Scene 45: Rainy Dream
Scene 45: Rain Dream
(Yue Mode Prelude: Frosty Sky Dawn Horn)
(The Emperor enters.)
Grief weighs deep, dreams grow faint; white hairs increase by how much more. Most painful is the fair one’s early death. Mourning solitary nights, I resent the empty hours of rest. "Truly unbearable is the constant rain in this silent night; each time I think of her in the Nine Springs, my heart aches. The lamp wick trimmed to ash, still I cannot sleep; in the desolate Southern Palace, who remains?" Since returning from Shu, I have retired to the Southern Palace, spending each day only in longing for the Consort. Earlier, when I reinterred her at Mawei Slope, I hoped to glimpse her remains, but found only an empty tomb with a single perfume pouch. I know not whether she shed her mortal form to become an immortal, or if her fragrance has faded and her jade perished. In vain I toss and turn in thought—how can I see her once more? Tonight, facing this courtyard of bitter rain and half a wall of sorrowful lamplight, how desolate it is!
(Yue Mode Transition Tune: Little Peach Red)
Cold wind sweeps the rain, shivering through the long night; listen—every drop and patter strikes the wutong leaves. Soughing and sighing, they all together drum the tangled grief, now pausing, now drifting again. How can I bear the phoenix curtain hanging empty, the incense smoke dissipated, a man sitting alone, matched only with the solitary lamp? How I hate that there is no gentle one to share the rain with! (Weeps.) Suddenly I recall past joys; tears streak my face without cease.
(First watch sounded within the palace. A young male role sings within the palace; the Emperor listens.)
Ah, whence comes this song, so mournful to the ear? Could it be an old member of the Pear Garden? Let me go to the curtain and lean on the railing to listen. (Rises and leans on railing.) This is Zhang Yéhu’s voice. Let me hear what tune he sings. (Listens, weeping and wiping tears.)
(Young male role sings from a high place.)
Descending the Mountain Tiger
The myriad mountains of the Shu road, the ancient plank paths steep and perilous. Swift rain hastens the treetops; wind-bells and harness-bells clash wildly. Like lamentation, like sorrow, fine and clamorous, unceasing, in the empty mountains echoes, and the soul secretly fades. One note suddenly lingers, delicate; another suddenly hastens, shaking. Infinite heartbreak, stirred and provoked by it, is written into the clear shang mode, transmitting distant regret afar.
(Second watch sounded within the palace. The Emperor grieves.)
Ah, so it is the tune "Rain Bells" that I composed. I recall that earlier, on the plank road, hearing the bells answering in the rain, I grieved deeply for the Consort, and so took that sound to make this tune. Hearing it tonight, remembering the bleak misery of the Shu road, my heart is even more rent asunder.
Five Beauties
Hearing the rain on the bells, it wounds my bosom. A thousand kinds of desolation, new and old entwined, torment the sorrowful man with extreme vexation. Heaven aged and earth grown old—this regret, who can know it? Listen, the rain outside the window grows ever heavier. Sparse then dense, low then high; just as I close my eyes, several gusts before the window disturb my dreams.
(Gao Lishi enters.)
"In the Western Palace and Southern Palace, autumn grass grows thick; on a rainy night, the wutong leaves fall." (Greets.)
The night is deep; may Your Majesty please retire to rest.
(Third watch sounded within the palace. The Emperor speaks.)
Ah, the water-clock marks the third watch. For now, I shall lean on the table and lie down. Ai! Tonight, what dream will come into my eyes? (Lifts head and weeps.)
Weeping for Each Other
Long are the dead and living, parted for a year; the soul has never come into my dreams.
(Lies down.)
(Gao Lishi speaks.)
His Majesty has slept. I too shall go and rest. (Exits momentarily.)
(A young male role and a supporting male role, playing two eunuchs, enter bearing swords.)
"Hidden feelings cannot fade; entering dreams, they move the sovereign." (Kneels forward.)
May Your Majesty awaken.
(The Emperor wakes and looks.)
Where do you two come from?
(Young male role and supporting male role speak.)
We, your servants, have been sent by Her Highness Consort Yang to invite Your Majesty.
Five Shoulds
Only because on that day, amidst the calamity and disaster of the rebel troops, she quietly slipped into the crowd, changed her guise, and hid, therefore she has long drifted and wandered.
(The Emperor, surprised and delighted.)
Ah! So the Consort Yang did not die! Where is she now?
(Young male role and supporting male role speak.)
Because Your Majesty thinks of her morning and night, consumed with longing and sorrow, we have therefore quietly swept clean the post station. (Kowtows.) We hope Your Majesty’s carriage will soon arrive. We say, like the deep vow of the Herd Boy and Weaving Maid, to continue with the sovereign the unfinished bond.
(The Emperor weeps.)
I have yearned for the Consort in a hundred ways. How was I to know she was at the post station? You two, quickly follow me; we shall go this very night and welcome her back.
(Young male role and supporting male role speak.)
We receive Your Majesty’s command. (Lead the Emperor forth.)
Mountain Hemp Stalk (Modulation)
Joyfully I hear that her flower-like countenance still remains in the human world, that I can invite her face to face. Hastily I give orders: quietly leave the palace’s inner wall and covered passage, heedless of the deep night and silent hour, the cold dew and chill wind, the moon dark and the road far.
(Chen Yuanli enters and blocks the way.)
Your Majesty has long dwelt peacefully in the Southern Palace. Why, in the dead of night, do you travel in plain clothes? Where are you going?
(The Emperor, startled.)
Barbarian Seal Order
What insolent official is this, who blocks the carriage and speaks recklessly?
(Chen Yuanli speaks.)
Your servant is Chen Yuanli. Your Majesty, please return to the palace at once.
(The Emperor, angry.)
Pah! Chen Yuanli! On that day at Mawei Station, you secretly incited the soldiers to force the Consort to her death—a crime for which death cannot atone. And now you dare to affront my carriage again? You disregard sovereign and minister entirely, daring to act with such arrogant insolence.
(Chen Yuanli speaks.)
If Your Majesty does not return to the palace, I fear the Six Armies will again mutiny.
(The Emperor speaks.)
Pah! Chen Yuanli! You think I have no power, dwelling in leisure, retired from court. You flaunt only your own authority, your soldiers fierce and generals arrogant. Though the law of the land may tolerate it, how can this crime be forgiven? Call the eunuchs! Quickly hang this rebel minister’s head as a public warning.
(Young male role and supporting male role speak.)
We receive Your Majesty’s command. (Seize Chen Yuanli, kill him, and exit. Turn around.)
We report to Your Majesty: we have arrived before the station. Please, Your Majesty, enter. (Exit discreetly.)
(The Emperor enters.)
Black Hemp Order
I see only a half-empty, deserted hut, bleak and lonely, facing this wild countryside, distant fields. Eunuchs, where is the Consort? (Turns head.) Ah! How is it that not one is seen? I hear only the soughing wind shaking the trees, the chirping of autumn insects on all walls, whispering a whole field of sorrow’s sprouts, resentment’s sprouts. (Weeps.) Ai yo! My Consort! I can no longer call for flower’s beauty, moon’s beauty; I fear she is mostly form dissolved, shadow vanished.
(A gong sounds within. The Emperor, startled.)
Ah, how strange! In an instant, even the post station has vanished, and I have come instead to the banks of Qujiang Pool. What a vast expanse of water! Unlooked-for, the broken walls and ruined foundations have turned into startling waves, boiling waves.
(Looks.)
See, from amidst the great waters a monster emerges. A pig’s head, a dragon’s body, brandishing claws and gaping jaws, it rushes forward. How terrifying!
(A gong sounds within. A pig-dragon, wearing an iron chain, leaps up and pounces on the Emperor. The Emperor, terrified, flees. The pig-dragon pursues him to his original sleeping place.)
(Two golden-armored gods, bearing mallets, enter, strike the pig-dragon, and shout.)
Pah! Vicious beast! How insolent! How dare you escape again and come here to frighten the Sacred Carriage? Be gone at once! (Lead the pig-dragon away and beat it off.)
(The Emperor, crying out in terror.)
Ai yo! You have frightened me to death!
(Gao Lishi enters hastily and supports him.)
Your Majesty, why did you cry out so in your dream?
(The Emperor sits dazed, then steadies himself.)
Gao Lishi, what is that sound outside?
(Gao Lishi speaks.)
It is the sound of rain on the wutong trees.
(Fourth watch sounded within the palace.)
(The Emperor speaks.)
River God (Alternate Form)
I thought who had startled my broken dream adrift—it is only the chaotic rain, soughing and sighing. I hate that it will not relent beside my pillow, every sound, every drop reaching the cold treetops, till I would saw down that accursed wutong!
Gao Lishi, I just now dreamed that two eunuchs said the Consort Yang was at Mawei Station and invited me to go. Most likely her fragrant soul has not dispersed. I recall that in former days, Emperor Wu of Han longed for Lady Li, and there was Li Shaojun who summoned her soul for him to see. Surely such a man exists today! At daybreak, you may issue an edict at once, searching far and wide for a necromancer to summon the Consort Yang’s soul.
(Gao Lishi speaks.)
I receive Your Majesty’s command.
(Fifth watch sounded within the palace.)
(The Emperor speaks.)
Coda
Endless teardrops fall like beads, while the rain on the wutong tree clamors and quarrels. Only a single window pane separates them, falling straight through till dawn.
Half the lamp’s flame flickers bright, (Wu Rong)
In the rain, thinking of "Rain Bells." (Luo Yin)
Heartbroken, a dream of rise and fall, (Fanghu Jushi)
I would fain write a letter to the dark and vast. (Wei Pu)