1934 Charles Book of Punches and Cocktails

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

Ho-Tchi-Tchang, always on horseback, looked like a man rowing a boat. One evening, when he was drunker than usual, he fell from his horse into a deep pit, and it is my belief that he is sleeping there yet. Yu-Yang always empties three bottles before going to work. If he meets a grain cart he gives up all thought of business, follows along after it, and chats with the coolie about the fermentation of rice. The minister, Li-Ti-Chy, could swallow a hundred rivers. He cheerfully spends ten million tsien, and de– clares that he would willingly cut off the heads of all merchants who sell dubious wine . When Tsoung-Tclzi savors a bottle, only the whites of his eyes can be seen. Suddenly, there is a great noise I And there on the ground, like an uprooted tree, lies Tsoung-Tchi. The solemn Sou-Tsin nev.er drinks before the statue of Buddha. But once outside the Monastery, if he ever begins to drink, he must be carried back there on the shoulders of some charitable passerby. Under the influence of a single measure of wine Li-Tai-Po is capable of writing three hundred verses. v