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  EUNUCH-CHAMBERLAIN KAO: As you command!

  (Turns to face backstage, and conveys the imperial command)

  (Sound of command being passed on backstage, with the cry “Obeying the imperial command!”)

  (Enter Empress Yang in full splendid attire, leading Dame Ever-new and Dame Remember-me)

  EMPRESS YANG: (Sings)

  The sun’s beams light up Pepper Room,

  And on the damask window play blossom-sprigs.

  At my door hangs a little kerchief, yellow with its umber tulle,

  Embroidered with patterned rocs forming a pair,

  Gliding high next to Five-coloured Clouds.

  (Says)

  I, Lady Yang, present myself for audience with Your Majesty. I wish you ten thousand years of long life! Ten thousand years of long life!

  SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: The same to you, my Most-prized-empress!

  (Empress Yang sits down)

  SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: (Recites)

  In the depths of the Scarlet Clouds424 the Woman Constellation425 shines,

  EMPRESS YANG: (Recites)

  Wondrous longevity-peach-trees against sun’s splendour loll;

  DAME EVER-NEW and DAME REMEMBER-ME: (Recite)

  Year in year out, in front of the blossoms, They’ll never grow old.

  EUNUCH-CHAMBERLAIN KAO: (Recites, joining in with them)

  We celebrate their lasting life in Lasting-life Palace-hall.

  SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: Today’s Most-prized-empress Yang’s birthday, for which I’ve made a point of setting forth a Lasting-life feast to share with her the whole day’s rejoicing.

  EMPRESS YANG: On the birthday of my meagre life, I gratefully receive your loving favour, and pray that I may proffer Your Majesty a goblet of wine to wish you ten thousand years of long life.

  (Empress bows, presents emperor with wine. Emperor replies, conferring wine upon her. She kneels down and drinks from it, then kow-tows and calls out “Ten thousand years to you!”. Takes a seat)

  SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: (Sings)

  Breeze perfumes, and sun shines bright,

  I see one leaf of the Steps-pod Plant426

  in the flaming sunshine wafting;

  The splendid feast has just opened,

  And Southern Hills427 from afar

  in Roseate-cloud Wine-cup428 are reflecting.

  TOGETHER: (Sing)

  Its fruits joining in love delight,

  The Peach-tree to a thousand years long life gives rise;

  Its flowers on side-by-side peduncles,

  The lotus for a hundred feet opens.

  Deserving joyous admiration,

  So fitting this palace-hall’s called Lasting-life,

  Its realm Erigeron and High-gate paradises429 equals.

  (Enter eunuch-supervisors, holding an illustrated card on their two hands.)

  EUNUCH-SUPERVISOR: (Recites)

  We bear on our two hands a Gold-flower430 Flowery-red placard for gratulations,431 And come in neat order together to the precious palace-hall to express our wishes to you for a Thousand Autumns.432

  (They meet the emperor and empress)

  EUNUCH-SUPERVISOR: We submit to Ten-thousand-years-grandfather-the-emperor and Empress Yang: The Dynastic Uncle prime minister Yang Kuo-chung, together with the Queens of the States of Han, Kuo and Ch’in, proffer up birthday presents and congratulatory notelets.

  (Eunuch-chamberlain Kao takes the notelets, and hands them over to the emperor to read)

  SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: They shouldn’t have gone to so much trouble. The prime minister is excused the enacting of any ceremony, and the Three Queens are to attend upon myself and Empress Yang as we return to the imperial palace for a banquet.

  EUNUCH-SUPERVISOR. As you command!

  (Exeunt)

  (Enter a eunuch-supervisor bearing on his hands lychees with a yellow cloth-wrapper covering them)

  EUNUCH-SUPERVISOR: (Recites)

  Just as the Thousand-years Empress’s Feast433 in Jasper Vegetable-garden434 has come round, We bear Eighteenth Ladies435 Choice Lychees from Yen-chou436 delivered.

  (They meet emperor) (Says)

  We submit to you Ten-thousand-years-grandfather-the-emperor: fresh lychees sent as tribute from Fu-chou and Hai-nan.

  SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: Bring them up here.

  (Eunuch-chamberlain Kao takes the lychees, removes the wrapper, and hands them to the emperor)

  SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: My Most-prized-empress, because you’re fond of eating this fruit, I specially commanded that the regional authorities present some as “tribute at a flying gallop”. Today your birthday feast has just started, and the fruit has just arrived, so I must present you with another goblet of wine.

  EMPRESS YANG: Ten thousand years of long life to you!

  SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: Palace ladies, bring us wine!

  (Dame Ever-new proffers wine)

  EMPRESS YANG (Sings)

  Filling the baskets,

  The splendid fruit are of sweet scents,

  Blessed with yellow seals,437

  they’ve been commanded from afar by the emperor,

  come from Szechwan and Kwangtung regions.

  I love their richly dyed scarlet-silk skin,

  Their flimsily wrapped “crystal ball” fruit.

  As they come into my hand, they’re pure and fragrant,

  As they soak my teeth, they’re cool and sweet.

  TOGETHER: (Sing)

  As Fire Jujube438 and Intermingled Pear439 elixir fruit

  Inferiority to them would surely admit,

  It’s but seemly they come before Ten-thousand-years-grandfather-the-emperor’s dais,

  To Thousand-autumns-the-empress’s feast,

  At Jasper Mere as Chalcedon Nectar’s440 proffered to accompany “Royal Mother of the West”.441

  SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: Eunuch-chamberlain Kao, convey my command to Li Kui-nien that he escort the Young Gentlemen of my Pear-orchard Conservatoire up into this palace-hall to entertain us.

  EUNUCH-CHAMBERLAIN KAO: As you command!

  (He faces backstage, and transmits the command)

  (Enter Li Kui-nien, leading the musicians Lei Hai-ch’ing, He Huan-chih, Ma Hsien-ch’i and Huang Fan-ch’o, all wearing brocade robes and Flower Hats442, and responding, “We receive your command!”)

  LI KUI-NIEN: (Recites)

  Red-teeth clappers await the beat, and cheng-zithers443 organise their tuning pillars,

  Scarlet chiffon silk’s urged hurry to the dancing-feast;

  I change to wear new cudrania-twig-sap-dyed yellow hat,444

  And go with the troupe to the foot of the imperial steps.

  (They meet)

  LI KUI-NIEN: I, the musician Li Kui-nien, escort here the Young Gentlemen of your Pear-orchard Conservatoire, who kow-tow and come for audience with you, Ten-thousand-years-grandfather-the-emperor, and Empress Yang.

  SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: Li Kui-nien, the Non-main Prelude has already been performed: have you thoroughly rehearsed the two passages445 of Feather-jacket?

  LI KUI-NIEN: Yes, we have.

  SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: Perform it, with care and application.

  LI KUI-NIEN: As you command!

  (Gets to his feet)

  (Exits unobtrusively)

  EMPRESS YANG: I submit to Your Majesty: The Non-main Prelude446 of this melody has Six Renditions,447 of which only the Rest-beat448 has no Flow-beat.449 The Middle Prelude450 has Six Renditions,451 has a Flow-beat but no Hasten-beat.452 and at the moment hasn’t yet any choreography.453

  (Sings)

  It just keeps undulating,

  Its music-mood’s bonny and brisk sounding.

  It’s about to halt the many-coloured clouds,

  And fly around the rainbow-beam circling.

  (Says)

  As for the third passage of Feather-jacket, it’s called Ornamented-performance.454

  (Sings)

  One syllable per note,


  All harbouring hidden dance-latence.

  (Says)

  During it, there are Slow-notes,455 Twining-notes456 and Roll-notes,457

  (Sings)

  It should be pure and rounded,

  One string of Li-dragon Pearls.

  (Says)

  There’s an Entering-break458 a Spread-out-break,459 and an Exit-break460 exit,

  (Sings)

  Surely a thousand forms of willowy beauty on the carpet;461

  (Says)

  And there are also the Flower-transgression,462 Cosmic-law-harmony,463 Close-beat,464 Intervening-beat,465 Hastening-beat,466 and Stolen-beat,467

  (Sings)

  So many notes resounding,

  With the slow dances all together arising,

  And the leisurely songs thoroughly intermingling.

  SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: My Most-prized-empress, from what you say, the melody expresses to the utmost the hidden latency with which the dance is imbued.

  EMPRESS YANG: I’ve had an Emerald Tray468 made and humbly ask your permission to dance in it, in order to bring a smile to your celestial countenance.

  SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: You’re exquisite at dancing, my Most-prized-empress, but I’ve never managed to see you engaged in it. Dame Ever-new and Dame Remember-me, together with Cheng Goddess-of-mercy469 and Hsieh Southron,470 you may assist Empress Yang up here onto the Emerald Tray.

  DAME EVER-NEW and DAME REMEMBER-ME: As you command!

  (Empress Yang stands up, wishing the emperor “Ten thousand blessings!”)

  EMPRESS YANG: I beg to be allowed to withdraw and change my attire.

  (Recites)

  I’ll adjust my attire, put on a new costume array, and all of me fly up into the Emerald Tray.

  (Exit, leading Dame Ever-new and Dame Remember-me)

  SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: Eunuch-chamberlain Kao, convey my command to Li Kui-nien that he’s to lead my Young Gentlemen of the Pear-orchard Conservatoire in a performance of court-music from the score. I myself shall provide the rhythm on the Weather Drum.471

  EUNUCH-CHAMBERLAIN KAO: As you command!

  (Eunuch-chamberlain Kao faces backstage, and transmits the command)

  (Shining August-emperor stands up and changes his attire. Lei Hai-ch’ing and the others play court-music at the back of the stage)

  (An Emerald Tray is set up on the stage. Enter Empress Yang in Flowery Diadem,472 white embroidered robe, pearl necklace, brocade Cloud Shoulders epaulettes,473 Kingfisher Sleeves,474 and Scarlet Dancing-skirt.475 Dame Ever-new, Dame Remember-me, Cheng Goddess-of-mercy and Hsieh Southron all in dancing boleros476 and white robe, and grasping a Five-colours Rainbow-banner477 and a Peacock Cloud-fan.478) (They then conceal Empress Yang, and hustle her onto the Emerald Tray)

  (The court-music ceases, the banners and fans are slowly opened, and Empress Yang stands in the middle of the tray and dances, while Dame Ever-new, Dame Remember-me, Cheng Goddess-of-mercy and Hsieh Southron sing, and Eunuch-chamberlain Kao kneels and proffers a drum in his two hands. Emperor Dark-progenitor mounts his throne and plays the drum, and many others at the back of the stage play the Fine Ten Instruments.479)

  DAME EVER-NEW: (Sings)

  Tulle and damask silk join with flower-shine,

  And from the air flutters one cloud carmine;480

  See the Rainbow Banners circling all around,

  And celestial perfumed-blooms flurry down.

  Calm and unhurried,481

  To reveal her lustrous makeup,

  she leisurely opens the form of her fan.

  She’s wholly like an immortal of Heaven,

  Flying, alighting from the moon.

  TOGETHER: (Sing)

  With lightly wind-whisked,

  Many-coloured flung-forth sleeves,

  In the middle of the Emerald Tray she displays

  the excellence of her entertainment skills.

  Driftily she goes to and fro,

  Utterly a breeze- blown lotus-bloom,

  Flitter-fluttering on her leaves;

  She raises her sleeves in the air as if about to depart,

  Then abruptly turns round,

  moving sideways in unpredictable directions.

  (The dance quickens)

  Whirling round, she trips freely,

  A sprig of blossom fluttering, a willow-twig upwards whisking.

  A phoenix-form high soaring,

  A roc-form gliding.

  Her postures are impossible to describe,

  A celestial zephyr starting to blow,

  As all the court musical instruments sound forth in rich profusion.

  The sounds of “ice” silver strings and “jade” tuning-bridges

  ring resonant and clear

  The notes of “roc” mouth-harmoniums482 and ivory shawms drift and undulate.

  Exactly uniting with the rise and fall of the Chieh Drum,

  She’s in accord with the new tunes,

  Following the new tunes,

  Devising new ones.

  She wafts her golden skirt,

  So we’re all of Flying-swallow’s Holding-back-the-immortal’s Skirt reminded.483

  (Emperor stops drumming. Eunuch-chamberlain Kao leads him away by the hand.)

  ALL TOGETHER: (Sing)

  The dancing halts, the roseate-cloud skirts in are gathered,

  (They bow towards the emperor)

  We again lower our foreheads to kow-tow,

  Bow to our monarch,

  with “Ten thousand years to you!” cheering loud.484

  (Dame Ever-new, Dame Remember-me, Cheng Goddess-of-mercy, and Hsieh Southron help Empress Yang down from the tray by the arms)

  (Exeunt Cheng Goddess-of-mercy, and Hsieh Southron)

  (Emperor stands up, goes forward, and takes Empress by the hand)

  SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: Wonderful dancing! Carefree moves in flowing abundance, and rich postures emerging by the hundred, you were wholly like whirling snowflakes fluttering in a breeze, entirely like a swimming dragon, truly supreme of a thousand autumns for uniqueness! Palace-lady charmeuses, see to the bringing of wine, for to serve my Most-prized-empress with it.

  (Dame Ever-new and Dame Remember-me serve them with wine. Emperor raises his cup)

  (Sings)

  Gold cup proffering,

  I face you, gently smiling,

  And beseech you with your sandalwood lips taste tiny tiny sips.

  (Hands wine to empress)

  (Sings)

  You mustn’t leave any left,

  Mustn’t leave any left,

  It’s a reward to thank you for

  your shy dancing limbs’ toil and graft.

  (Empress takes the cup, and thanks him)

  EMPRESS YANG: Ten thousand years to you!

  (Sings)

  In person you confer upon me white-jade brew,

  that ripples with your affection vast,

  I just feel ashamed that in my ordinariness, mediocrity:

  how am I to live up to it!

  (Emperor looks at empress)

  SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: (Sings)

  I view her looks with attention minute:

  Even when she’s just holding the cup,

  She’s myriad romantic ways that titillate one’s heart.

  (Says)

  I’ve ten bolts of Mandarin-duck-and-drake Ten-thousand-gold-guinea Brocade485 and one River Li Scarlet-burnished Step-shake headdress,486 to provisionally serve you as your perquisite.

  (Brings out perfume sachet)

  And there’s also this one Borneol Eight-treasures-brocade Perfume-sachet487 that I wear at my own waist, which I undo to assist your dancing jade waist-ornaments.

  EMPRESS YANG: (Taking the perfume-sachet, and thanking him) Ten thousand years to you!

  (Emperor takes empress by the hand, and they walk)

  SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: (Sings)

  Your dancing of Rainbow-skirt most exquisite will be admired for a thousand autumns,

  And will
surely aid you Thousand-autumns-empress in your prayers for endless years.

  EMPRESS YANG: I’m so blessed that I myself bathe in my monarch’s loving favour, and my body’s perfumed through and through by it.

  SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: (Recites)

  Our secluded Lasting-life Palace-hall reclines against the green-grey sky,488

  EMPRESS YANG: (Recites)

  White-jade sweet wine is also apportioned me in wine-cup

  for my birthday;489

  SHINING AUGUST-EMPEROR: (Recites)

  When she’s finished drinking it she all the more hankers after paired-sleeve dancing,490

  EMPRESS YANG: (Recites)

  I newly bear Five-coloured Clouds perfume all over my body.491

  Act Seventeen: Joining for the hunt

  (Enter He Ch’ien-nien,492 Ts’ui Ch’ien-yu,493 Kao Hsiu-yen494 and Shih Ssu-ming,495 four border-appanage generals)

  GENERAL HE CH’IEN-NIEN: (Recites)

  My three-foot wrought-iron sword shines a snowy gleam,

  GENERAL TS’UI CH’IEN-YU: (Recites)

  A crescent moon at my waist, my horn bow I bend;

  GENERAL KAO HSIU-YEN: (Recites)

  I’m drunk with grape wine’s rouge blood,

  GENERAL SHIH SSU-MING: (Recites)

  My marten hat has flowers added, and my attire’s brocade and embroidered.

  GENERAL HE CH’IEN-NIEN: I’m the Fan-yang garrison-town Eastern Route general He Ch’ien-nien.

  GENERAL TS’UI CH’IEN-YU: I’m the Fan-yang garrison-town Western Route general Ts’ui Ch’ien-yu.

  GENERAL KAO HSIU-YEN: I’m the Fan-yang garrison-town Southern Route general Kao Hsiu-yen.

  GENERAL SHIH SSU-MING: I’m the Fan-yang garrison-town Northern Route general Shih Ssu-ming.