Empress Pekingese

"Let the Lion Dog be small; let it wear the swelling cape of dignity around its neck; let it display the billowing standard of pomp above its back. Let its face be black; let its forefront be shaggy; let its forehead be straight and low, like unto the brow of an Imperial harmony boxer. Let its eyes be large and luminous; let its ears be set like the sails of a war junk; let its nose be like that of the monkey god of the Hindus. Let its forelegs be bent, so that it shall not desire to wander far, or leave the Imperial Palace.

"Let its body be shaped like that of a hunting lion spying for its prey. Let its feet be tufted with plentiful hair that its footfall may be soundless; and for its standard of pomp, let it rival the whisk of the Tibetan Yak, which is flourished to protect the Imperial litter from the attacks of flying insects. Let it be lively, that it may afford entertainment by its gambols; let it be timid that it may not involve itself in dangers; let it be domestic in its habits that it may live in amity with the other beasts, fishes, or birds that find protection at the Imperial Palace.

"And for its color, let it be that of the lion-a golden sable to be carried in the sleeve of a yellow robe, or the color of a red bear, or a black or a white bear, or striped like a dragon, so that there may be dogs appropriate to every costume in the Imperial wardrobe. Let it venerate its ancestors and deposit offerings in the canine cemetery of the Forbidden City on each new moon. Let it comport itself with dignity; let it learn to bite the foreign devils instantly.

"Let it be dainty in its food that it shall be known for an Imperial dog by its fastidiousness. Sharks' fins, curlews' livers, and the breasts of quails, on these it may be fed; and for drink, give it the tea that is brewed from the spring buds of the shrub that groweth in the province of Hankow, or the milk of the antelope that pasture in the Imperial parks.

"Thus shall it preserve its integrity and self- and for the day of sickness let it be anointed with the clarified fat of the leg of a sacred leopard, and give it to drink a throstle's eggshell full of the juice of the custard apple in which has been dissolved three pinches of shredded rhinoceros horn, and apply to it piebald leeches. So shall it remain-but if it die, remember thou, too, art mortal.

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