by C. T. Hsia
Your father’s secret store of snowy-white silver
Has been gradually spent over these ten years;
Now I restore to you all of your things;
For honesty like this truly I have few peers! (Speaks:)
Rascal, (sings:)
[Wild Geese Alight]
Have you not heard, “Better to have near neighbors than distant relatives”;
How would I dare to speak falsely, to betray good faith?
Today every single item will be returned;
You will receive each and every object back again.
RASCAL (kneels before ELDER:) I thank you very much, Uncle and Aunt! How could I have known there would ever be a day like this!
ELDER (sings:)
[Water Sprite]
You see, from front mansion to rear courtyard, all spick-and-span.
RASCAL: This front hall and the rear apartment are in much better repair than before—entirely different now!
ELDER (sings:)
Painted chamber and orchid hall laid out on a new plan.
RASCAL: Uncle, are the granaries empty, or is there grain in them?
ELDER (sings:)
In the granary rice and wheat fill a room-sized bin.
RASCAL: Oh! And is the pawnshop open as it used to be?
ELDER (sings:)
There are gold and silver in the pawnshop safe.
RASCAL: Are there still those farms outside the city wall, Uncle?
ELDER (sings:)
On your farms there are livestock in herds;
Your house as sound as a bronze dipper,
Your fields like silk brocade of a hundred qing. (Speaks:)
Rascal, Cuige, (sings:)
After this, never again mortgage them to another. (Speaks:)
Son, bring a table over here. Let Rascal and his wife take wine cups and serve their neighbors and relatives.
RASCAL: Thank you very much for your great kindness, Uncle and Aunt! If you hadn’t redeemed us, we would have lived out the rest of our lives in that tile kiln! Sister, bring the wine here. Let me first present it to Uncle and Aunt: please drink a full cup.
NEIGHBORS: Little Brother Zhao, the two of you could not repay such great kindness even with your lives, let alone with an offering of wine!
ELDER: I will drink it, child; I will drink it!
RASCAL (again presents wine:) I invite all our neighbors and relatives—each and every one—to have a full cup.
NEIGHBORS: Wonderful, wonderful: we’ll all drink!
RASCAL: I again present a cup to Uncle and Aunt. There’s no way for me to repay such great kindness in my present life. But in the next world, the next life, I should be your dog or your horse to repay you, Uncle and Aunt!
ELDER (sings:)
[Fake Cards]89
I see his deep sincerity as he offers the jade goblet,
Wishing only for another life to repay our kindness.
Here is the inheritance that your father deposited in secret;
It decreases our Li family property not a whit.
(LIU and HU enter.)
HU: Since we’ve heard that Little Brother Zhao is again as wealthy as before, we’ve come to find him. (HU and LIU greet Rascal.)
LIU: Don’t you recognize us anymore, Little Brother Zhao? Come drink with us!
RASCAL: I’ve reformed now, Brothers; I wouldn’t dare get involved with you again. You go find someone else to join you.
LIU: What are you saying? You’ve reformed? So have we! Now we’ll help you to be a householder!
ELDER: Bah! Servants, chase out those two ne’er-do-wells for me!
LIU: Speak up for us, Little Brother Zhao!
RASCAL: Get out of here fast—go try your luck swindling someone else!
ELDER (sings:)
[Paddling on the River]
Just as all our relatives and neighbors
Were happily chatting and talking,
I saw those two villains
Leading their red-skirted bawds
Bursting into our hall—
Scaring away two of my three souls!
Ah, son,
You may not be afraid of them, but I certainty am!
[Joy at the Palace]
Just as my child has made a man of himself,
You two try to teach him the song “Spring’s Ended, Spring’s Come.”90
He is to get that seal of valor for fighting over courtesans at the Garden of Beautiful Spring—
Don’t you dare provoke him again, you mutilated generals!91
You may blather till heavenly flowers flutter,92
But now his fortunes have changed.93
How could he blunder again into the maze that confounds souls?
I exhort you two lecherous scoundrels:
Go find some other young gentleman who should meet his doom! (Speaks:)
Rascal, listen: (declaims:)
Your inheritance, solid as a bronze dipper,
You squandered all in lusting after “flowers.”
Ignoring all my entreaties,
You followed your friends’ every whim.
On your father’s charge I bought back all you had sold,
Upon your reform I returned principal with interest.
Thus the unworthy son of my neighbor to the west has concluded “The Elder of the Eastern Hall Reforms a Prodigal Son.”
Topic: The Neighbor on the West Drafts a Document Entrusting His Orphan.
Title: The Eastern Hall Elder Reforms a Prodigal Son.
NOTES
1. Jia Zhongming’s comment is cited in Zang Maoxun, YQX, 2:685. Meng Chengshun’s comments are cited in Meng Chengshun ji, 584.
2. Loafers and spongers are often named Liu Longqing and Hu Zichuan in Yuan drama.
3. Qin Jianfu self-consciously alludes to this by citing Lunyu zhushu 8.6.
4. Besides romances of scholars and courtesans such as Scholar Tao Writes “Happy Times” While Drunk (Tao xueshi zuixie fengguang hao 陶學士醉寫風光好), Prefect Qian Tactically Favors Xie Tianxiang (Qian dayin zhichong Xie Tianxiang 錢大尹智寵謝天香), Li Yaxian Amid Flowers and Wine at the Winding Stream (Li Yaxian huajiu Qujiang chi 李亞仙花酒曲江池), Du Ruiniang Shows Her Wit at Golden Thread Pond (Du Ruiniang zhishang Jinxian chi 杜蕊娘智賞金綫池), Jing Chuchen Finds a Match for the Jade Comb (Jing Chuchen chongdui yushu ji 荊楚臣重對玉梳記), there are also plays about young men of good family so enthralled with the theater that they join theatrical troupes; for example, A Playboy from an Official Family Takes the Wrong Career, a southern play mentioned in the introduction.
5. See Zang Maoxun, YQX, 2:679–734; Maiwang Studio Collection, no. 45; Meng Chengshun, Xin juan gujin mingju leijiang ji.
6. Dongping prefecture (fu) is in modern Shandong.
7. Yangzhou nu 揚州奴, “the Rascal of Yangzhou.” The Xijizi version explains that “his name is taken from this prefecture.”
8. This title, jieshi 節使, seems at most to be only semiofficial.
9. Liji zhushu 1.37, “Quli” 曲禮: “Words outside do not enter over the threshold, words inside do not come out over the threshold” (Waiyan bu ru yu kun neiyan bu chu yu kun 外言不入於梱, 內言不出於梱). See also Sun Xidan, Liji jijie, 41. The dictum is based on the idea of the strict division of male and female spheres. “Words inside” pertain to the women’s sphere and should not “come out”; “words outside” concern men’s endeavors and should not “enter.”
10. Jiao Yanshou (first century B.C.E.), Jiao shi Yilin 170.4: “Being close to earth and far from heaven, one is to enter the Yellow Springs” (Jindi yuantian xiaru huangquan 近地遠天, 下入黃泉). See Zhang Yuchu, Shao Yizheng, and Zhang Guoxiang, Zhengtong Daozang 60.165b.
11. Here, Dongtang Laozi 東堂老子, “the Old Master of Eastern Hall,” a term of address also used in the last act, but he is usually referred to as Dongtang Lao, “the Eastern Hall Elder.”
12. According to Yangzhou Rascal, for his father to
fail to treat him with due dignity amounts to a blemish that would diminish his life span. Demeaning address of exalted persons would “diminish one’s life span,” but this “principle” would never apply to a father addressing his son.
13. Shao Yaofu is the sobriquet of Shao Yong 邵雍 (1011–1077), a Northern Song philosopher who based his cosmology and theory of numbers on Yijing, or Classic of Changes; see Wing-tsit Chan, Source Book, 481–94. The second quotation is from Lunyu zhushu 1.11; this translation is from Wing-tsit Chan, Source Book, 4–5.
14. A common Yuan idiom referring to something beautiful and solid.
15. “Jade rings” alludes to a legend recorded in the Xu Qi Xie ji 續齊諧記 by Wu Jun 吳均 (469–520) and incorporated in a note to the biography of Yang Zhen in Fan Ye (398–445), Hou Hanshu (54.1759). “During the Han period, Yang Bao, then nine years old, rescued and cared for a small bird which had been injured by an owl. When it was fully recovered he released it. That night a youth in yellow robes brought him four jade rings from the Queen Mother of the West [Xiwang Mu 西王母]. The youth carried them in his mouth.” This was an omen of the success of Yang’s progeny. See Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang, Man Who Sold a Ghost, 114. Tying knots in grass: according to Zuozhuan (Xuan 15.5, Yang, 764), Wei Ge was ordered by his ailing father, Lord Wu of Wei, to marry off the latter’s concubine after his death. But when the lord’s illness became critical, he asked to have the concubine buried with him. Soon after, the lord died. Wei Ge felt that his father’s final command had been the result of delirium and thus did not represent his true wishes concerning the girl. Consequently, he married the girl off. During a later battle with Qin, Wei was able to capture his enemy, Du Hui, only because Du was tripped up by clumps of grass that had been tied together by an old man. This figure appeared to Wei Ge later in a dream, identified himself as the girl’s father, and said that he had tied the grass to repay Wei for sparing his daughter’s life.
16. A line from the Yuefu song “Gu Junzi xing” 古君子行 that means, in effect, do not place yourself in compromising situations. See Lu Qinli, Xian Qin Han Wei Jin Nanbeichao shi 19.1064.
17. Lunyu zhushu 8.6; the passage continues, “… without his being deflected from his purpose even in moments of crisis, is he not a gentleman? He is, indeed, a gentleman.” Translation from Lau, Analects, 71.
18. Chen Zhong and Lei Yi were inseparable friends of the Later Han period; see the biography of Lei Yi in Fan Ye, Hou Hanshu 111.2686–87.
19. Lunyu zhushu 2.24; Lau, Analects, 16–17.
20. During the Yuan period certain official documents had to be signed in this manner to be valid, thus one could sign a document without having an opportunity to read its contents; see Tong Fei, Yuan qu, 129.
21. At this point, the Xijizi version reads, in part, “ZHAO: Move a table in front of your uncle … Prepare incense. RASCAL: Bother! Nobody farted; why do we need incense? Servants, prepare the incense. (Inserts incense into the burner and lights it.) This must be an auspicious day for setting up an earth god shrine!”
22. Literally, “You’ve entrusted your wife and the care of your son to me.” Here wife and son are mentioned together as a set expression: Zhao’s wife is dead.
23. An allusion to Lunyu zhushu 16.13, in which Confucius’s son respectfully hurries to receive his father’s instructions. See Lau, Analects, 166–67.
24. The “Three Isles” are the mountainous islands of Penglai, Fangzhang, and Yingzhou off China’s east coast, the home of the xian 仙, or “immortals.” The “Five Lakes” are five lakes in east-central China.
25. The original has a nonsense compound, “horse inscription” or “horse flat” (ma bian 馬扁); the two graphs combined constitute the word for “swindle” (pian 騙).
26. Literally, Little Elder Brother (xiaoge 小哥), a term of respect used to address a younger man.
27. This suggests that the term of address “Little Brother” should be applied only to a son of an official by friends of his age group.
28. That is, too experienced in the ways of the world.
29. The Chinese term for “the beans have leaked out,” loudou 漏豆, is homophonous with that for “the bottom has fallen out,” loudou 漏兜.
30. That is, the house is under protection and cannot be easily tampered with.
31. Xiezhi li zhashang yi zhitou 脇肢裏扎上—指頭, literally, “stick a finger between his ribs.” Some commentators suggest this means “to offer a bribe.” But it may also mean poking someone at a sensitive spot so that he will dodge or back off.
32. Xijizi, lines 3–14 of the aria: “Although the father bore grief and anxiety, / For the son it’s music and celebration every day. / He strove for wealth yet was fated to be poor—worthy, but stupid; / Yet for that wastrel the family is rich and the son can be proud. / I think of how my friend from morning to night, / Through the night until dawn, / Exhausted body and mind / Breaking laws and regulations. (Speaks:) For those few coins, (sings:) He ignored his father, / Even forgot his friends. / The father devoted all to amassing wealth, / The son in his greed knows neither day nor night. …”
33. That is, he would realize everything is but a dream. This alludes to the Tang tale “The World Within a Pillow” (Zhen zhong ji 枕中記) by Shen Jiji 沈既濟 (late eighth century; Taiping guangji 82.526–28). In this story a young man named Lu dreams he lives out a lifetime of success in every arena, only to lose everything in the end. He awakens, enlightened to the emptiness of earthly accomplishments. In the Yuan play Awakening from the Yellow Millet Dream on the Handan Road (Handan dao shengwu huangliang meng 邯鄲道省悟黃粱夢), a collaborative work by Ma Zhiyuan and three other playwrights, Lu is identified with Lü Dongbin 呂洞賓 of the Daoist Eight Immortals. This play is included in Zang Maoxun, YQX, 4:2014–44.
34. Both are symbols of heedlessness and obliviousness in the face of imminent danger. In Lüshi chunqiu jiaoshi 13.722–23, the happy finch, unaware that it will soon be destroyed by a spreading fire, is compared to ministers who seek personal well-being as their state is threatened. In Liu Xiang, Shuoyuan jinzhu jinyi 11.359 (“Shanshui” 善說), we read of wrens living snugly in their nests among the reeds, unaware that when a storm hits the area, the reeds will snap and bend, the baby birds will tumble out of the nests and die, and the eggs will be broken.
35. Tongjian jieyao 通鋻節要 is a condensed version of Sima Guang’s 司馬光 (1019–1086) history Zizhi tongjian 資治通鋻 (Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Governing). During the Yuan period, a Mongol version was used as a textbook for Mongolian and Chinese students in government academies.
36. There is an oversight here: Yangzhou Rascal is said to be thirty at the beginning of the play, and ten years have passed.
37. Instead of these last three lines, Xijizi has “Teeth masticating, lips curled up, you indulge in your antics.”
38. Literally, “a wife of a respectable man” (liangren fu 良人婦) who is eager for an illicit liaison. In effect, then, Yangzhou Rascal targets women both from a debased (jian 賤) class, like actresses (xin dan se 新旦色), who were considered prostitutes, as well as respectable (liang 良) married women.
39. Toad and cassia are found on the moon in popular belief and are used to indicate success in the official examinations.
40. Yan Pingzhong: Yan Ying, a minister of the state of Qi during the Spring and Autumn period known for his long-lasting and close friendships; see Shiji 62.2134–37.
41. “Liu Yao” 六幺 (literally, “Number Six”) is also written as “Lü Yao” (綠腰, “Green Waist”). Both “Green Waist” and “Rainbow Skirts” were famous dance tunes during the Tang dynasty. Both are mentioned by the poet Bai Juyi 白居易 (772–846) in his “Lute Song” (Pipa xing 琵琶行). Because Qin Jianfu is alluding to Yang Guifei, he seemingly means to refer to Bai Juyi’s “Song of Lasting Sorrow” (Chenghen ge 長恨歌), in which “Rainbow Skirts” is a symbol of oblivious sensual indulgence. That poem describes how the Tang emperor Xuanzong
and his consort, Yang Yuhuan, devote their lives to passion and pleasure until the rebellion of An Lushan brings disaster down upon them.
42. Xijizi: “Who would have thought the slender waists soft as willow branches …”
43. “Cassia Fragrance” (Guizhi xiang 桂枝香) alludes categorically to songs one would hear in pleasure quarters. “Lotus Blossoms Falling” (Lianhua luo 蓮花落) is an improvisatory song form with three-word lines; lyrics for it could easily be made up on the spot. Beggars used this form in appealing for alms.
44. Xijizi: “Someone sets up a snare right there; / None dares to tangle with it again. / Their souls melt away, their spirit diminished at the very mention of it.”
45. Literally, “little lamb brew” (yanggao 羊羔), a heady brew made from alcohol, spices, and tender lamb pieces.
46. Liangshanpo 梁山泊 is the great marsh used as a bandit lair in the novel Water Margin (Shuihu zhuan 水滸傳). Xijizi has “a hundred thousand” instead of “eight hundred.”
47. “Certificates” refer to government certificates that stipulated the amount of salt, a very profitable commodity, a salt merchant would be allowed to sell. On the government monopoly on the sale of salt and tea during the Yuan dynasty, see chap. 4, this volume, n. 46. Xijizi: “In those peach blossom petals fluttering down / Are hidden snowy waves reaching to the sky, / As well as gusty wind tearing through the land.”
48. A reference to the Golden Valley estate built by the fabulously wealthy Jin-dynasty official Shi Chong (249–300), where he held lavish banquets.
49. Xijizi: “No matter how quick you are with words and quips.”
50. “Sat and eaten …”: proverbial expressions describing a person who squanders his inheritance.
51. The phrase in the original, gezhabang 各扎邦, captures the sense of very quick actions; here it means “in no time.” It can be onomatopoeic, usually meaning “kerplunk” or something of the sort. See Johnson, Glossary of Words, 78.
52. On the use of paper money (chaoyin fa 鈔引法) during the Jin dynasty (1115–1234), see Tuotuo, Jinshi 48.1069–74.
53. A type of candied fruit.
54. Toutang 頭湯, which we have translated as “the first soup,” may be the same as tounao tang 頭腦湯, a soup with dumplings, meatballs, and eggs mentioned in Jin Ping Mei cihua, chap. 71. See also Lu Dan’an and Lu Kang, Xiaoshuo ciyu huishi, 973. It may also be related to the “brainstorming wine” (tounao jiu 投腦酒) mentioned in Selling Rice in Chenzhou; see chap. 3, this volume, n. 49.