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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.
I have already reported to my Mistress.Now I must go and tell my young Mistress.
What about the religious service?
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. ”
Who told you to question him?
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.
It would be as well if you had not scolded him.
I don’t know what on earth he was thinking about.When I saw such a fool,why shouldn’t I scold him?
Have you told my mother about it?
No,not a word.
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.)
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.
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.
Open the side door and take out the table for the incense-burner.
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.
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!
Bring the incense here.
I would like to hear her pray.
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.)
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.
Would the act of worship impart
The secret yearning of my heart!
(She heaves a deep sigh.)
What is there in your heart that makes you sigh so deeply while leaning on the balustrade?
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.
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?
Someone is chanting a poem at the corner of the wall.
It must be that foolish scholar who is twenty-three years old and still unmarried.
It reads as pure as moonlight.Rose,I will compose one to rhyme with his.
Please compose one for me to hear.
In lonely room at night,
In vain spring and youth fade.
You who croon with delight,
Pity the sighing maid!
How prompty she has responded to my verse!
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.
What if I go to the other side of the wall?
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.
We ought to go in,or else our Mistress will be displeased,
(Exeunt Yingying and Rose,shutting the side door.)
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.
But how can sleep come to me tonight?
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.)