Li Yu
A Couple of Soles A Comic Play from Seventeenth-Century China TRANSLATED BY
Jing Shen & Robert E. Hegel
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SCENE 19: RUSTIC NUPTIALS
wai (enters, costumed as an old woodcutter, carrying firewood): (Tune: Lülü jin) I lay aside my firewood load To celebrate their wedding. I have nothing else to give Besides half a load of kindling. It’s enough to heat the nuptial cup While I watch the wedding rites.251 I’ll seize on the occasion to trouble the host, Whose generosity knows no end, Whose generosity knows no end!
jing (enters, costumed as an old farmer, carrying wine): (Same tune) I cast aside the handles of my plow To celebrate their wedding. I have nothing else to give Besides a jug of wine. It’s enough to make the bridegroom drunk While I watch the wedding rites. I’ll seize on the occasion to trouble the host, Whose generosity knows no end, Whose generosity knows no end!
fujing (enters, costumed as an old gardener, carrying vegetables) (Same tune) I stopped watering all my plots To celebrate their wedding. I have nothing else to give Besides a basket full of celery. It’s enough to eat with the new couple’s wine
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While I watch the wedding rites. I’ll seize on the occasion to trouble the host, Whose generosity knows no end, Whose generosity knows no end!
wai: I’m just an old woodcutter from deep in the mountains. jing: I’m just an old farmer from deep in the mountains. fujing: I’m just an old gardener from deep in the mountains. wai: The three of us have become friends with Old Fisherman Mo, who’s a new arrival, and we four mountain village friends have deep attachments for one another. Hearing that he has prepared decorated candles252 for Tan and his bride’s wedding, each of us has brought a gift to congratulate them and to use this as a pretext to get good and drunk. Now we’ve arrived at the place. Is elder brother Mo at home? (From backstage): Coming! xiaosheng (enters): (Same tune) I put down my rod and bait To help out with the wedding. Food on the plates is all river caught But short of mountain delicacies. I will urge the bridegroom to drink himself drunk So that they can perform the wedding rites. I invite my friends over to share the hosting, Whose generosity knows no end, Whose generosity knows no end!
xiaosheng (greets them): Ah! I was about to invite you over, but you three have come just at the right time. wai, jing, and fujing: We have heard you netted two big fish that suddenly turned into a man and a woman, and today you have bought the decorated candles for their wedding. Is that all really true? xiaosheng: Yes, it is.
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wai: I’m just a humble woodcutter and have no other wedding gift besides a bundle of pine firewood to serve as a gift. Please accept it. jing: I’m just a humble farmer and have no other wedding gift besides a jug of thin wine made from the glutinous rice of our own field to serve as a gift. Please accept it. fujing: I’m just a humble gardener; I irrigate gardens and have no other wedding gift besides a bundle of celery that I grew myself, just like the old saying that “a rustic presents celery.”253 Please accept it. xiaosheng: How can I, as your humble host, take advantage of the generosity of you all? Since this is the way it is, I can only accept your gifts. wai, jing, and fujing: Is everything ready for the wedding? xiaosheng: It’s more or less ready, but there are no musicians or attendants of the bride and bridegroom for this mountain-village wedding, so it feels a little too quiet. wai, jing, and fujing: Getting married is an important matter, so a wedding certainly has to be noisy and lively. Well, we have gongs and drums for offering sacrifices to the gods of the fields.254 If everybody starts beating them, it will be as good as any musicians. But if there’s nobody to take the place of the attendants at the wedding, what can we do? chou (enters, costumed as a shepherd boy, playing the flute): (Same tune) I play the short flute To celebrate their wedding. I have nothing else to give Besides my mouth and lips. I will set the new couple laughing So that they can perform the wedding rites. I’ll seize on the occasion to go eat off the host,
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Whose generosity knows no end, Whose generosity knows no end!
I am just a shepherd boy from deep in the mountains and have heard that at the Old Fisherman Mo’s place, a couple is getting married. The guy who cuts kindling, the one who tills the fields, and the one who waters the gardens have all come to congratulate them, a pretext to cheat him out of some wine. I may be young, but I’m also a native of this village. I have no choice but to barge on in and offer my congratulations to them. How could they throw me out? I’m here already and just have to go right in. (Enters.) Uncle Mo, I heard that there’s a happy event in your house, so I have come specially to offer my congratulations! (Greets everyone.) All of you gentlemen are attending the banquet and did not let me know. How could it be that you are the only ones who get to drink today’s wine? wai, jing, and fujing: Let us ask you. As you have come to offer congratulations, you should provide a gift. Although none of us has any silver, one of us gave firewood, one gave wine, and one gave vegetables. We’d like to ask, what did you bring? chou: The thing I give is even a little better than yours, but since I have no gift card, I will just explain it aloud myself. (Points at his mouth.) “Allow me to present my ‘long life’ mouth as a gift with most sincere respect to congratulate the couple. Your student, a shepherd boy, with my respectful kowtow.” wai, jing, and fujing: What good is your smelly mouth? How can you provide a mouth to talk nonsense while other people have given things as presents? chou: How can one get a reward without deserving it? There is a situation in which I have use for it. I presume that there are no musicians this deep in the mountains. Let me start playing the flute that I play on the back of the ox to serve as music for the wedding. Now isn’t this wedding gift a little better than yours?
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wai, jing, and fujing: We also know how to play the flute. What’s so hard about that? All we lack is an attendant for the bride and bridegroom at the wedding today. Can you be the attendant? chou: What’s hard about that? I have learned plays, and serving as master of ceremonies for a singing troupe is my duty as a painted face.255 I can do it, I can! wai, jing, and fujing: That’s fine then. Hurry up and invite the bridegroom to come out. sheng (enters): (Tune: Juhua xin) Having joined our detached souls from the bottom of the river, We now join once again in matrimony in the mountains. Our wedding guests being so numerous— I worry that we’ll waste the host’s fine vintage!
xiaosheng: Mr. Tan, these few rude friends of mine are natives of our village and members of the community. Hearing that you are getting married today, they have all brought rich gifts to congratulate you. Please come over to meet them. (sheng greets everyone.) wai, jing, and fujing: The shepherd boy will act as master of ceremonies. Quick, invite the bride to make her formal bows. xiaosheng: It is still too early to perform the marriage ceremony. I have prepared two meager banquets: one is for the bride, and the other is for the groom. The banquet for the bride is inside, and my consort will keep her company; the banquet for the groom is outside. May I trouble all of you gentlemen to keep him company? Only after the wine is finished will we escort them to the nuptial chamber. all: Right, that’s just right. (mo enters, bringing wine, and xiaosheng delivers it to the diners.)
together: (Tune: Gu lun tai)
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To celebrate the fine match, Fisherman, woodcutter, farmer, and gardener offer the best they might, Even shepherd boy manages the ceremonies.256 Bracken powder257 cooked into the rice And fish boiled with watershield Merely relieve their hunger on this happy night. Unworthy of the Soft fragrance and warmth258
Of flowers lovely and willows tender,259 A straw couch will take the place of a fragrant mattress. When tonight they drink the nuptial cup,260 It may be hard for the beauty to show her joy: Only relying on The mountain scenery to paint her
eyebrows, The sound of waves to rinse her teeth, Pine flowers261 to decorate her temples, Where could she get A golden chamber in a desolate
village? To express our sincerity, We have only Morning breeze and evening moon to serve
as breakfast and supper!
all: The time is up—please consummate this happy event. (Rise from the table together.) wai: Mr. Tan, we have a crude custom here. Whenever man and woman get married, everybody must have some fun sending them into the nuptial chamber. We call this “bantering in celebration.”262 For a little while, we’ll make mischief, but don’t take offense. sheng: I would not dare. xiaosheng: We don’t need to have fun in any other way: everybody just helps the groom urge the bride to have a few cups of wine. A wedding won’t be fun unless you are a bit tipsy.
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sheng (smiles): When you explain it this way, it is really not a vulgar custom but a refined affair instead. all: Shepherd boy, as master of ceremonies you must make haste to invite the bride to come out! (all beat drums and gongs and play the flute. chou acts as the standard master of ceremonies, and dan enters, makes ceremonial bows263 with sheng. chou carries a lantern and escorts them into the nuptial chamber.) (Walk together.) (Same tune with a different beginning) Joyous, More than any ordinary wedding: We admire the chaste wife and husband true For saving their fate and changing their lot, Moving ghosts and alarming the gods, And almost creating confusion in the blue sea. Full of sympathy for your plight, Heaven cleared away your gloom, Knowing you are not just ordinary folk. Honor and splendor are to come: Before reaching for the sky you first grew dragons’ scales; Having shed your fish’s body, The turtle’s head264 you will occupy. The Dragon Gate265 is close, And a favorable turn in life can be foreseen. Truly of immortals’ stuff, For uncouth folk just to know you is a blessing!
Bride, please receive our bows. (Salute together.) A fine bride! A fine bride! Indeed pretty and so neat—no wonder that this man took a fancy to her! We all propose a toast! The rules in this mountain village, unlike those in the city, are that we must all be truly dead drunk before you can be properly married. Shepherd boy: you are a child, unlike us. Pour the nuptial cup and go over to urge
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them to drink. (chou presents them with wine; sheng drinks, but dan does not.) wai (aside): She is unwilling to drink. What’ll we do? All right, everybody must act rough and offer congratulations by giving the groom a good beating: once he is aching, in her heart she will not be able to stand it and will naturally drink. all: Makes sense, makes sense! (Turn back.) If the bride does not drink, it is all because the groom told her not to, which is really unacceptable! We’ll each give him twenty punches to replace the wedding wine. wai: I’ll beat him first. (Clenches his fists.) (Tune: Bu shi lu) My wild nature cannot be tamed, A woodcutter’s hairy fist is as heavy as an ax. (Grabs sheng and hits him.)
sheng (cries out): I can’t bear this beating; I can’t bear it! Wife, just drink it! (dan drinks.) jing (shouts loudly): Now it’s my turn! With my military might, Surely your Soul will perish at the touch of my poisonous
punch! (Hits sheng.)
sheng: It hurts, it hurts badly! Wife, just drink it! (dan drinks.) fujing: You both used your fists, but I will take it upon my humble self to change the rule,266 and use only my palm. (Opens wide his hand.) I stretch out my palm, But don’t underestimate my palm;
A wave of the whole palm will leave A five-petal plumblossom print. (Folds back two fingers.) Even Half of my fingers will leave A print of three bamboo
leaves!
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sheng (alarmed): How can I bear such a big palm? Wife, hurry up and just drink it! (dan drinks.) chou: Now it is your student’s turn. You honorable sirs all presented her with small cups, but humble I must present her with a big cup! wai, jing, and fujing: Do you really have a way to make her drink that much? chou: Just saying so is no guarantee; you will see how when I do it. Quick, pour her some wine! (Pours a big cup and urges dan to drink, but she does not drink.) Ha! You would take advantage of my being young? To be frank with you, even if my hands cannot beat people up, this set of teeth of mine can bite. I would not bite any place else, but I’ll give him such a bite on his “important thing” so that you won’t be able to become husband and wife tonight! (Champs his teeth.) I Champ my teeth—,
I only need to bite off three inches of muscle; Surely you will Have no head to go to,
Have no head267 to go to!
sheng: How could this be allowed? Quick, don’t let that happen! (dan drinks hurriedly, all laugh. dan looks embarrassed and exits to avoid them.) all: We have made enough mischief, and the best thing in Heaven and on Earth is to make things convenient for people, so let’s all go home. xiaosheng (to sheng): Brother Tan, you got married onstage all the time, but you must have followed old-fashioned customs and have never done it this way: the fisherman, woodcutter, farmer, and gardener escort the bride to the wedding hall, while the shepherd boy acts as master of ceremonies. Although it is a bit unrefined, it does have a kind of peculiar charm. Didn’t you find it a case of “sights and sounds all fresh and new”?
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sheng: This is not only extremely new but also extremely refined. What did I do to deserve this? A thousand thanks! together: (Coda) So this text’s creative, To make sights and sounds all new. We would echo refined scholars’ romantic charm, But we didn’t want to just Imitate the ways that are tried
and true!
A Couple of Soles is a classic comedic romance by the seventeenth-century playwright Li Yu. The first major comedy from late imperial China to appear in English translation, it provides an unparalleled view of Chinese theater following the Ming-Qing dynastic transition. “Li Yu ranks among China’s finest wits, but none of his ten comedies had been translated into English. This masterful yet accessible rendition of A Couple of Soles makes, at long last, Li Yu’s comic genius and theatrical ingenuity visible to students, readers, theater practitioners, and drama scholars around the world.” —Patricia Sieber, Ohio State University “A Couple of Soles displays to the Anglophone world the masterful craft of the Chinese dramatist Li Yu. Sustained by extensive commentaries, informative notes, and contemporary wood-block illustrations, this edition by Jing Shen and Robert E. Hegel exemplifies the very best of translation-in-research.” —Vibeke Børdahl, Copenhagen University “This brilliant book combines excellent scholarship about the innovative seventeenth-century dramatist Li Yu, noted for his unrestrained speech and behavior, with a wonderful translation of one of his comedies.” —Colin Mackerras, Griffith University Li Yu (1610–1680) was a popular author and theatrical impresario with a reputation for tales that tested social limits. Jing Shen is professor of Chinese language and literature at Eckerd College. Robert E. Hegel is professor emeritus of Chinese language and literature and Liselotte Dieckmann Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature at Washington University in St. Louis. Tra n slat io ns fr o m t he A s ia n C l as s i c s ISBN: 978-0-231-19354-2
Cover image: Royal Asiatic Society, London, UK / Bridgeman Images Cover design: Lisa Hamm
Columbia University Press / New York
cup.columbia.edu
Printed in the U.S.A.