by Tang Xianzu
(Enter Li Yi)
LI YI (To the tune of Jinlongcong):
I see singing orioles
And flying wild geese,
But not my wife any more.
By luck I get her hairpins,
The sight of which
Strikes a cord in my heart.
(In the pattern of Zhegutian)
“My wife suffers a tragic and bitter fate,
But I still wouldn’t believe what I heard.
So delicate and devoted,
How can she remarry and sell the hairpins?
Lamenting over the present and recalling the past
I seem to see her putting them on her hair at fifteen.
Do I wake or sleep?
I put away the hairpins in tears.”
I’m Li Yi. General Lu tries to force me to yield to him through power and influence. I had been out of contact with my wife for a long time, so I didn’t know how she was until I heard of her remarriage and got the hairpins sold by her. I’m shocked and nearly grieved to death. I’ve nothing to do today and feel much bored, so I tell Qiuhong to take out the hairpins. I’d like to look at them more closely.
(Enter Qiuhong with the hairpins)
QIUHONG:
“The jade hairpins
Are taken out of the golden case.”
Master, here’re the hairpins.
LI YI (To the tune of Jiangtoujingui):
Holding the hairpins in hand,
I shed a flood of cold tears.
They’re winded with red silk threads
By my wife’s slim fingers
For fear the pair of swallows might separate.
As we are destined to be a couple,
Why are we separated like this?
Through sophisticated handcraftsmanship,
Lifelike swallows are carved
Out of the superb jade.
The swallows accompanied her,
The swallows accompanied her
Day and night.
Having the eyebrows gently painted,
She would stand still before the mirror,
With the hairpins quivering on her head.
QIUHONG:
What is the value of the hairpins as you cherish them so much?
LI YI (To the previous tune):
Ornamenting the beautiful hair,
The hairpins added much grace.
With paper flowers adorning the jade pendants
And silk threads stringing the jade pearls,
The hairpins were neatly set.
We played the flute on warm days,
And looked at our happy reflections in the mirror.
We admired beautiful flowers
And walked on the green grass,
With a love beyond description.
When it got dark,
Her beauty was set off by dusk clouds.
By the candlelight,
She took down the hairpins
And spoke in a gentle and soft voice.
QIUHONG:
It’s unexpected that she should have sold the hairpins.
LI YI (To the previous tune):
People say beautiful ladies suffer a bad fate,
But you’re living a happy life.
Where are you at present?
Are you enjoying yourself with your new man?
You take our marriage too lightly
By deserting me
And remarrying another man.
Who is fortunate
To be your new sweetheart?
You forget all about our love.
It must have brought you grief
To have the hairpins sold.
You rush with haste
Into the life with another man,
Leaving the happy time with me behind.
QIUHONG:
Why are you looking at the hairpins? Just agree to General Lu’s marriage arrangement.
LI YI (To the previous tune):
I’m talented but not cruel-hearted;
I make complaint but have attachment.
She didn’t give much thought
To her second marriage.
Recalling the past and thinking it over,
I believe she’s far-sighted and clever
And will cherish our love vow forever.
She wouldn’t bring blame on herself
By reducing me to a lonely and homeless life.
Maybe she is misguided by the dreams she had!
It’s our fate
To have met through the hairpins.
We were such a happy couple
That I doubt the rumour I heard
About her easy virtue.
QIUHONG:
It’s good that these are just rumours. If these were true, I might have lost my Huansha as well!
LI YI (To the tune of Dayagu):
She demeans herself
By deserting me
For the rest of her life.
She should have endured her loneliness
To wait for my success.
LI YI, QIUHONG:
Holding the hairpins,
I make the love vow.
LI YI:
Qiuhong, the Huos must have come down in the world!
(To the previous tune)
Though many things may happen,
She should have thought well before she acts
And been able to endure loneliness.
My wife, do you believe I’m really taken into the Lus as the son-in-law?
I live a lonely life in detention,
In fear of being forced into a marriage.
LI YI, QIUHONG:
Holding the hairpins,
I make the love vow.
(Enter the old waiter with an invitation card)
WAITER:
“I come to invite the brilliant young man
To admire our temple’s peonies.”
I’m the waiter of the public house. Tomorrow the two scholars Wei and Cui will have a dinner in the Chongjing Temple, and they ask me to invite Military Consultant Li to admire peonies together with them. We just say it’s the Buddhist Master that invites him for fear that General Lu may prevent him from going to the banquet.
(Enter the gateman)
GATEMAN:
Hey! Who’s at the gate?
WAITER:
The Buddhist Master Wuxiang of the Chongjing Temple invites Military Consultant Li to a banquet.
GATEMAN:
Where’s the banquet to be held?
WAITER:
Where do you think it can be? It’s the Buddhist Master who invites Li.
(Gateman reports to Li Yi)
LI YI (Reads the invitation card):
I see. I’ll go tomorrow as the Master is an old acquaintance of mine.
GATEMAN:
General Lu has ordered that wherever you go, there should be ten armed military men with cudgels to escort you.
LI YI:
All right.
Detained in the powerful general’s residence,
I hope to relieve boredom by chatting with friends.
Forever separated from my wife,
I begin a lonely and woeful life.
Scene Fifty-One
Meeting the Gallant Knight
(Enter the Buddhist Master)
BUDDHIST MASTER (To the tune of Sudijindang):
Fragrant peonies in the Buddhist temple
Come into full bloom in late spring.
The flowers and grass in the yard add much grace;
How many people can enjoy such beautiful sights?
I’m the Buddhist Master Wuxiang in the Chongjing Temple. When I finish my meditation session, I see flocks of people coming to admire blossoming peonies. So I’ll ask my disciples to greet the sightseers. Where are my disciples?
(Enter two disciples)
DISCIPLES A and B (To the previous tune):
Monks are stirred by spring sights as well;
Even in meditation they smell of the fragrance.
The shimmering mirror of clear pond water
Reflects the flowers and branches to perfection.
Here we are, Master. Why don’t we pluck a twig of peonies and present it in a bottle before the statue of Buddha?
BUDDHIST MASTER:
Which one is the most beautiful?
DISCIPLE B:
There are more than a hundred colours of peonies including red, rosy, pink and purple. The first choice for you is the breed of the Intoxicated Princess Yang or the Plump Beauty Xishi — either is the most beautiful.
BUDDHIST MASTER:
Nonsense!
DISCIPLE A:
How about the fair and plain-coloured breeds like the Avalokitesvara Face or the Buddha Head?
BUDDHIST MASTER:
All right. People flock here to admire the blooming flowers. You two stay here to receive the guests. I’ll go back to my meditation. It’s true indeed,
“Among the fragrant flowers in multiple colours
Stands out the moonlit datura in heavenly rain.
At the sight of the pure yellow peony in breeze,
You don’t need to watch the red or purple ones.”
(Exit)
DISCIPLE B:
Brother, greeting and entertaining those sightseers will give us great troubles. The two scholars Cui and Wei went to invite Military Consultant Li to a banquet, so we may as well lock the meditation hall and enjoy ourselves elsewhere. It’s true indeed,
“Wine makes sightseers intoxicated;
Beautiful sights make monks unsettled.”
(Exeunt)
(Enter Wei Xiaqing and Cui Yunming)
CUI YUNMING (To the tune of Xidijinyin):
Green leaves enhance the beauty of charming flowers,
Fully nourished by spring flavours.
WEI XIAQING:
The flowers are delicate
With layers of petals
Like red clouds.
CUI YUNMING:
Xiaqing, the banquet is ready, and Mr. Li will be here soon. What flourishing peonies!
(Enter Li Yi, followed by guards with cudgels)
LI YI (To the tune of Gaoyangtaiyin):
In a sunny day of blooming flowers,
With incense smoke curling up from the palace,
The temple is permeated with Buddhist splendour.
With thick clouds floating in the sky,
I’m not afraid of getting drunk and catching cold.
Hearing singing orioles everywhere,
I’m to meet old friends here.
I watch the palace in the distance,
Where there are diaphanous long curtains
In richly ornamented mansions.
(Greet Wei Xiaqing and Cui Yunming)
WEI XIAQING, CUI YUNMING (Laugh):
Junyu, we’ve not seen each other for a long time!
How much leisure do we have in spring?
Now we admire the numerous fragrant flowers
With flying bees and butterflies,
While richly-dressed people are enjoying music
In the beautiful and charming springtime.
LI YI:
As time flies when I work at court,
I long to enjoy spring breeze and flowers all year round.
WEI XIAQING, CUI YUNMING:
By the Chenxiang Pavilion,
The Tang emperor and his empress used to enjoy flowers
And order a famous talented poet to compose poems.
(Greet each other)
CUI YUNMING:
“A swallow returning to nest is out of flock;
WEI XIAQING:
We’re afraid that the spring will soon be past;
LI YI:
I’m lonely and melancholy, confined in the official residence;
WEI XIAQING, CUI YUNMING, LI YI:
We meet here again amidst peonies.”
CUI YUNMING:
Mr. Li, we’ve not seen each other for several years since we parted in Qinchuan. You’ve forgotten all about us!
WEI XIAQING:
We invite you to admire flowers today. Let’s forget about it and just drink.
GUARD:
Why does scholar Wei hold the banquet in the name of the Buddhist Master?
WEI XIAQING:
You don’t know that the Master is nicknamed “man shy of flowers”.
(Enter the waiter)
WAITER:
“In the flower world of a Buddhist temple,
Enjoyment of spring sights must go with wine.”
Here is the wine.
(Wei Xiaqing and Cui Yunming fill the cup)
WEI XIAQING (To the tune of Gaoyangtaixu):
Verdant leaves
And delicate flowers
Enhance the beauty of spring sights.
Extravagant wagons are rumbling
Through the capital’s downtown streets.
Amidst roaring laughter,
Beautiful ladies are sure to hope
That spring won’t so soon be past.
There are various peony flowers
That display their beauty all at once.
LI YI (To the previous tune):
Who plants
The intoxicated crane-head peonies
And the fainting sandalwood peonies
With their overlapping petals and charming pistils?
The purple peonies turn crimson,
Surrounded by other peony flowers.
On sunny days,
The red-gauze peonies are not in full bloom,
As if still in a dream.
A fringed gauze tent is needed,
To shade the sun-facing peonies in the shape of rainbows.
CUI YUNMING (To the previous tune):
Please cherish
The misty camel-brown peonies
And the bright-orange peonies,
Which do not have green tight buds.
The dusk rain and the morning clouds
Provide them with rich nourishment.
In leisure,
The Flower Goddess will doubt that the flowers are dyed,
As if they are taken from the fairyland.
Who’s injected such vitality into the peonies
That they are entitled flower queens in the world?
LI YI (To the previous tune):
We admire flowers,
Some of which tilt like jade plates
While others cluster like velvet balls,
All enclosed in beautifully carved railings.
In their bright colours,
They are like floating clouds.
In addition,
Some are touched by people,
To bear finger prints on the petals;
Others are clipped off gently,
To be presented to lovers.
WEI XIAQING (To the previous tune):
Admiring flowers and chanting poems,
You wait for your beloved beauty
Amidst the sightseeing ladies,
Singers and dancers.
When they approach the flowers,
Their clothes become fragrant.
We’re afraid
That the flowers will be snipped off as gifts,
But we’re happy that they rank the first.
How can we get the beauties
To share with us the enjoyable moments?
CUI YUNMING:
Junyu, how can we not admire such beautiful flowers? But a fragrant plain white peony in the corner is neglected by people!
(To the previous tune)
A lovable flower it is
With a unique flavour
Of plain colour
And beautiful shape.
It comes from a fairyland,
With no one to share with it the spring breeze.
WEI XIAQING:
Ironically,
No one appreciates
Its beauty and tenderness.
WEI XIAQING, CUI YUNMING:
Mr. Li,
; Although it suffers endless bitterness,
It gives off faint fragrance.
WEI XIAQING:
Junyu, we’ve come to admire flowers today. What about collecting ready-made lines for a quatrain on the peonies?
LI YI:
Excellent!
CUI YUNMING:
Will you start first, Junyu?
LI YI:
“To cherish the late spring sights,
CUI YUNMING:
We rush here to appreciate the peonies.
WEI XIAQING:
Let me finish the quatrain,
But there is a lonely flower
Attracting no one to admire.”
(Li Yi sighs)
CUI YUNMING:
Why are you sighing? Let’s enjoy ourselves over the corridor.
(They walk)
(Enter the Gallant Knight, with a short-haired Tartar servant holding a sword)
GALLANT KNIGHT (Laughs broadly):
What flourishing peony flowers!
“The fingerprint peony in full bloom
Radiates the most charm among all the flowers.
Its red petals are spring’s hair-bun;
Its green leaves are spring’s sleeves.”
I’m a gallant knight with my name concealed. I hear the heartless Military Consultant Li is admiring flowers here. Where are they drinking now?
(To the tune of Northern Xinshuiling)
For their gathering in the spring breeze,
I thought that they would hold a grand banquet.
But the sour scholars are here
Neither to inscribe names,
Nor to compose poems,
But to have idle chats about this or that.
It’s very easy for me to kill the heartless man. However,
“One should not take up the axe if he likes the trees;
One should build shelters for delicate flowers.”
I’ll first listen to the scholars’ talk.
CUI YUNMING (To the tune of Bubujiao):
Miss Huo is really wretched.
LI YI (In a low voice):
How is she doing now?
WEI XIAQING:
She sheds tears of blood all day long.
As time goes by,
She becomes lonely and destitute,
Without getting any help from you.
LI YI (In a low voice):
I hear she’s remarried.
CUI YUNMING:
She’s determined to stick to you,
But how can you desert her like this?
(Enter the guard)
GUARD:
Why did you say “stick to you”, Scholar Cui? It’s none of your business. Here comes a man in a yellow robe.
GALLANT KNIGHT (To the tune of Northern Zheguiling):
He’s so graceful and elegant;
No wonder he deserts his wife
And finds another sweetheart.
Frivolous as he is,
How can he grudge about his wife?
Hearing his injustice done to his devoted love,
I’m more sympathetic for his wife.