GENERAL 1 and GENERAL 2: Commander-in-chief on high, Ch’ang-an has long been without its sky-and-sun emperor, and commoners and gentry thirst to look up at our sage-emperor’s countenance. We hope that by government administration we may make steady improvements, and the “imperial gold-bells carriage” emperor’s bound promptly to restore normality.
MILITARY COMMISSIONER KUO TZU-YI: What you two gentlemen advise, is most fundamental for the Restoration. I this governor have already written this memorial document here to bring the emperor back.
(Sings)
As far as the eyes can see,
Clouds screen off the emperor’s travel-palace,
Dust covers Shu in the west,
And my mind can’t relax from dawn to night.
Only when the legitimate imperial gold-bells carriage returns,
Will the multitude’s feelings of allegiance re-unite.
(All sob together)
TOGETHER: (Sing)
So melancholy,
Being without their ruler has long oppressed people into aching indignation,
And we pray we may soon know the emperor’s sage countenance again.
MILITARY COMMISSIONER KUO TZU-YI: Come over here, General of the Front Camp.
GENERAL 3: Present!
MILITARY COMMISSIONER KUO TZU-YI: Take this Order-arrow, lead five thousand men of the Dragon-and-tiger Army, make ready a full and orderly Law-carriage Imperial Cortege,810 convey my memorial document, and proceed on to Ling-wu in order to respectfully usher the new emperor811 to Inform his Ancestral Temple,812 furthermore, to await the sage emperor’s edict, then respectfully welcome and usher the Sublime August-emperor Shining August-emperor to return here in his gold-bell carriage.
(General 3 takes the Order-arrow)
GENERAL. 3: I receive your honoured command!
MILITARY COMMISSIONER KUO TZU-YI: My entourage, have an incense-table brought over here, and we’ll now make obeisance for the sending off of my memorial text.
(Menservants respond with assent, and set up the incense table. Enter Master of Ceremonies. He conducts the ceremony.)
(Kuo Tzu-yi and his four generals make obeisance to the memorial document)
TOGETHER: (Sing)
Right here to the fore of the army we stare ahead at the sky,
and look up to our sage emperor,
Together our enlightened monarch to honour.
(Exit Master of Ceremonies)
(General 3 takes the memorial text on his hands)
FOUR GENERALS: We’ll proceed on our journey, here and now.
(Recite)
We razed and quelled the goblin sinners in a moment,813
MILITARY COMMISSIONER KUO TZU-YI: (Recites)
And bear him on our hands the mountains and rivers as of old for the emperor’s dwelling;814
TOGETHER: (recite)
Listen to the singing of dance-melodies throughout the city,815 “Wind and clouds” mighty doings are ever our outer camp-fence protecting.816
Act Thirty-six: Looking at the stocking
(Enter old wine-shop woman, Mummy Wang)
MUMMY WANG: (Sings)
Beside the posting-station Slope,
Our door and lane’s secluded,
I picked up Empress Yang’s brocade stocking and kept it.
Running a wine-shop, I prioritize selling wine,
And all wayfarers to and fro call in,
So I make my livelihood for the while,
And I’ve no need to fret.
(Says)
I, this old woman, am Mummy Wang. I’ve always run a cold-wine shop for my livelihood, here at the foot of Ma Wei’s Slope After An Lu-shan rebelled, the ordinary people fled. At that time, I dodged and hid in the Buddha-hall in the posting-station, and, as I did so, I suddenly saw one brocade stocking at the foot of a pear-tree. The stocking had been left behind by Empress Yang, so I’ve kept it to this day, and to my surprise it’s turned out to be an utter treasure.
Nowadays, that Commander-in-chief Kuo Tzu-yi has defeated the rebels, and re-taken the capital, Grand Peace has broken out again, and I’m still running a wine-shop here, as in the old days. Whoever it is, from nearby or far away, no sooner do they hear that I’ve got the brocade stocking, then they always come into my wine-shop for a drink of wine, and at the same time request to see the stocking. In addition to the wine-money, I get a fee for their looking at it, and my business is thoroughly thriving.
(Laughs)
You could say I’ve met with good luck. This morning I’ve set out the furniture and so on, and come down into the shop. I think someone’s bound to turn up.
(Does a false-exit)
(Enter Li Mo817 in cloth hat and long robe, walking along)
LI MO: (Sings)
The imperial Emerald Carriage has reached the West,
But, at the ancient posting-station, for a thousand years,
regrets will be profound.
I sigh that my lady Carmine Countenance was dispatched,
Into what quite resembles the Green Tomb818 of Wang Resplendent-lady in deserted chill.
The melting and sinking of Scarlet-jade,819
(Says)
I’m Li Mo, a young student. Some time ago, my road blocked by warfare, I was unable to leave the capital. But nowadays, as we gradually enjoy more and more Great Peace, I’ve heard that in Mummy Wang’s wine-shop at the foot of Ma Wei’s Slope, she’s got a stocking of Most-prized-empress Yang’s. So I’m heading there to take a look at it. Hey, there’s a Taoist priestess over there, coming this way.
(Enter Taoist priestess)
TAOIST PRIESTESS: (Recites)
One’s eyes are filled with “green seas changed into mulberry fields”820 huge cataclysms and all turned to tears, One brocade stocking for people to look at forlornly there remains.
(They meet)
LI MO: Why have you come here, aunty?
TAOIST PRIESTESS: I’m the abbess of Female-chastity Taoist Convent821 in Chin-ling,822 and I came to the capital to quest for books of the Taoist canon, but warfare blocked my road, so I haven’t yet returned to the Covent. I’ve now heard that there’s a brocade stocking of Empress Yang’s in Mummy Wang’s wine-shop, so I’ve made a special trip to come and see it.
LI MO: Ah, so you’ve come to see the stocking, too. So, might I humbly ask if we could travel there together.
(They move off together)
TOGETHER: (Sing)
Once departed, the jade-fair lady was far, impossible to find,
In the grievous wild-country inn,
her remnant brocade’s kept.
Let’s buy some wine and leisurely pour,
And for a little while hold and fondle the stocking,
ponder and examine it.
LI MO: Ah, here we are now. We must go straight in.
(They go in together)
(Mummy Wang comes up to them to welcome them in)
MUMMY WANG: Please take a seat in the interior.
(Li Mo and Taoist priestess sit down)
(Enter Old man Kuo Ts’ung-chin)
OLD MAN KUO TS’UNG-CHIN: I, this old fellow, am Kuo Ts’ung-chin, and, delighted that we’ve attained peace and rest from the warfare. I’m going to Mount Hua823 to proffer incense. Passing by the foot of this Ma Wei’s Slope here, I’m worn out with walking. There’s a wine-shop here, so I think I’ll just drink three cups before carrying on my way.
(Goes in)
Bring wine, mine host!
MUMMY WANG: Yes, wine coming up!
(Kuo Ts’ung-chin meets Li Mo and Taoist priestess)
LI MO: (Turning to face Mummy Wang) Mummy Wang, we’ve come here, for one thing to drink some wine, but secondly because we’ve heard that you’ve got Empress Yang’s brocade stocking, which we’d like to look at.
MUMMY WANG. (Laughs) I do indeed have a brocade stocking, but it’s just that I,
(Sings)
I so zealously protect it as a treasure,
And have kept it in ten layer
s of wrapping right till now.
And I’ve wanted to prevent its traces of perfume from diminishing,
To keep its powder forever,
For it not to be encroached upon by the Dust’s besmirching,
And it’s duly to be cherished and respected,
And passers-by vie to call in and see it,
while out for some drinking.
(Says)
My guests,
(Sings)
As long as you don’t go the gold in your purses begrudging,
To let you hold and fondle it, ponder and examine it,
I’m willing.
LI MO: That’s what we want, needless to say. In addition to our payment for the wine, we’ll give you extra “green fu-bugs”824 copper coins.
MUMMY WANG: In that case, let me go and fetch it.
(Makes a false-exit)
(Enters, holding stocking)
MUMMY WANG: (Recites)
Her jade-fair toes have ceased to wear it, but it still bears her moisturiser traces, You can still scent its perfume though it’s wrapped deep in tulle kerchiefs.
(Says)
Guests, here’s the brocade stocking. Please look at it.
(Li Mo takes it, unfolds it, and together with Taoist priestess looks at it)
LI MO: Oh, look how densely woven its brocade pattern is, with what superb craftsmanship it’s been made, how it still preserves its gorgeous lustre, and its exotic perfume hasn’t yet dispersed. It really is something from beyond this mortal world!
TAOIST PRIESTESS: Yes, it is indeed most sweetly scented!
(Old man Kuo T’sung-chin drinks wine and ignores it.)
(Li Mo stands up, holding the stocking, and looking at it)
LI MO: (Sings)
Look, its thinly padded perfumed silk is like an immortal cloud, so light and soft.
Of old in the Yellow-gold Palace-hall,825
As she took her tiny steps, nobody saw it.
A pity,
That today beside the wine-counter stove,
It’s casually taken in hand and unfolded out.
One just sees the traces of thread and marks of needle,
Into heart-grieving repining all accumulated.
What a pity the prime beautiful lady of her age the prime wrong of her era should have suffered,
And futilely left the most fragrant footprints of all time to be for all time down-passed.
OLD MAN KUO TS’UNG-CHIN: (In visible anger) Huh, mandarin/gentleman, you regard it too highly! You know, the Heaven-treasure Sublime August-emperor, just because he doted on his Most-prized-empress Yang, rejoiced in love and made merry dawn to dusk, to the ruin of his government system, causing warfare to arise on every side, and the ordinary populace to be consigned to the “mud and embers”.826 I, in my twilight years and headed for oblivion, have encountered this warfare and the scattering of my family, and today. as I see this brocade stocking, it really makes me ache with bitterness!
(Sings)
I recall that in those days,
one pinch between thumb and finger,
it was newly tailored,
And closely hugged her pink-lotus foot,
Which, as it touched the floor,
blooms blossomed,
Covered by her Six-hems River-Hsiang Skirts,827
Their movements once cherished by her lord.
Ah me,
When the happiness was at its height,
wrongs and disaster were stirred up,
All the common multitude encountered harms.
Today, the events are past and the person’s died,
And only this one object futilely remains.
All of a sudden as I survey this fragrant stocking-leg,
once more I painfully lament,
And as I recall the teetering peril,
I still wipe tears.
MUMMY WANG: Oh dear, why’s this gentleman guest upset at seeing the brocade stocking? It’s probably because he’s unwilling to fork out the money for looking at it!
OLD MAN KUO TS’UNG-CHIN: What money for looking?
MUMMY WANG: Why, he really is an old yokel: he doesn’t know about inspection fees!
LI MO: We needn’t squabble about such petty matters.
(Turns to face the Taoist priestess)
You please have a good look too, aunty.
(Turns to face Mummy Wang)
Just let me provide the money for us all, as a gift.
(He hands over the stocking)
TAOIST PRIESTESS: (Taking it, and standing up to look at it) Ah me, you know Empress Yang was the most beautiful Carmine Countenance of her era, but her romantic ways ceased all of a sudden. Even though today this stocking survives, that beautiful lady can’t be restored to life. It’s truly a matter to sigh over.
(Sings)
Look, the interlinked chain of rings of emerald hue and the scarlet hook-stitches,
And further the leaves and flowers of such skill.
One doesn’t see her pair of insteps sparkling,
Or one sole phoenix slipper left-over still.
Futilely,
How endlessly one regrets her ending up afar,
In Ma Wei’s Slope remnant dream-trace.
A toppler of state, a toppler of citadel,
What use came of the illusion!
Don’t face this remnant silk and recall old events:
One must believe that prosperity and splendour vanish,
a dawn-breeze chase.
(She hands the stocking to Mummy Wang) (Says)
Mummy Wang, I think that as Empress Yang Grand-truth was originally an immortal, I want to ask if you could happily donate this stocking as alms, so that I may take it to Female-chastity Taoist Convent in Chin-ling, and offer it up to the female transcendental Empress Yang. I wonder if you would consent to that?
MUMMY WANG: (Laughs) I’m old, and don’t have any son or daughter, and for the next half of my life I’ll be depending for my livelihood entirely on this stocking, so I really couldn’t possibly accede to your request.
LI MO: I’d be willing to pay a high price to buy it. How about that?
OLD MAN KUO TS’UNG-CHIN: What for would you want such an object, with its lingering smells!
MUMMY WANG: Anyway, I’m not selling it.
(Old man Kuo Ts’ung-chin hands her some coins)
OLD MAN KUO TS’UNG-CHIN: Here you are: take my money for the wine.
(Li Mo hands coins to Mummy Wang)
LI MO: Our money for looking at the stocking is all included here.
MUMMY WANG: Many thanks.
(Recites)
Once drunk with the scenery, don’t feel sated at its frequent repetition,828
TAOIST PRIESTESS: (Recites)
How many pearls and emeralds829 have gone into the scented flower-dust falling!830
LI MO: (Recites)
All that’s left beside the Slope’s a “crescent-moon”831 curving,832
OLD MAN KUO TS’UNG-CHIN: (Recites)
In the country outside the city, it draws spectators hubbubbing come looking.833
Act Thirty-seven: Corpse released
(Enter Empress Yang’s spirit)
EMPRESS YANG’S SPIRIT: (Sings)
My form can’t possibly stay, in the breeze fluttering and wafting,
I sigh there’s nobody to find refuge with,
on my road ahead lying.
Parted in life and death, we’re both faint-far from each other,
Of my man I’ve no seeing,
But my love’s unfinished,
And my regret’s unceasing.
(Recites)
The romance of the era’s already over, In my meagre existence, I need no more feel bitter regrets; How can I melt and erase that word “love”: One dot, it’s firm inlayed in my dainty “square-inch” heart. In vain to chase, In vain to chase, “Remnant moon and dawn breeze” romance, For that who cares!
(Says)
I’m the spirit of Yang Jad
e-bangle. Since the local land-god kindly guided me along the road, I’ve been at liberty to go to and fro with the breeze, and, to my joy, Heaven doesn’t rein me in, and Earth doesn’t interfere with me, and, without restraint or tying, I’m awfully free and easy. It’s just that I can’t find my way to my august-emperor again, to once more meet with him.
(Laments)
It grieves me so! Today let me go with the breeze, and see where it takes me.
(She proceeds)
(Sings)
My spirit chariots the breeze, like wandering in a dream,
My road winds on and on,
and dusk and daytime are indistinguishable from each other.
I pass through the wild countryside,
and for a brief while roost and lodge overnight,
Suddenly hear a bird cheeping in the cold mist,
So scares me I now can’t possibly linger.
Blue will-o’-the-wisps drift in the deserted vegetation,
So lighting my way as through the dark I advance further.
Where’s this palace-hall corner covered with cloud-forms layer on layer?
(Looks)
Oh, why it’s the door of West Palace. I must go in, and have a look.
(Is about to go in. Enter two door-gods with black and white faces, in gold armour, and grasping maces and bamboo writing-tablets. They stand on a high point)
TWO DOOR-GODS: (Recite)
In our lives we were heroes bold who peace to the world brought, Now dead, we’re awesome spirits, who the palace-hall doors protect.
(They raise their maces and writing-tablets, barring the way to Empress Yang’s spirit)
Where are you from, female spirit. You can’t come in here just as it pleases you.
EMPRESS YANG’S SPIRIT: (Bringing out the road-permit) I your slave am Yang Jade-bangle. I have this road-permit here.
DOOR-GODS: Ah, so it’s Empress Yang. At present, An Lushan has been assassinated, his son An Ch’ing-hsü has fled, and commander-in-chief Kuo Tzu-yi has swept clear the imperial-palace forbidden precincts, but, because the Grand Sublime August-emperor is far away in Shu, and the new Son of Heaven still remains in Ling-wu, the imperial palace is lonely and completely deserted, and all the palace doors are barred, chained and locked. You go on in on your own, Your Majesty. We’ll move out of your way.
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