The Play

by William Dolby

  (Music performed backstage. Empress Yang changes into immortal attire)

  LOCAL LAND-GOD: I shall attend you on your way.

  EMPRESS YANG: Let’s return there, please.

  (Exit Local land-god. Female immortals and Empress Yang move off)

  EMPRESS YANG: (Sings)

  As we head towards Ying Island paradise,851

  Cloud vapours driskily cover the air,

  Gold and emerald,852 forth open the peaked hills’ crowd.

  Ah!

  Immortals’ years and months will be long lasting,

  As long-enduring as my love will stay.

  When love becomes true,

  Even after ten thousand kalpas it can’t possibly decay.

  I keep firm hold of the gold hairpins and gold-strip casket,

  And go right to the summit of Mount Erigeron away.

  (They proceed from a high point, and exeunt)

  EMPRESS YANG. (Recites)

  Melted, utter consumed, is the old perfume tied at my bosom,853 But so much love, so much emotion, is of course impossible to forget;854 The road’s not long from here to Mount Erigeron,855 But Heaven and the mortal world are from each other far and faint.856

  Act Thirty-eight: Strum-lyric857

  (Enter Li Kui-nien, with white whiskers, and in an old robe, holding a p’i-p’a-lute in his arms)

  LI KUI-NIEN: (Recites)

  As soon as the kettledrums and ku-drums started up in Yü-yang, In but a little time, one saw the imperial palace forbidden precincts deserted and trailed with plants; This white-haired old loyalist remains alive, And I’ve composed my remnant regrets into a score to tell of the nation’s vicissitudes.

  (Says)

  I, this old fellow, am Li Kui-nien. I was formerly a musician in the Inner-palace Hunting-park,858 providing entertainment in the Pear-orchard Conservatoire, and the recipient of Ten-thousand-years-grandfather-the-emperor’s utter loving favour. After I taught and performed Rainbow-skirt in Paying-homage-to-the-Origin Villa,859 and when that melody was completed, we performed it for the emperor, whereat his dragon countenance showed great pleasure. I and Empress Yang were each awarded gratuity of no less than several tens of thousands of copper coins.

  Unexpectedly, An Lu-shan rebelled, and conquered Ch’ang-an, and our sage-emperor’s carriage made a tour of inspection westwards, all the multitude of the general populace fleeing, scuttling away. We of the Pear-orchard orchestra also scattered, each fleeing his own separate way in the confusion. I came to the region of Yangtse-south,860 and have used up all my travel-provision, so just have to carry this lute around in my arms and sing a piece to scrape together a living.

  Today, it’s the General Assembly fair of Vulture-peak Buddhist-monastery861 by Green Brook,862 and there are huge number of pilgrims, so I must go there and sell my singing.

  (Sighs)

  Ah me, when I think of how in those days I sang unaccompanied up in “Heaven”, the imperial court, and now am going from door to door, playing the clappers, I’ve got a most hang-dog air!

  (Walks)

  (Sings)

  Taking me unawares,

  in my twilight years I met with wild rebellion and dispersal by war,

  Was forced along the side-roads,

  and encountered ruin and dire straits.

  I’ve suffered hardship and flight, dust-storms blackening my face,

  And sigh over my decrepit remnant frosty snowy temple-locks and whiskers.

  Today I’ve drifted and ended up on the far far sky-rim,

  And only this lute remains.

  Hiding my face in shame in my sleeve, I go along the long streets,

  And also pass along the small streets.

  I’m certainly no Kao Chien-li863 striking his thirteen-stringed dulcimer and sad song singing,

  But on the contrary have become a Wu Yȕn blowing his panpipes,864

  hey-ho, and begging.

  I recall that on that day I performed unaccompanied singing before the emperor to please him in his Gold Palace-hall,

  Composing new music for his command entertainment on the Jasper Steps.

  Beyond all telling, the emperor’s favour from Ninth Layer Heaven was as vast as the ocean,

  When he favoured the Warm Springs, the snow on Mount Li cleared from the sky,

  When he sailed his immortal boat, on Rousing-celebration Pond865 bloomed lotus-flowers.

  He admired the moon at Florescence-purity Palace-hall,

  At Florescence-calyx Tower-terrace he admired flowers fragrant.

  Just as he was receiving the rain and dew of deep celestial blessings,

  All of a sudden he encountered undreamt-of disaster,

  from Heaven and Earth sent:

  At Sword-gate Pass his phoenix hand-carriage for his empress and his roc imperial carriage were covered over with dust,

  And at Ma Wei’s Slope,

  blood the beautiful celestial figure and prime beauty of the nation besmirched;

  On the Yangtse-south road over the emaciated bones and dead-end dried bones

  I terribly wept.

  Pitiable and down-and-out,

  I just have to go from door to door selling the Rainbow-skirt music-score;

  There’s no applause from anybody,

  And I futilely face the Six Dynasties

  in vegetation and trees buried,

  My eyes filled with the rise and fall of states everywhere.

  (Makes a false-exit)

  (Enter Li Mo in student’s cloth hat and robe)

  LI MO: (Recites)

  Flowers attract the wayfarer’s eyes, Spring grieves one feelings for one’s own land; After the Rainbow-skirt person departed, There’s been no connoisseur of my music, no bosom friend.

  (Says)

  I’m Li Mo, a young student. A while ago, I was tarrying in Ch’ang-an, the Western Capital, and have returned here only after the rebellion. After I secretly copied several passages of Rainbow-skirt outside the imperial-palace walls, I’ve never been able to obtain the full score for it. Yesterday I heard that there’s an old chap hugging a lute and selling his singing, who everybody says has a different fingering method, and seems like an old member of the imperial Pear-orchard Conservatoire. Today there’s a General Fair in Vulture-peak Buddhist-monastery, and I imagine he’s bound to be there. I must head there, and seek him out and question him.

  All the way travelling here, look how very numerous the wayfarers have been!

  (Enter three Shansi travellers: a man wearing a scholar’s cloth turban and long robe [Young Merchant], a man wearing long robe and hat [Young Gentleman], and a man wearing a tall hat with a cloth headscarf [Young Landowner],866 holding hands with a female entertainer-cum-harlot)

  YOUNG SHANSI MERCHANT: (Recites)

  Stepping along leisurely, seeking fragrant flowers, cherishing the pretty spring,

  YOUNG SHANSI GENTLEMAN: (Recites)

  Let’s look at the splendid fair, and follow the visitors around;

  YOUNG SHANSI LANDOWNER: Miss, let you and me (Recites)

  Make merry while we can, and not waste our time;

  FEMALE ENTERTAINER: Gentlemen,867 (Recites)

  So listen to a newly composed melody on p’i-p’a lute played.

  LI MO: (Turning to face Young Shansi gentleman) Excuse me, elder brother. Might I ask what this young lady means by “newly composed melody on the p’i-p’a lute”?

  YOUNG SHANSI GENTLEMAN Ah, you may not know it, young sir, but an old gent has newly arrived here who plays the p’i-p’a-lute very expertly. Today he’s attending the temple-fair in Vulture-peak Buddhist Monastery, which is why we’re all making our way there together to listen to him.

  LI MO: I’ve just been trying to find him. Might I go there with you?

  ALL: That would be excellent!

  (They move off together)

  Walking, walking, on and on we go, walking, walking, here we are at Vulture-peak Buddhist Monastery. Let’s go straight in.

 
(They go in together)

  YOUNG SHANSI GENTLEMAN: There a circle of people over there, all round a wooden bench. I think it must be him. Let us edge our way closer in together, and sit down and listen to him.

  (They all sit down)

  (Enter Li Kui-nien. Meets them)

  LI KUI-NIEN: Greetings, lady and gentlemen. I think you’ve all come to listen to my melody. Please be seated, while I humbly sing and beseech your instruction.

  ALL: That’s just why we’ve come here, to receive your instruction.

  (Li Kui-nien plays his p’i-p’a-lute, and sings)

  LI KUI-NIEN: (Sings)

  More dream-illusion political vicissitudes than can ever be sung of,

  More feelingful sighs of lamenting grief than can ever be strummed of,

  I’m ever facing China’s rivers and mountains,

  my eyes seeing everywhere bleakness forlorn.

  I’m just going to pluck my manifold-sounding strings to convey my troubled woes,

  Evolve special tunes to describe my sorrow and vexation,

  Very slowly strumming of the forgotten matters

  of the Heaven-treasure period of reign.

  YOUNG SHANSI MERCHANT: “Forgotten tales of the Heaven-treasure reign-period”: that’s a fine theme, isn’t it!

  YOUNG SHANSI LANDOWNER: What type of music is he singing, young lady? Is it our Western Tunes?868

  FEMALE ENTERTAINER: It’s much the same as it.

  LI MO: Venerable gentleman, you certainly can’t sing the whole of Forgotten tales of the Heaven-treasure Reign-period in just one session, so please first sing for us how Her Majesty Most-prized-empress Yang entered the imperial palace in those days, will you.

  (Li Kui-nien plays the lute and sings)

  LI KUI-NIEN: (Sings)

  I recall how in the past when we celebrated the whole world’s Grand Peace under the sublime T’ang dynasty,

  Charming female beauties were sought out,

  moth-antennae-eyebrows beauteous ladies selected.

  There was a beautiful lady born and grown up in a family of the Yang clan of Hung-nung,

  In her deep secluded boudoir she was truly a flawless piece of white jade.

  As soon as our monarch saw her, he was helpless with joy,

  And personally handed her gold-strip-flower casket and gold hairpins

  And her to Number-one Flower of Resplendent-Sunlight869 assessed and elevated.

  FEMALE ENTERTAINER. What did that Most-prized-empress Yang look like, I wonder?

  YOUNG SHANSI GENTLEMAN: Did she look as pretty as this young lady of ours, though?

  YOUNG SHANSI LANDOWNER: Let us hear it sung out in song.

  LI KUI-NIEN: (Sings, playing his lute)

  Her Majesty looked of immortal’s fair figure and superb appearance,

  Of serenity and willow-waftiness

  Elegant endless beyond describing.

  Truly, blossoms fell short of her two cheeks,

  weeping-willows fell short of her waist,

  She outstripped Resplendent-lady870 in charm alluring,

  She was twice as gaily pretty as Lady West Shih,871

  She was like the Goddess of Mercy872 flying to sharp-peaked mountain come,

  Resembled Constant-charmeuse, moon-goddess,

  secretly quitting the empyrean azure.

  Furthermore, she was abundant and copious in spring love-making,

  At the height of spring, she had a dainty-pretty air,

  When she slept in spring, in her dreams she was fair:

  Even if one had “malachite and cinnabar” expert painter,

  He couldn’t possibly have painted or sketched her hundred kinds of pretty allure.

  YOUNG SHANSI GENTLEMAN: (Laughs) Listening to this old gentleman, his description of Empress Yang’s prettiness sounds so vivid, though, it’s as if you’re seeing her with your own eyes. Most likely it’s lies.

  YOUNG SHANSI LANDOWNER: As long as he’s singing pleasantly, who cares if he’s lying or not! How did Sublime August-emperor treat her? Hurry up, carry on singing.

  LI KUI-NIEN: (Playing the lute and singing)

  Her monarch regarded her as a matchless shining pearl,

  And all day long held her high on the palm of his hand.

  She surpassed that Han-palace Flying-swallow,

  who on her novel makeup relied,

  They were just like kingfishers nesting in a jade bower,

  Mandarin duck and drake in gold palace-hall locked,

  Close-by in the daytime, at night cuddled.

  She got so far as to make a nimble-witted emperor fall head over heels, all dumbstruck and witless,

  Unable to get her out of his mind.

  She loosened the court net’s discipline,

  She dominated love’s stage,

  All manner of chitter-chatter couldn’t fully leave her “gay-romantic account” described.

  Waking, they went shoulder to shoulder,

  Sitting, they sat side by side.

  A pair,

  They truly so soon lolled on imperial bed,

  Winning a moonlit night and blossom morning pleasure shared.

  YOUNG SHANSI LANDOWNER: (Collapsing on the ground) Help, it’s so delightful. Listening to it, I’m like a snow-lion facing a fire!

  FEMALE ENTERTAINER: (Helping him up by the arm) What do you mean?

  YOUNG SHANSI LANDOWNER: I’ve melted!

  (All laugh)

  LI MO: In those days, there was a Rainbow-skirt and feather-jacket melody in the imperial palace. I’ve heard tell that it was composed by the emperor himself, but it was also said that it was composed by Empress Yang. Do you have any detailed information about that, though, venerable sir? Please sing of it for us to hear.

  LI KUI-NIEN: (Plays his lute and sings)

  That day,

  Empress Yang in Lotus Pavilion minutely accorded with the musical notes,

  Writing the score of the new music, reproducing the tunes of Rainbow-skirt,

  And as the day grew on, she in person tutored the paired-hair-coil palace ladies,

  She stretched out her white-silk fingers,

  Clapped the scented sandalwood clappers,

  And each and every note enunciated between candid-white teeth and vermilion lips.

  It was exactly like a string of Black-dragon Pearls,873 her voice gentle and her rhythms leisurely,

  Exactly like oriole and swallow trill-trilling,

  Exactly like a singing spring beneath blossoms, a flowing brook, a mountain rill rilling,

  Exactly like unaccompanied Sanskrit sutra-chanting beneath the bright moonlight welling,

  Exactly like a crane calling high in wintry sky up on Sword-cord Range, where crown prince rode crane, to become an immortal,874

  Exactly like the night-time tinkle-tinkling of an immortal’s jade waist-ornaments as he paces the void.875

  The Pear-orchard orchestra and the Instruction-ward troupe were sent the imperial order to assemble,

  And Empress Yang was hustled and jostled high into an emerald tray,

  So attracting the monarch he with a smile her watched.

  LI MO: All that immortals’ music’s just so brought to life as if we saw it with our own eyes. A very fine description!

  YOUNG SHANSI MERCHANT: (Sighs) Ah me, it’s just regrettable that the then emperor doted on Most-prized-empress Yang, love-delighting in the morning and making love-merry in the dusk, that being the cause of the armed rising in Yü-yang. The very mention of it makes one’s heart ache!

  LI MO: Venerable sir, don’t just grumble against Most-prized-empress Yang. At that time, just because the emperor made the mistake of appointing An Lu-shan frontier general, and assigned the government administration to a powerful traitor, Yang Kuo-chung, it brought about the situation in which the imperial-court’s policy-making was sent topsy-turvy, and all the world shaken. If prime ministers Yao Ch’ung and Sung Ching had still been alive, things like that would surely just never have occurred
!

  YOUNG SHANSI MERCHANT: You’re right in what you say, I think.

  LI KUI-NIEN: Hah, if we start talking about the start of warfare in Yü-yang, well it was truly a tossing and tumbling of Heaven and Earth, misery to the eye and grief to the heart. If you ladies and gentlemen don’t mind my irritating garrulousness, let me carry on very slowly telling you of it with lute and song.

  ALL: Pray let us hear you.

  LI KUI-NIEN: (Playing his lute and singing)

  Just as the crooning and cooing of Rainbow-skirt singing and dancing were heard,

  All unawares came the terum-terum rumble of Yü-yang war-drums.

  Out of the blue, flitter-fluttering pell-mell in wild profusion came frontier missives to the emperor,

  So panicking high-ups and the lower-ranking none knew they should take what measures.

  Shortly they were just below-bawling whistle-whistling, astounded and alarmed,

  in hurried haste and flurried fluster,

  push-push press-press,

  going out to follow the autumn western road,

  And to the rear of the imperial carriage,

  a pretty-pretty dainty-dainty Most-prized-empress Yang to depart together with him, he led by the hand.

  Then one just saw his soldiers thickly densely tight-circling round them,

  With evil evil vicious vicious word,

  Noise-noising wrangle-wrangling,

  rumble-rumbling crish-crashing,

  yelling calling on every side,

  They roughly forced apart the fond-fond cherish-cherishing love-aching love-hot emperor and his wife,

  And in a trice, they drew up miserable desolate bleak death-plan wretched.

  (Young Shansi merchant and Young Shansi gentleman sigh together)

  LI MO: (Shedding tears) Ah me, for such a Heaven-born charming beauty, to encounter such wretched viciousness! Truly piteous!

  YOUNG SHANSI LANDOWNER: (Laughing) This is a narrative ballad, so why. young sir, are you taking it as reality, and shedding tears.

  FEMALE ENTERTAINER: When that Empress Yang had died, where was she buried?