The Play
Page 32
LI KUI-NIEN. (Plays his lute and sings)
In tumbledown Ma Wei’s Slope posting-station building,
She collapsed sprawled in the cold chilly
Buddha-hall;
The most beautiful Carmine Countenance of the age was sent to her death by her lord,
To the lingering bitter regret of a thousand autumns,
her blood dripped onto her gauze-silk kerchief all.
Half a tree-trunk was of her meagre fate the memorial stele,
Her gut-severing tomb-pit one handful of soil.
Nobody any more passed by in the deserted bleak wild countryside,
At the thick overgrown sky-edge far,
nobody the “pear-blossom’s” fall did mourn!
How piteous that solitary spirit hugging to her unnoticed resentment at the wrong,
Only accompanied by the moaning sobbing Emperor Gaze,876
the cuckoo’s, sad voice crying to the night moon.
YOUNG SHANSI MERCHANT: After the fire of warfare in Ch’ang-an, I wonder what the conditions were like?
LI KUI-NIEN: Alack, ladies and gentlemen, after that fine and so worthy brocade-and-embroidery-splendid Ch’ang-an city had been attacked and taken by An Lu-shan, its circumstances were utterly unbearable. Listen, while I play some more.
(He plays his lute and sings)
After the imperial gold-bells carriage toured west along the road to Shu,
Within Ch’ang-an, warfare and disruption were unleashed.
None of the thousand mandarins went again to court in the Scarlet Imperial-palace,
And the city’s prosperity and splendour were at once dispelled.
At once dispelled.
In the Six Palaces, the vermilion doors were hung with long-legged spiders’ webs,
Next to the imperial couch, in broad daylight whined foxes.
Owls hooted, heyho,
And goosefoot hey-ho grew, and wormwood weeds.
Wild deer ran wild,
And half the imperial park’s weeping-willows withered away, and the imperial palace’s flowers.
Who was there to sweep them up,
Sweep them up, those blossoms!
On the empty tortoise-shell-adorned beams,
swallows throw their mud, build nests,
And a gappy crescent-moon shining in the twilight is all that’s remained.
I sigh that it was so desolate and forlorn, alack-allay,
With frowzy bad-meat stink, alack-alay smirched.
Smirched with frowzy bad-meat stink,
And the white-jade stairs high with horse-dung forlornly heaped.
YOUNG SHANSI LANDOWNER: Phew! We’ve been listening for ages, and I’m desperately hungry. Elder sister, let me and you go and drink some brandy, and eat some garlic dumplings.
(He unties some coins from his waist and gives them to Li Kui-nien. Jokes with female entertainer. Exeunt)
YOUNG SHANSI MERCHANT: It’s getting late and dark, so we’d better go too, I think.
(Gives Li Kui-nien some silver)
Here’s your tip.
LI KUI-NIEN: Many thanks.
YOUNG SHANSI MERCHANT: (Recites)
For no good reason, you’ve sung about bitter regrets over political vicissitude,
YOUNG SHANSI GENTLEMAN: (Recites)
Leading even the bystanders tears to shed.
(Exeunt two Shansi travellers together)
LI MO: Venerable sir, listening to this lute of yours, I realise that you’re no ordinary player. Whom where you taught it by? I beg you to tell me the ins and outs of it.
LI KUI-NIEN: (Sings)
This lure once provided entertainment for the Sublime August-emperor of the Open-origin reign-period. ,
And mentioning that again, makes my tears drip and my heart sad.
LI MO: From what you say then, you were a member of the Pear-orchard orchestra.
LI KUI-NIEN: (Sings)
My name was also once in the register of the Pear-orchard Conservatoire inscribed,
And I went and my duties amid the flowers of Eaglewood Pavilion performed,
And I went as part of the emperor’s retinue when he up in his Florescence-purity
Palace resided
LI MO. Could you be the venerable He Huai-chih?
LI KUI-NIEN: (Sings)
I’m not Huai-chih of the He family.
LI MO: Then you must surely be Huang Fan-ch’o?
LI KUI-NIEN: (Sings)
Huang Fan-ch’o and me were alike of the older generation.
LI MO: In that case, I imagine you must be Lei Hai-ch’ing?
LI KUI-NIEN: (Sings)
Even though I play the p’i-p’a-lute,
my surname’s not Lei.
He ranted at the rebel, and has long since died,
though his fame has long duration.
LI MO: Well then, I imagine you must be Ma Hsien-ch’i.877
LI KUI-NIEN: (Sings)
Nor am I Ma Hsien-ch’i who excelled at he Square Sounder percussion-block,
Don’t start talking about any of those old friends.
LI MO: What caused you to come here?
LI KUI-NIEN. (Sings)
Just because my family was ruined and the state destroyed, and warfare was boiling,
Which was why I drifted alone and ended up the Yangtse-south regions.
LI MO: All said and done, who are you venerable sir?
LI KUI-NIEN: (Sings)
You babble on, young gentleman, asking who I am, so desperately:
I’m an old musician, with the personal name of Kui-nien and my surname’s Li.
LI MO: Oh, so you’re Maestro Li, though! I was remiss not to recognise you.
LI KUI-NIEN: What’s your honoured surname and great personal name, young sir? How is it you know of me?
LI MO: My surname’s Li, and my personal name Mo.
LI KUI-NIEN: Aren’t you the gentleman who plays the iron flute?
LI MO: Yes, that’s me.
LI KUI-NIEN: I’m blessed to meet you, blessed to meet you!
(Bows)
LI MO: Might I ask you, venerable sir, do you still remember the whole score of that Rainbow-skirt, perhaps?
LI KUI-NIEN: I do still remember it, but why do you ask, sir?
LI MO: I confess, venerable sir, that I’m by innate nature fond of music, and formerly when I was lodging in Ch’ang-an, and you, venerable sir, were rehearsing Rainbow-skirt in the Homage-to-the-Origin Villa, I got close to the imperial-palace wall, minutely eavesdropped, and managed with my iron flute to secretly commit to memory several sections of that music. But it’s just that I wasn’t able to obtain the whole score, and I’ve been searching everywhere for it, but failing to find anybody who knows it. Today, now I’ve the good fortune to meet you, venerable sir, I wonder if you’d be willing to bestow upon me the gift of teaching it me?
LI KUI-NIEN: Since I’ve met in you a “true connoisseur of my music”, how would I begrudge you my petty skills!
LI MO: In that case, I’m most grateful to you. Might I ask where your honoured lodging is?
LI KUI-NIEN: I’ve been drifting along my road, to nowhere in particular, and ended up here, so I still lack any temporary dwelling-place.
LI MO: How would it be if you humbled yourself by coming to stay the while in my house, for me to beg your instruction in every detail?
LI KUI-NIEN: That would be excellent.
(Sings)
I’m entirely like a startled-up crow, circling a tree, beyond its empty branches,
Who could have expected I’d be an old swallow, looking for a nest,
and into painting-ornamented main-beams coming.
Today a connoisseur of music encounters a connoisseur of music here,
Thus meeting with one another is remarkable!
That we get on so well together’s most pleasing!
(Says)
Young sir Li,
(Sings)
Let me slowly and carefully pas
s on to you the whole of the melody Rainbow-skirt for a thousand years’ plucking.
(Recites)
It’s pleasant passing along
peach-tree paths and weeping-willow rideways,878
LI MO: (Recites)
To seek out “usnea and climbing-figs” reclusion
for a while our carriage
back we’ve turned.879
LI KUI-NIEN: (Recites)
Today all the understanders-of-the-music listen,880
Nowhere in Yangtse-south will it go unheard.881
Act Thirty-nine: Secret sacrificial service
(Enter Dame Ever-new and Dame Remember-me together in Taoist attire)
DAME EVER-NEW: (Sings)
We’ve chucked away our old-timed palace-style of cloud-like top-knots,
DAME REMEMBER-ME: (Sings)
And together cleave to the ancient convent, to burn incense.
TOGETHER: (Sing)
We sigh that last night a rainstorm hurried the flowers to their grave,
Finished “washing our hearts”,882
mending our ways,
we dedicatedly leaf the pages
of the scriptural classics.
DAME EVER-NEW: (Recites)
Our lone solitary “cloud-house” Taoist dwelling’s closed off with bamboo bolt
DAME REMEMBER-ME: (Recites)
Spring source-stream rinses jade-white pebbles, babble-babbling;
DAME EVER-NEW: (Recites)
Our dance-dresses we’ve displayed till they’re no more, but the last of their scent’s remaining,
LADY: (Recites)
Daily before the flowers, we learn sutra-chanting.
DAME EVER-NEW: I’m the former palace-lady Dame Ever-new of the Heaven-treasure reign-period imperial palace. With my younger sister Dame Remember-me, I left the palace, fleeing the troubles, coming straight to Chin-ling, where we became female Taoists in Female-chastity Convent. To our delight, it’s utterly secluded and quiet, most suitable for cultivating the cosmic truths. Yesterday, the abbess here returned from Ch’ang-an, where she’d bought books of the Taoist canon, Today, the weather’s clear-skied and mild, and she’s told the two of us to check the cased sutras and air them in the sun. We must just peruse them, leafing through them with detailed application.
(An incense-table has previously been set up on the stage. Dame Ever-new and Dame Remember-me together leaf through the books)
DAME EVER-NEW and DAME REMEMBER-ME: (Sing)
We open the golden book-casings,
Stretch them out on the white-jade table,
Facing the breeze, leaf the books through the long spring daytime with minute care.
We just see the dust-imps playing in the clear light,
The wondrous flowers descending, filling the air.
DAME EVER-NEW: I recall from those days when we were in the imperial palace, I heard Empress Yang teaching her white parrot to chant Heart sutra.883 If she’d been able earlier to study the Taoist truths of existence, though, she’d have avoided her Ma Wei’s Slope plight.
DAME REMEMBER-ME: In those perturbed times, who could have got around to imagining that!
DAME EVER-NEW: You’re right. Yesterday I heard our Abbess say that a wine-shop by Ma Wei’s Slope had picked up one of Empress Yang’s brocade stockings, and there were tourists paying money to look at it. They’d have been even so much keener when she was living!
TOGETHER: (Sing)
It was useless Snow-robed Woman,884
her parrot’s, trying to guide her,
Political disputes are mere illusion and void,
Who observes the Buddhist Dharma Aspects!885
Found the brocade stocking’s remnant perfume,
It still stirs the tourists’ imaginings.
(Enter Taoist priestess bearing tea in her hands)
TAOIST PRIESTESS: (Recites)
“Jade” scriptures aired beneath the sun, Fragrant tea boiled with the rain.
(Says)
“Immortal ladies”, you two are weary from checking the sutras, so the abbess has sent me to serve you this tea.
DAME EVER-NEW and DAME REMEMBER-ME: Ah, we’ve put you to so much toil!
(They drink the tea)
TAOIST PRIESTESS: Oh, a black cloud’s come up. It’s about to rain.
DAME EVER-NEW and DAME REMEMBER-ME: Quickly gather in the sutra-cases, will you.
(They gather up the sutras)
TAOIST PRIESTES: (Sings)
Look, the orioles fly off in disorder,
At their most fragrant just now are the plants;
Just when it should be the Pure Brightness festival,886
Rain drifts and rills.
(Exit)
(The sutra table is removed from the stage)
DAME EVER-NEW: If the young Taoist priestess hadn’t mentioned it, I’d have forgotten that today’s the festival of Pure Brightness! At this time, every family sweeps its tombs, and every household burns paper coins. Younger sister, you and I both in the past received Empress Yang’s affectionate favours, and have no means of repaying her. So let’s just take a hundred paper coins and a cup of green tea, gaze at far-off Ch’ang-an, and weep and libate for her. That would at least be something nice for her!
DAME REMEMBER-ME: Yes, elder sister, that would be fitting. Let me write a sacrificial tablet for offerings to her.
(She writes sacrificial tablet and makes offerings)
(They make obeisances, and weep together)
TOGETHER: Oh, our empress,
(Sing)
Thinking of you,
our gratitude for your affection’s impossible fully to express,
And how can we forget our bitter regrets for you:
So romantic, you abruptly met with no proper ending.
You were no Lady West Shih sent to Wu and dying,
You were in error unjustly made an Elder Sister of Pa887 whose doings caused the Chou dynasty capital’s passing.
DAME REMEMBER-ME: Ah, one of the tree-peonies down in the courtyard has opened one bloom. Empress Yang loved that flower. I must pick it, and offer it up before her sacrificial tablet.
TOGETHER: (Sing)
Well and whole is the splendid flower,
But the beautiful lady “state-toppler”,
Has preceded it into the Yellow Soil’s resting-place.
Even if we were to have ground-wheat-and-bran dish888and fragrant mellow lees,889
We couldn’t sprinkle them onto her lone grave’s face.
(They weep, and cry out)
Oh, our empress,
(Sing)
We’ve just ended up gazing till our eyeballs give out,
Crying out till our guts are severed,
Our tears like gushing springs,
Weeping loud and unrestrained.
(Exeunt unobtrusively)
(Enter Li Kui-nien, walking along)
LI KUI-NIEN: (Sings)
On the Yangtse-south road,
Chancing to tread the fragrant flowers,
Amid the blooms after rain, they soaking my robe-hems.
(Says)
I’m Li Kui-nien. I was fortunate to meet the young gentleman Li Mo, who gave me lodging in his house. Today’s the splendid festival of Pure Brightness, and I’ve come out for a leisurely stroll. But I was just in time to bump into a shower of rain!
(Sings)
I regret that my old capital’s lost to me amid the clouds,
And my white-haired head hangs low and can’t possibly at it gaze.
(Says)
Happily, there’s a Taoist Convent here. I must go in and avoid the rain for a little while.
(Goes in) (Sings)
Pine-tree shadows idle,
Cranes long cry,
Let me just linger to and fro a while,
Up on the stone altar-platform890 high.
(Says)
Look, that row of all the transcendentals, and library of ten thousand scriptures. It’s so solemn and stately
.
(Sees sacrificial tablet, and reads it out) “Spirit-tablet891 of Most-prized-empress Yang of the sublime T‘ang dynasty”.
(Weeps)
Alas, Empress Yang, I never imagined that you’d be made offerings to here, though!
(Makes obeisance)
(Sings)
When one morning your life you lost,
For a thousand autumns long you’ll hug regret.
(Enter Dame Ever-new and Dame Remember-me from the same side of the stage)
DAME EVER-NEW and DAME REMEMBER-ME: Who’s that crying and weeping?
(They look, and are startled)
Why, that man’s face looks just like Maestro Li Kui-nien’s. What’s brought him here?
LI KUI-NIEN: (Sings)
I feel terribly bitter that the Six Armies were violently bullying,
Roughly forcing emperor and empress apart,
In a weird and baneful upheaval,
Heaven and Earth shocking.
What a pity that I, …
DAME EVER-NEW and DAME REMEMBER-ME: Why, it is Maestro Li!
LI KUI-NIEN: (Sings)
I wasn’t able on encountering this fine festival,
One cup to you to libate,
But unexpectedly passing this “palace of immortals”,
I make obeisance to your spirit bright.
(Dame Ever-new and Dame Remember-me come out and meet him)
DAME EVER-NEW and DAME REMEMBER-ME: Maestro Li, your pupils kow-tow to you.
LI KUI-NIEN: Who are you, aunties?
(Startled, recognises them)
Why, surely it’s miladies Ever-new and Remember-me?
DAME EVER-NEW and DAME REMEMBER-ME: Yes, indeed.
(They each shed tears)
LI KUI-NIEN: When did you two come here?
DAME EVER-NEW and DAME REMEMBER-ME: Please be seated, maestro. We came south last year, fleeing the troubles, and became Taoist nuns here. What’s brought you here, maestro?