Scene 3
Verse Exchange

Yingying enters and says:

My mother has sent Rose to inquire of the abbot on what day he will perform the religious service.She has been absent for a long time without coming back.

Rose enters and says:

I have already reported to my Mistress.Now I must go and tell my young Mistress.

Yingying says:

What about the religious service?

Rose says:

I have just made a report to my Mistress,and now I want to report to you.The fifteenth of the second moon is the date on which is offered I know not what sacrifice to Buddha,and the abbot requests your mother and you to burn incence to that day.

(She laughs .) I have something amusing to tell you.The young scholar we met the other day was today sitting in the hall.He went out to wait for me and,seeing me out,he made a deep bow and said,“Are you not Rose,personal maid of Mademoiselle Yingying?”And he went on to say,“I am Zhang Gong,styled Junrui,a native of Luoyang.Born on the seven-teenth of the first moon,I am twenty-three years old,not yet married. ”

Yingying says:

Who told you to question him?

Rose says:

Yes,indeed,who?He also mentioned your name and asked if you sometimes went outdoors.But I scolded him to the face and came back.

Yingying says:

It would be as well if you had not scolded him.

Rose says:

I don’t know what on earth he was thinking about.When I saw such a fool,why shouldn’t I scold him?

Yingying says:

Have you told my mother about it?

Rose says:

No,not a word.

Yingying says:

You need not breathe a word to her.It is getting late;arrange the table for incense-burner and we shall go to the garden to offer incense to Heaven.

How unexpected love affects my heart!

Leaning on brazier,I wait for moonrise apart.

(Exeunt.)

Master Zhang enters and says:

Having moved to the monastery,I occupy now my desired rooms near the western bower.As I was told by the monk,the young lady burns incense in the garden every night.Fortunately the garden is separated from my quarters only by a wall,so I can wait for her by the rocks at the corner of the wall and feast my eyes on her when she comes out.What could be better than that!It is now midnight and there is no one about;the moon is bright and the air is clear,a truly delightful hour!

(Singing): At leisure I beseech

To hear the Abbot preach;

Sad in the room,I croon

In the light of the moon.

He sings to the tune of FIGHT OF Q UAILS :

No speck of cloud in jade-like sky,

The Milky Way casts gentle light;

The silver moon sails up on high,

The courtyard shaded with flowers bright.

Through her silk sleeves she’d feel the cold;

In her tender heart she’d know it’s late.

I incline my ear

So as to hear;

I walk on tiptoe

So as to be slow.

Furtively I go so that none may behold.

And silently for her I wait.

Tune: VIOLET FLOWER

For Yingying so full of charm and grace I wait.

After first watch the world is mute,

To Yingying’s courtyard I’ll go straight.

Should I confront at the winding passage the cute,

Dear Yingying,I’d hold you tight in my embrace,

And ask you why our meeting seems

So hard that I could only see in dreams

Your shadow fair more than your shining face.

Yingying enters with Rose and says:

Open the side door and take out the table for the incense-burner.

Master Zhang sings to the tune of GOLDEN BANANA LEAF :

Suddenly I hear the creaking of the side door

And smell the fragrance of her dress the wind conveys.

On tiptoe I intently fix on her my gaze,

And find her even more beautiful than before.

Tune: SONG OF FLIRT ATION

Now that I see her charm and grace tonight,

The Goddess of the Moon is not so fair and bright.

He says:

I think she is the Goddess so weary of restrictions and so inconsiderate as to flee from the Palace on high.See her fair face and charming person.She stands there,neither speaking nor moving,with her long sleeves flowing and her silk skirt hanging down.She looks like the Fairy Queen leaning against the crimson door of the imperial temple or the riverside Nymph worthy of the praise of a great poet.Truly she is a beauty!

He continues to sing:

Dimly I see her pass along the fragrant pathway;

I am afraid her feet

Are too small to be fleet.

When she approaches near,

A hundred charms appear.

Oh,how can my soul not be enticed away!

Yingying says:

Bring the incense here.

Master Zhang says.

I would like to hear her pray.

Yingying says:

In burning the first stick of incense,I pray that my deceased father may soon ascend to Heaven.In burning the second,I pray that my dear mother may live long.As to the third,...

(She hesitates.)

Rose says:

Why are you always silent when it comes to the third?Let me pray for you.I pray that my Young Mistress may marry a husband whose literary talents are second to none,and who may come out first in the highest examinations,and who,gallant and gentle,may live together with my Young Mistress all his life long.

Yingying puts the third stick into the burner,kneels and says:

Would the act of worship impart

The secret yearning of my heart!

(She heaves a deep sigh.)

Master Zhang says:

What is there in your heart that makes you sigh so deeply while leaning on the balustrade?

He sings to the tune of RED PEACH BLOSSOM :

Late in the night the clouds of incense pervade

The courtyard;in east wind the curtain seems asleep,

Her worship done,she leans on the balustrade,

And utters sigh on sigh so deep.

The bright full moon looks like a mirror round,

Which neither clouds nor mist surround.

I see but smoke of incense and the breath we exhale,

Which mingle and cloud her face like a veil.

He says:

On reflection,I think her sighs must arise from some innermost feeling.Although I am not the good Iutist,she may be a lute-lover.Let me try to compose a poem,read it to her and see what she will say:

All dissolve in moonlight,

Spring’s lonely in flowers’shade.

I see the moon so bright.

Where’s her beautiful maid?

Yingying says:

Someone is chanting a poem at the corner of the wall.

Rose says:

It must be that foolish scholar who is twenty-three years old and still unmarried.

Yingying says:

It reads as pure as moonlight.Rose,I will compose one to rhyme with his.

Rose says:

Please compose one for me to hear.

Yingying reads:

In lonely room at night,

In vain spring and youth fade.

You who croon with delight,

Pity the sighing maid!

Master Zhang,surprised and overjoyed,says:

How prompty she has responded to my verse!

He sings to the tune of THE BALD HEAD :

Her face so full of charms has enticed me away,

And what is more,I find

Deep wisdom in her mind.

She has responded to my verse without delay.

Each word reveals

What her heart feels;

It is pleasant to hear

For the listening ear.

Tune: SOVEREIGN OF MEDICINE

Your words and rhymes are soft and clear,

Oriole,you are worthy of your name so dear.

If you but look at me without turning away,

I would rhyme with your verse till the break of the day.

Clever loves clever

For ever and ever.

He says:

What if I go to the other side of the wall?

He sings to the tune of THE POCKMARKED FACE :

I tuck up my silk robe,ready to go.

Would she welcome me with a smile?I do not know.

O Rose,be not unkind to me,

And say nothing against my plea!

Tune: PETTY SONG

But suddenly I hear a sound which startles me.

Rose says:

We ought to go in,or else our Mistress will be displeased,

(Exeunt Yingying and Rose,shutting the side door.)

Master Zhang continues to sing:

The birds which were asleep fly up with fluttering wing,

And moonlight plays with shadows of the shivering tree.

Shower by shower fall red blossoms of late spring.

Tune: SPINNER

I see on green,green moss glisten cold dew;

Through flowers’shadows the bright,bright moon sifts its light.

Lonely by day,in vain I am longing for you;

How can I cure my lovesickness tonight?

Tune: JOY OF THE EASTERN PLAIN

Your curtains drawn and closed your door,

The verse I dared to croon

And your reply in soft voice can be heard no more.

It’s second watch when winds are soft and bright the moon.

Oh,how unfortunate!

It seems decreed above

You should not fall in love

And I fall victim of the Fate.

Tune: WADS OF COTTON

On my backward way,

In empty court I stop and stay.

In the breeze the bamboo branches sway;

The Dipper slants across the sky.

Oh,lonely tonight,I see good signs above.

What matters though at me she did not cast an eye?

Does she need speaking eyes to show her love?

I understand what she did not say.

He says:

But how can sleep come to me tonight?

He sings to the tune of RASH SPEED :

A single lamp sheds green,green flame and shadows grim;

An old screen looks so cold and drear.

The fickering lamp is dim;

I cannot even dream of my dear.

The wind through lattice window strikes a chill

And makes torn slips of window paper flutter.

My pillow feels the midnight still;

My coverlet my loneliness utter,

Which chills me to the bone

And would e’en move a heart of stone.

Tune: PETTY SONG

I can nor hate nor complain,

But restless and sleepless remain.

Some day,’mid flowers and’neath willow-tree,

In mist-like curtain or surrounded by cloud-like screen,

We’d make an oath e’erlasting as mountain and sea

At the dead of a night serene.

We would enjoy our love at will,

Facing a future bright;

We might even love our fill

Till in our painted hall spring has attained its height.

Tune: EPILOGUE

So what good fortune to me beams!

The verse exchanged is evidence clear.

I need not seek her locked chamber in my dreams

But wait beneath the flowering peach tree for my dear.

(Exit.) zTSVwbKm8tVKp0t8fA/XvdNaEE5WkqtkucUcZWGeTJm38S3XPMgZitna2PtE1U5i