ALL WOMEN: (In astonishment) We’ve dug down three feet, but there’s only an empty pit, and no sign at all of Empress Yang’s jade-fair body!
(Sing)
Can it be that, become rain and clouds,
She’s flown away without any traces,
Leaving only her fragrant perfume dispersed all around, assailing our skirts!
CHOU SECOND-MUM: Hey, it’s a perfume sachet.
EUNUCH-CHAMBERLAIN KAO: Fetch it out, and bring it here.
(Chou Second-mum hands him the sachet. He takes it, and weeps)
EUNUCH-CHAMBERLAIN KAO: Oh, my Empress Yang! You women go over there and keep wait for a while.
(Women respond with assent. Exeunt)
(Eunuch-chamberlain Kao informs emperor
EUNUCH-CHAMBERLAIN KAO: I submit to you, Ten-thousand-years-grandfather-my-emperor: The grave’s been opened, but it’s an empty pit, and even the brocade sheet wrapped around her body, and the gold hairpins and gold-strip-flower casket, have all disappeared. There was only this perfume sachet.
SUBLIME AUGUST-EMPEROR: What a strange thing to happen!
(Takes perfume sachet, looks at it, and weeps loudly)
Oh! This perfume-sachet’s one I bestowed upon my Most-prized-empress Yang on her birthday, that day when she did a try-out performance of the Rainbow-skirt dance at the upper end of Lasting-life Palace-hall. Oh, my Most-prized-empress, where are you now though!
(Sings)
Miserable and so forlorn, one square empty grave,
Far and so faint, where has she gone, my lady jade-fair?
Even if her empty floaty-drifty brocade sheet has turned to dust,
How is it those solid so sturdy hairpins and casket can’t be found anywhere!
Pointlessly, her remnant perfume-sachet was still left in the soil,
Musing without comprehending what the cause of it might be,
I bitterly wish I could call up the mountain-god and interrogate him closely.
(Ponders) (Says)
Eunuch-chamberlain Kao, surely you’ve misremembered the location?
EUNUCH-CHAMBERLAIN KAO: That day I pared away half the side of the poplar-tree, and inscribed it as a reminder. How could I be mistaken!
SUBLIME AUGUST-EMPEROR: Might it be that somebody else has dug open the grave?
EUNUCH-CHAMBERLAIN KAO: If it had been dug open, why would the perfume-sachet have been left behind?
(Emperor at a loss, thinks, says nothing)
EUNUCH-CHAMBERLAIN KAO: What I think is that since ancient times there’ve often been cases of immortals’ corpses’ being dissolved. Perhaps Empress Yang’s corpse dissolved, and she departed into immortality. Who can tell! It’s just like Bridge Mound Range Tomb Bed-chamber,922 when only the Yellow Emperor’s robe and hat were buried. This perfume-sachet that was actually worn at the waist by Empress Yang as she was about to die, so it’s going to be buried in her new grave, just the same.
SUBLIME AUGUST-EMPEROR: Your argument makes sense. Eunuch-chamberlain Kao. Now just take this perfume-sachet, wrap it in her pearl chemise, put it in the jade casket, and bury it in peace according to the proper rites.
EUNUCH-CHAMBERLAIN KAO: As you command!
SUBLIME AUGUST-EMPEROR: (Weeping) (Sings)
I wail and cry,
Calling again and again, “Are you there, spirit?”.
Sobbing and crying,
Weeping, so lamenting, my tears weep dry bit by bit.
(Eunuch-chamberlain Kao goes out holding the perfume-sachet. He places it in the jade casket)
EUNUCH-CHAMBERLAIN KAO: The perfume has been properly packed away. Where are you, female artisans?
(Enter four women workers)
EUNUCH-CHAMBERLAIN KAO: Put this jade casket in the grave, and hurry up and seal the grave.
(Four women build up the grave)
FOUR WOMEN: (Sing)
Her flower-looks and scented body of that time,
Were turned into nothing.
But a handful of grave all void.
This morning, the jade casket and pearl chemise,
With a lot of effort,
Are in the Layered Springs deeply and firmly enclosed
In addition, a new stele’s set up,
And minutely written with tears.
From now on, flowing regrets will, alack!,
cover all the mountain environs.
EUNUCH-CHAMBERLAIN KAO: The grave’s finished being sealed off. There’s a reward of a string of one thousand pence for each of you. Off you go, then.
(All the women thank him for the reward, and kow-tow)
(Exeunt Chou Second-mum, Yu Fat-aunty and Nanny Wu in advance)
EUNUCH-CHAMBERLAIN KAO: (Asking Mummy Wang) You there woman, why aren’t you departing?
MUMMY WANG: I submit to you, milord: In the old years, at the foot of Ma Wei’s Slope, I picked up one of Empress Yang’s brocade stockings, and I’ve brought it to present to Ten-thousand-years-grandfather-our-emperor.
EUNUCH-CHAMBERLAIN KAO: Wait while I pass on your submission to the throne.
(He meets emperor)
I submit to you, Ten-thousand-years-grandfather-my-emperor: There’s a female artisan who says that she picked up one of Empress Yang’s brocade stockings, and she’s brought it here to present to you.
SUBLIME AUGUST-EMPEROR: Quickly command her to come here.
(Eunuch-chamberlain Kao calls Mummy Wang to come in for an audience with the emperor)
MUMMY WANG: I kow-tow and come for an audience with venerable Ten-thousand-years-grandfather-my-emperor.
(She proffers the stocking)
SUBLIME AUGUST-EMPEROR: Fetch it here.
(Eunuch-chamberlain Kao takes the stocking, and presents it to the emperor)
(Mummy Wang stands up)
(Emperor looks at stocking, and weeps)
SUBLIME AUGUST-EMPEROR: Ah me, it is indeed my Most-prized-empress Yang’s brocade stocking. Look, its fragrant perfume hasn’t faded away, and the imprint of her lotus-feet still survives. Oh, my Most-prized-empress,
(Weeps)
(Sings)
I survey once more the graceful and so curvaceous one hook of a stocking,
And, subtly misty-moistly, its left-over perfume still emits,
I remember how that year she was wafty and so lissom on the emerald tray,
Slim, and so pointed her toetips, she steadily followed the Scarlet-mandarin-drake dance.923
I further recall how, deep in the night, in the aftermath of remnant drunkenness,
At the height of her dream, and thoroughly vernal sexy, to look at her she one enticed.
Today, I futilely keep company with perfume-sachet, retaining all bitter regret,
I wail and cry,
Calling again and again, “Are you there, spirit?”.
Sobbing and crying,
Weeping, so lamenting, my tears wept dry bit by bit.
(Says)
Eunuch-chamberlain Kao, bestow upon her five thousand strings of copper coins, and tell her to keep watch here over my Most-prized-empress’s tomb.
(Mummy Wang kow-tows)
MUMMY WANG: Many thanks, venerable Ten-thousand-years-grandfather-my-emperor.
(She stands up, goes out, and looks at her mattock)
(Recites)
I don’t feel like imitating the mattock-wielding women any
more, Having the money, I’m contented to be a guardian of the sepulcher.
(Exit)
(Enter Kuo Tzu-yi, leading four soldiers)
KUO TZU-YI: (Recites)
We see the world re-opened, and the throne newly made secure, Look at the “sun-and-moon” emperor raised up to hang even higher
(They meet) (Says)
I’m Kuo Tzu-yi, Military Commissioner of the Northern Region, and I’ve reverently received the emperor’s command to lead a cortege to deferentially usher Grand Superior’s sage carriage.
SUBLIME AUGUST-EMPEROR: You’ve quelled the rebellious incursors, my lord, a
nd retaken our sacred capital, and my ancestral temple is renewed and the world reconstructed. Truly you’ve done deeds of merit for the state unequalled in this age.
KUO TZU-YI: I filled in as commander-in-chief, was tardy in destroying the rebels, and have taken my time in acknowledging my responsibility for my crime of dilatoriness. so what merit have I earned!
SUBLIME AUGUST-EMPEROR: How can you say such a thing! Eunuch-chamberlain Kao, instruct that our journey commence.
EUNUCH-CHAMBERLAIN KAO: As you command!
(He transmits the command)
(Emperor changes into Propitious Robe)
(All, leading emperor, proceed)
ALL: (Sing)
Five-clouds Immortal-fungus Canopies924 cluster round the imperial gold-bells carriage,
As we return to the sublime imperial capital,
Banners and flags o’er-brimming the highway.
Callow lads and white-haired gaffers
together help each other by the arm,
All cheer,
As they view the emperor’s celestial countenance once again in the capital city.
From now on in “Hsin-Feng” he’ll make merry,
The Younger Emperor Solemn-progenitor will have his food, drink and living conditions catered for,
And for a thousand autumns,
ten thousand years,
will heyho! consolidate the imperial territory,
(Recites)
The gut-severed general comes home from the reburial,925 Coming down from the mountain, I turn back my horse, still dawdling slow;926 Passing by this place, I’ve a thousand years of regrets,927 Meaninglessly, there’s the perfume-sachet damped with tears a-flow.928
Act Forty-four: Spurring re-union
(Enter Oxherd)
OXHERD: (Sings)
Up in Emerald-green Parasol-tree Heaven929 the leaves have just begun to fly,
And the autumn wind has again its advent announced.
Gazing among the clouds I see afar the Magpie Bridge fully assembled,
Across the Milky Way its image half blurred.
(Recites)
Immortals certainly aren’t fond of separation! So across a great distance we have a tryst splendid; Just along the side of the Milky Way, Silver River, in the azure sky, Our good lies in the season of autumn Gold Wind930 and fall dew of white-jade.931
(Says)
I’m Oxherd. Today is the Seventh Night of the Seventh Month of the Second Year of the Supreme-era reign-period in the mortal world below, and my Heaven’s-grand-daughter Weaving-damsel is about to cross the Milky Way. That’s why I’m waiting for her in advance by the side of the Milky Way. I remember how in the Tenth Year of the Heaven-treasure reign-period, as I and Heaven’s-grand-daughter had our meeting, we saw the Son of Heaven and his Most-prized-empress Yang Jade-bangle doing obeisance, praying and uttering vows in Lasting-life Palace-hall, praying that they might be man and wife for all the ages. Little did we expect that, in the twinkling of an eye, Jade-bangle would be done to death. What a piteous lady!
(Sings)
In the outstanding beauty of her era,
The most weird unjust disaster of a thousand autumns,
The boundless intimate love was lightly cast aside,
And piteously they weren’t able to attain their goals.
The living one and the dead one have no time appointed for their meeting,
And helplessly retain a thousand kinds of sadness,
For nothing, were punished for their passionate vows.
(Enter Weaving-damsel leading two lady immortals)
WEAVING-DAMSEL: (Sings)
Every year our tryst’s fixed for a certain day up in Heaven,
It’s not like the shallow love-destines of the Dust mortal world,
With their changes and shift.
I see my immortal beau, dithering to and fro alone on the bank of the Milky Way
And again and again urge my carriage to faster haste.
IMMORTAL LADIES: (Announcing her) Heaven’s-grand-daughter Weaving-damsel has arrived!
OXHERD: Ah, here you are, Heaven’s-grand-daughter!
(He and Weaving-damsel bow to each other)
TOGETHER: (Sing)
On meeting each other, we give a smile, and bow so fervently,
Each conscious of our feelings of separation the year we’ve been apart.
OXHERD: Heaven’s-grand-daughter, please come with me to Dipper-Ox Palace.
(Takes Weaving-damsel by the hand, and they proceed)
(Recites)
Hand in hand, we step amid the clouds,
WEAVING-DAMSEL: (Recites)
Whisked up in the gentle breeze are my immortal’s skirts;
TOGETHER: (Recite)
Milky Way bright on Magpie Island932 shines, In Dipper-Ox Palace933 gather stars.
(They arrive)
(Exeunt immortal ladies unobtrusively)
OXHERD: Please be seated, Heaven’s Grand-daughter.
(She sits)
WEAVING-DAMSEL: (Sings)
Chalcedon flowers surround my embroidered bed-curtains,
Amid roseate-cloud brocade, shake my pearl waist-ornaments.
WEAVING-DAMSEL: (Sings)
In Dipper Mansion star-palace,934
We meet year in year out on this night.
By the Silver River Milky Way in azure sky god-immortal sate,
For as long as Earth and as lasting as Heaven,
And certainly not just every dawn or every dusk we hold our tryst.
We pray that other husbands and wives in the world may all be caused to
Be like me and you,
And be a pair and a couple for ages beyond count.
OXHERD: Heaven’s Grand-daughter,
(Sings)
Will you just not mention such things:
How have you, of all matters, forgotten one point!
WEAVING-DAMSEL: What point have I forgotten?
OXHERD: (Sings)
Do you remember, though, how when they were a pair in Lasting-life Palace-hall,
They once burned incense and made, to us both, those vows in secret.
WEAVING-DAMSEL: Those were events concerning Li Third-young-gentleman and Yang Jade-bangle, so how could I not remember them!
OXHERD: Since you remember them, Heaven’s Grand-daughter,
(Sings)
You must bear in mind that they dropped into the land of the most grief of all ages,
They prayed for their love to be age after age, life after life,
So how can we bear to let them halfway fall apart!
WEAVING-DAMSEL: When you mention matters concerning Jade-bangle, they were truly grievous. Previously, because of a memorial to me from the local land-god of Ma Wei’s Slope,
(Sings)
Minded that she boundlessly embraced love all alone,
And would certainly abide by it in life and death without shift,
Carrying the injustice as she into the land of Dark Shades falling did drift,
(Says)
Because of that,
(Sings)
I memorialised the Jade Palace-steps, Jade God, made petition,
To have her in Erigeron-chenopodium paradise once more confirmed in her position.
OXHERD: (Laughs) Heaven’s Grand-daughter, even though you did so, it’s just that,
(Sings)
As Jade Most-prized-empress, she’s merely one of the immortals’ throng,
A lone swan, a solitary roc, amid white cloud,
As the beauty of being wing-to-wing mandarin-duck and -drake, how can that be as good!
I recall the words of their love-pledge there,
For them to be fulfilled, on you will depend.
WEAVING-DAMSEL. Immortal Beau, of course I want them to join up once more their severed love-destiny. It’s just that Li Third-young-gentleman, Sublime August-emperor,
(Sings)
He lightly their love severed,
And he was the first to
drop the vows,
And she alone was in vain love infatuated.
It’s always been so, that menfolk are the ones meagre in love,
And often let down the beautiful lady’s desire.
The shrike departs east, the swallow flies west,
How can they be made to roost as a pair!
OXHERD: What you say, Heaven’s Grand-daughter, is that Li Third-young-gentleman, Sublime August-emperor, should acknowledge his own crime, but that day when the upheaval occurred at Ma Wei’s Slope,
(Sings)
The affairs of state were by peril beset,
Even if the monarch had issued orders, they would still have resisted and coerced him,
How could he have rescued his beautiful lady under their pressure urgent!
I wonder how he today bitterly grieves in regret!
WEAVING-DAMSEL: Even though you say such things, Immortal Beau, and Li Third-young-gentleman the emperor’s crime may to some extent deserve to be forgiven, if he does indeed feel remorse, he just has to renew his previous vows.
(Enter two immortal ladies)
TWO IMMORTAL LADIES: We submit to you, Your Majesty: Heaven’s Cock935 is about to crow, so please cross the Milky Way.
WEAVING-DAMSEL: I now say goodbye to you.
OXHERD. I’ll see you off to the edge of the Milky Way.
(They proceed hand in hand)
WEAVING-DAMSEL and OXHERD: (Sing)
We’ve no cause to casually judge others’ love matters,
And futilely waste this fine night.
(Says)
Ah me, Li Third-young-gentleman the emperor and Yang Jade-bangle,
(Sings)
It’s obvious just because of you, we’ve spent a whole night’s effort!
(Recite)
On cloud steps and in moon land we come across each other,936 But why should we pointlessly ponder on matters past!937 Once the immortal charmeuse has returned home to the azure sky,938 She mustn’t Ma Wei’s Slope for a thousand autumns regret.939
The Play Page 35
