by C. T. Hsia
ZHANG (kneeling:) I would love to see your magical treasures.
HAIRY MAIDEN (picking up stage props:) I give you one silver pan, one gold coin, and one iron dipper.
ZHANG (taking them:) I receive these treasures with thanks, but you will have to tell me how to use them.
HAIRY MAIDEN: Ladle seawater into the pan with this dipper and place the golden coin into the water. If you boil the water down one-tenth of an inch, the sea will drop ten leagues; boil it down two-tenths of an inch and the sea will drop twenty leagues. Now the sea will have evaporated by the time you boil the pan dry. How then can the Dragon King still stay alive? He will surely send someone to invite you and summon you to become his son-in-law.
ZHANG: Thank you for these instructions! But I wonder how far it is from here to the seashore.
HAIRY MAIDEN: The shore of Sand Gate Island lies scores of miles ahead. (Sings:)
[Coda in Huangzhong Scale]
These treasures are taken from the Jade Terrace of the Purple Palace in the Realm of Pure Void,
From the azure vastness of heaven they have come.
Boil with abandon,
Plan with no fear,
Follow your heart,
Fulfill your desire.
No need to initiate the alliance,
No need to bring betrothal gifts.
They will be the matchmakers,
And you will be the son-in-law.
You’ll be like branches from trunks intertwined,
Twin flowers blooming from a single stem,
Intimate like mating phoenixes,
Inseparable like fish and water:
Don’t ever make light of them!
Though your marriage comes of the clever plans of gods,
It’s also ordained by blessings from your former lives.
Thus can you boil dry this great ocean like boiling water! (Exits.)
ZHANG: So it is my karma to have received these magical treasures from the immortal. I shall go directly to Sand Gate Island and boil the sea away. (Recites:)
Roiling waves can churn away in the Eastern Sea,
I shall draw its water to boil in my pan.
Such is the immortal’s wonderful plan:
No fear that I will from my fair lady be banned!
ACT 3
(ACOLYTE enters.)
ACOLYTE: I am the acolyte of the Stone Buddha Temple. A few days ago a young scholar sought lodging in these quarters, but, while he was playing his qin at night, he was bewitched by an evil spirit and carried off. His servant boy immediately rushed off in search of him, and my master, all befuddled, sent me on the search as well. The woods are deep and the mountain is dangerous—where could I possibly find him? I was just about to return by myself when, all of a sudden, I found myself confronting a tiger. It rushed at me, baring its fangs and brandishing its claws, but fortunately I had caught sight of it before it saw me. I looked left and right and there was no place to hide. There happened to be a pool of muddy water close by, so I had no choice but to slip in and sit right there. Who could have known that the tiger, thirsty from all the running, needed to drink just then, opened that bloody basin of a red mouth, stuck out that dagger of a tongue, and with one slurp lowered the pool by an inch. Several more slurps and that pool began to dry up, and my body stuck out like an oar top—what could I do? I seized the moment when it opened its mouth, and with one somersault rolled into its belly. It turned out that inside that belly, I could feel where its heart and vital organs were, although it was quite dark. I felt my way to its heart and bit its left side with might, and I heard the tiger call out, “Aiya!” I found its heart again and bit its right side doubly hard, and I heard the tiger shouting, “Why is my heart hurting like this today? Could it be that tricky acolyte at the Stone Buddha Temple who’s plotting against me?” So I said, “You’re not far from the truth.” That tiger said, “Come out!” I said, “Where?” That tiger said, “You come out from the front gate.” I figure all it needed to do was close its fangs a little, and my body would be as mashed as sesame candy. So I said, “I am not coming out the front gate.” That tiger said, “So where will you come out?” I said, “I am coming out the rear gate.” So that tiger ran all the way to the hilltop, planted two claws on two big trees, and swung his hips with all his might toward a clearing on the hilltop and let out a thunderous fart. Riding on the force of this fart, I made a somersault and landed at the Stone Buddha Temple.53 That was how I saved my life. (Recites:)
For nothing I almost forfeited my life,
Ashamed to confess how for the rear gate I did strive.
Much better to follow the scholar and die infatuated,
An amorous ghost under the peonies seeking his wife. (Exits.)
(ZHANG YU enters with his SERVANT BOY.)
ZHANG (recites:)
My former life a happy union to me does bring;
I found the phoenix glue to mend my broken qin string.54
With these treasures I will bring the pan to boil—
Who would have known that for the lotus the fire is soil?55
I am Zhang Boteng and I have been here on the seashore for some time already. Boy, strike the flint and steel and get a fire going. Arrange three stones around it and put the pan on. (SERVANT BOY puts the pan on.) Now ladle up some seawater with the dipper. (SERVANT BOY fetches water and pours it into the pan.)
The pan is filled to the brim. Now put this gold coin in too. Get the fire going. If the flames are strong enough, it shouldn’t be too long before the water begins to boil.
SERVANT BOY: You didn’t tell me any of this before. Your lady’s maidservant gave me a rush-leaf fan, but I didn’t bring it along. Now what will I use to fan the fire?
(Fans the fire with his coat sleeve.) Good, the water in the pan is boiling now.
ZHANG: Now that it is boiling, let me see how the sea is doing. (Takes a look and is startled:) Incredible! The sea is indeed roiling and bubbling. The magic works!
SERVANT BOY: Why will the sea begin to boil when the water in this pan is boiling? Can there be some link between the two?
(ABBOT enters, agitated.)56
ABBOT: I am the abbot of the Stone Buddha Temple. Just now as I was meditating on the meditation seat, a messenger from the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea arrived and said, “There’s a young scholar using something or other to boil the sea to bubbling and roiling.” The Dragon King is so frantic that he could find no place to hide. So he has begged me to go and persuade the young scholar to put the fire out, and the sooner the better. This young scholar is none other than Zhang Yu of Chaozhou, who sought lodging for studying at my temple the other day. Considering that my Stone Temple is right on the Eastern Sea, and that the Dragon Palace is now in danger, how can I not try to save it? There’s no choice but to go to Sand Gate Island on a trip to persuade the young scholar to let go. (Sings:)
[Zhenggong mode: Proper Decorum]
They endure the boiling all the way,
There is futile havoc in the entire sea.
How could the Dragon King not turn frantic in his fear?
I see bloody vapors from the Crystal Palace shooting up to the sky;
The stench suffocates my nose and mouth, already parched by hot smoke.
[Rolling Silken Ball]
Who could have thought that this scholar
Would rashly do this thing!
I do not know what magical skills he is commanding,
But he seems intent to show off his awesome might!
Can he be setting up a fire to intimidate the sun?
The leaping flames are burning, bringing the waves to a roiling boil!
Even if we had thunder and rain, there is no succor from this horror!57
For I can see the gleaming fish leaping in their frenzy through the waves,
The silver-footed crabs crawling to hide on the shore.
Alas! The slightest contact with this water causes blisters!
(He arrives and speaks:) I have a
rrived here on the shore of Sand Gate island. You, young scholar, what are you boiling there?
ZHANG: I am boiling the sea.
ABBOT: And why are you doing that?
ZHANG: Reverend Master, you wouldn’t know this. But the other night, while I was playing my qin in the temple, a girl came to eavesdrop. She said she was Qionglian, the third daughter of the Dragon family, and she promised to meet me on the day of the Midautumn Festival. I don’t see her coming, so I am boiling the sea to make her come out.
ABBOT (sings:)
[If a Scholar]
So if you can’t have your wedding night with floral candles, (speaks:)
Good work! (Sings:)
You twist things around and open a bathhouse with scented water!
Measuring out the sea peck by peck!58
A scholar should be gentle and calm—
How can you resort to this hotheaded trick?
ZHANG: Mind your own business, Reverend Master. Go beg for alms elsewhere.
ABBOT (sings:)
[Rolling Silken Ball]
I am no mendicant begging for food,
Nor do I seek donations.
I have come especially to pay you a visit.
ZHANG: I am a poor scholar. You will get nothing from your visit.
ABBOT (sings:)
I am a monk who has left the mundane world;
What harm is there for me to beg for alms?
ZHANG: If I get to see the lady, and her family is willing to take me as her husband, then you can have a liberal reward.
ABBOT (sings:)
Just because that lovely maiden
Would not accept a handsome lad like you,59
You cause calamity to fall from heaven.
You may be poor,
But you will emblazon their gates with glory!
Where did you get this volcanic fire that can refine mercury and lead?
Where did you find this exotic remedy for lovesickness?
A most unusual thing, I must say.
ZHANG: Reverend Master, I tell you in all sincerity: I will tend this fire until the lady I met that night comes out of the sea.
ABBOT: Now you listen to me: The Dragon King of the Eastern Sea has sent me here to act as a matchmaker. He invites you to become his son-in-law. What do you think?
ZHANG: Don’t try to make a fool of me, Reverend Master. The sea still stretches as a limitless white expanse. How can I, a mortal, expect to just walk in?
SERVANT BOY: That’s no problem, Master. Just follow the abbot. If he doesn’t drown, then why should you?
ABBOT (sings:)
[Taking Off the Plain Robe]
In all earnestness I must inquire into your action and intention;
You should take your time to ponder this with due attention.
Just point your finger at the water and it will turn to earth;
Divide it, and you’ll be walking on a level berth.
[Little Liangzhou]
It will be for you like walking on a plain along a grass-lined path.
ZHANG: Won’t it be dark at the bottom of the sea?
ABBOT (sings:)
On the contrary, the sun will just be rising from Fusang.60
ZHANG: But I am a mortal after all. How dare I go into the sea?
ABBOT (sings:)
Though the great sea is called the Eastern Ocean,
You need not yield to the notion. (Speaks:)
Just go!
He can’t wait to make you his son-in-law.
ZHANG: I have heard that the Realm of the Immortal is three thousand leagues down in rarefied water.61 How dare I go there?
ABBOT (sings:)
[Same tune as above]
Then do not think of it as three thousand leagues of endless, rarefied water,
But as it really is: a colorful, misty Domain of the Sea, the Realm of Finny Tribes!
ZHANG (gazing around:) The sea is so vast, so limitless that one would think it is one with the sky. It’s frightening!
ABBOT (sings:)
You say it seems to be one white expanse as vast as the sky:
It shows all the more how capacious is the Dragon King’s magnanimity.62
Better let your hat shine and bloom to get ready for your reception as groom.63
ZHANG: If that is the case, I’ll put away my treasures. But you, Reverend Master, have to help bring about this marriage.
SERVANT BOY: The lady’s maid should be matched with me. Otherwise, I’ll keep the fire going.
ABBOT (sings:)
[Laughing at the Monk]
Go! Go! Go to her orchid chamber, to the reception hall.
Yes, yes, yes! My every word is honest and true.
ZHANG: Is that so?
ABBOT (sings:)
You, you, you—still looking disheveled and humble,
While she, she, she is already richly adorned.
Quick! Quick! Quick! You will be a pair.
Come! Come! Come! Rest among ornate bed-curtains, like lovebirds in their lair.
ZHANG: If this be so, I will go with you, Master. I wish to be united with her as soon as possible, lest she go back on the old promise.
ABBOT (sings:)
[Coda]
Just because you two, scholar and beauty, would have things your way,
You have shocked her parents and thrown them into disarray.
You with your handsome bearing and cleverness,
She with her flowerlike beauty and jadelike tenderness—
Both of one heart and mind, you are ideal for matrimony.
So much in love, a couple beyond compare!
She is Weiniang of the hundred charms,
You are Zhang Chang the romantic husband.64 (Speaks:)
Let us go! (Sings:)
You should certainly reward this matchmaker most handsomely. (Exits with ZHANG YU.)65
SERVANT BOY: Just look at my master: happily following the abbot into the sea and leaving me all alone on the shore to watch over these so-called treasures. If he really does become a bridegroom, I suspect he won’t emerge for a whole month. I’ve noticed that the young acolyte is not without charm, and since the old priest is no longer here, I’d best gather these few things together, then I’ll head straight back to the temple to play the knock-knock game with the acolyte.
ACT 4
(EXTRA dressed as DRAGON KING enters with his marine attendant.)
DRAGON KING (recites:)
When the sun’s red wheel emerges from the east,
Its blazing light does not make the way clear in the least.
Although rarefied water extends for three thousand leagues,
You can chart your course so long as you banish the selfish beast.
I am the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea. It happened that my daughter Qionglian was taking an evening stroll at the Stone Buddha Temple. There she saw a young scholar playing his qin, and his tune suggested the song “Phoenix Seeking Mate.” As soon as their eyes met, they fell in love, and so she promised him a meeting at the Midautumn Festival. I said, “He is a mortal; how could he ever come to our sea palace”? Who could have known that he would meet an immortal and receive from her three treasures? With these he boiled the water to roiling until I could endure it no longer. I was reduced to begging Fayun, the abbot of the Stone Buddha Temple, to act as a go-between and to invite the young scholar to be my son-in-law. I have already received the go-between, rewarding him with wine and gifts bedecked with red flowers. Now I have had the wedding feast prepared. You there, marine attendant, request the young scholar and my daughter to enter!
(QIONGLIAN enters with ZHANG YU.)
QIONGLIAN: Advance to the front hall and do obeisance to my father and mother.
ZHANG: I will.
QIONGLIAN: Who would have thought the night we parted that there would come a day like this? (Sings:)
[Shuangdiao mode: Song of New Water]
And all because these waves separated us, making old friends distant,
I feared that in these dark regions we would go our separate ways.
But after a brief spell in living hell,
Upon applying some death-defying measures,
From the corner of the sea to the edge of the sky—
The day did come when we’re reunited again.
ZHANG: What kinds of creatures are these here in the Dragon Palace?
QIONGLIAN (sings:)
[Stop the Horse and Listen]
The marine troops here drawn up in ranks include all these
Sea-turtle generals, giant lizard scouts, terrapin ministers;
As you can see, our sea slaves are none but
Red-bearded shrimps, silver-footed crabs, and fish with iridescent scales.
By these twelve embroidered curtains are arrayed pearls,
Our wealth beyond measure: piles of gold and jade.
ZHANG: What opulence!
QIONGLIAN (sings:)
Just you think:
This Crystal Palace of ours is one grand place!
(QIONGLIAN and ZHANG YU make obeisance to the DRAGON KING.)
DRAGON KING: Where did you two meet?
QIONGLIAN (sings:)
[Golden Drops]
I was enjoying myself on the clear, green waves.
It was a splendid evening, a lovely scene:
Thin mists and fleecy clouds,
And the bright moon immersed in frosty air.
Jade dewdrops dripped cold,
Golden breezes sighed crisp,
Midautumn was approaching.
It was right when all was still, when none disturbed the first watch of the night.
DRAGON KING: You had never met this scholar before—not to mention a meeting at first watch in the stillness of the night. How could you promise to marry him? Try explaining that to me.
QIONGLIAN (sings:)
[Song for Breaking the Cassia Branch]
Mounting the steps casually in the moonlight,
I heard three rounds of playing on the qin: the music was not vulgar.
It was like a crane crying from the clouds yonder,
A wild goose calling from the edge of heaven,
A raven singing on a branch.
Just as he was looking for an oriole mate, a swallow companion,
I was forlorn about being a solitary phoenix, a lonely simurgh.
It is through this that one discerns who’s wise, who’s foolish,
Distinguishes the intimates from the strangers.
