The Complete Dramatic Works of Tang Xianzu
Page 97
Listen! The rings and pendants are tingling on the clouds. Here comes the princess.
(Looks up three times, sighing. The wind rises)
(Enter Princess Golden Branch)
PRINCESS GOLDEN BRANCH (To the tune of Northern Xinshuiling):
The phoenix flies high above Mount Dragon
On another journey of life.
My tiny feet stepping on the cloud,
My treasure fan moving on the moon,
I fly across the glassy sky,
With my cape flapping in the wind.
CHUNYU FEN:
Is that sky-walker my wife Princess Yaofang?
PRINCESS GOLDEN BRANCH:
Oh Chunyu, my man! It’s a long time since we were separated. I bow to you on top of the cloud.
“I failed my duty as your wife,
CHUNYU FEN:
For death cut short our love of twenty years.
PRINCESS GOLDEN BRANCH:
I’d like to vent my woe of life,
CHUNYU FEN, PRINCESS GOLDEN BRANCH:
But clouds have severed us in two spheres.”
CHUNYU FEN (Kneels):
Princess, I can hardly express my gratitude to you. You may not know how much torment I suffered after you departed.
PRINCESS GOLDEN BRANCH:
I know everything.
CHUNYU FEN (To the tune of Southern Bubujiao):
I suffered wrongs from Prime Minister Duan,
When sudden death broke us apart
After we had stayed in Nanke for twenty years.
You were buried on Mount Dragon
Until I see you again in the sky.
As soon as you appeared on the clouds,
I took you for the beauty in the Jade Terrace.
My dear, come down! I’d like to chat with you.
PRINCESS GOLDEN BRANCH:
I can’t get down.
CHUNYU FEN:
Why not, my dear?
PRINCESS GOLDEN BRANCH (To the tune of Southern Zheguiling):
Now I ride a cloud carriage,
Walk on the cloud path
And stand on the cloud piles.
In my cloud image,
I speak to you on the top of clouds
And accompany you with cloud emotion.
CHUNYU FEN:
Since you departed, how lonely I have been in the endless night!
PRINCESS GOLDEN BRANCH:
Have you been lonely?
In the strange adventure of your life,
You had three ladies vying for you,
But did you forget my parting words?
CHUNYU FEN:
I know I was wrong. Princess, at that time I had no choice but take them as sworn sisters.
PRINCESS GOLDEN BRANCH:
You only knew siblings when you wined and dined,
But discarded your life companion and the children.
CHUNYU FEN:
Now that you have turned into a fairy, I don’t think you should take this to heart. Moreover, as my affection for you will never be exhausted, I’d like to have you as my wife once more.
(To the tune of Southern Jiangshui’er)
I am intoxicated in affection day and night,
With everlasting yearning of love.
Princess,
Will you find another spouse in the heaven?
Will you have me again as your man?
Will you come again and meet me here?
Please respond me as to these three things!
(Weeps)
Otherwise,
Will you drop something from the sky
As a keepsake in the human world?
PRINCESS GOLDEN BRANCH:
Since you are intent on this, I’ll be waiting in the Indra Heaven for you to be my man again, only if you practice the Buddhist conducts with heart and soul.
CHUNYU FEN:
Do man and wife make love in the heaven as in the human world?
PRINCESS GOLDEN BRANCH:
In the Indra Heaven, man and wife make love in the same way as in the human world. The only difference is that they play the game without coming to climax. If you go to the upper heavens, the couple do not have intercourse. When their emotions are roused, they either embrace, smile or smell. My man, the next heaven will be the heaven of separation!
(Sighs)
Oh, heavens!
(To the tune of Northern Yan’erluo with Deshengling)
If only we sit on the lotus seat for a while,
We’ll toss and roll like unstrung pearls.
I’ll flirt and tease with you in the world of desires,
But take care not to kick the heaven of separation.
CHUNYU FEN:
When I look at you standing on top of the clouds, you are the very image of Chang’e the moon goddess.
PRINCESS GOLDEN BRANCH:
You know, Chang’e was an ant in the human world, who “changed” into a moth and flew into the sky. She lived under a laurel tree while I lived in the locust palace.
Both palaces were dignified.
When you were selected by the Ant King,
You have won the laurel in the imperial exam
And will rise in the official strata.
(Sighs)
You do not have to mind
Meeting a fairy face to face.
To my grievance,
Why is my cloud lowering to the earth?
(Falls)
(Chunyu Fen holds her in his arms)
PRINCESS GOLDEN BRANCH:
Oh my! How is it that I fell!
CHUNYU FEN:
My wife!
PRINCESS GOLDEN BRANCH:
The human world is different from the heavenly world. Stay away from me, brother!
CHUNYU FEN:
Why did you call me brother?
PRINCESS GOLDEN BRANCH:
You once called me sister in this temple.
CHUNYU FEN (Thinks):
Yes, I did.
PRINCESS GOLDEN BRANCH:
You said you want a keepsake. Aren’t the phoenix hairpins and the rhino-horn case in front of the statue of Avalokitesvara our first souvenir?
CHUNYU FEN (Thinks):
Yes, they are.
PRINCESS GOLDEN BRANCH (Bows before the statue of Avalokitesvara, fetches the phoenix hairpins and the rhino-horn case and hands them to Chunyu Fen):
My man, keep the phoenix hairpins and the rhino-horn case! I must be going now.
CHUNYU FEN (Accepts the hairpins and the case, pulls Princess Golden Branch and kneels,
wailing):
(To the tune of Southern Yaoyaoling)
As I went under the earth to find you,
How can I let you go when you ascend to the heaven?
Now I pull your skirt ribbon tightly
And beg you not to go alone when you ascend.
PRINCESS GOLDEN BRANCH:
My man, you are not to ascend to the heaven yet.
CHUNYU FEN:
I must go with you!
(Chunyu Fen and Princess Golden Branch push and pull, in tears)
(Enter Master Qixuan with a sword, severing them apart, shouting)
(Exit Princess Golden Branch in haste)
(Stunned, Chunyu Fen falls to the ground)
MASTER QIXUAN (To the tune of Northern Wangjiangnan):
Ah!
You take the ascending one as your wife,
But raise your head and see where she is!
You say that you know she is an ant, but you are still asking a favor from her. Why are you dwelling on your affections?
(Sighs)
You slept in the locust palace with eyes wide open;
You did not sneeze to burn paper spills before your nose.
Silly as you are, just look and see
What phoenix hairpins are inside the rhino case!
CHUNYU FEN (Wakes to look):
Oh! The hairpins are locust twigs and the case is a locust pod. Oops! What do I need them for?
(Casts away
the hairpins and the case)
I am awake now. What’s the difference between kings and subjects or between man and wife in the human world and the ant world? The weal and woe, the rise and fall are the same in Nanke as in the human world. Everything happens in a dreamland, including the ascension to the heaven! I have been a fool!
(To the tune of Southern Yuanlinhao)
I was hoaxed by the ants
With a shadow show of affections.
Everything has its cause and effect,
But where am I to find the cause?
MASTER QIXUAN:
What are you to do next?
CHUNYU FEN:
What am I to do? It is vain to seek the human form; it is vain to seek the heavenly form; it is vain to seek the Buddha form. All is vanity.
MASTER QIXUAN (Shouts):
What is vanity?
(Chunyu Fen claps his hands and smiles; he puts his palms together and stands silent)
MASTER QIXUAN:
(To the tune of Northern Gumeijiu with Taipingling)
The living Buddha has no form,
As all forms are unrealistic.
(Points to Chunyu Fen)
An ant could have been your best companion.
As you are too late to wake up from your dream,
You have cut short your human experience.
Why did you turn a fool in the twinkling of an eye?
What were the hairpins and the Golden Branch?
Who told you to amass the wealth in a hole?
Who told you to build reputation on a branch?
The parrot revealed the heavenly secret long ago
That you should wake up from the butterfly dream.
I,
I experienced this strange event
To pay off my pagoda debt to the ants
And help them ascend to the heavens.
Oh!
All the living beings have witnessed the cause and effect.
(Enter the monks with incense, flags and musical instruments)
MASTER QIXUAN, MONKS (Shout):
Chunyu Fen has become a Buddha on the spot!
(Walk)
(To the tune of Northern Qingjiangyin)
It is funny that vain illusions may perturb our eyes
While dreamland scenes may disturb our minds.
Long dreams take but little time;
Short dreams are not inscribed on the steles.
All the men are like ants as in the Nanke Dream.
MONKS (Kowtow):
All things are impermanent,
Yet a man has become Buddha.
A fond spring dream is vain like floating clouds,
While Buddhist wisdom cleanses one’s yearning heart.
In real life all the audience plays a part
In the busy world of madding crowds.
The Handan Dream
Translated by Wang Rongpei
Table of Contents
Scene One
Prelude
Scene Two
Riding in the Fields
Scene Three
Converting the Common People
Scene Four
Entering the Dream
Scene Five
Recruiting Men of Worth
Scene Six
Funding for the Imperial Examination
Scene Seven
Rivalling for the Number One Scholar
Scene Eight
Royal Banquet
Scene Nine
Tribal Invasion
Scene Ten
Taking a Provincial Office
Scene Eleven
Digging the Canal
Scene Twelve
Border Crisis
Scene Thirteen
Expecting the Imperial Inspection
Scene Fourteen
Imperial Inspection to the East
Scene Fifteen
Sending a Spy to the West
Scene Sixteen
Grand Victory
Scene Seventeen
Carving the Merits
Scene Eighteen
Good News for the Wife
Scene Nineteen
Slandering
Scene Twenty
Narrow Escape from Death
Scene Twenty-One
The Slanderer’s Satisfaction
Scene Twenty-Two
Sufferings on Exile
Scene Twenty-Three
Sufferings in the Weaving Mill
Scene Twenty-Four
Revealing the Truth
Scene Twenty-Five
Amnesty
Scene Twenty-Six
Celebrations
Scene Twenty-Seven
Extreme Luxuries
Scene Twenty-Eight
Friends’ Lamentations
Scene Twenty-Nine
Revelations
Scene Thirty
Gathering with the Immortals
Scene One
Prelude
(Enter Announcer)
ANNOUNCER (To the tune of Yujia’ao):
When the sun and the moon shine in the sky,
I hear over the seas the immortal’s donkey cry.
Now that peach flowers have burst in full bloom,
Does it mean
That fairy flowers must be applied to the broom?
In dreamland time and tide quietly flow;
Who has made arrangements from below?
It’s early when the sun sets in the west;
I look back, smile
And pass Handan without a rest.
He Xiangu walks alone amid the flowers;
Lü Dongbin passes Yueyang city thrice.
The pretty Cui waits for wedding in her bowers;
The foolish Lu Sheng wakes to see half-cooked rice.
Scene Two
Riding in the Fields
(Enter Lu Sheng)
LU SHENG (To the tune of Poqizhen):
To the distant sky there is a way,
But time drags on day after day.
In three undecorated rooms
With a bed that holds a restless soul,
I toss and turn in glooms.
I open autumn windows
To find no fireflies in the rotten weeds
And gaze at ancient roads
To see the evening crows on poplar trees
While my hair wavers in western breeze.
(To the tune of Pusaman in palindrome)
I am upset by autumn scenes east of my house;
The autumn scenes east of my house upset me.
The Lus have been Confucian scholars;
The Confucian scholars have been the Lus.
Why should the unknown be named Lu?
Why should Lu remain unknown?
I’ve been hurt by profound emotion;
Profound emotion has hurt me.
I am Lu Sheng from the east of Mount Taihang. My ancestors lived in Fanyang Prefecture, deeply rooted there. My late father moved to Handan County and lived a rural life. When I was born, I had an enormous size. Before I reached school age, I had grown to be a handsome lad. With an intent mind, I’ve read widely; with a deep insight, I’m full of intelligence. Reasoning of whatever insightful depth is at the tip of my pen; writings by whatever top-ranking scholars are stored in my memory. Oops, for all I’ve said, the lucky star never shines over my head and I’ve turned twenty-six now. To speak of talented poets, Red Li is White Li’s elder brother; to speak of Number One Scholars, Liang the Ninth is Liang the Eighth’s younger brother. As for contemporary essays, I’m no worse than these people; as for predestination, I lagged behind them in former days. In ragged clothes, I offend people with my wretched appearance; for all my intelligence, I hold my tongue to pretend ignorance. As the saying goes, “A man of low social standing is never in high spirits; a man of meagre existence is never substantial in words.” All I have in my possession is a few acres of arid land, which provides me with crops in autumn. As those who lag behind can never catch up with t
hose who go ahead, what can I do in the name of a gentleman? Now that I’m mixed up with gardeners and farmers, why should I be looked down upon as a lowly man? In late autumn, I have to be dressed in a shabby sheepskin coat; on my way to the inn, I have to ride a colt leaner than a rake. Well, in a plight like this, what am I to do? I’ll saddle my lame donkey and take a ride to drive away my cares.
(Saddles the donkey)
(The donkey neighs)
I’ve kept company with this donkey for many years. I’ll never be able to ride a carriage and four on my way to Handan.
(Walks on)
(To the tune of Liuyaojin)
When I ride on the donkey,
The frosty wind is blowing across the land.
The shabby sheepskin coat
Fails to keep away the dust and sand.
In the arid land the crows caw in the dusk;
Behind ox-back the sun sets in the west.
The ancient roads in autumn breeze
And branching crimson trees,
Branching trees,
Paint the autumn at its best.
Now that the sun is setting, I’d better stop over in the west village and go to the fields tomorrow.
When evening glow enshrouds the country lanes,
To whom shall I bespeak my woe and cares?
With few pedestrians on the ancient road,
The autumn wind bestirs crops unawares.
Scene Three
Converting the Common People
(Enter Lü Dongbin, carrying a parcel, a gourd and a pillow)
LÜ DONGBIN (In the pattern of Collected Tang Poems):
The fairy island of Penglai never sees a single man,
Who slays the monstrous kylin in moonlight.
Immortals leave the earth on wings of wind,
And watch the sunrise from the fairy height.
I am Lü Yan, alias Dongbin, a native of Jingzhao. To my undeserved honour, I succeeded in the imperial examination. By nature I was addicted to drinking and chivalric deeds. After I killed a man on the Xianyang Fair in a drunken state, I had to flee the country. As time went on, I was reduced to poverty. One day I happened to meet Master Zhongli Quan, Man of Midday Sun, who was well-versed in the Taoist charms of ascension. When he saw that I was exhausted from the journey, he alchemised some stones into gold and offered it to me for my use at will. As I was puzzled, I kowtowed to him and asked, “May I ask you, Master, whether the alchemised gold will turn back into stones?” The master said, “The gold will turn back into stones again in five hundred years.” I scattered the gold at once, saying that the gold would mitigate my poverty for the moment but would cause trouble to the man who possesses it in five hundred years. The master burst into laughter and said, “Lü Yan, Lü Yan, the purity of your heart will lead you to the Immortal Land.” By transmission of heart and by word of mouth, he taught me all the Taoist charms of alchemy and ascension. After more than thirty years of learning, to my undeserved honour, I became one of the Immortals of the Upper Eight Caves. As I was obsessed in Taoist instructions in my previous life, I have been able to do one charm after another in this life. By nature I am entangled in the earthly world and so I am intent on converting the worldly people. A gate to the Penglai Mountain has recently been built at the decree of Emperor Donghua. Outside the gate grows a peach tree of immortality, which begins to blossom in three hundred years. The petals fall at a gust of strong wind and block the heavenly gate. I have converted a certain He Xiangu, who comes to sweep away the fallen petals every day. At the recent decree of Emperor Donghua, He Xiangu has been enlisted in the Immortals. Therefore, Zhang Guolao the Immortal has ordered me to ride the clouds and look for a man to sweep the petals in her stead. Before I can finish my words, I see He Xiangu come in smiles and dances.