SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: (Stamping his foot with bitter feeling) Huh!
(Sings)
What will it matter anyhow,
if I don’t even for Hsi-ch’uan638 head!
(Enter Eunuch-chamberlain Kao unobtrusively. He leads emperor to mount his horse, and they move off)
TOGETHER: (Sing)
Mist sticks to the tall sky,
Banners and flags flutter in the wintry wind.
We tarry on the road of our long journey,
Our cortege insignia are with ochre dust stained.
Who’d have expected that ruler and subjects,
Would alike taste peril and hazard!
I loathe it that the rebel incursors raise their rebellious flames,
run riot across the land;
One linked continuity were the beacon flames:
When shall we be able to slaughter all the “jackals and tigers” bar none!
Gazing afar, I see the mountain-tips of Shu,
Right to the Phoenix Gate-towers639 of my imperial palace,
I my gaze turn,
Where several dots of drifting clouds
Screen off Ch’ang-an but “feet and inches” away,
seeming very near,
Screen off Ch’ang-an.
(Recite)
Kingfisher-florescence flags of the emperor whisk westwards, and Shu clouds fly,640 Heaven and Earth are hazed with dust, and the Nine Tripods of state are in peril brought;641 The cicada temple-tresses of Empress Yang don’t accompany the gold-bells imperial carriage away,642
And, to no point, the mandarin-ducks and egrets are startled up, suddenly it to escort.643 Where’s Mount Lung644 in the ochre clouds?645
Act Twenty-six: Gifting a meal to the emperor
(Enter emperor leading Eunuch-chamberlain Kao)
SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: (Sings)
I feel remorse and bitter regret my moth-antenna-eyebrowed-one lightly died,
And in one night suffer a thousand kinds of sadness and griefs.
Since this morning,
I’ve been too listless to brandish my gold horse-whip,
And in the afternoon,
who tastes even “jade” grains of rice!
(Says)
In haste and hurry, I’m favouring the West with a visit. Yesterday in Ma Wei’s Posting-station my Six Armies wouldn’t set forth, and I had no plan I could act upon, and just had to confer the privilege of committing suicide upon my Most-prized-empress.
(Sheds tears)
Ah me, it’s all for nothing that I’m the Son of Heaven of the whole imperial court: I’ve ended up becoming the most hard-hearted man of all the myriad ages! I’ve forced myself to travel one league, and now we’re at the region of Fu-feng,646 and I’ve stationed myself in my Phoenix-grace Palace.647 I must rest for a while.
(Enter old man Kuo Ts’ung-chin648 bearing “Wheat-meal”)649
OLD MAN KUO TS’UNG-CHIN: (Recites)
A sun-bathed back can get an audience with the Son of Heaven,650 If you present mere celery to the emperor,651 one can tell you’re a country bumpkin. I’m an old rustic of Fu-feng, Kuo Ts’ung-chin.
(Meets Eunuch-chamberlain Kao) (Says)
Your Worship, may I trouble you to pass on my petition to the throne, and say that the rustic fellow Kuo Ts’ung-chin has come specially to proffer a meal to him.
(Eunuch-chamberlain Kao passes on the message.)
SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: Invite him in.
OLD MAN KUO TS’UNG-CHIN: I your lowly subject from the wild bush, Kuo Ts’ung-chin, come for audience.
SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: Where do you come from?
OLD MAN KUO TS’UNG-CHIN: I recall that
(Sings)
I was born and grew up in Fu-feng,
And, white-haired, do my own ploughing,
And with the others celebrate the season’s happiness.
I’ve heard that out of the blue there’s been a big political upheaval,
And your phoenix hand-carriage652 is making a tour of inspection,
To my boundless alarm and nervousness.
I as provisional token bring a dish of meal of wheat,
Which, crawling, facing Flag Gate
I offer up and before you set.
I pray that you our monarch won’t object to it as coarse grits,
This rustic supplies it for your nourishment.
SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: You shouldn’t have gone to so much trouble. Eunuch-chamberlain Kao, bring it up here.
(Eunuch-chamberlain Kao takes the meal and delivers it to the emperor)
SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: (Looking at it) My feasts are located deep in the palace, so I’ve never tasted this kind of flavour.
(Sings)
Usually, my Grand Provisioner653 served my meals,
I “partook of jade and cooked gold”,
I ate from a ten-foot square,654
A hundred flavours of jewelled delicacies,
And still I complained about them as not the right blend.
(Sheds tears) (Says)
I never imagined I’d today be sating my hunger with such stuff as this!
(Sings)
Forlorn and chill, the bran along with the wheat,
How can I put this meal into my throat!
(Eats a brief taste, then puts it down)
(Sings)
It’s so much like the Prince of Hsiao,
when beside the River Hu-t’o,655
he lost his way!656
OLD MAN KUO TS’UNG-CHIN: Your Majesty, might know who was the cause of today’s disaster?
SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: Who do you think caused it?
OLD MAN KUO TS’UNG-CHIN: If Your Majesty will pardon me and spare me punishment for the crime, I must at the risk of my death speak forthrightly.
SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: Just tell me, and never mind.
OLD MAN KUO TS’UNG-CHIN: It was just because of that Yang Kuo-chung,
(Sings)
Crazy and madly oblivious to restraint,
As your relative, he abused his power,
Taking bribes and beckoning the powerful to him,
His poison flowing Heaven and Earth over.
He had a feud with An Lu-shan for ten years,
And suddenly one morning from Yü-yang arose warfare.
SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: I certainly didn’t know that Yang Kuo-chung had a feud with An Lu-shan, and that An Lu-shan was plotting rebellion!
OLD MAN KUO TS’UNG-CHIN: That An Lu-shan,
(Sings)
Harboured inclinations to usurpatory disaster for many a long day,
All within the world’s Four Seas of his rebellious inclination knew.
(Says)
Last year someone sent up a document to you, accusing An Lu-shan of rebellious deeds, but Your Majesty went and had the man executed.
(Sings)
So who would gladly to the execution axe go again,
Our monarch, by memorialising you!
SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: (Showing bitter regret) It was my lack of insight that brought this about.
(Sings)
I estimate,
That with sharp eyesight and perfect hearing,
One who’s actually a ruler should as a principle investigate such a thing.
(Says)
I remember when Yao Ch’ung657 and Sung Ching658 were my prime ministers,
(Sings)
They several times proffered me forthright counsel,
And the moods of my myriad subjects
Were as clear to me as if they and me shared my same reception-hall together,
(Says)
But unexpectedly, after Yao and Sung had passed away, all the ministers of my court were uniformly greedy for high position and sycophantic. Kuo Ts’ung-chin, they weren’t as good as you and yours, who in the wild countryside bush bear in your bosoms a desire to serve me conscientiously,
(Sings)
And took it so far as to point out the rebellious
non-Chinese
and the traitorous prime minister.
OLD MAN KUO TS’UNG-CHIN: If Your Majesty hadn’t come here favouring us with your tour of inspection, how would I have managed to see your celestial countenance!
(Emperor sheds tears)
SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: (Sings)
It makes me uselessly “try to devour my navel, unable to reach it”’659
Bitter regrets stuff my hungry gut.
OLD MAN KUO TS’UNG-CHIN: Your Majesty, rest your dragon body a while. I’ll say goodbye to you.
(Sighs) (Recites)
Even though I’ve an abundance of white hair,
a thousand stems of snow,
My loyal “cinnabar” heart660 to grey
one single inch I can’t allow.
(Exit)
(Enter Envoy and two bearers carrying many-coloured silk-fabric)
ENVOY: (Sings)
Along high “crow paths”,661
“sheep’s innards”662 narrow and twisty,
We come bearing on our horses’ backs many-coloured silk
on the long posting-station road.
On mountain after mountain, we frequently shake our hand-bells and wooden-clappered bells,
And see the sun’s close the imperial metropolis beside.
(Says)
I’m an envoy from Ch’eng-tu circuit, and, by command of the Military Commissioner of Ch’eng-tu, I’m escorting for delivery a hundred thousand bolts of Spring Many-coloured Silk-fabric663 to the capital. I’ve heard that the emperor is favouring Fu-feng with a visit, so I must here and now present him with the silk.
(Faces Eunuch-chamberlain Kao)
May I trouble you and beg you to submit my petition to the emperor, telling him that I’m an envoy from Ch’eng-tu, and have brought tribute of silks here.
(Eunuch-chamberlain Kao goes in and announces the message to the emperor)
SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: When the prescribed number of pieces of Spring Many-coloured Silk-fabric have been counted and taken in, dispatch the envoy back to his base.
(The two bearers carry the silk in)
(Exeunt envoy together with two bearers)
SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: Eunuch-chamberlain Kao, you may summon an assembly of my officers and soldiers, as I have face-to-face instructions for them.
EUNUCH-CHAMBERLAIN KAO: Ten-thousand-years-grandfather-the-emperor promulgates a summons to the officers and soldiers of his Dragon-warrior Army664 to hear his edict.
(Enter officers and soldiers)
OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS: (Recite)
At dawn we rise listening to the gongs and drums, At night we sleep hugging our jade-ornamented saddles.
(Say)
We, officers and soldiers of your Dragon-warrior Army, kow-tow and come for audience with you, Ten-thousand-years-grandfather-our-emperor.
SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: My generals, listen to what I say.
(Sings)
Political upheaval has been produced by abnormal circumstances,
And we go far to evade the warfare,
trekking into exotic parts.
Of hastily joining my imperial cortege insignia
I put you to the toils,
(Says)
But today,
(Sings)
I have another, good, matter for discussions.
OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS: We wonder what instructions and edicts you Ten-thousand-years-grandfather-our-emperor have for us?
SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: (Sings)
The far-travelling man recalls his old home,
The far-travelling man recalls his old home,
And the road to Shu’s as if up in the skies.
I can’t bear to burden you all,
To lightly cast aside your wives, children and parents.
(Says)
I shall very slowly, with my children and grandchildren and my eunuch-mandarins, persist on my own with my journey into Shu, while you may today go your separate ways to your homes.
(Sings)
It will spare you the trampling through bush
and wading streams of our journey,
The hunger and cold, the toil and struggles.
(Says)
Eunuch-chamberlain Kao, you may distribute the Spring Many-coloured Silk-fabrics that the envoy came and presented to me among my officers and men, to provide for the expenses of the journey.
(Sings)
Having no military supplies,
I distribute the Many-coloured Silk-fabrics,
For a while to make up your provisions.
(Eunuch-chamberlain Kao voices his assent, and shares out the Many-coloured Silk-fabrics)
(All weep)
ALL: That you Ten-thousand-years-grandfather-our-emperor have given your sage instructions for such generosity, the inch-hearts of us subjects are as if sliced through. Always in the past, it’s been a case of “nourishing the army for a thousand days, and having a use for it in one morning”. We,
(Sing)
We’ve no ability to extinguish the “tigers and wolves”,
We’ve no ability to extinguish the “tigers and wolves”,
And uselessly disgrace the “black-bear and grizzly-bear”665
fierce generals.
In life and death we pray we may join you on your journeys,
In unison proclaiming our cleaving to your awesome celestial prestige are our army’s united voices.
(Say)
We absolutely can’t be so remiss as to accept these Spring Many-coloured Silk-fabrics.
(Sing)
Please keep them for another time when our deeds may be judged and accordingly rewarded.
If we have insincere feelings,
May Heaven judge us:
We’ll not be disaffected, for certitude.
SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: Even though your loyalty and honour are profound, I truly somewhat feel pity for you, and I rather think you’d best go back.
OFFICERS and SOLDIERS: Oh, Ten-thousand-years-grandfather-our-emperor, can it be that, because of your Most-prized-empress Yang’s death, you feel some doubts and suspicions about us?
SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: No, it’s not that,
(Sings)
Those elders of Ch’ang-an yearn for you so eagerly,
And when you return there,
Might I trouble you to tell them the Kingfisher-feather-florescence imperial flag, myself, am illness-free.
OFFICERS and SOLDIERS: Don’t utter such words, Ten-thousand-years-grandfather-our-emperor. We your subjects are most willing to accompany your carriage, and we swear we’ll harbour no duplicity.
TOGETHER: (Sing)
Just wait until the goblin miasmas have been swept clean away,
And together to the imperial home we’ll return one day.
SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: It’s late and the sky’s dusking. We’ll just halt here temporarily tonight, and set off tomorrow morning.
OFFICERS and SOLDIERS: Command taken!
(Recite)
Ten-thousand-mile flying sand chokes the ku-drumns and kettle-drums,666
EUNUCH-CHAMBERLAIN KAO: (Recites)
Descending into the mountains, so heavily sinks the setting sun;667
SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: (Recites)
What gain are remorse and bitterness now!668
EUNUCH-CHAMBERLAIN KAO: (Recites)
Can we bear it any more, as the carriage’s wheel’s head west alone!669
Act Twenty-seven: Frequenting the Shades
(Enter Empress Yang’s spirit, with white silk-fabric tied around her neck, the colours of her attire the same as in Act Twenty-five)
EMPRESS YANG’s SPIRIT: (Sings)
In a wicked so vicious scene of rowdy mutiny,
My whole life was done away with in such haste;
Wafting so driftingly,
my one silk-thread of a severed spirit,
Painfully constricting one strip of white boiled-silk fabric chaining my fragrant throat.
&n
bsp; My quality and beauty all finished,
My trust and vows sacrificed,
My body and dry bones swilled away.
There’s only my one dot of infatuated love hasn’t been destroyed in the slightest bit,
And as I struggle towards the Yellow Springs,
I bear its load on my shoulder so very securely.
(Says)
I, Yang Jade-bangle, travelled west with the emperor, but just as we’d arrived in Ma Wei’s posting-station, unexpectedly his Six Armies mutinied and rioted, compelling me there and then to hang myself.
(Sobs)
Ah me, I wonder where our sage emperor’s carriage has reached
by now. All my spirit so faint has flown out of the posting-station, and I must chase on after his dust.
(She moves off)
(Sings)
I gaze after his gold-bells imperial carriage,
Which has only just departed Ma Wei’s Slope,
But though he’s “within a few feet” so near,
I can’t fly over to his side.
My quiet spirit’s as light as a leaf,
His far-travelling horse is as a loom-shuttle rapid.
No sooner have I spun around,
The tip of his Kingfisher-florescence flag
Is already by the tree-mist locked.
(Makes false exit)
(Enter emperor, leading Eunuch-chamberlain Kao, two eunuch attendants and four soldiers crowding around him as he progresses.)
SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: (Sings)
Unexpectedly, my “toppler of met with foul disaster,
She departed, and, left helpless.
I travel on and on,
and “What on Earth could I have done!” I call.
On horseback I turn my head and look back,
The Play Page 22
