by Tang Xianzu
(Enter He Xiangu, carrying a broom)
HE XIANGU:
What a gale that sends the fallen petals to the wind!
(To the tune of Shanghuashi)
With a broom of phoenix feathers,
I sweep the fallen petals at the heavenly gate.
The wind has swept the fallen petals,
Which fall down in a cloud
And block the way to the heavenly gate.
(Greets Lü Dongbin)
Where are you going, Master Lü Dongbin?
LÜ DONGBIN:
Congratulations on your being enlisted in the Immortals at the decree of Emperor Donghua. Zhang Guolao the Immortal has ordered me to go to the earthly world to convert another man lest there be no petal-sweeper since you have been promoted. What a task he has assigned me!
HE XIANGU:
Master Lü Dongbin, it would be a great feat in your path to immortality. By the way, where are you going to convert a man? Will you be in time for the Peach Banquet?
(To the tune of Yao)
Do not miss your target by a hair’s breadth,
Nor drink too much in Hermit Donglao’s house —
Please look up to the sky.
Master Lü Dongbin,
Let me know when you have found the man.
If you delay,
I’ll have to sweep the petals and sigh.
(Exit)
LÜ DONGBIN:
Now that He Xiangu is gone, I’d better carry my parcel and porcelain pillow and go on with my trip by riding the cloud.
While the pillow is where the head rests,
The porcelain breeds benevolence at best.
(Exit)
(Enter Attendant)
ATTENDANT:
At night the clear lake waters lie,
That flow upward into the sky.
I’ll sell wine on credit by the Dongting Lake,
To customers from boats nearby.
(Laughter within)
VOICE WITHIN:
Brother, you’ve sworn that you’ll never sell wine on credit, but you’re going back on your promise again.
ATTENDANT:
The credit is due in a month, but people buy a boatload. I’ve started a big inn in front of the Yueyang Pavilion. As the Dongting Lake abounds in water, my wine is diluted. These days no one is coming to buy my wine even on credit. Absurd! Absurd!
VOICE WITHIN:
Brother, here come two customers to buy on credit.
ATTENDANT:
Come in, please. Come in, please.
(Enter Customers A and B)
CUSTOMERS A AND B:
A wayfarer all my life,
Half drunk in autumn days.
Get us some wine, man.
(Attendant responds)
(Customers A and B examine the wine-kettle)
How is it that the characters “Dongting” are inscribed on the kettle?
ATTENDANT:
The kettle is to contain lake water.
CUSTOMER A:
Well, with our holding capacity, we can gulp down several Dongting Lakes.
ATTENDANT:
I’ll see which of you two can drink more.
CUSTOMER A:
As I do my business on the Poyang Lake, I can drink eight hundred cups.
CUSTOMER B:
As I come from the Lujiang River, I can drink three hundred cups.
ATTENDANT:
In this way, you can’t consume much of my wine. After eight hundred cups for the Poyang guest and three hundred cups for the Lujiang guest, my kettle is still more than half full.
CUSTOMERS A AND B:
What a huge kettle!
(Drink and sing to their hearts’ content)
ATTENDANT:
Here comes a Taoist priest.
(Enter Lü Dongbin)
LÜ DONGBIN (To the tune of Zhonglü Fendie’er):
In the bleak autumn days,
The clouds are floating over towering trees,
Across the world from the Immortal Penglai Island.
On the morning rays,
On the evening glow,
I move on step by step.
With a gourd upon my back,
I’m dressed in appealing pale yellow.
(To the tune of Zuichunfeng)
With a warm and carefree heart,
I talk with people who have their minds to bare.
I now descend the mount with my eyes wide open,
And count the places here and there —
Here are the Three Chus and Three Qis,
There are the Three Qins and Three Jins,
But nowhere can one find the Three Wus and Three Shus.
While I am talking to myself, I see the Dongting Lake lying ahead. What a magnificent Yueyang Pavilion!
(To the tune of Hongxiuxie)
In the fading glow along the river, a lonely owl flies;
In Xiao-Xiang regions, clouds hang over Cangwu.
Amid drizzling rain at dusk,
The ponds and lakes are muttering.
From sunny peaks I hear people chat in a fair;
By misty waters I see people fishing here and there.
With cool eyes I explore the human hearts.
Here’s a big inn. Where’s the attendant?
ATTENDANT (Responds):
Come in, please. Come in, please.
(Brings in wine)
LÜ DONGBIN (To the tune of Yingxianke):
As I played the iron flute in Yellow Crane Tower,
So I drink the village wine in the Yueyang Pavilion.
What a beautiful sight! What a beautiful sight! With the Hanyang River in front of me, I can take a look at the Xiao-Xiang Rivers and Mount Cangwu upstream, as well as the area north of Dongting and east of the Yangtze downstream. Will you please come here?
ATTENDANT:
What can I do for you?
LÜ DONGBIN:
Come and make a bow
To the respected Ruler of Dongting Lake now.
ATTENDANT:
Nonsense!
(Gabbles of wild geese within)
LÜ DONGBIN:
I hear the wild geese gabble on the strands
And see a lonely sail in the horizon.
Over there the Dongting wanderer sadly stands
As he has missed the boat in the setting sun.
(In a drunken manner)
The wine is brewed by the immortals and for the immortals. How can you enjoy the pleasure of drinking!
CUSTOMERS A AND B (Annoyed):
Oops! Oops! As the saying goes, “Officials rank first; customers rank second.” Aren’t we better off than you? Dressed in silk and satin, we eat delicacies and pay in silver. Just look at yourself! Not to mention your food, your dress is simply rags! While we are somber and you are drunk, we won’t even care to help you to your feet.
LÜ DONGBIN (Laughs):
(To the tune of Shiliuhua)
I will not argue with you when you say
That you won’t even care to help me to my feet;
I am drunk in your sombre eye.
In fact you are much more snobbish than I,
And much more malicious than I.
CUSTOMERS A AND B:
This rustic fox of a Taoist priest is hurting us with his vicious tongue. If you don’t get out at once, we’ll tear your dress to pieces!
LÜ DONGBIN:
Why should you break my belt
And tear my dress like a beast,
Calling me a rustic fox of a Taoist priest?
CUSTOMERS A AND B:
Ridiculous! Ridiculous! Even his gourd scarcely holds any medicine, but smells of wine.
LÜ DONGBIN (To the tune of Dou’anchun):
You laugh at my gourd that holds wine
And bits and pieces of souvenirs of mine.
You’d better stand erect
And I’ll tell your fortune in the Taoist line.
CUSTOMERS A AND B:
What fortu
ne is there to tell? There is nothing but wine, sex, wealth and temper. They are the inherent traits of human beings.
LÜ DONGBIN:
You regard them as the inherent traits of human beings, but
Wine will corrupt your bowels;
CUSTOMERS A AND B:
What about temper?
LÜ DONGBIN:
Bad temper will burst your breast.
CUSTOMERS A AND B:
What about wealth?
LÜ DONGBIN:
Greed for wealth keeps man to gold all his life;
CUSTOMERS A AND B:
What about sex?
LÜ DONGBIN:
Lust for sex keeps man to his wife.
(To the tune of Shangxiaolou)
Those four evils benefit man the least
And turn man into beast.
CUSTOMERS A AND B:
It’s hard to say. To serve the emperor brings wealth and distinction; to have a wife and children brings happiness. Wine, sex, wealth and temper are so essential that no one can tear himself away from them.
LÜ DONGBIN:
You only care about your emperor,
About your children
And about your dearest wife.
Once you cease to breathe,
Where do you know you have come
And where do you know you will go?
I’m worrying for you
And thinking in your place
That nothing will leave a trace.
CUSTOMERS A AND B:
In a minute, neither will you be able to tell yang from yin nor will you be able to tell day from night.
LÜ DONGBIN (Smiles):
And will you be able to tell?
(To the tune of Yao)
Can you tell me what is a crow in the month of Hyades?
CUSTOMERS A AND B:
It comes out when the moon is darkened.
LÜ DONGBIN:
What is a rabbit in the day of the Scorpius?
CUSTOMERS A AND B (Think a while):
That’s what you vomit in your room when you’ve got drunk.
LÜ DONGBIN:
Tell me
What is the noon of midnight?
What is the leftover of October?
What is the beginning of an hour?
CUSTOMERS A AND B:
Why are we listening to him? He’s over-drunk.
LÜ DONGBIN (Smiles):
When I ask,
I ask mediocre people who are tongue-tied.
Is it true
That the priest alone is a man of pride?
CUSTOMERS AND ATTENDANT (Look at Lü Dongbin’s parcel):
There is a porcelain pillow in his parcel. Let’s break it to pieces.
LÜ DONGBIN:
How on earth can you break it?
CUSTOMERS A AND B:
What is it made of that we cannot break it?
LÜ DONGBIN (To the tune of Baihezi):
The mould is made of original clay,
Placed in the crescent-moon furnace,
Sealed with seven types of soil
And tempered with water and fire.
CUSTOMERS A AND B:
How do you kindle the fire?
LÜ DONGBIN (To the tune of Yao):
I apply the bellows to smelt the mould,
And turn the mercury into pellets of porcelain.
The pink pellets are fired into special tints.
The pillow thus made has no seams at either end.
CUSTOMERS A AND B (Laugh):
In that case, the holes at the pillow-ends are for you to relieve your headaches, aren’t they?
LÜ DONGBIN (To the tune of Yao):
This pillow stops the winds from reaching the earth,
And leans on the sun and the moon to reach the skies.
CUSTOMERS A AND B:
Now you can gaze at the vacant brightness.
LÜ DONGBIN:
What’s vacant for me?
When I lay my head on the pillow,
By and by, the world is at one with my heart and soul.
Will you have a try at the pillow, gentlemen?
CUSTOMERS A AND B:
The pillow is for a bachelor.
LÜ DONGBIN (Smiles):
I don’t think so.
(To the tune of Yao)
It supports the pretty maid
And makes good man and wife.
CUSTOMERS A AND B:
What’s the pillow good for?
LÜ DONGBIN:
With good news to find,
The pillow helps the sleeper change his mind.
CUSTOMERS A AND B:
Is it possible? We don’t believe it.
LÜ DONGBIN:
You don’t have the luck by fate. I must be off now.
(To the tune of Kuaihuosan)
I’m daring not because I have a miraculous sword in my sleeve,
But because I sing, travel alone and never grieve.
I recite poems and fly across the Dongting Lake
To convert those who have the luck.
But who will take my advice? Who will take?
(Exit)
CUSTOMERS AND ATTENDANT (Laugh):
We’ve routed the gentleman out. Let’s be on our way.
If we meet and do not have a drink,
The peach blossoms will laugh at cave’s brink.
(Exeunt)
(Enter Lü Dongbin)
LÜ DONGBIN:
Ridiculous! Ridiculous! I’ve found no one to convert on this magnificent Yueyang Pavilion. I have to wander northwestward.
(To the tune of Baolao’er)
It’s all my fault
That I promised my master the other day.
Here I have to look for the ferry;
There I have to ask the way.
I have to read the Taoist rhyme
And do some miracles from time to time.
Alas, a deep-blue current of air is floating between the south of Yan and the north of Zhao. Let me turn round the cloud and go with the wind.
(To the tune of Mantingfang)
I am not telling fortunes at will,
But how is it that neither smoke nor fog hangs overhead,
Neither Chu nor Wu is under my feet,
And neither black nor red I see?
Is it a current made by the black ox in the Hangu Pass?
Is it a current from a castle in the sky from the East Sea?
As I have no compass to point the direction,
I have to look round and adjust my ride.
Well,
I am approaching the Qing River,
With Handan of Zhao on the other side.
Let me have a closer look. Here I am in Handan. How is it that an immortal seems to be nearby?
(To the tune of Shuahai’er)
The Records of the Historian mentions the Handan dancers,
But there are no more heroes like Lin Xiangru for thousands of years.
How is it that auspicious clouds enshroud an extraordinary man?
Who lives in the human world with such good cheers?
Amid the reed catkins and the moonlight, where is the man?
In the hills and by the rills, is the man staying there?
I have a way to find out where he is,
By making his donkey stumble
And by testing whether he is fair and square.
(To the tune of Coda)
To look for a petal-sweeper for the Penglai Cave,
I’ve searched Handan for a man.
If he is predestined in fate,
I’ll make him an immortal if I can.
If you meet anyone who is so warm-hearted,
He must have come from Lü’s clan.
I ride auspicious clouds from the heavenly palace,
To look for a petal-sweeper in the world.
Whenever the world is brightly lit,
The people will not have groped and erred.
Scene Four
Entering the
Dream
(Enter Innkeeper)
INNKEEPER:
Cold reigns in late autumn in the north;
My ancestors originated in Handan.
I run an inn to serve millet meals;
Every guest says that life is hard for man.
I’ve started a small inn to the north of the Zhaozhou Bridge. Half of the land around the inn belongs to the family of Lu from the Fanyang township. Their family members all stop over at my inn when they come and go. Some travelling merchants also take a rest and have meals here. Now that it’s time for refreshments, I’ll wait and see if there are any guests today.
(Enter Lü Dongbin in laughter, with a parcel and a pillow on his back)
LÜ DONGBIN:
A millet contains the world in it;
A cauldron boils the cosmos in it.
On the Yueyang Pavilion I saw a coil of deep-blue current leading to Handan. I’ve wandered all the way here, only to find that the current stops at Lu Sheng’s house to the west of the Zhaozhou Bridge in Handan County. I have scrutinized Lu Sheng’s complexion and found him extraordinary. As Lu Sheng is predestined to be a demi-immortal, I’ll go to see him and convert him. However, he is deeply entangled in worldly burdens and has not made up his mind yet. As he is adept at both pen and sword but has not made any success in official career, he keeps aloof and feels depressed all the time. He is not to be moved with mere words.
(In meditation)
I shall act in such and such a way so that he will wake up to reality. I’ll go to the inn and wait for him there.
(To the tune of Suonanzhi)
In a miraculous air
And a green-jade robe,
I lower the clouds and descend from the sky.
I cross the Zhaozhou Bridge
And step on the Handan Road.
(Crowing of roosters and barking of dogs within)
LÜ DONGBIN:
What a relaxing village with its crowing roosters and barking dogs!
INNKEEPER (Greets Lü Dongbin):