Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

Just before Luo leaves, he asks the Narrator to guard the Little Seamstress from rival suitors. The Narrator is touched by his trust and determined to honor his request, conquering his fear of the narrow ridge between their villages to visit the Little Seamstress daily. He reads to her as she works, embellishing the stories in his own style, and helps with household chores.

Walking home one evening, he is followed by a hostile group of the Little Seamstress’s suitors, who taunt and insult the Narrator. They scuffle, and the Narrator accidentally reveals the book he carries though the suitors don’t recognize its significance. He flees with the book in hand, and his ear is injured by the stones they throw after him.

That night he lies awake and tormented, fantasizing that the attackers are chopping off his ear only to be interrupted by the Little Seamstress. He pleasures himself while imagining that she allows him to lick balsam juice from her fingers, and afterward he feels ashamed of the perceived betrayal of his self-imposed duties.