Hung Lou Meng, Book II dotrc-2

by Цао Сюэцинь

  This admission evoked laughter from the whole company. The wines were afterwards placed on the table, and they took the seats consistent with their grades. Feng Tzu-ying first and foremost called the singing-boys and offered them a drink. Next he told Yuen Erh to also approach and have a cup of wine.

  By the time, however, that Hsueeh P'an had had his third cup, he of a sudden lost control over his feelings, and clasping Yuen Erh's hand in his: "Do sing me," he smiled, "that novel ballad of your own composition; and I'll drink a whole jar full. Eh, will you?"

  This appeal compelled Yuen Erh to take up the guitar. She then sang:

  Lovers have I two.

  To set aside either I cannot bear.

  When my heart longs for thee to come,

  It also yearns for him.

  Both are in form handsome and fair.

  Their beauty to describe it would be hard.

  Just think, last night, when at a silent hour, we met in secret, by

  the trellis

  frame laden with roses white,

  One to his feelings stealthily was giving vent,

  When lo, the other caught us in the act,

  And laying hands on us; there we three stood like litigants before the

  bar.

  And I had, verily, no word in answer for myself to give.

  At the close of her song, she laughed. "Well now," she cried, "down with that whole jar!"

  "Why, it isn't worth a jarful," smiled Hsueeh P'an at these words. "Favour us with some other good song!"

  "Listen to what I have to suggest," Pao-yue interposed, a smile on his lips. "If you go on drinking in this reckless manner, we will easily get drunk and there will be no fun in it. I'll take the lead and swallow a large cupful and put in force a new penalty; and any one of you who doesn't comply with it, will be mulcted in ten large cupfuls, in quick succession!"

  Speedily rising from the banquet, he poured the wine for the company. Feng Tzu-ying and the rest meanwhile exclaimed with one voice: "Quite right! quite right!"

  Pao-yue then lifted a large cup and drained it with one draught. "We will now," he proposed, "dilate on the four characters, 'sad, wounded, glad and joyful.' But while discoursing about young ladies, we'll have to illustrate the four states as well. At the end of this recitation, we'll have to drink the 'door cup' over the wine, to sing an original and seasonable ballad, while over the heel taps, to make allusion to some object on the table, and devise something with some old poetical lines or ancient scrolls, from the Four Books or the Five Classics, or with some set phrases."

  Hsueeh P'an gave him no time to finish. He was the first to stand up and prevent him from proceeding. "I won't join you, so don't count me; this is, in fact, done in order to play tricks upon me."

  Yuen Erh, however, also rose to her feet and shoved him down into his seat.

  "What are you in such a funk for?" she laughed. "You're fortunate enough to be able to drink wine daily, and can't you, forsooth, even come up to me? Yet I mean to recite, by and bye, my own share. If you say what's right, well and good; if you don't, you will simply have to swallow several cups of wine as a forfeit, and is it likely you'll die from drunkenness? Are you, pray, going now to disregard this rule and to drink, instead, ten large cups; besides going down to pour the wine?"

  One and all clapped in applause. "Well said!" they shouted.

  After this, Hueeh P'an had no way out of it and felt compelled to resume his seat.

  They then heard Pao-yue recite:

  A girl is sad,

  When her spring-time of life is far advanced and she still occupies a

  vacant inner-room.

  A girl feels wounded in her heart,

  When she regrets having allowed her better half to go abroad and win a

  marquisdom.

  A girl is glad,

  When looking in the mirror, at the time of her morning toilette, she

  finds her colour fair.

  A girl is joyful,

  What time she sits on the frame of a gallows-swing, clad in a thin

  spring gown.

  Having listened to him, "Capital!" one and all cried out in a chorus. Hsueeh P'an alone raised his face, shook his head and remarked: "It isn't good, he must be fined."

  "Why should he be fined?" demurred the party.

  "Because," retorted Hsueeh P'an, "what he says is entirely unintelligible to me. So how can he not be fined?"

  Yuen Erh gave him a pinch.-"Just you quietly think of yours," she laughed; "for if by and bye you are not ready you'll also have to bear a fine."

  In due course Pao-yue took up the guitar. He was heard to sing:

  "When mutual thoughts arise, tears, blood-stained, endless drop, like

  lentiles sown broadcast.

  In spring, in ceaseless bloom nourish willows and flowers around the

  painted tower.

  Inside the gauze-lattice peaceful sleep flies, when, after dark, come

  wind and rain.

  Both new-born sorrows and long-standing griefs cannot from memory ever

  die!

  E'en jade-fine rice, and gold-like drinks they make hard to go down;

  they choke the throat.

  The lass has not the heart to desist gazing in the glass at her wan

  face.

  Nothing can from that knitted brow of hers those frowns dispel;

  For hard she finds it patient to abide till the clepsydra will have

  run its course.

  Alas! how fitly like the faint outline of a green hill which nought

  can screen;

  Or like a green-tinged stream, which ever ceaseless floweth onward far

  and wide!"

  When the song drew to an end, his companions with one voice cried out: "Excellent!"

  Hsueeh P'an was the only one to find fault. "There's no metre in them," he said.

  Pao-yue quaffed the "opening cup," then seizing a pear, he added:

  "While the rain strikes the pear-blossom I firmly close the door,"

  and thus accomplished the requirements of the rule.

  Feng Tzu-ying's turn came next.

  "A maid is glad."

  he commenced:

  When at her first confinement she gives birth to twins, both sons.

  A maid is joyful,

  When on the sly she to the garden creeps crickets to catch.

  A maid is sad,

  When her husband some sickness gets and lies in a bad state.

  A maiden is wounded at heart,

  When a fierce wind blows down the tower, where she makes her toilette.

  Concluding this recitation, he raised the cup and sang:

  "Thou art what one could aptly call a man.

  But thou'rt endowed with somewhat too much heart!

  How queer thou art, cross-grained and impish shrewd!

  A spirit too, thou couldst not be more shrewd.

  If all I say thou dost not think is true,

  In secret just a minute search pursue;

  For then thou'lt know if I love thee or not."

  His song over, he drank the "opening cup" and then observed:

  "The cock crows when the moon's rays shine upon the thatched inn."

  After his observance of the rule followed Yuen Erh's turn.

  A girl is sad,

  Yuen Erh began,

  When she tries to divine on whom she will depend towards the end of

  life.

  "My dear child!" laughingly exclaimed Hsueeh P'an, "your worthy Mr. Hsueeh still lives, and why do you give way to fears?"

  "Don't confuse her!" remonstrated every one of the party, "don't muddle her!"

  "A maiden is wounded at heart."

  Yuen Erh proceeded:

  "When her mother beats and scolds her and never for an instant doth

  desist."

  "It was only the other day," interposed Hsueeh P'an, "that I saw your mother and that I told her that I would not have her beat you."

  "If yo
u still go on babbling," put in the company with one consent, "you'll be fined ten cups."

  Hsueeh P'an promptly administered himself a slap on the mouth. "How you lack the faculty of hearing!" he exclaimed. "You are not to say a word more!"

  "A girl is glad,"

  Yuen Erh then resumed:

  When her lover cannot brook to leave her and return home.

  A maiden is joyful,

  When hushing the pan-pipe and double pipe, a stringed instrument she

  thrums.

  At the end of her effusion, she at once began to sing:

  "T'is the third day of the third moon, the nutmegs bloom;

  A maggot, lo, works hard to pierce into a flower;

  But though it ceaseless bores it cannot penetrate.

  So crouching on the buds, it swing-like rocks itself.

  My precious pet, my own dear little darling,

  If I don't choose to open how can you steal in?"

  Finishing her song, she drank the "opening cup," after which she added: "the delicate peach-blossom," and thus complied with the exigencies of the rule.

  Next came Hsueeh P'an. "Is it for me to speak now?" Hsueeh P'an asked.

  "A maiden is sad..."

  But a long time elapsed after these words were uttered and yet nothing further was heard.

  "Sad for what?" Feng Tzu-ying laughingly asked. "Go on and tell us at once!"

  Hsueeh P'an was much perplexed. His eyes rolled about like a bell.

  "A girl is sad..."

  he hastily repeated. But here again he coughed twice before he proceeded.

  "A girl is sad."

  he said:

  "When she marries a spouse who is a libertine."

  This sentence so tickled the fancy of the company that they burst out into a loud fit of laughter.

  "What amuses you so?" shouted Hsueeh P'an, "is it likely that what I say is not correct? If a girl marries a man, who chooses to forget all virtue, how can she not feel sore at heart?"

  But so heartily did they all laugh that their bodies were bent in two. "What you say is quite right," they eagerly replied. "So proceed at once with the rest."

  Hsueeh P'an thereupon stared with vacant gaze.

  "A girl is grieved...."

  he added:

  But after these few words he once more could find nothing to say.

  "What is she grieved about?" they asked.

  "When a huge monkey finds its way into the inner room."

  Hsueeh P'an retorted.

  This reply set every one laughing. "He must be mulcted," they cried, "he must be mulcted. The first one could anyhow be overlooked; but this line is more unintelligible."

  As they said this, they were about to pour the wine, when Pao-yue smilingly interfered. "The rhyme is all right," he observed.

  "The master of the rules," Hsueeh P'an remarked, "approves it in every way, so what are you people fussing about?"

  Hearing this, the company eventually let the matter drop.

  "The two lines, that follow, are still more difficult," suggested Yuen Erh with a smile, "so you had better let me recite for you."

  "Fiddlesticks!" exclaimed Hsueeh P'an, "do you really fancy that I have no good ones! Just you listen to what I shall say.

  "A girl is glad,

  When in the bridal room she lies, with flowery candles burning, and

  she is loth to rise at morn."

  This sentiment filled one and all with amazement. "How supremely excellent this line is!" they ejaculated.

  "A girl is joyful,"

  Hsueeh P'an resumed,

  "During the consummation of wedlock."

  Upon catching this remark, the party turned their heads away, and shouted: "Dreadful! Dreadful! But quick sing your song and have done."

  Forthwith Hsueeh P'an sang:

  "A mosquito buzzes heng, heng, heng!"

  Every one was taken by surprise. "What kind of song is this?" they inquired.

  But Hsueeh P'an went on singing:

  "Two flies buzz weng, weng, weng."

  "Enough," shouted his companions, "that will do, that will do!"

  "Do you want to hear it or not?" asked Hsueeh P'an, "this is a new kind of song, called the 'Heng, heng air,' but if you people are not disposed to listen, let me off also from saying what I have to say over the heel-taps and I won't then sing."

  "We'll let you off! We'll let you off," answered one and all, "so don't be hindering others."

  "A maiden is sad,"

  Chiang Yue-han at once began,

  When her husband leaves home and never does return.

  A maiden is disconsolate,

  When she has no money to go and buy some olea frangrans oil.

  A maiden is glad,

  When the wick of the lantern forms two heads like twin flowers on one

  stem.

  A maiden is joyful,

  When true conjugal peace prevails between her and her mate.

  His recital over, he went on to sing:

  "How I love thee with those seductive charms of thine, heaven-born!

  In truth thou'rt like a living fairy from the azure skies!

  The spring of life we now enjoy; we are yet young in years.

  Our union is, indeed, a happy match!

  But. lo! the milky way doth at its zenith soar;

  Hark to the drums which beat around in the watch towers;

  So raise the silver lamp and let us soft under the nuptial curtain

  steal."

  Finishing the song, he drank the "opening cup." "I know," he smiled, "few poetical quotations bearing on this sort of thing. By a stroke of good fortune, however, I yesterday conned a pair of antithetical scrolls; of these I can only remember just one line, but lucky enough for me the object it refers to figures as well on this festive board."

  This said he forthwith drained the wine, and, picking up a bud of a diminutive variety of olea fragrans, he recited:

  "When the perfume of flowers wafts (hsi jen) itself into a man, he

  knows the day is warm."

  The company unanimously conceded that the rule had been adhered to. But Hsueeh P'an once again jumped up. "It's awful, awful!" he bawled out boisterously; "he should be fined, he should be made to pay a forfeit; there's no precious article whatever on this table; how is it then that you introduce precious things?"

  "There was nothing about precious things!" Chiang Yue-han vehemently explained.

  "What I are you still prevaricating?" Hsueeh P'an cried, "Well, repeat it again!"

  Chiang Yue-han had no other course but to recite the line a second time. "Now is not Hsi Jen a precious thing?" Hsueeh P'an asked. "If she isn't, what is she? And if you don't believe me, you ask him about it," pointing, at the conclusion of this remark, at Pao-yue.

  Pao-yue felt very uncomfortable. Rising to his feet, "Cousin," he observed, "you should be fined heavily."

  "I should be! I should be!" Hsueeh P'an shouted, and saying this, he took up the wine and poured it down his throat with one gulp.

  Feng Tzu-ying, Chiang Yue-han and their companions thereupon asked him to explain the allusion. Yuen Erh readily told them, and Chiang Yue-han hastily got up and pleaded guilty.

  "Ignorance," the party said with one consent, "does not amount to guilt."

  But presently Pao-yue quitted the banquet to go and satisfy a natural want and Chiang Yue-han followed him out. The two young fellows halted under the eaves of the verandah, and Chiang Yue-han then recommenced to make ample apologies. Pao-yue, however, was so attracted by his handsome and genial appearance, that he took quite a violent fancy to him; and squeezing his hand in a firm grip. "If you have nothing to do," he urged, "do let us go over to our place. I've got something more to ask you. It's this, there's in your worthy company some one called Ch'i Kuan, with a reputation extending at present throughout the world; but, unfortunately, I alone have not had the good luck of seeing him even once."

  "This is really," rejoined Chiang Yue-han with a smile
, "my own infant o name."

  This disclosure at once made Pao-yue quite exuberant, and stamping his feet he smiled. "How lucky! I'm in luck's way!" he exclaimed. "In very truth your reputation is no idle report. But to-day is our first meeting, and what shall I do?"

  After some thought, he produced a fan from his sleeve, and, unloosening one of the jade pendants, he handed it to Ch'i Kuan. "This is a mere trifle," he said. "It does not deserve your acceptance, yet it will be a small souvenir of our acquaintance to-day."

  Ch'i Kuan received it with a smile. "I do not deserve," he replied, "such a present. How am I worthy of such an honour! But never mind, I've also got about me here a strange thing, which I put on this morning; it is brand-new yet, and will, I hope, suffice to prove to you a little of the feeling of esteem which I entertain for you."

  With these protestations, he raised his garment, and, untying a deep red sash, with which his nether clothes were fastened, he presented it to Pao-yue. "This sash," he remarked, "is an article brought as tribute from the Queen of the Hsi Hsiang Kingdom. If you attach this round you in summer, your person will emit a fragrant perfume, and it will not perspire. It was given to me yesterday by the Prince of Pei Ching, and it is only to-day that I put it on. To any one else, I would certainly not be willing to present it. But, Mr. Secundus, please do unfasten the one you have on and give it to me to bind round me."

  This proposal extremely delighted Pao-yue. With precipitate haste, he accepted his gift, and, undoing the dark brown sash he wore, he surrendered it to Ch'i Kuan. But both had just had time to adjust their respective sashes when they heard a loud voice say: "Oh! I've caught you!" And they perceived Hsueeh P'an come out by leaps and bounds. Clutching the two young fellows, "What do you," he exclaimed, "leave your wine for and withdraw from the banquet. Be quick and produce those things, and let me see them!"

  "There's nothing to see!" rejoined the two young fellows with one voice.

  Hsueeh P'an, however, would by no means fall in with their views. And it was only Feng Tzu-ying, who made his appearance on the scene, who succeeded in dissuading him. So resuming their seats, they drank until dark, when the company broke up.

  Pao-yue, on his return into the garden, loosened his clothes, and had tea. But Hsi Jen noticed that the pendant had disappeared from his fan and she inquired of him what had become of it.