A Dream of Red Mansion
Page 75
They all agreed to this except Baoyu, who was too impatient to wait. He steeped a bowl of rice in hot tea, added some diced pheasant and hastily swallowed this down.
T know you’re busy again today and can’t be bothered to eat,” said his grandmother. “Keep the venison for him for this evening,” she told the maids.
Only when Xifeng assured her that there was plenty, did she say no more about saving it for him.
Xiangyun whispered to Baoyu, “If there’s fresh venison, let’s ask for some to cook ourselves in the Garden. That would be fun.”
Baoyu promptly passed on this request to Xifeng, who ordered a serving-woman to take some venison to the Garden.
Presently they left the Lady Dowager and trooped back to the Garden and to Reed Snow Cottage to hear what subject and rhyme Li Wan had chosen. But at this point Xiangyun and Baoyu disappeared.
“It’s no good when those two get together,” remarked Daiyu. “Whenever that happens, there’s trouble. They must have slipped off because they have designs on that venison.”
Li Wan’s aunt came in now to watch the fun. She told her niece, “That boy with the jade and the girl with the golden unicorn are fine handsome young people who must have plenty to eat, but there they are planning to eat raw meat—and talking as if they meant it. I can’t believe it!”
The young people laughed and exclaimed, “What an idea! Somebody fetch them, quick!”
“This is all Xiangyun’s doing,” said Daiyu. “What did I tell you?”
Li Wan hurried out to find the two of them. “If you want to eat raw meat, I’ll take you to the old lady’s place,” she said. “I shan’t care then if you eat a whole deer and fall ill—it won’t be my responsibility. Look how it’s snowing and how cold it is. Don’t go making trouble for me.
“We’re not eating it raw,” countered Baoyu. “We’re going to grill it.
“That’s all right then,” said Li Wan, eyeing the barbecue and spits which some old servants had brought. “Be careful now, and don’t cry if you cut your fingers!” With that warning she went in again with Tanchun.
Now Pinger arrived, sent by Xifeng to explain that she was unable to come as she was busy distributing the New Year allowances. Xiangyun insisted that Pinger must stay with them, and the maid was only too willing, for she was naturally playful and always up to endless pranks with her mistress. Seeing the fun they were having, she took off her bracelets to join Baoyu and Xiangyun by the barbecue, and suggested grilling three pieces first to try. Baochai and Daiyu, being used to a barbecue, were not surprised by this; but to Baoqin and Li Wan’s aunt it seemed very strange.
By now, Li Wan and Tanchun had fixed the subject and rhyme.
Tanchun said to Li Wan, “Just smell that venison! If it smells so good even from here, I must try some too.”
She joined the party outside and Li Wan followed.
“All your guests are here,” she protested. “Won’t you stop eating?”
Xiangyun, still munching, replied, “It’s only after eating this that I feel like drinking, and I need wine to give me inspiration. Without this venison I couldn’t possibly write a poem today.” Her eye fell on Baoqin in her wild duck cape, who was standing there smiling at them. “Come here, silly!” she cried. “Come and try some.”
“How dirty it looks,” laughed Baoqin.
“Go and taste some,” urged Baochai. “It’s really delicious. Cousin Daiyu’s so delicate, it would give her indigestion. If it weren’t for that, she’d like some too.”
Baoqin went over then to try a morsel, and finding it good she helped herself to more.
Presently a young maid came from Xifeng to fetch Pinger.
“Miss Xiangyun won’t let me go. You go back first,” Pinger told her.
Not long after the maid had left, Xifeng came in person, a cape over her shoulders.
“So you have such a treat without telling me!” she scolded, joining the group around the barbecue.
“Where did all these beggars come from?” cried Daiyu. “Well, well! Reed Snow Cottage is out of luck today, all messed up by Xiangyun. My heart bleeds for it.”
“A lot you know,” retorted Xiangyun. “A real scholar can afford to be eccentric. You pretend to be so refined and pure, it’s disgusting! Stuffing ourselves now with this venison will inspire us presently to produce some fine lines.”
“If you don’t make good that boast,” threatened Baochai, “you’ll have to pay the penalty by bringing up that meat and swallowing some of those reeds under the snow!”
When they had finished eating, they washed their hands and rinsed their mouths.
Pinger, looking for her bracelets, found one missing. She searched everywhere but there was no trace of it, to everyone’s surprise.
“I know where it’s gone,” said Xifeng with a smile. “There’s no need to look for it now. Just get on with your poems. I guarantee you’ll get it back within three days.” Then she asked, “What are you writing today? The old lady says it will soon be New Year, and we should make some lantern riddles to amuse ourselves in the first month.”
“That’s right,” they agreed. “We’d forgotten. We must hurry up and make up a few good ones to guess in the first month.”
They went into the room with the heated floor, where refreshments and drinks were ready. Pasted op the wall was the subject on which they were to write, and the rhyme and metre. Baochai and Xiangyun, going over to have a look, saw that they were to compose a collective poem on the scenery in five-character lines using rhymes from the xiao group of rhymes. The order in which to write was not stipulated.
Li Wan proposed, “As I’m a poor hand at versifying, let me just do the first three lines. Whoever’s quickest can go on from there.”
“We should arrange some sort of order,” protested Baochai.
If you want to know the upshot, read the next chapter.
Chapter 50
In Reed Snow Cottage Girls Vie in Composing a Collective Poem
In Warm Scented Arbour Fine Lantern Riddles Are Made
“We must have some sort of order. Let me write out the numbers,” proposed Baochai.
She made them draw lots. And Li Wan, as it happened, drew first place.
“If that’s how it is, I’ll give you the first line,” volunteered Xifeng.
“Better still,” responded the others laughingly.
Baochai put down “Phoenix” before “Old Peasant of Sweet Paddy,” while Li Wan explained the subject to Xifeng. The latter thought for a while.
“You mustn’t laugh!” she warned. “I have only one line—rather a crude one, too—but I wouldn’t know how to go on from there.”
“The cruder the better,” they replied. “Let’s hear it, and then you can go off and attend to your own business.”
“I suppose when it snows the north wind must blow,” said Xifeng. “At any rate I heard it all last night. So my line is:
The north wind blew hard all night. Will that do?”
The others exchanged smiling glances.
“It may be crude but it doesn’t show what is to follow, and that’s the proper way to start a poem,” was their verdict. “So besides being good, it leaves plenty of scope for the others. Let’s start with this line. Hurry up and write it down, Old Peasant of Sweet Paddy, then complete the couplet and begin a new one.”
Xifeng, Aunt Li and Pinger drank a few more cups of wine with them, then went off on their own business. Meanwhile Li Wan wrote:
Xifeng:
The north wind blew hard all night....
After this she went on to write down the following lines composed by herself and others:
Li Wan:
The door opens on a flurry of snow.
Pity the pure white mingling with the mud....
Xiangling:
Jade scattered on the earth below.
Fain would it revive the dead grass....
Tanchun:
But no veil on withered plants throw.
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br /> The village brew, matured, is costly now....
Li Qi:
With a good crop the granaries overflow. Ash flying from the pipe shows the change of season....
U Wen:
The Dipper turns and longer the nights grow. Cold hills have lost their vivid green....
Xiuyan:
In frozen creeks no tide is heard to flow. The snow hangs lightly on sparse willow boughs....
Xiangyun:
But slides off tattered plantain leaves drooped low. Musk-ink is melted in the precious tripod....
Baoqin:
Rich sables hide the silken sleeves below. Brightness the mirror by the window catches....
Daiyu:
Scent clings to walls with pepper dye aglow. A side wind blows and blows incessantly....
Baoyu:
While the clear dream lingers slow. Whence comes the sound of the plum-blossom flute?....
Baochai:
Who is it that on green jade pipe doth blow?
The giant turtle fears the earth may sink....
Li Wan interposed at this point, “I’ll go and see about getting some wine heated for you.”
Baochai urged Baoqin to go on; but before she could do so, Xiangyun stood up boisterously.
Xiangyun:
Dragons fight, the cloud-wrack billows to and fro.
A lone boat puts back to the lonely shore....
Baoqin, standing up too, continued:
Baoqin:
A whip points at the bridge, the poet must go. Fur coats are issued to the garrison.... Xiangyun could never bear to take second place. And being more quick-witted than the others, arching her eyebrows now she straightened up and declaimed:
Xiangyun:
Cotton-padded clothes to conscripts in the snow.
Hard the going through gullies and hills....
“Well done!” cried Baochai, and continued:
Baochai:
They must not shake the branches hanging low.
Soft and gleaming swirls the snow.... Daiyu cut in:
Daiyu:
In swaying dance, now swift, now slow.
Fresh taros are steamed for a treat...
She nudged Baoyu, but he was too intent on watching Baoqin, Baochai and Daiyu compete against Xiangyun to be bothered to join in himself. Prompted by Daiyu, however, he improvised:
Baoyu:
To “scattered salt” the song compares the snow.
The boatman is fishing still in his coir cape....
“You’re no good!” cried Xiangyun with a laugh.
“Keep out of this. You’re only holding us up.” Baoqin took over.
Baoqin:
Silent the woodman’s axe, unheard each blow.
Hill after hill like crouching elephants....
Xiangyun struck in:
Xiangyun:
A single snake-like path winds to and fro.
Congealed by cold these flowers of ice....
As Baochai and the others exclaimed in admiration, Tanchun went on:
Tanchun:
Beauty no frost can blight or overthrow.
In the deep courtyard chilly sparrows take fright....
As Xiangyun was thirstily gulping down some tea, Xiuyan took this chance to join in.
Xiuyan:
In lonely hills an old owl hoots its woe.
Snow dances up and down the courtyard steps....
Xiangyun hastily put down her cup to interject:
Xiangyun:
Drifts at will on the lake below.
Glittering bright in dawn’s clear light....
Daiyu:
Setting the whole night aglow.
Truly the cold of three feet of snow is forgotten....
Xiangyun hastily continued:
Xiangyun:
Its promise clears the sovereign’s gloomy brow.
Who cares for the one lying frozen....
Baoqin cut in gleefully:
Baoqin:
While merry-makers, feasting, toast the snow.
A white silk belt from the heavenly loom is broken....
Xiangyun:
Whiter than mermaid’s silk from sea-market below,
Before she could start a new couplet, Daiyu put in:
Daiyu:
Deserted pools are locked in loneliness....
Xiangyun swiftly rounded this off.
Xiangyun:
Back to his humble lodge the poor scholar would go.
Again Baoqin cut in:
Baoqin:
The ice to make our tea is slow to boil....
Xiangyun who was having great fun, laughed and went on:
Xiangyun:
The leaves to warm the wine will hardly glow.
With a giggle Daiyu continued:
Daiyu:
Snow covers the broom of the monk up on the hill....
Baoqin gaily capped this:
Baoqin:
It hides the boy’s lyre below.
Xiangyun, doubled up with mirth, now babbled something so quickly that the others had to ask her to repeat it. She gasped.
Xiangyun:
On the stone tower sleeps an idle crane....
Hugging herself to stop her sides from splitting, Daiyu fairly shouted:
Daiyu:
And silken quilts are warm, the fond cats know....
They rattled off the next lines between fits of laughter.
Baoqin:
From the moon cave roll silver waves....
Xiangyun:
Cloud ramparts hide the crimson glow....
Daiyu:
One can almost taste the scent of wet plum-blossom....
“A fine line!” exclaimed Baochai, and capped it:
Baochai:
And from the dripping bamboos sweet melodies flow.
Baoqin:
Snow-flakes wet the belt with a design of love-birds....
Xiangyun:
Or congeal on emerald hairpins in a row....
Daiyu:
They hang in the air although there is no wind....
Baoqin:
And though there is no rain still hiss down slow....
Xiangyun had collapsed by now in a fit of laughter. The rest of the party had long since opted out to enjoy watching these three rivals compete. Daiyu urged Xiangyun to go on.
“So even you can run out of ideas,” she teased. “Let me hear if you can’t rattle on a bit longer.”
Xiangyun, lying in Baochai’s lap, was shaking with laughter.
Baochai made her sit up, declaring, “If you can use all the rhymes in this category, then I’ll admit you’ve won.”
“Call this versifying?” she spluttered, getting up. “I’m fighting for my life!”
“Whose fault is that?” they retorted laughingly.
Tanchun, having decided earlier on that she could not compete, had been writing down their lines. She told them now, “This still requires an ending.”
Li Wen took over and added:
Li Wen:
These lines record this happy day....
Li Qi added the concluding line:
Li Qi:
And praise on this sagacious reign bestow.
“That’s enough,” said Li Wan. “Even if we haven’t used up all the rhymes, to do that would sound forced and awkward.”
After a careful reckoning they found that Xiangyun had made up the most lines.
“The credit should go to that venison!” they quipped.
“It hangs together quite well when you read it through,” observed Li Wan. “Only Baoyu flunked again.”
“I’m no good at collective poems,” he rejoined. “You’ll just have to make allowances for me.”
“We can’t make allowances every time,” she retorted. “You complain either that the rhyme’s too difficult, the judge too unfair, or that you’re no good at collective poems. Today you’ll have to pay the penalty. I was struck just now by the red plum-blossom in Green Lattice Nunnery, and wante
d to pick a spray for this vase; but because I can’t stand Miaoyu’s ways, I never have anything to do with her. Now we’ll punish you by sending you to fetch a spray.”
“A good penalty, refined and amusing,” was the general verdict.
Baoyu agreed readily. He was starting out when Xiangyun and Daiyu both spoke up together.
“It’s very cold outside. Have some hot wine before you go.”
Xiangyun picked up the wine pot and Daiyu filled a large goblet.
“After drinking our wine, if you don’t carry out your mission we’ll redouble your punishment,” Xiangyun threatened him.
Having tossed off the wine he went out into the snow. Li Wan told some servants to accompany him, but Daiyu stopped them.
“There’s no need,” she said. “If other people go with him, he won’t get it.”
“Yes, you’re right.” Li Wan nodded and ordered a maid to fetch a tall vase with a narrow neck and sloping shoulders, and fill it with water in readiness. “Presently we should write some poems on red plum-blossom,” she suggested.
Xiangyun promptly volunteered to do the first one.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” laughed Baochai. “You’ve done quite enough for today. It’s no fun if you hog everything and leave the rest of us idle. Baoyu has got to be punished when he comes back. He says he’s no good at collective couplets. All right then, we’ll make him write a poem on his own.”
“Quite right,” agreed Daiyu. “And I’ve another idea. Just now we didn’t make enough couplets. We should get those who contributed least to write on red plum-blossom.”
“That’s an excellent idea,” approved Baochai. “Xiuyan, Li Wen and Li Qi had no chance to shine although they are, after all, our guests, because Baoqin, Daiyu and Xiangyun were so greedy. This time, the rest of us should keep out of it and let just the three of them write.”