The Complete Dramatic Works of Tang Xianzu
Page 55
Don’t stick to your prescriptions, Mr Chen. You’d better start by feeling my pulse.
(Chen Zuiliang tries to feel her pulse on the back of her hand)
CHUNXIANG:
Please turn over her hand, Mr Chen.
CHEN ZUILIANG:
According to the Pulse Know-how by the famous doctor Wang Shuhe, you must feel the female pulse upside down. Well, for the time being, I’ll turn her hand over.
(Feels her pulse)
Good Gracious, her pulse is so weak!
(To the tune of Jinsuoguawutong)
Her mind is meek;
Her pulse is weak.
In the prime of her day,
What makes her pine away?
(Rises to his feet)
Listen to me, Chunxiang,
Sick in spring and summer days,
Your mistress needs more care
When autumn brings despair.
I’ll go and prepare your medicine, Mistress.
DU LINIANG (With a sigh):
Well, Mr Chen,
Deep-rooted out of amour,
My lovesickness is beyond cure.
(Weeps)
You try to cure me but in vain;
When will you come to see me again?
CHEN ZUILIANG, CHUNXIANG:
As patients cannot bear alarm,
You’d better take a rest
And keep away from harm.
DU LINIANG:
Take your time, Mr Chen, I’m afraid I can’t see you off. By the way, have you made a divination for me?
CHEN ZUILIANG:
Yes, you’ll turn for the better after the Mid-Autumn Festival.
“From fate no one has ever fled;
No doctor can revive the dead.”
(Exit)
CHUNXIANG:
Here comes a Taoist nun.
(Enter Sister Stone)
SISTER STONE:
“While no fairy is heard to give salute,
Another lady tastes forbidden fruit.”
I’m Sister Stone from the Purple Sunlight Nunnery. I’ve received orders from the Madam to pray for Miss Du. What is she suffering from?
CHUNXIANG:
She’s suffering from lovesickness.
SISTER STONE:
Who is her lover?
CHUNXIANG:
Someone in the back garden.
(Sister Stone raises three fingers and Chunxiang shakes her head, then Sister Stone raises five
fingers and Chunxiang shakes her head again)
SISTER STONE:
Well, tell me whether it is three or five and I’ll pray for her.
CHUNXIANG:
Go and ask her by yourself.
SISTER STONE (Greets Du Liniang):
Good morning, Miss Du. I’m a Taoist nun!
DU LINIANG (Taken aback):
Where are you from?
SISTER STONE:
I’m Sister Stone from the Purple Sunlight Nunnery. I’ve received orders from the Madam to pray for you. It’s said that you were haunted in the back garden, but I don’t believe it.
(To the previous tune)
For a maiden as smart as you,
Can your distracted state be true?
DU LINIANG (In a trance):
Oh my dear!
SISTER STONE, CHUNXIANG (Aside):
In a trance she said,
As if she’d lost her head.
SISTER STONE (Takes a hairpin from Du Liniang, hangs a talisman on it, and makes an incantation):
“Beaming bright, beaming bright,
The sun is shedding light.
This talisman dispels the spell
And drives the evils to the hell.
Going, going, gone!”
(Puts the hairpin back onto Du Liniang’s head)
Keep this talisman
When you sit and sleep
To keep the wild thoughts under ban.
DU LINIANG (Comes to her senses):
Well, is this talisman effective? Isn’t my lover
A sprite among the trees
That puts me ill at ease!
SISTER STONE:
If she loses her senses again, I’ll strike her with a thunderbolt from my palm.
DU LINIANG:
It makes just little sense
That while I weather the wind and rain,
You add a thunder to my pain.
SISTER STONE, CHUNXIANG:
In a trance she said,
As if she’d lost her head.
SISTER STONE:
If she goes on like this, I’ll hoist a magic flag ten feet high.
DU LINIANG:
What can I say to a nun like this!
(To the tune of Coda)
With the handsome man dim in my mind,
Oh, Sister Stone,
You have no need for flags of any kind.
When I’m in a pensive mood,
I will be in my dreams confined.
CHUNXIANG (Supports Du Liniang and goes off stage):
My mistress is too weak to lift an eye;
SISTER STONE:
As a Taoist nun I pray and lie.
DU LINIANG:
I stay away from crimson bloom
ALL:
To stop the east wind in its gloom.
Scene Nineteen
The Female Chieftain
(Enter Li Quan with his men)
LI QUAN (To the tune of Northern Dianjiangchun):
A smell of mutton struck the land
While aliens dashed and hurled.
Against the winds of war,
We bandit heroes
Outshine the burglars who break the door.
“The army of a thousand hoofs
Raises dust and ashes o’er the roofs.
When Hans acquire an alien tongue,
They curse their natives old and young.”
I’m Li Quan, a native of Chuzhou. As a warrior brave enough to fight ten thousand men, I was neglected by the southern dynasty and so I became a bandit chieftain of five hundred men, roaming in the Huaiyang area. At a time when I did not know where to turn to, the emperor of the great Jin Dynasty bestowed upon me the title of Gilded Prince, told me to cause trouble in this area and try to find the opportunity to start a military excursion. To tell the truth, I have more courage than wisdom, but my wife Lady Yang helps a lot. With a pear-blossom spear in hand, she has no match among ten thousand men. What a valiant couple we are on the battlefield! The only pity is that my wife is a bit jealous — all the women captives must be handed over to her at once. All my men are more afraid of her than me. It’s true that
“A snake of a wife swallows the elephant;
A prince of a bandit is the dragon.”
(Enter Lady Yang, carrying a spear)
LADY YANG (To the tune of Fanbusuan):
A bandit’s wife with spear and shield
Adds blood to rouge on battlefield.
(Wields her spear)
With swirls of wind I wield my spear
And sparkles of pear-blooms appear.
(Raises her hand as a sign of salutation)
Your Highness, as I’m fully armoured, I won’t do the formal greeting.
LI QUAN:
Do you know, Madam, that the emperor of the great Jin Dynasty has bestowed upon me the title of Gilded Prince?
LADY YANG:
What’s Gilded Prince?
LI QUAN:
“Gilded” means “brilliant”.
LADY YANG:
Why did he bestow upon you the title?
LI QUAN:
He asked me to cause trouble in Huaiyang for three years. Then, when we have amassed a large troop with ample provisions, we’ll cross the river and overthrow the Song Dynasty. If we succeed, I’ll be crowned the king.
LADY YANG:
What a wonder! Congratulations! We’ll take this opportunity to buy horses and enrol soldiers.
(To the tune of Liuyaoling)
Like thunders in the sk
y,
In the camps the battle drums will roar
While spies are sent across the eastern shore.
ALL:
A valiant pair
Sit within the camp
And threaten people everywhere.
LADY YANG (To the previous tune):
Amass the grain, enrol the men,
And buy the battle steeds.
My hairpins glitter now and then.
ALL:
A valiant pair
Sit within the camp
And threaten people everywhere.
LI QUAN:
Rebellions start all o’er the land,
LADY YANG:
With broken swords stuck in the sand.
No cattle graze on fertile grass
When wildfire spreads afield, alas!
Scene Twenty
Premature Death
(Enter Chunxiang)
CHUNXIANG (To the tune of Jinlongcong):
In nightly storm
Endless woes reduce her form.
No Taoist magic will prevail;
No medicine is of avail.
“You frown when you should frown;
You smile when you should smile.
If you can’t smile or frown,
You will die in a while.”
I’ve done my best to wait on Miss Du, for she has been ill from early spring till late autumn. Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, but it is blowing and raining hard outside. Miss Du is growing from bad to worse, and still I’ll bring her here to idle away the time. Yes,
“A heavy rain enshrouds the autumn moon
While prayer lamps will die out soon.”
(Exit)
(Enter the sickly Du Liniang supported by Chunxiang)
CHUNXIANG (To the tune of Queqiaoxian):
There is no moonlight in the hall,
When floating clouds conceal the sky.
Her chilly dream is bitter as gall.
Earth has not anything to show more smart
Than her affection in her broken heart.
DU LINIANG:
“The water clock drips weaker than my breath
While I still linger on the verge of death.
Amid the fragrance in the nightly rain,
With autumn chill my strength is on the wane.”
In my serious illness, Chunxiang, I don’t know what day today is.
CHUNXIANG:
It’s the fifteenth of the eighth month.
DU LINIANG:
Oh, it’s the Mid-Autumn Festival! Are my parents too distressed to enjoy the moon?
CHUNXIANG:
Never mind about that.
DU LINIANG:
Mr Chen made the prophecy that I’d get better after the Mid-Autumn Festival. However, my health is going from bad to worse and I don’t feel too well this evening. Open the window and I’ll have a look at the moon.
(Chunxiang opens the window and Du Liniang looks at the moon)
DU LINIANG (To the tune of Jixianbin):
In the boundless skies,
From where does the moon arise?
In the autumn skies,
Who helps the fairy arise!
Does the west wind make the dream vaporize?
When he has left, he is hard to see again;
I blame gods and ghosts for this in vain.
On my brows and in my heart,
Waves of sorrow start.
(Falls into a depressed mood)
CHUNXIANG (To the previous tune):
Spring fancy drove her into a trance;
Spring fog and smoke aroused romance.
As human life is not a joke,
It starts and ceases in due time;
Who knows her life recedes like smoke!
For whom, for whom
Has she pined away in gloom?
I’ll try to give her a little cheer. Mistress, the moon is hanging in the sky.
The silvery moon o’er there
Will send your gloomy dreams into the air.
DU LINIANG (Looks up to the sky and sighs):
“I’ve yearned for this Mid-Autumn Day,
But festivities have filled me with dismay.
Just like the solitary moon,
I’ll vanish in the rain too soon.”
(To the previous tune)
Whom does the autumn moonlight please?
The rain and the west wind hurt the trees.
I’m growing thinner on sickbed,
Like a wild goose hurrying to its shed.
I hear the crickets chirrup on the plains
And fierce wind whistle through the window-panes.
(Shivers, about to faint)
I feel so chilly in a fit;
My limbs can hardly move a bit.
CHUNXIANG (Alarmed):
Miss Du has fainted. Come please, Madam!
(Enter Lady Zhen)
LADY ZHEN:
“My husband is so rich in wealth;
My daughter is so poor in health.”
How are you feeling now, my dear daughter?
CHUNXIANG:
She’s not feeling well, Madam, she’s not feeling well.
LADY ZHEN:
What’s to be done!
(To the previous tune)
The dream in your last garden tour
Has put you in a trance;
There is no way of any cure.
(Weeps)
How I wish she find a spouse!
If she’s alone like this,
She’ll soon die in the house.
Everything is null and void;
Our lives will be destroyed.
DU LINIANG (Comes to senses again):
(To the tune of Zhuanlinying)
What has brought my soul out of the hell?
I am awakened by the tinkling bell.
(Weeps)
Thank you for coming, Mom.
(Falls on her knees in a shaky way)
You’ve treasured me since early days,
But I can’t serve you in my filial ways.
Oh Mom, it’s fate!
I bloom and pine before my prime,
And so I’ll serve you in my next lifetime.
DU LINIANG, LADY ZHEN, CHUNXIANG (Weep):
O wild West Wind, why should you
Strike me like a bolt out of the blue!
LADY ZHEN (To the previous tune):
With no sons by my side,
I only have a dainty daughter,
Who plays with joy and pride.
We hoped we’d have her all the time.
But now she’s dying before her prime.
My child,
As evil omens do suggest,
Your weary heart will go to rest.
DU LINIANG, LADY ZHEN, CHUNXIANG:
O wild West Wind, why should you
Strike me like a bolt out of the blue!
DU LINIANG:
If the worst comes to the worst, Mom, what are you going to do with my remains?
LADY ZHEN:
We’ll send you back to our ancestral burial ground.
DU LINIANG (Weeps):
(To the tune of Yuyinger)
In the coffin I shall stay,
For fear of hills on homeward way.
LADY ZHEN:
We’ll send you home although it’s a long way.
DU LINIANG:
However, I have but one request to make. In the back garden there’s a plum tree, which I love very much. Will you bury me under that tree?
LADY ZHEN:
How do you come across this idea?
DU LINIANG:
As I can’t become a fairy queen,
I’ll lie beneath a tree that’s fresh and green.
LADY ZHEN (Weeps):
She bends her head and sheds large drops of tear,
Soaked with sweat that chills her heart;
At sight of this, I’d give my life for my dear.
DU LINIANG, LADY ZHEN, CHUNXIANG:
Oh, relentless
heaven,
Why should flowers suffer from the blight
While the moon is full and bright?
LADY ZHEN:
I’ll have to go now and prepare with your father for a Taoist service, my child.
“When medicine becomes of little use,
A Taoist service we shall introduce.”
(Exit)
DU LINIANG:
Do you think, Chunxiang, that I may revive someday?
(Sighs)
(To the previous tune)
You’ve always been servile to me;
All the time our thoughts agree.
From now on, Chunxiang, be sure to take good care of my parents.
CHUNXIANG:
Of course I will.
DU LINIANG:
Chunxiang, one thing comes to my mind. My portrait, with a poem inscribed on it, should not be exposed to others. When I’m buried, put it in a red sandalwood case and conceal it under a Taihu rock.
CHUNXIANG:
What for?
DU LINIANG:
My portrait, by a maiden fair and smart,
May find an echo in another heart.
CHUNXIANG:
Please rest at ease, Mistress. If you should pass away, you would stay in the grave all by yourself. But if you take a good rest and get recovered, I’ll beg your father to find a scholar by the name of Plum Mei or Willow Liu as your life companion. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?
DU LINIANG:
I’m afraid there’s no time for me to wait. Oops, oops!
CHUNXIANG:
How can we lessen her disease?
How can we make her heart at ease?
DU LINIANG:
After my death, Chunxiang, come and stand before my memorial tablet from time to time, calling aloud to me.
CHUNXIANG:
Her murmur makes my feeling freeze.
DU LINIANG, CHUNXIANG:
Oh, relentless heaven,
Why should flowers suffer from the blight
While the moon is full and bright?
(Du Liniang faints away)
CHUNXIANG:
Help, help! Hurry up, Master, Madam!
(Enter Du Bao and Lady Zhen)
DU BAO, LADY ZHEN (To the tune of Yiyinger):
The night is deep;
The woe is deep.
The gloomy window is wet with rain;
Our daughter fills our hearts with pain.
CHUNXIANG (Weeps):
Mistress! My dear mistress!
DU BAO, LADY ZHEN (Weep):
Oh, our dear daughter!
When you pass away
And leave us far behind,
Which heir can we then find?
DU BAO, LADY ZHEN, CHUNXIANG:
Alas, alas! The human life is brief,
As a floating dandelion or a fading wave,
Or a lonely wind-borne lotus leaf.
(Du Liniang regains consciousness)
DU BAO:
Come on, my child! Your dad is here.
DU LINIANG (Looks at Du Bao):
Oh, Dad, help me to the middle hall.
DU BAO: