[Enter two Temple Servants, both clowns.]
First Servant: For generations, the sacrificial peas[1] have been symbols of this rite.
Second Servant: Ever since the days of my old grandad’s might.
First Servant: The sacrificial vessels at each altar are catalogued in the books.
Second Servant: Count them like stooks.
First Servant: In the beginning and middle of each month, we light the candles and open the door.
Second Servant: Sweep the floor.
First Servant: Kneel down and greet the Master of Ceremonies as soon as he is sighted.
Second Servant: Make sure that everything is righted. But you have bungled all the words.
First Servant: If you can do better, go ahead.
Second Servant: Grain tribute is brought to the treasury all the year round.
First Servant: Bragging of wealth by the pound.
Second Servant: The whole family lives under a green-tiled roof with scarlet walls.
First Servant: Leading a wife to the stalls.
Second Servant: Dry timber is felled as soon as an axe you seize.
First Servant: Plundering neighbours’ trees.
Second Servant: Year in, year out, no vegetable need you eat.
First Servant: Nothing but salted meat.
Second Servant: Shame on you, you have made a hash of it with your cheap rhymes. [Both laugh.]
First and Second Servant together: We prepare the rites of the Imperial Academy in Nanking. After six months of idleness, we are back in the middle of spring, the season for sacrifice. All the ritual vessels and provisions have arrived from the Minister’s office. Let us set them in proper order.
[They set out the altar.]
First Servant: Chestnuts, dates, fresh water-roots.
Second Servant: Ox, sheep, pig, rabbit, and deer.
First Servant: Fish, spinach, celery, bamboo shoots, and garlic.
Second Servant: Salt, wine, incense, silk, and candles.
First Servant: The list is complete. Keep an eye on everything, for we shall be blamed if the stewards pilfer.
Master of Ceremonies [entering]: Fie on you! If you don’t pilfer, well and good. Why cast aspersions on others?
First Servant: [bows with folded hands]: I beg your pardon. I was referring to those who shall be nameless since they are shameless. Of course a respectable person like you would be blameless.
Master of Ceremonies: Let us not waste words. It is already daybreak. You should light the candles and incense.
Second Servant: Aye, aye, sir. [Exeunt.]
[Libationer appears in his official robes.]
Libationer [sings]:
The smoke of incense clouds the pillared hall
Where scarlet candles flame beside the altar.
And now the orchestra strikes up a prelude;
The vessels, food and wine are all prepared.
[His Assistant appears in his official robes.]
Assistant [sings]:
The ranks are drawn up
For the observance of ceremonies in the Southern Academy.
Libationer: I am the Libationer in the Imperial Academy of Nanking.
Assistant: I am the Assistant Libationer. Today is the day of sacrifice at the Temple of Confucius, and we are about to begin the ceremony.
[They stand on either side of the stage. Wu Ying-chi enters.]
Wu [sings]:
The drum is booming; soon it will be dawn.
The scholars file before the Almond Altar.
[Enter Four Scholars of the Imperial Academy.]
Four Scholars, together [singing]:
Of yore this music and these rites inspired three thousand disciples.
Today we shall again behold our Sage.
[Juan Ta-ch’eng enters in formal attire, his face covered with a heavy beard.]
Juan [sings]: I have brazened myself to join this solemn gathering.
Wu: I, Wu Ying-chi, together with my comrades Yang Wei-tou, Liu Po-tsung, Shen K’un-t’ung, and Shen Mei-sheng, am ready to attend the sacrifice.
Four Scholars: Let us take our appointed places.
Juan [hiding his face behind his sleeve]: Having nothing else to do in Nanking, I came to see the ceremony. [He takes up a position in the front rank.]
Master of Ceremonies [enters and calls]: Go to your places. Stand in even ranks. Bow; kneel; prostrate yourselves; arise! [Thrice repeated.]
All together [singing]:
A hundred feet above the clouds, the golden tablet gleams;
Behold our Sage enthroned in majesty,
His four supreme disciples sit beside him,
While strains of music bid his spirit welcome.
Let us prostrate ourselves below the steps,
We who have studied poetry and the classics
That we may come into his heritage.
Now tremble in his presence, struck with awe.
[After burning paper offerings, all salute each other.]
Libationer and Assistant [singing]:
Facing the north, we celebrate together
Our Sage’s glory with the spring’s return;
Observing all the hallowed regulations,
The time and order of each sacrifice.
Wu [leading the Scholars’ chorus]:
Let us unite in worship of the Sage,
Like his disciples in a nobler age.
Juan [sings]:
What joy to stroll the capital,
A man of pleasure,
Without official duties
To rob me of my leisure.
[Exeunt Libationer and Assistant. Juan bows to all.]
Wu [startled]: Are you not whiskered Juan? What are you doing at the sacrifice? This is an insult to the Sage. You are a disgrace to the world of letters. [Shouting]: Away with you!
Juan [angrily]: I am a distinguished Doctor of Literature, descended from a famous family. Why should I not be allowed to attend the sacrifice? What sin have I committed?
Wu: At court and outside it, your guilt is notorious. You have covered your face with a mask and lost your conscience. How dare you set foot in this temple? Did not my public impeachment say enough about your crimes?
Juan: That was precisely why I attended these ceremonies, to confess what is in my heart.
Wu: Let me tell you plainly who and what you are. [Sings]:
Godson of Wei, godson of K’o,[2]
To any family you will go.
With Ts’ui Ch’eng-hsiu, and T’ien Erh-ching,[3]
Consorting in stealth,
You guzzle iniquities and gobble filth.
Shooting secret arrows into the Eastern Forest,[4]
Weaving your plots in the Western Shed,[5]
Beware, beware — men will not be misled.
Scholars [singing in unison]:
Ha! behold the melting glacier,
The baseless, toppling iron pillar!
Juan: Brothers, you revile me without trying to understand my motives. You do not realize that I am a disciple of the great Chao Chung-i. When the Grand Eunuch Wei rose to power, I had retired to the country to mourn the death of my parents. How could I have harmed anyone? On what grounds do you accuse me? [Sings]:
To such injustice Heaven once responded
By sending frost in midsummer.
Hide me under no black bowl
To suffer slander
No more substantial than a shadow.[6]
Why did I cultivate Wei Chung-hsien?
To try to save the upright censors,
Wei Ta-chung, Chou Ch’ao-jui!
For their sake, my good name
Gladly I sacrificed.
[Speaks]: Have you forgotten Master K’ang Hai of yore, who curried favour with the eunuch Liu Chin in order to save the life of an upright man?[7] If I associated with Wei Chung-hsien, it was to protect my noble friends of the Eastern Forest Party. How can I be blamed for this? [Sings]:
Every problem dema
nds a fair solution,
But I have been ten times wronged,
Yet no one rises to defend me;
I am vilified by all.
These giddy striplings break wind in my face. . . .
Wu: How dare you use such language here!
All: It is insufferable that a traitor like you should speak so foully in the temple of Confucius.
Master of Ceremonies: It is absolutely monstrous. Old as I am, I long to thrash the traitor! [Beats Juan.]
Wu: Pummel his face and pull out all his hair!
[Everybody attacks Juan.]
All [singing]:
Damned spawn of a eunuch!
You should not even be allowed
To worship the Sage;
A disgrace to the world of letters!
We shall wage war against you and your like
And drive you to the farthest wilderness,
To feed wolves and tigers with your swinish carcass.
Juan: Have you done with assaulting me? [To Master of Ceremonies]: Even an old gaffer like you has the nerve to strike me!
Master of Ceremonies: I can thrash you as vigorously as any man.
Juan [gazing ruefully at his beard]: I have lost half my beard. How shall I ever appear in public again? [He runs off the stage, singing]:
This volley of fists has laid me low,
I am in agony;
My arms feel broken, my back as well.
I flee from this place of torment.
Wu and All [singing]:
Between the virtuous and the vile
There is always a clear distinction,
And this man’s crimes are heavy and solid as lead.
Not long ago his power could reach to Heaven —
Today how ignominious was his flight!
His scholar’s hat was beaten flat;
It is time for him to burn his ink and brushes.
Wu: This incident has avenged the Eastern Forest Party and brought honour to the Academy of Nanking. We should persevere in this resolute course, and prevent all such villains from showing themselves again in public.
Chorus: Hear, Hear! We have done a righteous deed before the Sage’s gate.
Wu: Between light and darkness we should champion light.
Chorus:
Alas, ’tis never easy to decide
Which be the winning, which the losing side.
Wu:
Heaven may loosen Chaos; ’tis for Man
To conjure Order wheresoe’er he can.
[1] In early youth, Confucius was reputed to have used peas to imitate the arrangement of a ritual altar, thereby indicating his precocious interest in the rites.
[2] Wei is Wei Chung-hsien, 1568–1637, one of the most powerful eunuchs in Chinese history, whose persecution of able generals and ministers weakened the Chinese defences against the threatening Manchus. K’o-shih was the Emperor Hsi-tsung’s wet-nurse and supposedly Wei’s plaything. On the Emperor’s death, Wei hanged himself to escape trial, and K’o-shih was executed.
[3] Leading associates of Wei Chung-hsien’s clique.
[4] See Scene 1, n. 2.
[5] The notorious torture-chamber of the court secret police.
[6] The frost in midsummer was sent down by Heaven, in an ancient legend, to convince the king of the loyalty of an unjustly slandered minister. The black bowl is an image for an impenetrable cloud of unwarranted suspicion.
[7] Liu Chin, a eunuch who became virtual head of the government under the Ming Emperor Wu-tsung. A cabal formed against him, and he was executed in 1510.
SCENE 4
THE PLAY OBSERVED
1643, THIRD MONTH
[Juan Ta-ch’eng enters, in obvious distress.]
Juan [sings]:
The old game is played out,
My former colleagues scattered.
The hair grows white upon my temples,
No spirit is left in my song.
Insulted by these upstarts without cease,
How shall I ever sleep and eat in peace?
[Speaks]: Until recently I enjoyed a triumphant career. Power, fame, and rank were within my grasp. Unfortunately, I was tempted by vanity and greed to join the eunuch Wei’s party. For a time I became one of his foster sons. While his influence was spreading like fire, I was like a wolf within sight of its prey. Now that it has dwindled to cold ashes, I am more like a wretched owl in a withered forest. Everybody curses me and spits in my face; I am assaulted from every side. Alas, I am a scholar who has absorbed a whole library of books. Why did I attach myself to that evil eunuch? I was neither demented nor delirious, yet how could I have made such a blunder as to become his henchman? [Stamps his foot.] When I think of the past, I am filled with mortification. Luckily, this huge city affords a shelter for all sorts. I have a spacious mansion in Breeches’ Bottom, which I have embellished with gardens and pavilions, and here I have trained a private troupe of singers and dancers. Should any high official deign to associate with me, I would go to any expense to gratify him. Perhaps I may still win some good man’s sympathy, and the chance to amend past errors. . . . [Whispers]: But if Heaven allowed dead ashes to flare up again, I would waste no further thought on my reputation. I would commit every crime again to my heart’s content! Yesterday I was grossly insulted by the young urchins of the Revival Club in the temple of Confucius. Though they were to blame, I was rash to expose myself. But I am anxious to find a way to propitiate them. [He scratches his head in thought and sings]:
Coxcombs combined, a feather-pated crew,
To cheat and slander my distinguished name.
Like whirling winds they tore away the beard
About my lips — these very lips, the same
That uttered purest poetry; broke this wrist
Whose calligraphic skill once brought me fame.
Nor can I find revenge, but only hide
Indoors in all my shame.
First Servant [entering with a letter]: Few notabilities come this way; all the fine birds are flown, alackaday! [To Juan]: Your Honour, here is a note requesting the loan of your troupe of players.
Juan [reading it aloud]: “Your friend Ch’en Chen-hui salutes you.” Aha, this comes from a great celebrity. Why would such a great man as this stoop to borrowing my troupe of players? What did his messenger have to say?
Servant: He says there are two other gentlemen named Fang Mi-chih and Mao P’i-chiang who are drinking with him at the Crowing Cock Inn. They are all agog to enjoy your new play, The Swallow Letter.
Juan: Run upstairs, choose the best costumes, and summon the leading players. See that they brush themselves up and hasten to oblige the scholars. You go with them, take my greetings, and keep a careful eye on everything.
[Exit First Servant. Several players cross the stage, followed by another Servant carrying costumes. Juan beckons to him.]
Juan [whispers]: When you get there, listen carefully to their remarks while they watch the play.
Servant: As you command, sir. [Exit.]
Juan [chuckling to himself]: Ha-ha, I never expected them to apply to me. This is an encouraging sign. I’ll sit in my study and wait for the servant’s report. [Exit.]
[Yang Wen-ts’ung enters.]
Yang: In the hope of hearing the latest tunes, I have come to call on my old crony. He excels in composing lyrics and plays as I do in painting and calligraphy. Today I have a chance of hearing his latest song for The Swallow Letter. Here is the Stone Nest Garden. How exquisitely all the rocks and flowers are arranged. It must have been designed by the famous Chang Nan-yüan.[1] [Pointing at the rocks and flowers, he sings]:
Flowering groves carefully spaced,
Rocks mantled with moss,
Create the effect of a landscape
By Ni Tsan or Huang Kung-wang.[2]
[Looking up, he reads from a tablet]: “The Hall of Lyrics. Calligraphy by Wang To.”[3] What vigorous characters! Red carpets strew the ground; this is where he rehearses his plays. [Sings]:
>
A thatched pavilion completes the picture.
There in his high black cap he directs the players
With silver lute and crimson clappers.
[Speaks]: Maybe I shall find him in the flower garden. [Sings]:
But why closed gates, a scene forlorn?
Is he writing new poems or revising old ones?
[Standing still, he listens and says]: Somebody seems to be chanting; it must be old Juan reading aloud. Brother Juan, come and relax awhile. Don’t give up all your time to literature!
Juan [enters, laughing]: I was wondering who had come to see me. So it is you! Sit down, sit down.
Yang: Why shut yourself indoors on a fine spring day?
Juan: My four plays are being printed, so I have to scrutinize the proofs for mistakes.
Yang: So that explains it. I heard you had finished rehearsing The Swallow Letter, and I long to see it.
Juan: Unfortunately my actors are away.
Yang: Where have they gone?
Juan: They have gone to entertain some friends of mine.
Yang: Would you let me see a copy of the script? I should enjoy nothing better than to read it with some wine beside me.
Juan: [to servants]: Bring the wine. His Honour Yang and I will quench our thirst.
Voices from backstage: Aye, aye, sir.
[Wine and refreshments are brought in. Yang and Juan drink while reading the play.]
Yang [sings]:
Column by column, new poems flow onto paper,
Each line as gold freshly sifted from sand.
A beautiful woman speaks her reverie,
As mist drifts over the sea and far clouds form.
[Speaks]: While reading this passage, I feel I have fallen in love! [Sings]:
Though willow buds whiten, and hair be sprinkled with snow,
The swallow retains a fragment of spring in its beak.
Juan: My doggerel and commonplace tunes must strike you as absurd. Pray drink some more wine.
First Servant [entering hastily]: I bring my random words to allay my master’s concern. Your Honour, I have been watching the performance at the Crowing Cock Inn. They have finished three scenes, so I hurried back to report.
Juan: What were the comments of the audience?
Servant: All expressed the highest admiration. [Sings]:
They nodded their heads and beat time in approval.
They forgot their wine cups to lap every line of the play.
Juan: Their approbation seems to have been genuine. What else did they say?
The Peach Blossom Fan Page 6