Dream-of-Jade Trivia Quiz

Answer: True

The first story in the book, "How Dream-of-Jade Looked at the Emperor", starts like this:

"In the Forbidden City of the Celestial Emperor Kwan-Yu, lived a white cat with such beautiful green eyes that she was called Dream-of-Jade."

Jade is a kind of semiprecious stone. That means it is valuable, but not as valuable as, say, diamonds and sapphires. It is usually green. And, for a very long time, it has been closely associated with China, which is called The Middle Kingdom in the stories. That is where Dream-of-Jade and Emperor Kwan-Yu live.

Answer: Into the throne room

Dream-of-Jade is a curious cat. What's more, she figures people rules don't apply to her. So, though no one is supposed to be in the throne room when Emperor Kwan-Yu isn't there conducting court business, Dream-of-Jade goes in there all by herself.

Answer: That the ceiling is about to fall down

Dream-of-Jade looks around the throne room very carefully. Her attention to details lets her see something that none of the people who work for Emperor Kwan-Yu had spotted. After all, they have to look at the floor when they are with the emperor. The ceiling right over the throne is badly in need of repair and is going to fall at any minute.

Since she has noticed the danger with the ceiling, Dream-of-Jade is able to stop the emperor from sitting in his throne when he comes into the room. While the emperor and his chief minister are talking about Dream-of-jade sitting on the throne and looking at the emperor, the ceiling falls on top of the throne. But because of Dream-of-Jade's quick thinking, neither the emperor nor anyone else gets hurt. To reward Dream-of-jade for saving his life, Emperor Kwan-Yu makes her Imperial Cat.

Answer: He is bored and discontented.

The author, Mr. Alexander, uses fancy sentences, like this:

"The Emperor Kwan-Yu was in low spirits. Sleepless, without appetite, he held his aching celestial head and moaned over the state of his celestial liver."

Really, though, he was just bored and discontented. Or, maybe 'unsettled' is a better word. You probably know what it's like when nothing seems right, nothing seems satisfying. That's the way the emperor was feeling.

Answer: Three

When Dream-of-Jade suggests that she might be able to cure the emperor his Chief Minister, Yin Chuan, gets pretty hot under the collar and tells her, quite rudely, to stick to chasing mice. Then he goes away on a business trip, but not before arranging for three doctors to come look at Emperor Kwan-Yu. Dream-of-Jade doesn't think much of them, so she sends them all away.

Then she persuades the emperor to try her cure.

Answer: Carving his own chopsticks

Dream-of-Jade's solution for her emperor's boredom and general blah feeling is a simple one to talk about, but a long and tiring one to do. She has servants bring Kwan-Yu a big log and then tells him to carve his own chopsticks from the wood at the center of the log.

The emperor complains of course. But, if you have a kitty, you know the cat is always the boss! So, the emperor carves his own chopsticks. And, when he is finished, he eats his bowl of rice as if it were the grandest banquet ever, and goes to sleep contentedly on a mat on the floor.

After that, he is never bored or discontented again.

Answer: He doesn't know how to laugh.

At the beginning of the story, the chief minister has big plans for how to amuse the emperor. Dream-of-Jade is very pleased that her beloved emperor is going to enjoy some entertainment. As she wisely says, laughter is better than a feast. But what Kwan-Yu tells her is very sad:

"'You misunderstand,' said Kwan-Yu. 'I am Lord of the Middle Kingdom, Rainbow of Celestial Joys.'

'Don't forget Tranquil Carp in the Pool of Crystal Wisdom,' put in Dream-of-Jade.

'That too,' said Kwan-Yu. 'But I am the Emperor. I do not laugh.'"

Answer: A ball made of crumpled paper

The entertainment arranged by Chief Minister Yin Chuan falls flat. After he and his performers leave, Emperor Kwan-Yu asks Dream-of-Jade how cats amuse themselves. She replies that the simplest form of entertainment for a cat is chasing her tail. Unfortunately, her emperor doesn't have a tail.

Then she thinks of playing with a ball of crumpled paper and shows the emperor. After a while, she persuades him to get down on the floor and play with her. But, she tells him, there's something even better than playing with a ball...playing with a piece of string!

Answer: An abandoned part of the palace grounds, where children are playing.

The emperor is surprised to see the children:

"'Children?' said Kwan-Yu. 'Ah, yes. I have heard of such beings. I never realized they were so short!'"

Soon he is playing happily with the children and Dream-of-Jade and laughing merrily. Then, of course, Chief Minister Yin Chuan arrives and chases the children away. He is annoyed, as usual, and tells the emperor he will make sure the children never come back. Cross now himself, Emperor Kwan-Yu retorts that, on the contrary, he wants the children to come back so he can play with them again. Then, at Dream-of-Jade's suggestion, he announces that this part of the palace grounds should be made into a park where his people can come whenever they like. The park is to be called The Garden of the Emperor's Laughter.

Answer: Gratitude

The emperor says the feeling "gives me an overpowering urge to do a kindness of some sort, in exchange for kindness that a certain individual has done for me."

Dream-of-Jade assures him that the condition is 'Serious, but never fatal...The customary remedy is to offer a gift in token of appreciation."

Gratitude is like curiosity in this way: it makes you want to do something. Curiosity makes you want to find out and learn. Gratitude, as Emperor Kwan-Yu observed, makes you want to show kindness and do something nice for someone.

Answer: He is scornful.

Throughout the stories in "Dream-of-Jade: The Emperor's Cat", it is pretty clear that Chief Minister Yin Chuan and Dream-of-Jade don't like each other. Yin Chuan shows his dislike very plainly in this story with his sour answer to the emperor:

"'I suggest,' said Yin Chuan, 'from the imperial kitchens, a few discarded fish heads.'"

Needless to say, the emperor does not like this suggestion at all!

Answer: A corner of the emperor's heart

What Dream-of-Jade actually asked for, that upset Chief Minister Yin Chuan very much, was a portion of the emperor's kingdom. Only after Yin Chuan storms off to look for maps does she explain what she really meant:

"'And the portion of my kingdom?" Kwan-Yu frowned, perplexed and puzzled. "What of that?'

'The Middle Kingdom is vast,' answered Dream-of-Jade. 'But there is another kingdom, even greater, the kingdom within your majesty's heart. It is of that kingdom,' Dream-of-Jade continued, 'I wish a small corner.'"

Emperor Kwan-Yu is deeply touched. He hugs Dream-of-Jade and tells her:

"My dear companion, you have that already...It is no small corner, but the largest and happiest."

In other words, Kwan-Yu loves his kitty very much.

Answer: Making laws

Dream-of-Jade is pretty snide about the new law Yin Chuan has written, so it is understandable that he gets crabby. With the emperor's agreement, he challenges the imperial cat to write a law. She recites something that has a lot of legal sounding words and phrases in it, but that doesn't make much sense.

When the chief minister exclaims gleefully that Dream-of-Jade's law is nonsense, she points out that she recited his own new law, only substituting 'feline' (that means 'cat') for 'subjects of the emperor'.

Answer: No

When the emperor finds out that all the laws, decrees and proclamations Yin Chuan has written are rubbish, he shouts at the chief minister, telling him that the imperial cat will write the laws from now on, and that he is now demoted to clerk scribe of the twenty-fifth order. That sounds like a big demotion!

At first Dream-of-Jade is hesitant, but the emperor tells her firmly that he wants her to write the laws and be Chief Minister, the first cat to hold that position in Chinese history.

Answer: False

Actually, the story ends this way:

"All prospered in the Middle Kingdom, and in the archives of the emperors the reign of Celestial Kwan-Yu was inscribed in letters of gold as the happiest and wisest."

So, with the help of a small and very special white cat, Kwan-Yu became the best emperor China ever had.