat on the long table. As
soon as he entered, he felt he was suffocating. In a few short minutes, he thought
he would soon faint. And so he groped his way out. “So scary. Scary,” he said.
Although the villagers had not burst recklessly into the queen’s home, as he had,
they nodded in unison upon hearing his vague narrative: in their imagination, the
queen’s home was just like this. The queen seemed to be hardworking—at
daybreak, someone had seen her draw water from the well; someone else had
seen her carrying a lantern at midnight looking for herbs in the wilderness. The
villagers inferred that she must be working to maintain the tidiness of the
“imperial palace,” and of course she also cooked her own meals. On windy days,
ash and sand blew in, so the rooms had to be swept every day. Keeping the
house spotless was no easy task. Speaking of cooking, the villagers thought that
the queen was probably careful about what she ate. They guessed this because

she looked spirited and energetic, and because she loved to buy food. Sharp-eyed
people noticed that her favorite foods were mushrooms, celery, wild boar,
mustard greens, and roasted peanuts. People said admiringly, “What simple
preferences!” She apparently valued the flavor as well as nutrition. Good smells
always wafted from her kitchen. The villagers wanted the queen to eat well and
rest well. They loved her cleaning and her skills in the kitchen. They thought
these were the source of their fascination with her charm. As for the queen
herself, of course she ate well every day and rested well. And she did like
cleaning and cooking, but not in order to be fascinating. Then for what? This is a
riddle.
As for time, the queen had two contradictory attitudes: one was extremely
befuddled—she couldn’t figure out which day it was. Was it Tuesday or

Thursday? Was it the third day of the month or the eighth day? Sometimes she
got the month wrong. The other was extremely meticulous. For example, what
would she do at particular hours of the day? And for how long? How would she
schedule her activities over the next seven days? How often would she go away
each month? She had to abide meticulously by her own regulations. She