The Columbia Anthology of Yuan Drama
Page 26
ZHANG DING: Liu Yuniang, do you know this Doctor Lu’s Rival?
LIU YUNIANG: He is my brother-in-law.
ZHANG DING: Are you two on friendly terms?
LIU YUNIANG: We are not!
ZHANG DING (sings:)
Since I am done listening to them,
My worries dissolve,
And my joy mounts.
Finally the case is clear.
Call in my men!
Let me ask you:
Who among you knows this doctor? (Speaks:)
Zhang Qian, give this old man eighty strokes because he should not have made Moheluos. Beat him!
ZHANG QIAN (beats him:) Sixty … seventy … eighty! Carry him off!
GAO SHAN: Why did you give me those eighty strokes?
ZHANG QIAN: Because you should not have made Moheluos.
GAO SHAN: If I got eighty blows for making Moheluos, I suppose my head would have to be chopped off for making a Vajrapāṇi?66(Exits.)
ZHANG DING: Zhang Qian, put Liu Yuniang in another room and summon Doctor Lu’s Rival for me.
ZHANG QIAN: I am going out of the yamen and here is his house. Is Doctor Lu’s Rival at home?
LI WENDAO (enters:) Who is calling? I’ll open the door and see. Sir, why do you call me?
ZHANG QIAN: I am Zhang Qian of the yamen. Brother Inspector is asking for you.
LI WENDAO: I’ll go with you.
ZHANG QIAN: Here we are. I’ll go in first. (Reports to ZHANG DING.) Doctor Lu’s Rival has arrived!
ZHANG DING: Bring him in.
LI WENDAO (greets ZHANG DING:) Brother Inspector, why have you called me?
ZHANG DING: Her Ladyship, Prefect Wang’s wife, is suffering from an illness. Here are five taels of silver as payment for medicine: don’t consider it too meager!
LI WENDAO: What medicine do you want?
ZHANG DING (sings:)
[Trimming a Silver Lamp]
She is not afflicted with any disease of long standing,
But indulgence in cold food has affected her digestion.
I think that your restorative potion should be enough to make her well:
Just add some fuzi and danggui.67
LI WENDAO: I’ve brought the medicine with me. Take it and give it to Her Ladyship.
ZHANG QIAN: Give it to me: I’ll take it. (He takes the medicine and returns to ZHANG DING; ZHANG DING whispers in his ear.)
ZHANG DING: Zhang Qian, check how Her Ladyship is doing after taking the medicine.
ZHANG QIAN: Understood! (He exits, reenters.) Brother Inspector, after Her Ladyship took the medicine, fresh blood gushed from all Seven Holes and she died!
ZHANG DING: Doctor Lu’s Rival, did you hear that? After Her Ladyship took the medicine, fresh blood gushed from all Seven Holes and she died!
LI WENDAO (frightened:) Brother Inspector, save me!
ZHANG DING: Let’s say if I clear you now, who’s there in your family?
LI WENDAO: I have my father.
ZHANG DING: How old is he?
LI WENDAO: My father is eighty.
ZHANG DING: Punishment is not inflicted on the old; they can buy their way out. Doctor Lu’s Rival, if you will give up your father and let him take the blame, I’ll clear you. If you won’t, I can’t clear you.
LI WENDAO: Thank you, Elder Brother!
ZHANG DING: Let me explain. When I say, “Doctor Lu’s Rival?” You say, “Your humble servant is here!” When I ask, “Who concocted the poison?” You say, “It was my father.” When I ask, “Whose idea was it?” You say, “It was my father’s.” When I ask, “Who took the silver?” You say, “It was my father.” When I say, “It wasn’t you?” You say, “It had nothing to do with your humble servant.” Only if you talk like this can I clear you.
LI WENDAO: Thank you, Elder Brother!
ZHANG DING: Zhang Qian, put him in the office. Bring that old man here, beating him every step of the way. (Sings:)
I myself will interrogate that old man and get to the truth. (Speaks:)
Zhang Qian! (Sings:)
Say only this: “Someone has come to lay a plaint against you.”
[Mustard Green]
Just say there is a new official, Zhang, reviewing cases,
And he is relentlessly pursuing you.
Say that you are to call him here fast as fire.
But if he should in the least disobey,
You should put him right off into a jail cell!
ZHANG QIAN: I am going out this gate. … Is old Li at home?
LI YANSHI (enters:) Who is calling me?
ZHANG QIAN: They are calling you at the yamen.
LI YANSHI: I’ll go with you. (Appears before ZHANG DING.) Why have you called me?
ZHANG DING: Old man, someone has laid a plaint against you.
LI YANSHI: Who has laid a plaint against me? What crime have I committed?
ZHANG DING: It is your son, Li Wendao, who has laid a plaint against you. If you don’t believe this, you will recognize his voice. (Sings:)
[End of the West of the River]
Who is charging you before the court?
It is that son of yours, filial like Zeng Shen,68 Doctor Lu’s Rival!
Nor was he recently adopted,
But is your very own flesh and blood!
Ah! Old man, how could he do such a thing without any reason!
LI YANSHI: I don’t believe this. Where is Li Wendao?
ZHANG DING: If you don’t believe, just listen to me call him: Doctor Lu’s Rival!
LI WENDAO: Your humble servant is here!
ZHANG DING: Who concocted the poison?
LI WENDAO: My father.
ZHANG DING: Whose idea was it?
LI WENDAO: My father’s.
ZHANG DING: Who took the silver?
LI WENDAO: My father.
ZHANG DING: Who did it all?
LI WENDAO: It had nothing to do with me; my father did it all.
ZHANG DING: Old man, quickly tell me the truth.
LI YANSHI: Sir, he did it all. How can he push it off on me?
ZHANG DING: Since it was he who did it, sign here.
(LI YANSHI signs his name.)
ZHANG QIAN: He has signed his name. I’ll open this door.
LI YANSHI (beats LI WENDAO:) It was you who murdered your elder brother with poison, it was you who plotted to steal his money, and you who tried to force your sister-in-law to marry you to “settle the affair privately”! It was all your doing! It was all your doing!
LI WENDAO: No! My confession was about the affair of poisoning Her Ladyship.
LI YANSHI: Oh! I just confessed about the affair of your poisoning of your elder brother!
LI WENDAO: You confessed! That’s the death of me! You old whoreson!
ZHANG DING (sings:)
[Willow Green Girl]
With just a few ploys and insights,
I fooled the ignorant old man.
No matter how you may regret a thousand, ten thousand times over,
What way is there to scoop up spilled water?
He is so frightened: his face is dry yellow like clay!
Isn’t there a saying that goes, “Once the word is said,
Even a team of four horses cannot catch up with it!”
Already he has confessed:
It cannot be changed.
Just bear the blame!
[Speak of Making Peace]
Only now the truth is known, the truth is known:
False things cannot be passed off as true.
How very convoluted—
Even I, even I had trouble getting to the bottom of the affair,
And I got all entangled, with responsibility I could not escape!
I used my wits
To coax out what is right and wrong.
It’s hard to evade me,
Hard to confront me!
Hard to explain,
Hard to tell the difference!
Now with everything I am happy,
Each will get his just deserts.
If there were no, if there were no heavenly justice,
I would have gotten to the three days’ limit,
And surely I would have been the first to taste that ordinance sword!
All of you without exception: follow me to see His Honor!
PREFECT (enters:) Zhang Ding, how has the investigation gone?
ZHANG DING: The case is solved. Please hand down the judgment.
PREFECT: I already know the case full well. All of you listen to my judgment: The local official and clerk were derelict. They will be given one hundred strokes and barred from office. Li Yanshi fails to manage his household properly, and is sentenced to eighty strokes. But since he is old, he may buy out with money. Liu Yuniang was wronged and suffered torture and interrogation; we will request imperial recognition honoring her and her family. Li Wendao murdered his elder brother and will be taken to the marketplace and beheaded. I shall amply reward Zhang Ding with my own stipend for the next three months. (Recites:)
By imperial decree you will be rewarded and promoted,
Inspector Zhang, controller of punishments!
Liu Yuniang’s innocence is made clear;
She will guard the family property,
And her house will be honored by imperial recognition.
The ruthless rogue who ruins cardinal ties and corrupts morals
Will be marched to the marketplace and receive supreme punishment.
LIU YUNIANG (bows:) Thank you, Your Honor!
ZHANG DING (sings:)
[Coda]69
Consider that brothers should be close to one another like hands and feet:
How could he have spawned the idea of taking his brother’s life?
I shall have the murderer beheaded at the Yunyang execution ground,
To propitiate the ghost of his grossly wronged brother.
Topic: Li Wendao Poisons and Murders His Elder Brother; Secretary Xiao Secretly Receives a Handsome Bribe
Title: Old Man Gao Submits to Unjust Treatment at Henan Prefecture; Zhang Pingshu Cleverly Questions Moheluo
NOTES
1. Zhong Sicheng, Lugui bu, 150–51.
2. Meng Chengshun, Meng Chengshun ji, 586.
3. Hu Shi, “Moheluo.”
4. Meng Yuanlao, Dongjing Menghua lu 8.215.
5. See Chen Yuanjing, Suishi guangji 36.302–3. Moheluo dolls are also mentioned in another Yuan play, Ma Danying Thrice Delivered Madman Ren (Ma Danyang sandu Ren Fengzi 馬丹陽三度任風子) by Ma Zhiyuan 馬致遠 (ca. 1250–ca. 1324), which is included in both Yuan Editions and Anthology.
6. See Xiao Wangqing’s annotations in Zang Maoxun, YQX, 7:3463; Gu Xuejie, Yuanren zaju xuan, 289.
7. Song Lian (1310–1381) et al., Yuanshi 10.202.
8. According to Hu Sansheng’s 胡三省 (1230–1302) annotations in Zizhi tongjian 資治通鑑, the title kongmu arose in the Tang dynasty. It means that “every detail [literally, each hole and each entry] had to pass through his hand” (yan yikong yimu jie xu jingyou qi shou ye 言一孔一目，皆須經由其手也) (Sima Guang et al., Zizhi tongjian 216.6905).
9. Zhang Ding is able to intuitively grasp a person’s character by evaluating his appearance. References in the play to passages from Analects (Lunyu zhushu 2.10) and Mencius (Mengzi zhushu 7.15) confirm this “hermeneutics of deportment”; see, following, n. 41.
10. “Song of the God Nezha” and “Sparrow on a Branch” in act 1, “Older Version of Old Man Bao” in act 4.
11. Zang Maoxun, YQX, 7:3461–3505; Xu Qinjun, Xin jiao Yuan kan zaju sanshi zhong, 2:412–35. In the version in the Maiwang Studio Collection, Zhao Qimei’s corrections on the chaoben are dated 1617. Another collector used the Yuan Editions to revise the chaoben in 1725.
12. His name is Li Wenduo in Yuan Editions.
13. In Ancient Masters, the wedge is part of act 1.
14. Paternal cousins address one another as “Brother.”
15. Here Liu Yuniang calls her husband Li Da, Li the Eldest, according to Li’s ranking in his generation in the patrilineal system.
16. Ritual propriety dictates that brother-in-law and sister-in-law should keep a proper distance.
17. According to Song codes, one of the levels of punishment involved thirteen strokes of the cane and then exile. See Jiao Xun (1763–1820), Jushuo, juan 2, 42–43.
18. The famous Warring States physician Bian Que made his home at Lu 盧 (present-day Shandong), so the name Doctor Lu’s Rival 賽盧醫 (Sai Luyi) is supposedly a compliment meaning “Bian Que’s rival.” However, in Yuan drama, the name plays on the pun of Lu 盧 for lü 驢 (ass) and means “quack doctor.” (The villain in The Injustice Done to Dou E by Guan Hanqing is also called Doctor Lu’s Rival.) Later Gao Shan remarks, “If he weren’t a vet, how could he have acted like such an ass? He was called … Doctor Lu’s Rival [Rival of an Ass of a Doctor].”
19. The Song painter Song Di (eleventh century) is famous for his misty scenes of the Rivers Xiao and Xiang. The line in Yuan Editions is more vivid: “It is as if I were painted into an ink painting of the Rivers Xiao and Xiang!”
20. This aria employs many unusual onomatopoeic descriptions.
21. The word for “sandals” or “shoes” (xie 鞋) is homophonous with that for “child” (hai 孩) in some southern dialects. The original text reads (nonsensically:) “My sandals are weaned [or quit nursing]” (Xie’er duanle ru 鞋兒斷了乳): the word for “milk” (ru 乳) and that for “loop” or “ear” (er 耳) are close homophones in some dialects, so the line “the loops for my sandals broke” phonetically suggests “my children are weaned.” Yuan Editions has rui instead of ru—rui (literally, “pistils”) may simply refer to the laces on the sandals.
22. In Yuan Editions, this is followed by two arias describing how Li Dechang, in great distress and confusion, finds refuge in a temple.
23. This is the God of the Eastern Peak (Dongyue), who is supposed to control life and death.
24. The tune title in Yuan Editions is “Thinking of the Prince.”
25. The tune title in Yuan Editions is “Golden Cup.”
26. It is not clear what kind of toy the “riddle gourd” (men hulu 悶葫蘆) is, but it probably involves some sort of guessing game.
27. According to folk belief, a child’s skull, being not fully formed, will split open if the child is in a state of shock. One can temper the shock and ameliorate the condition by rubbing earth on the head. Gao Shan is of course too old for such a remedy, and the gesture is intended as comic relief.
28. Yuan Editions: “And there is no brush or paper here— / But since you are going, what need is there for a letter?”
29. A formula often used by criminals in Yuan plays.
30. Yuan Editions: “Quietly, quietly, quietly he chose to hide himself.”
31. The “Five Organs” (wuzang 五臟) are the heart, liver, lung, stomach, and kidneys. The “Three Points” (sanjiao 三焦) refer to the upper opening of the stomach, the lower limit of the stomach, and the upper limit of the bladder.
32. The “Seven Holes,” or Seven Apertures, of the human body are the eyes, ears, nostrils, and mouth. A flow of blood from all seven was believed to be a symptom of fatal poisoning.
33. The tune title in Yuan Editions is “Welcoming the Drums in the Village.”
34. Bao Shuya and Guan Zhong served rival princes in the state of Qi. Bao’s prince became Lord Huan and made Bao prime minister. He declined the post, however, and generously recommended his friend to serve in his stead. Later, Guan Zhong helped to make Lord Huan the overlord (ba 霸) among rulers of various domains (Shiji 62).
35. This is probably a transliteration of a Jurchen or Mongol word.
36. The brotherhood of Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei during the third century, celebrated in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguo yanyi 三國演義), becomes the exemplar of loyalty and fraternal bonds.
37. The original ha
s “cry like a chicken.”
38. On the Jurchens, see chap. 6, this volume, p. 234. Many Jurchens took Chinese surnames.
39. Yuan Editions: “And now I am responsible for the gain and loss of officials.”
40. Mengzi zhushu 7.15.
41. See Lunyu zhushu 2.10: “Look at whom he befriends, observe why he acts, examine wherewith he finds peace of mind. How can a person be hidden? How can a person be hidden?” Mengzi zhushu 7.15: “Listen to his words, observe his eyes. How can a person be hidden?”
42. Yuan Editions: “In that refusal to walk are wrongs secretly hidden.”
43. Yuan Editions: “This does not concern you—all efforts to listen and draw attention will be vain!”
44. Yuan Editions: “As in a distance she stands facing the eastern wall.”
45. Parts of the following statement rhyme in the original.
46. On the Yuan government monopoly over the trade of tea and salt, see Song Lian et al., Yuanshi 94.2386.
47. In the famous Yuan play The Injustice Done to Dou E, her wrongful death causes snow to fall in midsummer.
48. The original text has “Yunyang.” Yunyang is typically used especially in fiction and drama to refer to an execution ground.
49. Both Sui He (see chap. 2, this volume, n. 71) and Lu Jia were early Han ministers known for their eloquence (Shiji 91.97).
50. The original has chiwabulahai 赤瓦不剌海, which commentators identify as a Jurchen curse word meaning “deserving punishment.”
51. This and the next aria are not found in Yuan Editions.
52. The “finger press” is a notorious method of torture that involves applying pressure to the fingers of the accused through little wooden sticks pulled by strings.
53. The cudgel is bound with hempen ropes first soaked in cold water.
54. Yuan Editions: “Was the one who brought the letter his new business partner?”
55. Lunyu zhushu 2.10; see, following, n. 41. Zhang Ding may be referring to how the messenger’s identity will be revealed or how he can judge Liu Yuniang’s character.
56. The order of this aria and the following is reversed in Yuan Editions.
57. According to a story in Gan Bao, Soushen ji (juan 20), a man in drunken slumber is saved from a fire that has ignited in dry grass by his dog Black Dragon, which jumps into a nearby stream, moistens its entire body, and then shakes itself out on the grass. It goes back and forth many times, dousing the fire and saving his master, and finally dies from exhaustion. See Wang Genlin, Han Wei Liuchao biji xiaoshuo daguan, 432–33.