The Peach Blossom Fan
Page 19
To satisfy so deep a grudge,
Gladly I would despoil the flowers and willows.
[Speaks]: Now all Hou’s efforts to keep her will come to nought. [Sings]:
He will see her carry her lute to another man.
Juan:
When will her noble lord return?
Yang:
Close-curtained and alone she waits.
Juan:
But she will hear the storms of love,
Yang:
And feel their force before dawn breaks.
Illustration: Prime Minister Ma Shih-ying to Yang Wen-ts’ung and Juan Ta-ch’eng: “You are both too ceremonious.”
[1] Duke of Chou, died 1105 B.C.; his regency during the minority of the second emperor of the Chou dynasty is held by orthodox historians to have been ideal. In traditional belief, the whole administrative organization of the Chinese empire, which remained a pattern for thousands of years, was planned by this remarkable man.
[2] Liu Yü-hsi, a T’ang poet of pronounced amorous tendencies.
SCENE 22
THE REJECTED SUIT
1644, TENTH MONTH
[Steward and young servant enter holding lanterns inscribed “The Prime Minister.” Others carry clothes, silver, and a litter.]
All [recite]:
The Old Matchmaker has not been sent down from the moon, But the Go-between Star has been seen here below.[1]
Steward: Fragrant Princess must be compelled to marry by order of the Prime Minister. Let us make haste.
Young Servant: I have heard that there are both a mother and daughter living in the Old House. How can we tell them apart?
Yang [entering quickly]: Wait a minute, you two. I shall accompany you.
Steward [greeting him]: If Your Excellency will be so kind, there will certainly be no mistake. [They walk on.]
Steward and Yang [reciting]:
The moon beams on the azure river,
The frost gleams on the wooden bridge.
Here we are. Let us knock at the door. [They knock.]
Maid [entering]: As soon as I close the back door I have to open the front one, like the master of a posting-station. Who’s there?
Steward: Open quickly.
Maid: Mercy on us! Lanterns, torches, a litter, horses, and attendants. Is Your Honour Yang holding a parade?
Yang: Fie, run and call your mistress.
Maid [loudly]: Madam, His Honour Yang is here.
Li Chen-li [entering]: Where has your Honour been banqueting this evening?
Yang: I have come from the Prime Minister to bring you glad tidings.
Li: Please explain.
Yang: A very high official has asked to marry your daughter. [Sings]:
Behold the gorgeous litter,
See the garments glitter,
The servants how they pour
In brocade outside the door!
Behold the silver crowns
And the rich embroidered gowns!
Li: Who sent them here? Why weren’t we told in advance?
Yang [sings]:
Don’t you see the lanterns, pair by pair,
Bearing the insignia
Of the Prime Minister himself?
Li: Is it the Prime Minister who wants to marry her?
Yang: No. [Sings]:
Her lot will be to offer cups of jade
To Master Ts’ao, Director of Supplies,
The Prime Minister’s close kinsman.
Li: We have already rejected this T’ien’s proposal. Why should we be pestered again?
Servant [arriving with silver, says to Mistress Li]: Are you the Fragrant Princess? Please take this gift of money.
Li: I must run upstairs and talk things over.
Steward [appears and says]: This is the Prime Minister’s command. There’s no time for discussion. Take the money and come to the litter at once.
Yang [to Steward]: She will never dare refuse. You wait outside. I’ll look after the money while she gets ready.
Steward and Servant: Let us find a couple of wenches and have some fun.
[Exeunt. Mistress Li, Yang, and maid go upstairs with the clothes and the money.]
Yang [calling]: Fragrant Princess, are you asleep?
Fragrant Princess: What is all the hubbub about?
Li: Have you no idea?
Fragrant Princess [to Yang]: Does Your Honour wish to hear me sing?
Li: This is no occasion for music. [Sings]:
In a violent rush,
They thrust nuptial gifts upon us,
Resolved to ravish my daughter from me.
How can we escape their grasp?
Will no substitute suffice?
Fragrant Princess: This is terrible. I’m frightened to death. What cursed fiend is threatening me now?
Li: It is the same T’ien Yang, and the Prime Minister is backing his efforts. [Sings]:
How hapless is the fate of a singing-girl!
At any moment blown away
Like a poor willow catkin.
[To Yang]: Your Honour has been so kind to us in the past. Why are you so cruel now?
Yang: I am blameless in this matter. On hearing that you had rejected T’ien Yang, the Prime Minister lost his temper and sent fierce retainers to enforce his will. I was afraid they might treat you roughly, so I came along to protect you.
Li: Please continue to be kind and think of some way to save us.
Yang: To my mind, three hundred silver taels are nothing to sneeze at. Nor does it seem beneath Fragrant Princess’s dignity to marry the Director of Military Supplies. Besides, how can she resist two such powerful officials?
Li: Perhaps Your Honour is right. In the circumstances, I don’t see how we can persist in our refusal. Dear daughter, please be reasonable. It would be wiser to pack and go along with them.
Fragrant Princess [angrily]: How can you even suggest such a thing, Mother? When I married my lord Hou, His Honour Yang was the matchmaker, and you presided over the nuptial ceremony. The token of my solemn vow is still in my keeping. [She fetches the fan and says]: My lord wrote this poem as a pledge. Your Honour has seen it. Have you forgotten? [Sings]:
Our vow is sacred;
I shall devote my whole life to my lord.
My heart will never change,
Fixed as the poem on this silken fan.
Had we been together only a single night,
Our love would last forever.
Yang: But Master Hou came to grief and had to fly. Now nobody knows where he is. If he does not return in three years’ time, will you wait for him all your life?
Fragrant Princess: I’ll wait for him three years, ten years, a hundred years. Never shall I marry this T’ien Yang.
Yang: Mercy, what a temper! You are behaving as you did when you refused the trousseau, scattering your hairpins, tearing your dress, and cursing old Juan.
Fragrant Princess: Both Juan and T’ien belonged to the eunuch Wei’s clique. Having refused Juan’s bribe, why should I embrace T’ien Yang?
Voices from back stage: It is getting late. Make haste and enter the litter. We have strict orders to carry you to the boat.
Li: Dear daughter, pray consider your future. Think of the security you will enjoy at T’ien’s house.
Fragrant Princess: That means nothing whatever to me. I am determined to keep my chastity for my lord. [Sings]:
I would rather freeze and starve
Than leave this tower.
Li: As things are, I cannot let her have her way. Your Honour, please set the gifts down while we help her to get dressed. [Mistress Li tries to dress Fragrant Princess’s hair, and Yang attempts to help her on with a gown. Fragrant Princess struggles and beats them off with her fan.]
Yang: How fierce. She uses her love-token as a murderous sword.
Li: Let us try to get her dressed and carry her downstairs. [Yang attempts to carry her.]
Fragrant Princess [crying]: Even if I die, I shall not leave this room. [She fal
ls to the ground wailing, and knocks her head against it till she faints.]
Li: Alas, alas! Do rouse yourself, dear daughter. You have ruined your fair complexion. [To Yang]: Look, she has bled so much that she has stained her fan. [She hands the fan to a maid, saying]: We shall have to put her to bed. [The maid carries Fragrant Princess out.]
Voices from backstage: It is now the third watch of night. After grabbing the money, you will not come to the litter. We shall put you under arrest.
Yang [calls downstairs]: Wait a minute, steward. It is very distressing for a mother and daughter to part. Don’t be too rough with them!
Li: Now that my daughter has fainted, with all this commotion outside I don’t know where to turn or what to do.
Yang: Remember the power of the Prime Minister. If you provoke him further, resentment may drive him to extremes. Then your life as well as your daughter’s will be in danger.
Li: I implore Your Honour to save us.
Yang: I can see no way out unless we attempt a makeshift.
Li: Please explain.
Yang: For a singing-girl to marry into an honourable family is generally considered a piece of good luck. T’ien’s rank is superior, and his family is rich. Since Fragrant Princess will not have him, I think you should take her place.
Li [shocked]: But that is out of the question. Besides, how could I ever bear to leave my daughter?
Yang: If they come to arrest you, you will have to bear the wrench.
Li [stupefied]: So be it then. Let Fragrant Princess keep to her room, I shall have to go. But it isn’t safe. I fear they will recognize me.
Yang: I shall maintain that you are Fragrant Princess. Nobody will dare contradict me.
Li: Then I shall have to dress myself up as a bride. [She proceeds to do so, calling backstage]: Dear daughter, I beg you to take care of yourself. I am going in your stead. Keep the three hundred silver taels for me. Don’t squander them recklessly. [Sings]:
Red lanterns light the street below;
Out in the night, a bitter wind will blow.
Once swept away, the flower may not return.
Steward and Young Servant [entering with litter and lanterns]: Hurrah, at last the bride appears. Please step into the litter.
Li [to Yang]: Farewell, Your Honour.
Yang: Take care of yourself on the journey. We are bound to meet again.
Li: I hope Your Honour will spend the night here and look after my unhappy daughter.
Yang: I promise to do so.
Li [entering the litter, sings]:
Henceforth my friends early and late
May but glance at me from the road.
It is hard to step out of the gate,
Once inside an official’s abode.
I go to my uncertain fate
Lacking all knowledge of my mate. [Exit.]
Yang [laughing]: Now Mistress Li will be married into a respectable family, and Fragrant Princess will keep her chastity. Brother Juan is avenged, and the Prime Minister’s prestige is saved. All’s well that ends well, thanks to my brilliant plan! But the parting of mother and daughter was sad to witness. [Sings]:
A hurried switch of partners in the night,
A melancholy song as parting nears.
Now in the tower of swallows, sore distress,
And only the pillow’s chill to soothe her fears.
Illustration: Prime Minister’s Steward: “Here we are. Let us knock at the door.”
[1] The Old Man in the Moon ties together the feet of future marriage partners with an invisible red thread. The Go-between Star is a device of the fortune-tellers.
SCENE 23
THE MESSAGE ON THE FAN
1644, ELEVENTH MONTH
[Fragrant Princess enters, looking pale and wan.]
Fragrant Princess [sings]:
The cold wind pierces my thin gown,
I am too weary to burn incense.
A streak of bright blood still glistens on my eyebrow.
My languid soul floats over my lone shadow;
My life is spring gossamer in this frosty moonlit tower.
The night seems endless:
When dawn appears, the same grief lingers on.
[Speaks]: In a moment of despair, I tore my flesh to defend my virtue. Alone, I peek and pine in my empty room. I have lost my sole companion. [Sings]:
Long Bridge is wrapped in cloud and frozen snow,
My tower is closed and visitors are few.
Beyond the balustrade, a line of wild geese;
Outside the curtain, icicles are dripping.
The brazier is burnt out, all perfume faded —
I shrink and shiver in the biting wind.
[Speaks]: Though I live in a pleasure resort, the flowers and moon have ceased to bring me joy. I have done with worldly vanities. [Sings]:
My ’broidered window curtain is forlorn,
Though the parrot’s foolish voice cries “Serving tea,”
And the white cat sleeps serenely on its cushion.
So loose my skirt, it flaps about my waist;
So tired my feet, their phoenix-patterned shoes
Feel tossed upon the crests of boisterous waves.
Excess of grief breeds sickness. Love and joy
Have fled this chamber never to return.
[Speaks]: I never cease thinking of my beloved lord. Since his flight I have had no news of him, but I shall preserve my chastity for his sake. [Sings]:
In a twinkling, our song of rapture was interrupted;
At midnight the passionate lovers had to part.
Neither at Swallow Cliff nor Peach-leaf Wharf[1]
Shall my true love be seen.
Over the mazy clouds and windy mountains
The solitary swan has taken flight.
Each year the blossoms of the plum return,
Each year my love is ever more remote.
From my balcony, I gaze into the distance,
My falling tears like pools of autumn rain
which only the harsh wind will ever dry.
[Speaks]: The Prime Minister’s sycophants would have forced me to marry, but how could I betray my lord? [Sings]:
They persecute me, feeble blossom afloat on the mist,
Helpless before the arrogance of these ministers.
But to preserve my purity, jade without flaw,
Gladly I wound the flower-like bloom of my cheeks.
[Speaks]: My poor mother is most to be pitied! Suddenly she left without a word, to take my place on that disastrous night. Her bed remains, but when will she return? [Sings]:
Like a peach petal adrift in a snowstorm,
Like a willow catkin wafted by the wind,
Hiding her face behind her sleeve, she left at dead of night.
Now I am left alone,
No one to brush the dust from my coverlet,
Desolate,
A flower that opens for none to view.
[Speaks]: When I think of all this, I am heartbroken. [She weeps and sings]:
A broken heart,
How many tears that fall!
And never a companion’s cheery call,
Only the knocking of the curtain-hooks.
[Speaks]: I shall take out my precious fan again and read my beloved’s poem. Ah me, it is stained with blood. What shall I do? [Sings]:
The bloodstains spread in bright confusion,
Some thick, some thin, some heavy and some light;
Not the cuckoo’s tears of blood,
But raindrops reddened by the peachbloom of my cheeks
Spattering this silken fan.
[Speaks]: My lord, my lord! All this was for your sake! [Sings]:
I tore my cloudy hair and bruised my limbs
Until I swooned into a world of darkness,
Like a long-buried queen beneath a hill-slope.
Dripping with blood, my body seemed to fall
As from the summit of the highest tower,
Unconscio
us of the voices calling me;
My melting soul past human invocation.
The red clouds darken in the setting sun:
I wake to find my pillow drenched with tears.
Sorrow is graven on my heart and brow,
Washing the rouge from my face,
Staining the silk of my robe.
[Speaks]: I’m so overwhelmed with weariness that I shall fall asleep at this table [She dozes off, clutching her fan.]
Yang Wen-ts’ung [enters and recites]:
The tower a slanting shadow throws
Over the stream, and nesting crows
Caw in the withered willow boughs.
Su K’un-sheng [entering]:
This chamber where sweet music used to flow,
Is now a hermit’s cell where wild winds blow.
Yang: Oh Master Su, I’m so glad to see you again.
Su: Since Mistress Li’s departure, Fragrant Princess has been living here alone. I felt anxious about her, so I came to pay her a visit.
Yang: The night of Mistress Li’s departure, I kept vigil with Fragrant Princess till dawn. Since then I have been so occupied with official business that I have not been able to see her. [They enter the house together.]
Su: Fragrant Princess will never come downstairs. Let us go up and see her. [Both walk upstairs to find Fragrant Princess asleep.]
Yang: How ill and woebegone she looks in her sleep. We ought not to wake her.
Su: The fan lies open before her. But why is it splashed with red?
Yang: This was Brother Hou’s gift of betrothal. She treasured it above everything in the world and was always reluctant to show it. Finding it stained with her blood, she must have intended to dry it. [Examining it]: The stains are still very bright. I’ll paint a few leaves and twigs around them, so that it will resemble a picture of peach blossoms. Unfortunately, I lack green paint.
Su: If I squeeze some sap from the plant in yonder vase, perhaps you may use it instead.
Yang: What a clever idea. [Su procures him some, and Yang proceeds to paint, reciting]:
The leaves are green with the sap of a fragrant plant
To protect the blossoms dyed in a beauty’s blood.
Su: This is the finest picture of peach blossoms I have seen.
Yang: It is a genuine peach blossom fan.
Fragrant Princess [waking up]: O gentlemen, forgive my lack of courtesy! Pray sit down.