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Rose,go and ask the abbot when it will suit him to perform religious service for my late husband.When you are told the time,come back and let me know it.
Yes,Madame.(Exeunt.)
I am Abbot Faben of the Salvation Monastery.Last night I went to perform a religious ceremony in a village.I do not know if anyone has come here to pay a visit.
(He calls Facong and asks him.)
Last night a scholar from Luoyang came to visit you and went back in your absence.
Go and keep watch at the gate,and let me know if he comes again.
Yes,master.
Since I saw that young lady yesterday,I could not sleep all night.Today I am coming again to call on the abbot and have something to say to him.
(He makes his bow to Facong.)
If thou hast no help to give me,
Facong,I will not forgive thee.
So you have come,sir.But I don’t understand what you say.
I want thee to let me a cell
So that I may live opposite the door
Of one who can make a paradise of a hell.
Though I can’t steal her heart that I adore,
On her cloud-like dress I can feast
My eyes at least.
I do not understand what you say,sir.
Formerly when I saw a powdered face,
I truly thought it to be a disgrace;
At the sight of a penciled brow,
I seemed to hear a broken vow.
But now I see my heart’s desire,
I seem to feel vibrate the strings of a lover’s lyre,
My mind bewildered,dazzled my eye,
And a whirling sensation rising high.
I still do not understand what you say,sir.My master has been waiting for you.I will go to inform him.
(Master Zhang meets Faben.)
I see before me one with snowy head
And hair like frost,
And face like one whose youth inbred
Is never lost.
He looks divine and profound;
His voice is strong and clear.
If he had but a halo around,
I would think Buddha did appear.
Please come in and take a seat,sir.Last night I was not at home and failed to welcome you.I hope you will forgive me.
I have long heard of your renown and wished to come and hear you preach.But I am sorry to have missed you yesterday.Now that I have met you,I feel I am really happy.
May I ask you,sir,about your family,your name and surname,and why you have come here?
I am a native of Luoyang;my surname is Zhang and my name is Gong,styled Junrui.I am passing here on my way to the capital in order to attend the highest examinations.
You’ve asked me why I’ve paid this call;
I’ll tell you these things one and all.
Coming from Luoyang,
I am travelling up and down,
Leaving my family settled at Xianyang.
My late father had a great renown:
President of the Board of Rites,
He died at over fifty years of age.
During his life he was just and upright;
After his death he left no heritage.
Tune: FIGHT OF Q UAILS
Brilliant as you’re,you condescend to humble sphere;
Pure as the wind and bright as the moon you appear.
As for me,no office will I beseech;
What I want is to hear you preach.
As a traveller has no means to show his respect to you,I can only offer an ounce of silver for the expenses of the monastery.Would you kindly accept it?
Like a piece of paper a scholar’s gift is light;
He does not know the price in gold or silver white.
He cares not for reproach or renown;
He fears not being weighed up or down.
Tune: ASCENDING THE ATTIC
I have come to pay a visit to you;
You need not refuse my gifts,be they so few.
They’re not enough to purchase firewood
For the monastery nor to buy food.
At best,they can be used to provide some tea.
If you will undertake to speak a word for me
To those richly-dressed and nobly-bred,
I will never forget you,alive or dead.
Why should you offer us gifts while travelling?You must have something to say to me,sir.
May I request a favor of you?As I cannot study the classics in a crowded inn,I wish to rent a room here so that I may hear your teaching morning and evening.As for the rent,I will pay what you wish by the month.
There are a lot of spare rooms in our monastery;You may choose which you want,or,if you like,you may share my couch with me.
I do not want the incense store,
Nor the old wooden hall;
I want no room at southern door
And none by eastern wall,
But one near Western Bower where the lane goes by
And where the anteroom arrests the eye.
This is a place I like well.
Do not mention the room you dwell.
My Mistress has ordered me to inquire of the abbot when it will suit him to perform the religious service for my late master,and when I am told the time,to return and report to her.
(She meets Faben.)
Ten thousand blessings,Abbot!My Mistress has sent me to inquire when it will suit you to perform the religious service for my late master.
What a pretty girl!
Her manners show her not a maiden cheap;
There is no slightest sign of coquetry.
Having made to the abbot a curtsy deep,
She opens her lips and speaks with propriety.
Tune: SMALL LIANGZHOU
Her lightly powdered face affords delight,
Though she’s in mourning dress of pure white.
With unusual clever eyes like those of a bird,
She steals a look,but her eyes speak to me not a word.
Tune: PETTY SONG
Could I on your Young Mistress’pillow put my head,
I would not trouble you to make for us the bed.
I will ask her and her mother to set you free;
If not allowed,I would myself write a guarantee.
Will you please sit here for a moment while I go with the young maid to the Hall of Buddha?I will soon be back.
What if I go there with you?
You are welcome.
Let the young maid go in front,and I will keep a little distance behind.
The maid’s attractively arrayed
So that her charms may be displayed.
If she does not flirt with your halo of light,
Why should she be dressed so fair and bright?
Tune: HOMAGE TO EMPEROR
The winding passage leads to your cell;
Out of the blue comes the charming belle.
How can you who look so fine talk so indecently?
You must not blame me for what I cannot help saying.
My looks so fine and talk so rude
Have offended and angered the abbot so good.
But how can such a family have no servant male
That it must send as messenger a maiden frail?
If you insist on having your say,
Can you explain the reason why,I pray?
It is the filial feeling of the Young Mistress for her late father that prompts her to hold a religious service for him,so she sends no other than her personal maid Rose to inquire about the date.
The offerings are ready and other preparations are made for the service.The fifteenth is the day for the Buddha to receive offerings,so I request Madame Cui and your Young Mistress to come on that day to offer incease.
“Alas!Alas I My parents late,
Who gave me birth with toil and pain!
How to repay their kindness great
As Heaven and deep as the main!”
Even the young lady will show her gratitude to her father.How can I not fulfil my filial duty toward mine!Will you be kind enough to allow me to subscribe five thousand cash so that I may be included in the religious service for the salvation of the souls of my deceased parents?I think Madame Cui will not object to my wish when she knows it.
Of course not.Facong,arrange to include Master Zhang into the service.
Will the young lady be present at the service?
How could she be absent at a service for her own father?
Then I have made good use of the five thousand cash.
The sight of Yingying on earth or in paradise
Would give more blessings than a sacrifice.
So warm and sweet,she is softer than jade;
Not to speak of the joy of an embrace,
At the touch of her face,
All pain and grief would fade.
Let us have tea in the hall.
Please excuse me for a moment.
The maid is sure to come out and I will wait for her here.
I cannot take tea lest my Mistress should wonder why I am delayed.I must go and report to her.(She departs.)
I make my bow to you,fair maid.
Ten thousand blessings to you,sir.
Are you not Rose,personal maid of Mademoiselle Yingying.
Yes,sir.Why should you ask?
May I be allowed to say something to you?
“Like arrows,word
Must not be freely spread.
Once they are heard,
They cannot be unsaid.”
Now,if you have anything to say,speak fitly.
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 asked you all these?I am not a fortune-teller who needs to know such particulars.What is the use of telling me the year,the moon and the day of your birth?
I have another question to ask you.Does your Young Mistress sometimes go outdoors?
What has that to do with you?You are an educated gentleman.Don’t you know what Confucius taught you:“Speak not a word and make not a movement which are contrary to propriety!”Cold as ice and frost,my Mistress rules her family strictly.Even a boy dare not enter her chamber if not summoned.How dare you,who are in no way connected with the family,ask such questions!
(Exit.)
I am afraid I’ll die of lovesickness.
Having heard what she said,I feel sad as if lost;
My knitted eyebrows show my bitter grief and gloom.
She said her Mistress is as cold as ice and frost,
And no one,unless summoned,dare enter her room.
Yingying,if you stand in awe of your mother stern,
Why should you turn your eyes on me before you part?
If I must give up,how can I for you not yearn?
Your image is so deeply engraved in my heart.
If we can’t in this life be joined like lilies twin,
Is it because the incense I burned was not lit?
O could I hold you in
My warm embrace and sit
You in my heart!O at least I
May on your image feast my eye!
Tune: PLAYING THE CHILD
The Amorous Hill’s far in the celestial sphere,
But our meeting place seems even farther away.
My lovesick body stands though in the passage here,
My yearning soul for a long time has gone astray.
Would she tell the feeling in her heart to lonely me?
Or does she fear her love be known to her mother stern?
Seeing the butterflies flying in pairs,would she
Not be aflame with love in her turn?
Tune: LAST STANZA BUT FOUR
Rose,you are young and will not listen to my plea.
Could I but hold her in my embrace,
I would steal her fragrance like a bee
When she begins to like a poet’s painted face.
Such a meeting as would enravish my soul
Might result in making a husband of me
And setting her free from her mother’s control.
Tune: LAST STANZA BUT THREE
Rose,are you overthoughtful or am I dreaming now?
Cannot my talent match with your Young Mistress fair?
Should she wait long for one to paint her brow
Until her youth and spring vanish into the air?
I dare say if she is a peerless beauty,
I know how to fulfill my glorious duty.
Tune: LAST STANZA BUT TWO
Rose,her lightly penciled brows and thinly powdered face,
Her jade-white neck and green skirt and lily-like feet,
Her crimson sleeves and taper fingers full of grace!
How can I banish from my thoughts her image so sweet!
Oh,if she were deprived of her charming elegance,
I would not be lovesick for her lingering fragrance.
I forgot to say goodbye to the abbot.
(Turning round and meeting Faben.)
May I ask you for the room?
There is a room near the western bower;it is delightful and quite suitable for you.You may take it at your earliest convenience,sir.
I will return to the inn and bring my luggage here.
Be sure to come back,sir.(Exeunt.)
Now I have moved to the monastery.But how can I while away my lonely hours!
Alone in lonely room with mat and pillow cold,
A single lamp throws fitful shadows on books old.
E’en if my aspiration can be fulfilled,
How can the time of this endless night be killed?
Sleepless all night,
I toss from left to right.
How many times I’ve uttered sigh and groan
And beaten bed and pillow all alone!
Tune: EPILOGUE
Her bashful beauty would make flowers fade;
Her tenderness might sweeten lifeless jade.
Seen only once,I can’t remember her charming face;
Sleepless,I’ll ruminate hand on cheek o’er her grace.
(Exit.)