by C. T. Hsia
MAIDSERVANT: This sound is like nothing I’ve ever heard before.
QIONGLIAN (sings:)
[Sparrow on a Branch]
This is not the tinkling of pendants languishing on a sash,
Nor is it the clanging of jostling iron horses in wind chimes,
Nor is it the resonance of bells or gongs in Buddhist temples.26
Each note stirs disquiet in my heart:
It turns out to be the soulful twang of someone strumming the qin.
(ZHANG strums the qin again.)
MAIDSERVANT: Is it someone playing in the temple?
QIONGLIAN: It turns out that someone is playing the qin.
MAIDSERVANT: Sister, let’s listen.
QIONGLIAN (sings:)
[Dodder]
His every word conveys boundless feeling,
Each note sighs an endless song:
Tremulous like the golden chrysanthemums in the autumn wind swaying,
Fragrant like the red cassias whose scent the autumn wind is conveying,
Resonant like the verdant bamboo in the autumn wind soughing.
Yi-ya-ya! Like a gold shuttle on the loom of brocade crisscrossing,
Di-liu-liu! Like pearls let go from a girl’s hand and merrily dancing.27
MAIDSERVANT (peeking into the room:) It’s a young scholar playing the qin in there, and he is most elegant looking.
QIONGLIAN (sings:)
[Six Little Ones]
His innermost thoughts speak through his strings,
His skill flows through his fingertips.
Better than the pipa, his qin allows for slow plucking and light strumming.28
I see proper demeanor and a perfect countenance,
And sense transcendent grace in his imposing form.
Surely he is Xiangru sojourning in Linqiong,
Ready to woo Wenjun by playing the tune “Phoenix Seeking Mate.”29
Despite myself, love floods my heart.
In the pure breeze, under the bright moon, listen to the qin:
Truly, on the golden strings, the waves rush and churn,
From the jade lever, jade pendants tinkle.30
MAIDSERVANT: Sister, not to mention you are a real music lover, even I find his undulating strains pleasing to the ear. He plays very well indeed.
QIONGLIAN (sings:)
[Same tune as above]
A truly knowing heart,
Further, a skill divine.
Mournful as a crying wild goose,
Urgent as an autumn cricket,
Delicate as a flowerlike face,
Forceful as booming thunder.
Indeed, this is music to dispel all idle melancholy.
Proficient in this one art,
This scholar must excel in a hundred more.
As I approach stealthily on tiptoe,
He changes to another key and mode.
How much more powerful than the way Panpan pleases the poet with lyrics!31
This is like a dream of roaming with immortals on a fine night.
For this reason alone I am peeking into the monastic abode—
It’s not because I lack maidenly reserve and fail to keep to the inner chamber.32
(A qin string breaks.)
ZHANG: Why did the string snap all of a sudden? Could someone be eavesdropping?33 I’ll just go out and take a look.
QIONGLIAN (drawing back:) What a fine young scholar!
ZHANG (seeing her:) Ah, what a lovely girl! (ZHANG addresses her:) Young lady, may I ask what family you are from? Why are you abroad at night?
QIONGLIAN (sings:)
[Golden Cup]
At home in the azure clouds,
Among the green waves,
Scaly and horned attendants wait on me.
I live deep within the regal Crystal Palace,
A daughter of Dragon lineage in the sea,
Fairer even than Xu Feiqiong in heaven.34
Do you not know that all lesser stars pay homage to the Pole Star,
That all rivers must flow eastward to the sea?
ZHANG: Your family name is Long … Why, I remember this name appears in He Chengtian’s Collection of Family Names.35 But since you have a family name, how can you not have any given name? And what brought you here?
QIONGLIAN: I am the third daughter of the Long family, and my name is Qionglian. I heard you playing your qin and so I came here to listen.
ZHANG: Since you have come to listen to the qin, you must be a music lover. Why not come into my study and sit down, and let me focus and play a piece with care? Will you?
QIONGLIAN: With pleasure. (She enters the study.) May I ask your name, sir?
ZHANG: My name is Zhang Yu, and my sobriquet is Boteng. A native of Chaozhou, l lost both parents while I was very young. I have applied myself to the classics but have yet to pass the examination, and so I have come here as a roaming scholar seeking learning. I have no wife.
MAIDSERVANT: The nerve of this scholar! Who asked you whether or not you had a wife?36
SERVANT BOY: Not only my master—I don’t have a wife either.
ZHANG: Would you, My Lady, overlook my poverty and consent to be my wife?
QIONGLIAN: I can see you are intelligent and wise, as well as handsome and refined, and I would fain become your wife with all my heart. But my parents are both alive. Wait until I have asked for their permission; then, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, during the Midautumn Festival, come to my home and be welcomed as their son-in-law.
ZHANG: Since you, My Lady, deign to consent, why don’t we arrange the marriage tonight? How wonderful that would be! How can I wait until the Midautumn Festival?
SERVANT BOY: That’s right. I can’t wait either.
MAIDSERVANT: So you can’t wait either. That’s easy to fix.
QIONGLIAN: As the proverb goes, “With love, why fear the delay of a year?” What is this about not being able to wait? (Sings:)
[Flower in the Rear Courtyard]
There too traces of cloud and rain will be on the Sunlit Terrace,37
Quite unlike the dalliance of wind and moon in the House of Pleasure.38
ZHANG: May I ask where your home is?
QIONGLIAN (sings:)
Three thousand leagues beneath the blue sea,
As removed as the twelve peaks of Mount Wu.39
ZHANG: If I become the son-in-law in your esteemed household, then I will be in the lap of wealth and luxury. Will I have people to wait on me?
QIONGLIAN (sings:)
It follows from our family tradition
That we have none but krakens as counselors, young dragons as aides,
Sea-turtle generals as well—and terrapin ministers,
Finny wives of rank, shrimp favorites at court,
Giant lizards as military scouts, and tortoise graybeards:
Seaworthy all, and seasoned wielders of the wind.
Though we be separated by layers of mountains and clouds,
A simple gesture or glance will bring about our meeting.
ZHANG: All I ask of you is that you keep your word. And for myself, I am straightforward and sincere.
QIONGLIAN (sings:)
[Blue Song]
These sweet words rouse me, caress me;
Your smiling face coddles me, flatters me.
Just look: when the eighth moon rises like an icy orb in the east from the sea,
Then will the mists dissolve, leaving the sky clear.
Breezes will waft through the lattices of windows,
And we will join in the harmony of clouds and rain.
Then, in the midst of brocade and flowers,
Jade wine cups and golden goblets,
As a pair, as a couple,
There’ll be joy, there’ll be gaiety.
As you and I laugh and follow each other,
Don’t say then that you were misled into the Peach Spring Grotto.40
ZHANG: Since you promised to be my wife, will you leave me someth
ing as a token of our pledge?
QIONGLIAN: Take then my kerchief of sea gauze spun from the silk of ice silkworms as such a token.41
ZHANG (gratefully:) How can I thank you enough, dear lady?
SERVANT BOY: What kind of pledge token are you going to give me, my pretty maid?
MAIDSERVANT: I’ll give you a broken rush-leaf fan: take it home and fan the stove!
SERVANT BOY: Where will I find you?
MAIDSERVANT: Just go to Brick Pagoda Alley at the corner of the Sheep Market and you’ll find me there—in front of the police station.
QIONGLIAN (sings:)
[Coda]
Don’t you know what it’s like to think as one?
How can you fail to understand?
I am no rakshasa,42
So have no fear;
It must be preordained karma that gives us present bliss,
For by midautumn we will meet in wondrous union.
Just be at ease,
Cut through this endless expanse of dark mist.
Where I am, there is absolute tranquillity and no earthly bustle or mortal cares.
ZHANG: I will gladly go where there is bounty such as that.
QIONGLIAN (sings:)
Ringed round with shielding red and embracing green,
All golden doors and silver beams,
This is no less than the Pearl Palace43 in the heights of the Nine Heavens. (Exits with MAIDSERVANT.)
ZHANG: This girl is bewitchingly lovely; there can’t be another like her in the whole world. She told me I would find her on the seashore, but I cannot wait until midautumn. Boy, look after my lute, my sword, and my box of books. I will take just this gauze handkerchief, brave endless distance, and trust to luck that I can find her on the seashore. (Recites:)
I let my steps take me along this eastern coast;
A girl who heard my qin is now most dear.
Blessed by karma and fate, we were able to meet—
Why must one laugh at Zheng Jiaofu by the river?44 (Exits.)
SERVANT BOY: How gullible my master is! Who knows if she isn’t an evil spirit? He believes everything just like that and goes off after her. I’ll report this to the abbot and the acolyte, and we’ll go after my master. (Recites:)
I won’t let this bewitching evil spirit
Ply fancy words to gain his trust.
If I don’t hurry and catch him,
My brother will be in confusion dim. (Exits.)
ACT 2
ZHANG (enters and recites:)
A lucky encounter with a beauty brings promise of another meeting.
Unsung flowers and wild grass for fragrance are competing.
Where is the Peach Spring Grotto for secret love?
I only fear that the Liu lad, once gone, will not return.45
I am Zhang Boteng. I have just met the most extraordinary creature. I am following her traces in hopes of finding her again, but now I’ve lost her.
I see only the blue hills, the green waves, teal-blue cypresses, and dark pines. I can go no further; neither can I go back. How desolate am I! I may as well sit down and rest awhile on this pitted rock. (He steps aside.)
(FEMALE LEAD, made up for her second role as HAIRY MAIDEN, a female immortal, enters.)
HAIRY MAIDEN (recites:)
The mulberry fields turn into the sea, then to fields back again.
In the twinkling of an eye, how can the passage of a century be borne?
Turn your head around and reset your mind for enlightenment—
Who will fail to become an immortal of the highest heavens?
I was formerly a palace lady during the Qin dynasty. One day I went into the mountains to gather herbs, and ever since then, I have dispensed with cooked food. Gradually my body became lighter and lighter, and eventually I attained the Great Way. I am known to the world as Hairy Maiden.46 Acting on a whim today, I just happened upon this place here on the eastern seacoast. Just look at this great boundless stretch of water! (Sings:)
[Nanlü mode: One Sprig of Blossoms]
The black expanse of sea spreads out endlessly;
The lofty mountains loom large as the Kunlun range.
In sheer brilliance the icy orb rises from the sea
In a blaze of glory, the red sun sinks beneath the cliffs.
The sun and moon come and go,
But the mountains and sea abide.
In all directions
Throughout the land,
Why ask whether it is Yellow River, River Han, the Yangtze River, or River Huai?
All that is water returns to the sea.
[Liangzhou Number Seven]
See far in the distance: the Ten Islets, the Three Islands,
Langyuan and Penglai glimmering in the mist,
Lapped by turbulent brown waves that suggest the Yellow River.
The sea surges as high as the Nine Lights,47
Gleams as far as the Three Terraces,48
Merging with the River of Heaven above,
Linking to the Yellow Earth below.
This majestic ocean knows no bounds and no limits,
And many are its marvels and rare treasures:
Lo and behold: see how within the rushing billows
Priceless pearls glint.
Where luxuriant vegetation grows,
The herbs of immortality exude heady aroma.
Gaze and be dazed by
Dragons lying dormant
And somber-hued monsters of the deep!
Often the clouds darken as mists gather,
A dense green pall shuts out the world of red dust:
One wonders if one is indeed beyond the Ninth Heaven.
All mortal landmarks are engulfed;49
Why ask about green cliffs or blue isles?50
(ZHANG YU enters.)
ZHANG: I do not know what place this is, but it sure is a pleasure to meet another lady. Oh, it’s a Daoist priestess. I’ll ask her the way.
HAIRY MAIDEN (sings:)
[Sheep-Herding Pass]
Suddenly caught off guard, I cannot hide,
Nor can I go away.
Look! Clasping his hands, he is advancing toward me—
No doubt a traveler who has lost his way,
Or a passing stranger who has missed his boat.
ZHANG: Priestess, could you please tell me where I am right now?
HAIRY MAIDEN (sings:)
Since you came over to ask me,
You owe me first an explanation.
ZHANG: I have come in search of my beloved, but I don’t know where she has gone.
HAIRY MAIDEN (sings:)
For now don’t quibble with the woman picking mushrooms,
But just ask where your beloved is. (Speaks:)
Where are you from and for what reason have you come here?
ZHANG: I am from Chaozhou. A roaming scholar seeking learning, I have taken lodging here at the Stone Buddha Temple. Last night I was playing the qin and a young lady with her maidservant came to listen. She said she was a daughter of the Long lineage, Qionglian by name, and that she would meet me at the seashore at the Midautumn Festival. Right away I went in search of her, but I must have taken the wrong road. She is the most lovely woman I’ve ever met, without any parallel in the world.
HAIRY MAIDEN: Perhaps you misunderstood her when she said her surname was Long. (Sings:)
[Scold the Handsome Lover]
The beauties of the Dragon Palace are enchanting;
Well might you on a promise given then
Come alone in search of her today.
You would even forfeit your life for the sake of this debt of love.
But that green-faced Dragon is ever paranoid,
His brutal nature knows no reason,
His savagery brings men to grief.
ZHANG: Is he that fierce?
HAIRY MAIDEN (sings:)
[Grateful to Imperial Beneficence]
Ah! When he bares his fangs and claws
And gives his horned head the slightest toss,
In an instant great waves rise from the sea,
In another mountains topple,
And in yet another rivers roll back.
He can expand until there isn’t room enough for him in the universe;
He can shrink until he hides inside a mustard seed.
At will he displays his mighty strength,
Manifests his supernatural powers,
Lets loose his cruel madness.
ZHANG: It is just that the girl’s surname, Long, means dragon. Why do you, priestess, speak of dragons?
HAIRY MAIDEN: You probably don’t know it,51 but can this Dragon be provoked with impunity? (Sings:)
[Song of Picking Tea Leaves]
When he makes clouds gather, it happens in an instant;
When he stirs wind and rain, it affects the whole earth.
He will frighten you to death, I fear.
Do not, for the promised union of cloud and rain with the Dragon’s daughter,
Give up the future symbolized by toad and cassia that your fine talents offer.52
ZHANG: I’ve just come to my senses! She is the daughter of the Dragon King! And since her father is so cruel and ferocious, how could he give her to me as wife? The marriage will come to naught! Ah, My Lady, what prompted you then to come and listen to my qin? (He is grief-stricken.)
HAIRY MAIDEN: I am no ordinary human. I have been instructed by the Immortal of Donghua to come and guide you back to the true path, lest you sink into oblivious deviance.
ZHANG (making obeisance:) My mortal eyes have blinded me to your celestial guidance. Please forgive me for my ignorance.
HAIRY MAIDEN: Let me ask you: The girl who listened to your qin is Qionglian, the third daughter of the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea. She lives hidden in their palace in the sea—how did you manage to meet her?
ZHANG: As for the daughter of the Dragon Palace, I have some preordained karmic affinity with her.
HAIRY MAIDEN: How do you know you have this preordained karmic affinity?
ZHANG: If this weren’t so, why would she deign to invite me to her home on the fifteenth evening of the eighth month and take me as her husband? And why would she have given me this sea-gauze kerchief as a token of our pledge?
HAIRY MAIDEN: This kerchief is indeed from the Dragon Palace. The lady must have found in you just what she desired. But the Dragon Spirit is irascible; you cannot make him freely give his beloved daughter to you as wife. Now, sir, to bring about your marriage, I will give you three magical treasures with which to subdue him. Have no fear: he will relinquish his daughter to be your bride.
