The Dreamer Wakes

by Cao Xueqin

  You chose the player fortune favoured,

  Unmindful of your master’s doom.

  At first they meant nothing to him. Then he studied the accompanying picture, a bunch of flowers and a mat painted in the same impressionistic style as the kite-flying girl. Suddenly he burst into tears.*

  He was about to read further, when he heard a voice saying:

  ‘Daydreaming again! Come now, Cousin Lin wants to see you.’

  The voice was very like Faithful’s, but when he turned to look, to his great bewilderment there was no one there. Then suddenly he saw Faithful again, standing outside the doorway and beckoning to him. He ran out after her in delight, but her shadowy form drifted constantly ahead of him and he was unable to overtake her.

  ‘Dear Faithful! Please wait for me!’ he cried.

  She took no notice but hurried on ahead, while he ran panting after her. Suddenly another vista loomed in front of him, of high buildings and intricately carved roofs, among which he could dimly perceive the figures of palace ladies. In his eagerness to explore this new realm Bao-yu forgot Faithful completely. Wandering in through one of the gateways, he found himself among all sorts of strange and exotic plants and flowers, none of which he could identify. One in particular caught his eye, a herbaceous plant surrounded by a marble balustrade, the tips of its leaves tinged a faint red.

  ‘What rare plant can that be,’ he wondered, ‘to be accorded such a place of honour?’

  A gentle breeze had arisen and the plant fluttered its leaves with a long drawn-out trembling motion. It was small and flowerless, but its delicate charm held Bao-yu’s heart spellbound and enraptured his soul. He was still staring at it dumbfounded when a voice beside him spoke:

  ‘Where are you from, you great booby? And what do you think you’re doing peeping at our Fairy Plant?’

  Startled from his reverie, Bao-yu turned to see a fairy maiden standing at his side. He bowed and said in reply to her questions:

  ‘I came here to find Faithful. Excuse me if I have clumsily trespassed on your fairy domain. Please can you tell me, Sister Fairy, what this place is, and why Faithful said that Cousin Lin wanted to see me? Please will you explain?’

  ‘Sister this, Cousin that! Such names mean nothing to me!’ replied the fairy. ‘All I know is that this Fairy Plant is my responsibility, and that it is strictly forbidden for mortals like you to loiter here. You must leave at once.’

  Bao-yu could not bring himself to obey the fairy’s command.

  ‘Sister Fairy!’ he pleaded once more. ‘If you are in charge of a Fairy Plant, then you must be a Flower Fairy yourself. Can you tell me: what is so special about this particular plant?’

  ‘That’s a very long story,’ replied the fairy. ‘Once it grew by the banks of the Magic River and then it was called the Crimson Pearl Flower. It wilted and began to die, but was revived and given immortal life through the intervention of the Divine Luminescent Page-in-waiting, who generously watered it with sweet dew. Afterwards it descended into the world of men to repay its debt with the tears of a lifetime, and now that this has been done it has returned to its true abode. Fairy Disenchantment has given me instructions to tend it and to stop the bees and butterflies from molesting it …’

  Bao-yu still did not understand. He had a growing conviction that this really must be a Flower Fairy that he had met, and was determined not to let such a rare opportunity slip through his hands. He asked her politely:

  ‘So you, Sister Fairy, are in charge of this plant. But each of the many other fine flowers must have its own fairy-in-attendance. I hate to bother you, but I wonder if you could tell me which fairy is in charge of the Hibiscus?’

  ‘I don’t know. You’ll have to ask my mistress about that.’

  ‘Who is your mistress, pray?’

  ‘My mistress is the River Queen.’

  ‘I knew it!’ exclaimed Bao-yu. ‘That’s my cousin Lin Dai-yu!’

  ‘Stuff and nonsense!’ retorted the by now highly exasperated fairy. ‘May I remind you again that this is a heavenly realm and the abode of fairies. My mistress may be called the River Queen, but she is nothing like your earthly queens and consorts. How could she possibly be related to a mortal? Stop talking such utter nonsense or I shall have you beaten and thrown out by one of our guards.’

  Bao-yu was struck dumb by the fairy’s words and became painfully conscious of his own uncleanliness. He was taking his leave when he heard someone hurrying towards them, calling:

  ‘They’re asking for the Divine Luminescent Page-in-waiting!’

  ‘I know,’ replied the fairy. ‘I was told to look out for him. That’s why I’ve been waiting here all this time. But I haven’t seen any such Page go by. So what am I to do?’

  ‘Surely that was him – the one who left just now!’ cried the messenger with a laugh, and rushed out to waylay Bao-yu.

  ‘Will it please the Divine Luminescent Page-in-waiting to return?’

  Bao-yu thought she must be addressing someone else. He was afraid of being overtaken and caught, and continued stumbling forwards, in an effort to make good his escape. When he looked up, he saw before him a formidable figure barring his way with a large sword:

  ‘Where are you going?’

  Bao-yu was frightened out of his wits, but managed to pluck up enough courage to take another look. He was astonished, and then somewhat reassured, to find himself face to face with You San-jie.

  ‘Oh Cousin!’ he begged her. ‘Why are you after me too?’

  ‘You men, you’re all the same!’ was her reply. ‘There’s not a good one in your entire family. You ruin a girl’s reputation, then you destroy her marriage. Well I’ve got you now, and you won’t escape me!’

  Bao-yu could tell that she was in deadly earnest and was beginning to panic when he heard another voice behind him saying:

  ‘Sister! Stop that man at once! He must not be allowed to leave!’

  ‘I have my orders from the River Queen,’ replied San-jie, ‘and I’ve been waiting a long while for something like this. Now you’re in my grasp, and with one blow of my sword I shall sever the ties that bind you to the mortal world.’

  Bao-yu was terrified. He could not understand what she was saying, and turned and fled, only to see that the face from which the voice behind him had issued was that of Skybright. Joy and sorrow mingled in his heart.

  ‘I’m lost!’ he cried pathetically. ‘I’m all on my own and I seem to have run into the arms of the enemy. I wanted to escape and go home, but I couldn’t find any of you to take me back. Now I shall be safe! Dear Skybright, please will you take me home now?’

  ‘You must not lose heart,’ replied the maiden. ‘I am not Skybright. I have been specially commissioned by our Queen to escort you into her presence. I will not do you any harm.’

  Bao-yu was now utterly bewildered:

  ‘You say your Queen sent you; but who is your Queen?’

  ‘Don’t ask now,’ replied Skybright. ‘Soon you will see for yourself.’

  Helplessly Bao-yu followed her, and as they walked he studied her more closely. She resembled Skybright in every detail.

  ‘Her face, her eyes, her voice are all Skybright’s!’ he reflected to himself. ‘How can she say she isn’t Skybright? Oh dear, I’m in such a muddle. I’d better take no notice of what she says. Whatever it is that I’ve done wrong, when I am admitted into the presence of her Queen, I can ask her to help. Women have kind hearts, after all. She will surely forgive me.’

  They had now reached a magnificent palace, lavishly and brilliantly appointed in every respect. In the courtyard before them grew a clump of bright green bamboo, while by the main doorway stood a row of dark pine-trees. There were several ladies-in-waiting standing under the eaves, dressed in fine palace robes, and when they saw Bao-yu come in they began whispering among themselves:

  ‘Is that the Divine Luminescent Page?’

  Bao-yu’s attendant informed them:

  ‘It is, so you’d
better hurry in and announce his arrival.’

  One of the ladies beckoned to Bao-yu with a smile, and he followed her in through several apartments, till finally they arrived at what seemed to be the entrance to the main hall of the palace. It was hung with a pearl blind. Stopping before this blind, the lady-in-waiting turned to Bao-yu and said:

  ‘Wait here for your instructions from Her Majesty.’

  Bao-yu did not dare breathe a word, but waited obediently outside the doorway. Presently the lady-in-waiting returned and announced:

  ‘Will the Page please enter now for his audience?’

  Another attendant began to roll up the pearl blind, and as she did so Bao-yu caught sight of a regal figure seated within, dressed in richly embroidered robes and wearing a crown of flowers on her head. Raising his head a fraction to look more closely, he saw that the Queen did indeed resemble Dai-yu and cried out impulsively:

  ‘Here you are at last, Coz! Oh how I’ve missed you!’

  The lady-in-waiting outside the blind whispered in a shocked tone:

  ‘Ill-mannered Page! Out with you at once!’

  She had barely said this when the other attendant lowered the blind again. Bao-yu was too scared to go in, and yet the thought of leaving was inconceivable. He wanted to ask one of the other ladies-in-waiting for an explanation, but when he looked round he realized that they were all of them strangers. They were forcing him out now and he had no choice but to leave. He thought as a last resort of trying to ask ‘Skybright’, but when he looked for her she was nowhere to be seen. A deep feeling of confusion and foreboding descended on him and he dragged himself dejectedly away, this time without a guide. There was no trace of the way by which he had come and he was beginning to wonder if he would ever be able to find his way back, when to his delight he saw the figure of Xi-feng beckoning to him from beneath the eaves of another building.

  ‘Thank goodness! I’m home again! How could I have lost my bearings so quickly?’

  He rushed up to her:

  ‘Here you are! They’ve all been so cruel to me, and Cousin Lin wouldn’t see me. I don’t know why!’

  He was standing right next to Xi-feng. But on closer inspection it turned out not to be Xi-feng at all but Jia Rong’s first wife, Qin Ke-qing. He hesitated for a moment and then asked her where Xi-feng had gone. But the lady made no reply and presently turned and went inside.

  Bao-yu stood there in a daze, not daring to follow her in, but staring blankly before him.

  ‘What have I done wrong today,’ he sighed, ‘that I should be spurned like this wherever I turn?’

  Just as he was bursting into tears, a cohort of guards in yellow turbans with whips in their hands descended upon him.

  ‘Where are you from, and who do you think you are to come sneaking into this fairy realm? Off with you! Be gone!’

  Bao-yu did not dare say a word, but continued to search for a way out of the place. In the far distance he spied a crowd of ladies laughing and walking in his direction, and thought to his relief that he could recognize among them Ying-chun and some of his other cousins.

  ‘Help!’ he cried. ‘I’m lost! Save me!’

  Even as he shouted, the guards continued relentlessly to push him on from behind, and he stumbled helplessly forward. Then to his horror he saw that his ‘cousins’ had been transformed into strange ghoulish monsters and were pursuing him too. His nerves were at breaking point. Suddenly the monk appeared before him, and shone a mirror in his face:

  ‘By the order of Her Grace the Imperial Jia Concubine I have come to save you!’

  In a trice the monsters vanished, and Bao-yu was spirited back to the bleak stretch of wilderness from which he had first entered the fairy domain. He grasped the monk’s hand:

  ‘You brought me here – that I can remember; and then the next thing I knew you had vanished and I saw some of my family but they would have nothing to do with me and in the end they turned into monsters! Was it all a dream, or was it real? Please, Master, I beg you to tell me the truth.’

  ‘When you first entered this place,’ said the monk, ‘did you steal a look at anything in particular?’

  Bao-yu thought for a moment:

  ‘If he can whisk me off to a fairy paradise, he must be an Adept himself, so it’s no use trying to fool him. Besides, I want to know more.’

  He confessed to the monk that he had seen several registers.

  ‘Hark at you!’ exclaimed the monk. ‘You have seen the Registers themselves and are still blind! Now listen to me carefully: predestined attachments of the human heart are all of them mere illusion, they are obstacles blocking our spiritual path. Ponder deeply on what you have experienced. I shall explain it to you further when we meet again.’

  With that he gave Bao-yu a hefty shove.

  ‘Back you go!’ he cried.

  Bao-yu missed his footing and stumbled forward, calling out in alarm.

  The family were standing by his bedside when suddenly he began to show these unmistakable signs of life. They called his name, and he opened his eyes, to find himself lying on his old kang. Before him were Lady Wang, Bao-chai and other members of his family, their eyes red and swollen with tears. He reflected for a moment and tried to compose himself.

  ‘So!’ he said to himself. ‘I have visited the land of death, and now I have returned once more to the living!’

  He lay pondering one by one the experiences of his wandering soul, and as he did so a glazed look came over his eyes. To his great delight, he found that he could still remember every detail of his dream, and he chuckled aloud with satisfaction:

  ‘So! So!’

  Lady Wang suspected a recurrence of his old fit and decided that the doctor had better be summoned again at once. She sent a maid and one of the serving-women to inform Sir Zheng that Bao-yu had recovered consciousness and that his previous (and apparently fatal) crisis had only been a temporary mental affliction from which he now seemed to have recovered. Since he was now obviously on the mend, and was even able to utter a few words, they could safely suspend the funeral arrangements. Jia Zheng came hurrying in to verify this news for himself.

  ‘Luckless creature,’ he exclaimed. ‘Do you want to frighten us all to death?’

  He was weeping despite himself. Heaving a few gusty sighs, he went out again and sent for a doctor to take Bao-yu’s pulses and prescribe a medicine for him.

  Musk, it will be remembered, had only recently been contemplating suicide; but now that Bao-yu was recovered she set her mind at rest. Lady Wang ordered some longan soup, and told Bao-yu to drink a few mouthfuls. She was greatly relieved to see him gradually revive and regain his composure and she did not even scold Musk for her original blunder, but merely told one of the maids to give the newly recovered jade to Bao-chai, who was to hang it once more round Bao-yu’s neck.

  ‘I wonder where the monk found it?’ she asked out loud. ‘It seems so strange. One minute he was demanding his money, the next minute he had disappeared. Do you imagine he was some sort of Immortal?’

  ‘To judge by the “mysterious” way he came,’ said Bao-chai, ‘and the equally “mysterious” way in which he left, I should say he never found it at all, but that it was he who took it in the first place.’

  ‘How could he have taken it from under our very eyes?’ asked Lady Wang.

  ‘If he could bring it back, then he could take it,’ persisted Bao-chai.

  ‘When the jade was lost,’ put in Aroma and Musk, ‘Steward Lin consulted a word-diviner – we told you about it ma’am, soon after the wedding. The character he divined was shang meaning “reward”. Do you remember, ma’am?’

  ‘Yes, you’re right,' said Bao-chai. ‘You said it had something to do with a pawnshop. But now I can see it was really pointing to the word “monk”, which is contained in the upper part of the character shang. We were being told by the word-diviner that a monk had taken it!’

  ‘The monk was a strange enough creature,’ said Lady Wang. ‘When Bao-yu
was ill before, another monk came, I remember, and told us that Bao-yu had a precious object of his own at home that could cure him. He was referring to the jade. He too must have known all about its magical properties. It is extraordinary that Bao-yu came into the world with the Stone in his mouth! Have you ever heard of such a thing happening, in the whole of history? Who knows what will become of the Stone in the end? And who knows what will become of him! It seems to be an inseparable part of his life, in sickness and health, at his birth and …’

  She stopped short suddenly and tears started to her eyes. Bao-yu felt in his own mind that he now knew the answer to her questions only too well. Thinking back, he understood more clearly the significance of his visit to the ‘other world’. But he said nothing, and stored these thoughts silently in his mind.

  It was Xi-chun who spoke next:

  ‘When the jade was lost, we asked Adamantina to consult the planchette on our behalf. The reply she received from the spirit contained the lines:

  Gone to Greensickness Peak, to lie

  At the foot of an age-old pine.

  It ended with:

  Follow me and laugh to see

  Your journey at an end!

  There’s much food for thought contained in those two words “follow me”. The gate of the Dharma is certainly wide and all-embracing, but somehow I doubt if Cousin Bao could squeeze through it, whoever he happened to be “following” …’

  Bao-yu sniffed scornfully. Bao-chai noted this reaction of his, and involuntarily she frowned and stared abstractedly into space.

  ‘Trust you to drag the Buddha into it!’ snapped You-shi. ‘Are you still pining for your nunnery?’

  Xi-chun smiled caustically.

  ‘Actually, sister-in-law, I have already taken the first step. Long ago I vowed that meat should never touch my lips again.’

  ‘My child!’ said Lady Wang. ‘In the name of Lord Buddha himself! You must abandon this foolish idea!’

  Xi-chun was silent.

  During this exchange Bao-yu recalled two lines from one of the albums he had seen: