by Tang Xianzu
EUNUCH GAO:
I’ll keep it in mind. I must be leaving now.
LU SHENG (Kowtows in tears):
Do bring my words to His Majesty, saying that I cannot have another look at his heavenly features.
(Weeps)
EUNUCH GAO:
Rather than ask favour from His Majesty,
Better requite Him before you die.
(Exit)
LU SHENG:
Alas, alas! I’m sweating now. I feel pain all over. I’m feeling chilly, chilly! Yes, the knife of wind is cutting at my bones. Who can endure the pain in my place? Tell the eldest son to prepare ink and paper for me. Sweep the mat and burn joss-sticks so that I can write my last memorial to His Majesty. When I have expressed my gratitude to His Majesty, I will die at ease.
MISS CUI:
Master, you don’t have to write by yourself.
LU SHENG:
You don’t know that my calligraphy boasts the Zhong Yao style, of which His Majesty is most fond. The memorial by my own hand will pass down through the generations as a valuable historic relic for the Tang Dynasty.
(Enter the eldest son)
ELDEST SON:
With a disease of thirst in old age,
He left a Letter on Sacrificial Rites.
Here’s the incense. Dad, will you please draft the memorial?
(Lu Sheng kowtows; Miss Cui arranges her hair and dress)
LU SHENG (Writes):
(To the tune of Jibanling)
At the end of my life,
I inject my devotion into the incense;
I strive to emit the last ray of my life
Before His Majesty.
Alas, my hand shakes so much that I cannot write any more. Well, I’ll make the draft and you will write for me, son.
I’d like to write the memorial by myself,
I’d like to write the memorial by myself,
But my hands shake so much
That I cannot write a complete line.
You must write in good calligraphy
And remember what I say.
(Heaves a long sigh and writes)
ALL:
To make a distinction from the very beginning,
What’s the difference between rich and poor?
LU SHENG (Short of breath):
Don’t make a racket. Eldest son, read the memorial aloud.
ELDEST SON (Reads):
I used to be a scholar from the north of Mount Taihang, enjoying my life on the farmland. I was so fortunate to have won favour from Your Majesty that I entered my official career. I have been over-rewarded and received too much grace. I have been Military Commander and Prime Minister. For years I have been working at home and abroad. I’m embarrassed to have received so much grace from Your Majesty but have not done enough for Your Majesty. I’ve been prudent enough all the time because I may not live up to your expectations and may entice misfortune. I have not been aware that I am growing old day by day. I have risen to the top of positions now that I am over eighty years old. As time goes on, I have become weak in body and in soul. At the last moment of my life, I have to say farewell to Your Majesty. I am extremely grateful to you. The above is a memorial to express my gratitude.
LU SHENG:
That’s it. After I draw my last breath, copy this memorial in a clean hand and present it to His Majesty. Madam, please take off my court dress and keep it in my mourning hall for our posterity to pay respects to.
(Changes into his old clothes)
I am fully contented with my life. Well, I’m losing my eyesight. I shall be dead and gone.
(Dies and falls to his former sleeping place)
ALL (Weep and sob):
(To the previous tune)
Heaven has ended the husband’s life;
The grandfather has passed away.
Set up a mourning hall,
Set up a mourning hall
Where the First-Rank Lady
Weeps and sobs in the centre
And the filial sons
Weep and sob on both sides.
ALL:
To make a distinction from the very beginning,
What’s the difference between rich and poor?
(Weep and sob)
MISS CUI (Removes Lu Sheng’s beard covertly, pats Lu Sheng on the back and weeps):
Wake up, Master Lu!
(Exit)
LU SHENG (Wakes up in surprise):
Alas! What a cold sweat! Where are you, Madam?
(Enter Innkeeper)
INNKEEPER:
What madam?
LU SHENG (Calls aloud):
Where are Lu Zun, Lu Ti, Lu Jian, Lu Wei and my youngest son Lu Yi? Where are they?
INNKEEPER:
Whom are you calling?
LU SHENG:
I’m calling my sons.
INNKEEPER:
How many sons do you have?
LU SHENG:
Five. Well, they are playing around the Royal Studio and the Treasure Mansion in front.
INNKEEPER:
This is a small inn.
(The donkey neighs within)
LU SHENG:
Have you fed the thirty horses of good breed bestowed by His Majesty?
INNKEEPER:
There is only a lame donkey farting outside.
LU SHENG:
Well, I have taken off my court costume.
INNKEEPER:
You are wearing a worn sheepskin.
LU SHENG:
Oh, how strange, how strange! Where is my white beard?
(Looks)
Who are you? Are you Miss Cui’s butler?
INNKEEPER:
What do you mean by Cui’s butler? I am an innkeeper near the Zhaozhou Bridge. I’m cooking yellow millet for you.
LU SHENG (Thinks hard):
Well, is the millet done?
INNKEEPER:
I have to add one more bundle of firewood.
LU SHENG (Rises to his feet):
Can it be true?
(To the tune of Erlangshen)
It is inconceivable
About the luxuries before my eyes.
I made my way into the pillow some time ago.
(Takes up the pillow)
There is a way into the pillow.
The scenes are vivid
As to how I rolled there.
Are these all lies?
I cannot but be puzzled, holding the pillow.
(Sighs)
As if in a flash,
In sixty years
The meal of millet is not done yet.
(Enter Lü Dongbin in laughter)
LÜ DONGBIN:
The mountain is as silent as in ancient times;
The day is as long as a year.
Have you had a nice sleep, Lu Sheng?
LU SHENG:
Old man, it’s fantastic, fantastic! I became the Number One Scholar in the Tang Dynasty, dug three hundred miles of canal and swept across a thousand miles of border regions for the Tang Emperor!
LÜ DONGBIN (Smiles):
What grand feats!
LU SHENG:
You don’t know and I dare not tell. With such grand feats, I was to be put to death on the execution ground as a result of the slanders of a vicious minister Yuwen Rong. Thanks to the rescue of my wife and sons, I went on exile to the south of Guangdong, as far as the Ghost Gate Pass in Yazhou.
LÜ DONGBIN:
How lucky you are! How lucky you are! And then?
LU SHENG:
With the help of Minister Xiao and Minister Pei, I was rehabilitated and resumed my position of Prime Minister. I obtained countless mansions and gardens, female singers and dancers. My relatives were all of blue blood while my sons and grandsons were promoted. I was in office for over fifty years and I lived till I was over eighty years old.
LÜ DONGBIN:
You said, “A gentleman must do merits to build a fame, be a high-ranking official or general, have sumptuous meals, li
sten to choice music, have a big family and live a luxurious life. Only in this way can he be in a happy mood.” Weren’t you in a happy mood when you went through all this? If you reconsider it now, where is your happy mood?
LU SHENG:
There’s some truth in it. How sweet is the meal of yellow millet!
LÜ DONGBIN:
Since you have just “had sumptuous meals”, would you care for a meal of yellow millet?
(To the tune of Yuyingti)
How delicious your court meals are!
The fragrance still remains on the tip of your nose.
LU SHENG:
It’s so difficult to cook the yellow millet!
LÜ DONGBIN:
The millet is cooked with fire and water;
You may ask your wife against the pillow
Whether she’d like to get some millet
To feed your sons.
LU SHENG (Thinks):
It indeed takes time.
LÜ DONGBIN (Smiles):
If millet and water do not meet,
The hills and rills are well cooked by now.
Why don’t you hope
To enter and visit the pillow again?
LU SHENG (Smiles):
Old man, you tell me to visit the pillow again. Is the way by which I went still there?
(Looks at the pillow again)
Well, pillow, pillow, it is because of you that I have a home where I cannot go, and I have a country where I cannot stay. Leave everything else aside, but I feel pity for my sons!
LÜ DONGBIN (Smiles):
Did you beget these sons?
LU SHENG:
Who begot them then?
LÜ DONGBIN:
They were transformed from the chickens in the inn.
LU SHENG:
Well, I indeed had a wife, Miss Cui from Qinghe, who married me in her residence.
LÜ DONGBIN:
Your wife Miss Cui was transformed from the donkey you ride. It’s a hybrid of you and the horse.
LU SHENG (Meditates):
If that is the case, where did the emperor and ministers come from?
LÜ DONGBIN:
They were sheer imaginations of your wandering soul.
LU SHENG (Sighs):
Old man, old man, now I come to understand. Human life with all its belongings is like this. Is there anything substantial in human life? All the graces and disgraces, gains and losses, life and death — now I understand everything.
(To the tune of Cuyulin)
All the romantic encounters
Hardly exist;
Affections of life and death
Are illusions —
Man is simply daydreaming.
When flower shadows go by
And rooster crows die out,
What is the use of lighting the lamps and having supper?
Let it be. As fame and fortune are just external things, I’ll forget about them. I’ll become your disciple and follow your way.
(Bows)
Like the yellow millet,
Worldly life is but a grain,
To be cast away and boiled in a pot.
LÜ DONGBIN (To the tune of Zhuomu’er):
As to all the horrors
And haste of life,
I have no way to deal with them
When the pillow is broken.
Now that you’ve become my disciple, you’ll follow me in my wanderings.
LU SHENG:
I’ll follow you in your wanderings.
LÜ DONGBIN:
A follower of Tao lives on grass and wood, and stays amid dew and wind. How can you enjoy these things as a meritorious minister?
LU SHENG:
You’re teasing me again.
LÜ DONGBIN:
I’ve something else to remind you of. If you as a disciple commit a mistake, the master will hit you on the head with his stick. Even if you are beaten to death, you should not even make a frown.
LU SHENG:
Since I did not make a frown on the execution ground, how can I dread your beating?
LÜ DONGBIN:
Although you’re uttering a somniloquy,
I’m afraid your old dream has revived.
LU SHENG:
How can I dream in the broad daylight, Master?
LÜ DONGBIN:
Even though you can live on pickled vegetables
And won’t change your mind in face of torments,
I have to find a witness to talk with you.
LU SHENG:
I’ll follow you and look for a witness.
(To the tune of Diliuzi)
I’ll follow my master,
Follow my master
Wandering in hills and rills.
The witness,
The witness,
Where is the witness?
On the road to Handan,
To cook a meal of millet,
The pot is not boiling yet,
While sixty years of life in a dream
Keeps me busy.
(To the tune of Coda)
Awakened, I’ll keep busy following Tao.
Where’s the witness, Master?
LÜ DONGBIN:
In a small place called the Penglai Temple.
LU SHENG:
So let’s hurry, let’s hurry.
LÜ DONGBIN:
As the meal of yellow millet is ready now, we’ll go after dinner.
LU SHENG:
Forget about it, forget about it!
If I wait for the yellow millet,
My immortal dream will be delayed.
(Exeunt Lu Sheng and Lü Dongbin)
INNKEEPER:
Funny, funny indeed! A living immortal has converted the scholar Lu Sheng and is gone with him.
Life and death upon the road to Chang’an
Is the time to cook dinner in Handan.
If he knew that lamp was fire,
The meal would be done before the dream began.
Scene Thirty
Gathering with the Immortals
(Enter Zhongli Quan)
ZHONGLI QUAN (To the tune of Qingjiangyin):
Zhongli Quan, an immortal for half of his life,
Is deformed in features.
(Enter Cao Guojiu)
CAO GUOJIU:
A brother-in-law to the Emperor,
I ignore fame and fortune.
ALL:
People are fools
If they do not follow the immortals!
(Enter Tieguai Li)
TIEGUAI LI (To the previous tune):
I use my crutch to stir the cloud
And limp my way to the Penglai Island.
(Enter Lan Caihe)
LAN CAIHE:
I sing aloud in my spring tour
And play my role in a joking manner.
ALL:
People are fools
If they do not follow the immortals!
(Enter Han Xiangzi)
HAN XIANGZI (To the previous tune):
Han Xiangzi can brew immortal wine
And make the buds blossom at once.
(Enter He Xiangu)
HE XIANGU:
My strainer leaks the spring
And catches no worries.
ALL:
People are fools
If they do not follow the immortals!
(The immortals greet each other)
HE XIANGU (Smiles):
Venerable Zhongli, you’ve ordered your disciple Lü Dongbin to implement Emperor Donghua’s decree and convert true immortals in the human world. He has not returned yet. How depressed I am!
TIEGUAI LI (Strikes at He Xiangu):
Oops, you are an immortal lady giving way to foolish fancies. I’ll break your strainer with my crutch.
ZHONGLI QUAN (Smiles):
Let’s dance under the peach-blossoms. Zhongli Quan wears his hair in a girl’s bun; Cao Guojiu is drunk and waves his court costume. Tieguai Li dozes off on his crutch; He Xiangu mends he
r strainer with needles. Lan Caihe sings over hills and rills; Han Xiangzi gives up his wife in wind and snow. Zhang Guolao is good at fortune-telling; Lü Dongbin gets drunk thrice on the Yueyang Pavilion.
(Exeunt all)
(Enter Lü Dongbin, followed by Lu Sheng)
LÜ DONGBIN (To the tune of Northern Xianlü Dianjiangchun):
The worldly dusts
Vanish in a hundred years,
Slow and steady.
When he awakes from his dream,
The tea time has long passed.
LU SHENG:
Master, what are the high mountains and flowing rivers in front?
LÜ DONGBIN:
It’s the Penglai Island surrounded by the sea, a place to cultivate your virtue.
LU SHENG:
What kind of scenery is there?
LÜ DONGBIN (To the tune of Hunjianglong):
When you look forward,
The Sea-Immortal Gate stands under peach-blossoms.
There the light always shines
And spring always reigns.
LU SHENG:
Oh, I can see the Penglai Temple over the sea. Are there tigers on the mountains? You know, there are whales and turtles in the sea.
LÜ DONGBIN (Smiles):
Amid the sea waves,
There are numerous whales and turtles;
Upon the mountain island,
There is only one tiger.
LU SHENG:
Where’s the ferry boat?
LÜ DONGBIN:
You’ll shoulder me across the sea.
(Lu Sheng is frightened)
LÜ DONGBIN:
You just cross the sea with your eyes closed.
LU SHENG (Carries Lü Dongbin on his shoulders):
The sea is crossed in a flash.
(Looks)
We are lucky that there is no hurricane. There is neither prefecture nor county here. How desolate it is!
LÜ DONGBIN:
You say that the immortals’ island
Of thirty thousand feet is desolate
With neither prefecture nor county,
But it’s much better than the Ghost Gate Pass
Of eight thousand miles of miasma
Where you were on exile.
LU SHENG:
Are there highwaymen here?
LÜ DONGBIN:
The highwaymen only commit misdemeanours,
While there are more heinous crimes.
LU SHENG:
Are there ghost-hunters?
LÜ DONGBIN:
As to ghost-hunters,
There is the righteous immortal
Who can transform those who go astray.
LU SHENG (Looks):
Well, there is a house under the clouds. How is it that there are such people here: in red dress or in green dress, scarred or crippled, old or young? How is it possible that there are people like these?
