1928 Cheerio a book of Punches and Cocktails by Charles

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THE EIGHT IMMORTAL DRINKERS By Tou-Fou (715-774)

Ho-Tchi-Tchang, always on horseback, looked like a mon rowing a beat. One evening, when he was drunker than usual, he fell from his herse into a deep pit, and it is my belief that he is sleepîng there yet. Yu-Yang always emplies three bailles before going lo work. If he meels a grain cari he gives up ail ihought of business, follows along afler il, and chais wilh Ihe coolie aboul Ihe fermenlalion of rice. The minisler, Li-Ti-Chy, could swallow a hundred rivers. He cheerfully spends ten million tsein, and dé clarés lhal he would willingly cul off Ihe heads of ail merchanls who sell dubious wine. When Tsoung-Tchi savors a baille only Ihe whites of his eyes can be seen. Suddenly, ihere is a greal noise! And there on Ihe ground, like an uprooled tree, lies Tsoung-Tchi. The solemn Sou-Tsin never drinks before ihe slalue of Buddha. But once oulside ihe Monastery, if he ever begins lo drink, he musl be carried back there on the shoulders of some charitable passerby. Under ihe influence of a single measure of wine Li-Tai-Po is capable of wriling three hundred verses. One day he zvas sleeping in Ihe lavern of Tchang-nan when he received an order from Ihe Emperor lo come 3