by C. T. Hsia
I curse this monkey, scrubbed and capped like an official,
This ox, this horse, bedecked in robes.
QIU HU: Young lady, if you refuse, I’ll go home with you and complete the matrimonial arrangements. How about that?
MEIYING (sings:)
[Penultimate Coda]
Within that cattle stall,
How can a genteel marriage be arranged?
In a crow’s nest,
How can a phoenix brood be raised?
On paper made of silkworm cocoons,
A wedding register is difficult to keep.
The squat mulberry bushes
Will never grow into lofty trees with branches intertwining.
In the hemp-soaking pits,
The paired-eye fish will not survive.47
From a windlass crank,
Linked jade beads cannot be fashioned.
And a depraved fellow such as you, I’m sure,
The earth destroys and heaven extirpates.
QIU HU: Stop talking like that, young lady. If you still refuse, I’m not going to fool around anymore. I have no choice but to beat you to death….
MEIYING: Whom are you going to beat?
QIU HU: You!
MEIYING (sings:)
[Third to Last Coda]
If you so much as peek at me,
I’ll brand you on the forehead.
Tug at me,
And I’ll lop off your hands and feet.
Lay a finger on me,
And I’ll crack your backbone.
Pinch me,
And I’ll have you banished a thousand miles away.48
Embrace me,
And I’ll have you mount the wooden donkey at the crossroads.49
Aiya! You who will suffer countless hackings from the law:
I have not torn up your family burial grounds,
Nor killed off your kith and kin.
QIU HU: This woman has no manners at all! If you refuse, we’ll just forget about it. Why do you have to curse me like that?
MEIYING (raises the mulberry basket and sings:)
[Coda]
With bulging eyes, the wretch looks on as I berate this corpse of his;
Shamefaced, he watches me curse his forefathers.
Who told you to try to seduce a genteel woman in the mulberry garden?
Even if your ancestors from seven generations back leaped out,
They could not come to your assistance. (Exits.)
QIU HU: After suffering this hail of abuse, I’ll take my gold ingot and go home to care for my mother. (Recites:)
When I saw her lovely looks and graceful air,
In spite of myself I became stirred.
Words I used to dally with her,
But alas, she cursed my ancestors from seven generations back! (Exits.)
ACT 4
MOTHER QIU (enters, recites:)
She rises with the sun to gather tender mulberry leaves.
By midday, the basket is not yet full.
Only then would one come to realize that those who wear silken dresses
Have never been mulberry maids.
I am Qiu Hu’s mother. My daughter-in-law went to gather mulberry leaves. It’s getting late—why hasn’t she returned home yet?
(QIU HU enters dressed as an official, followed by attendants.)
QIU HU: I am Qiu Hu, a humble official. Here I am at my family gate; I will just go straight in. Mother, your son has returned home.
MOTHER QIU (startled:) Who is this high official?
QIU HU: I am your son, Qiu Hu.
MOTHER QIU: My son, you have become an official! You have almost been the death of me!
QIU HU (presenting her with the gold ingot:) Mother, I have become an official and now serve as a minister of the state. When the Duke of Lu sent me home with honors, he gave me this gold ingot whereby I can support my aged mother.
MOTHER QIU: My son, we’ve had some hard times these past years.
QIU HU: Mother, where is Meiying?
MOTHER QIU (sadly:) My son, you have been gone for ten years. Had it not been for Meiying’s support, I would have starved to death long ago. Meiying has gone today to gather mulberry leaves in the garden.
QIU HU: Mother, where is Meiying?
MOTHER QIU: She has gone to gather mulberry leaves and will be back anytime now.
QIU HU: Ah! The wench I attempted to seduce a short while ago in the mulberry garden—could she be my wife? If so, I’ll know what to do when she returns.
(MEIYING enters, flustered.)
MEIYING: Let me hurry! Hurry! Hurry! (Sings:)
[Shuangdiao mode: Song of New Water]
If this were not the fourth month, when we are busy with farm chores,
I would have seized that worthless fellow
And not let him off lightly.
But ravens were soaring in the darkened sky,
Silkworms had come to age, and the barley was soon to wither;
And there was nothing else but an endless row of tender mulberries and a stretch of wooden houses.
At that urgent moment, nary a neighbor was seen upon the village paths;
I also feared someone might have witnessed—oh, what an abominable encounter! (Speaks:)
Ours is not a family of village dignitaries. Why is there a horse hitched before our gate? Let me put my mulberry basket in the silkworm nursery and take a look. This whoreson is indeed without shame! He tried to seduce me in the mulberry garden, and because I resisted his advances, he now comes openly to my house! (Sings:)
[Song of Sweet Water]
This wretch bullies the weak, betting on his power.
What gall! What nerve!
How dare he come to our village?
In spite of myself, my chest is bursting with rancor!
Here I come, taking big strides, tugging my clothes,
And lunging forward to seize his silken robe
So I can take him to court and clear up this matter.
(MEIYING seizes QIU HU.)
MOTHER QIU: Daughter-in-law, don’t haul him off. It’s Qiu Hu, who has returned home.
(MEIYING releases him, sings:)
[Song of Breaking a Cassia Branch]
Ah! So this is the filial Zeng Shen,50 who has returned home with honors!
(MEIYING goes out the door and calls to QIU HU.)
MEIYING: Qiu Hu, come here!
QIU HU: Why are you calling me, Meiying?
MEIYING: Have you ever seduced the wife of another man?
QIU HU (turning aside:) I have been exposed! There is no other way out. … Meiying, when have I ever seduced another woman?
MEIYING (sings:)
Why did you trifle with someone else’s wife?
Try to seduce another man’s woman?
Judging from your foolish and absurd conduct,
How can you be worthy of the black boots and the ivory tablet?
The purple sash and the gold medallion?51
You have won wealth and position
And have become a pillar of the court. (Speaks:)
Do you know how I have supported your mother these past ten years? (Sings:)
How you have utterly disgraced your wife, who’s endured so much poverty at home!
I have suffered endless sorrow; I have been tortured by endless longing.
How could I have known that for one night’s affection
I would suffer desolation for half a lifetime?
MOTHER QIU: Daughter-in-law, come here. (MEIYING and QIU HU approach her.) The ruler of Lu presented this gold ingot to my son so he could support me in my old age. Since you have served me well these past ten years, allow me to express my gratitude by giving you this gold ingot. Please accept it!
MEIYING: Mother, I dare not accept it. You keep it and make hairpins from it.
(MEIYING goes out the door alone and then calls to QIU HU.) Qiu Hu, come here!
QIU HU: What is it this time?
MEIYING (sings:)
[Fake Cards]
You thief! I have caught you red-handed!
Ah! You handsome good-for nothing,52 don’t even try to protest!
This gold ingot was presented to you, a high official, by the Lu ruler
So it could be taken home to support your mother. (Speaks:)
Had the gold been presented to another woman—(sings:)
[Pea Leaves Are Yellow]
She would have accepted the gold
And yielded to the wishes of a talented man like you.
Did you care if your dear old mother died from hunger?
When good fortune comes, one’s spirit soars!
When talents are lofty, words become forceful!
But you should have recalled the line from The Classic of Poetry, “There was a girl longing for the spring.”53
Let’s talk it over at some length:
Did you not propose a rendezvous “among the mulberries,”
From where we would depart for “the banks of the River Qi”?54 (Speaks:)
Qiu Hu, have you ever seduced the wife of another man?
QIU HU: How suspicious you are!
MEIYING (sings:)
[Paddling on the River]
Did the fair lady accept your offer?
(She picks up the mulberry basket, sings:)
Well, I guess I will take my basket and go to gather mulberry leaves.
In vain will I blame my father and mother
For having chosen such a fine husband.
He was such an impressive-looking man;
After that single night of painted candles in the bridal chamber,
How could I have expected this would happen?
[Joy in the Palace]
You are only expecting conjugal bliss within the golden palace,
Yet I have squandered my flowering youth on you, you man of substance!
Now I will prefer to roam the streets every day in hunger,
Begging for leftover scraps and cold gruel.
Grant me the divorce papers!
QIU HU: Why are you asking me for divorce papers?
MEIYING (sings:)
Let us go right away to court and clear up this matter,
So that one day the story may be told of how
“The woman aspires to faithfulness and chastity,
While the man mimics talent and virtue.”55
MOTHER QIU: Qiu Hu, what is all this bickering about?
QIU HU: Mother, Meiying refuses to take me back!
MOTHER QIU: Daughter-in-law, why do you refuse to take him back?
MEIYING: Qiu Hu, you listen:
My faithful heart is as pure as snow.
When you offered me the gold, I refused.
Had I responded to your advances with gay conversation,
Who would have believed that for half my life my only companion has been a single lamp?
Qiu Hu, hand over the divorce papers! Hand over the divorce papers!
QIU HU: Meiying, you are wrong! I have brought your official insignia, your team of horses, and you grand carriage. You are my noble lady. How can you bear to leave me?
MEIYING (sings:)
[Wild Geese Alight]
Who would touch this official insignia?
Who would marvel at this embroidered robe and golden crown? (Speaks:)
Even if I had them, (sings:)
I would store them tight in a trunk
And never dare to put them on.
[Victory Song]
Ah! The wind stirs once more and fills the garden with fragrance.
(SQUIRE LI enters along with LUO, his wife, and servants.)
LI: She has accepted my betrothal gift, and yet she abuses me! Can I just forget about the whole matter? I have brought several brawny attendants along and will force her to marry me!
LUO AND WIFE: Today is a fine day. We’ll help you with the abduction! (They see MEIYING approaching.) Isn’t this our daughter, Meiying?
MEIYING (sings:)
Their coming is like adding frost to snow.
Earlier, I refused to yield even to a top scholar;56
How dare you, cowherd, harbor similar hopes?
QIU HU (shouting:) Hey there fellow, what are you doing in my house?
LI (taken by surprise:) Aiya! He has become an official and no longer serves in the army! I heard you’d returned home with honors, and so I have come especially to offer my congratulations.
LUO AND WIFE: Pooh! You said he was dead!
LI: He’s not dead, but I soon will be!
QIU HU: So that wretch has fabricated this story in order to steal my wife! Attendants, place him under arrest and take him to Juye county. Urge the magistrate there to pass a heavy sentence on him!
(ATTENDANTS bind him.)
LI: This wasn’t my idea; it was your in-laws’. They owed me forty piculs of grain and offered to sell me their daughter to even accounts.
QIU HU: This is even more reprehensible! It is clear you have been giving out loans illegally and then forced your debtors to sell their daughters to you. Attendants, go to the magistrate of Juye county and tell him to pass the following sentence: forty heavy strokes on the back, three months in jail, and a fine of one thousand piculs of grain to be given to victims of famine. Tell the magistrate not to deal with him lightly!
ATTENDANTS: Yes sir.
LI: I yearned foolishly for a night in the vernal bridal chamber. Who’d have thought that the person with the pounding mallet on the golden roster would materialize?
LUO AND WIFE: How ashamed we are to be in such a mess! We had better go along with Squire Li to Juye county and then slip away. (Recite:)
We shall do like the tortoise,
And withdraw into our shells so as not to be seen. (Exit together.)
MOTHER QIU: Daughter-in-law, if you refuse to take him back, I will kill myself!
MEIYING (sings:)
I am so flustered,
My heart beats like a fawn in flight:
Let us talk this over. (Speaks:)
Mother, I will take him back.
MOTHER QIU: Daughter-in-law, you have taken him back, and I’ll not kill myself!
MEIYING: Fine! Fine! Fine! (Sings:)
We womenfolk give in too easily!
MOTHER QIU: Daughter-in-law, since you have agreed to take back Qiu Hu, go comb your hair and freshen up a bit. Then you and Qiu Hu may come and pay obeisance to me.
(MEIYING exits and then reenters with new clothes. MEIYING and QIU HU first pay obeisance to MOTHER QIU, then to each other.)
MEIYING (sings:)
[Mandarin Ducks Coda]
If it were not for fear that no one would serve dear Mother in her old age,
The bond of husband and wife would have been almost hopelessly broken.
I shall from now on remove my bramble hairpin
And change into finer attire,
So that a lifetime of glory and splendor
Will be ours to share.
It was not because I pretended to be stubborn,
Or was putting on a show of defiance,
But the principle of wifely authority has to be upheld.57
Compare me not with Luo Fu,58
Who only told tall tales about her husband.
QIU HU: Of all the joys in the world, nothing can be compared with having a mother and son together, a husband and wife living in harmony. Let us slaughter a lamb, prepare some wine, and commence a celebration feast! (Recites:)
I recall at the time I was just married,
When the draft officer suddenly took me away.
With a broken heart, I left behind wife and mother,
But things have miraculously changed these past ten years.
By a stroke of luck I have won success—
Having doffed my battle dress, now I wear a brocade robe.
The ruler, out of kindness, bestowed upon me a gold ingot
So I can provide my dear old mother with delicacies in her old age.
&
nbsp; While passing by the mulberry garden, I chanced upon my own wife,
Pretending to be infatuated, I tried hard to seduce her.59
But her virtue and faithfulness never changed,
Her name deserves to go down in history.
To this day, if you should pass by Juye county
And ask an old-timer,
He still can tell you the story of Qiu Hu of Lu, who dallied with his wife.
Topic: Meiying, a Virtuous Wife, Remains Ever Faithful
Title: Qiu Hu, Official of Lu, Tries to Seduce His Own Wife60
NOTES
THE TRANSLATORS ARE MEMBERS OF PROFESSOR WU-CHI LIU’S YUAN DRAMA CLASS AT INDIANA UNIVERSITY.
1. Qiu Hu is obviously suggesting that they should take refuge in the shade together.
2. Mao 107, Maoshi zhushu 5C.206–8, in Chongkan Songben shisanjing zhushu fu jiaokan ji.
3. Since “The Song of Qiu Hu” (Qiu Hu xing 秋胡行) is a “Music Bureau” (Yuefu 樂府) title that once had music attached to it, some poems bear that title merely through musical associations and have nothing to do with Qiu Hu. For example, “The Song of Qiu Hu” by Cao Cao 曹操 (155–220) describes “wandering with immortals” (youxian 遊仙) (Lu Qinli, Xian Qin Han Wei Jin Nanbeichao shi, 1:349–50), and another poem with that title by Cao Pi 曹丕 (187–226) traces a man’s longing for a woman (ibid., 396).
4. Yuan Hongdao, Yuan Hongdao ji jianjiao, 2:579.
5. For Liu Zhiji’s comment, see Liu Zhiji, Shitong tongshi 23.90. Zhu Youdun’s comment is cited in Xu Fuming, Yuandai zaju yishu, 55.
6. Sun Kaidi’s view is discussed in Shi Junbao, Shi Junbao xiqu ji, 1–3.
7. Zang Maoxun, YQX, 3:1494–1526.
8. That is, her maiden name is Liu. Throughout the play, Qiu Hu’s mother is called Old Woman (Bu’er 卜兒), a stock character in Yuan drama. For the sake of clarity, we adopt “Mother Qiu” as her name.
9. The appellation Dahu 大戶, rendered here as “Squire,” refers to a well-to-do family (literally, “grand household”). It is also the name given to the head of the family.
10. A son-in-law is only a banbian 半邊 or banzi 半子, or one-half of a son.
11. That is, the feast that takes place on the third day after the marriage.
12. Meiying refers to her mother-in-law affectionately as nainai 奶奶, which we render as “Mother.”
13. “The Crying Osprey,” the first poem in the Classic of Poetry, seems to be an epithalamium. The crying osprey is the affective beginning image; the poem unfolds as the quest of the beloved and the celebration of union. Described as “joyful but not licentious” (le erbu yin 樂而不淫) in Lunyu zhushu 3.20, the poem is said to epitomize the proper relationship between men and women.