Chinese Kunqu Opera-Tha Palace of Eternal Youth-長生殿-5

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Description

A Night Of Grief

Translation by
Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang(楊憲益戴乃迭)

Lady:
But tonight,
Though the sun is setting beind the verdant plain,
Still the emperor's carriage has not come.

Offstage a parrot cries:"The emperor is here!"

Lady:
Ah no,
It's only the parrot which has learnt these words
To mock me in my sadness. I stand in doubt,
Lost in thought as I lean upon the railing.

Maid 1:
We hear that our sovereign is in the front palace tonight;
The other court ladies need wait for him no longer.
Your ladyship, His Majesty is sleeping in the Emerald Pavilion.

Lady:
Can it be true?

Maid 2:
Your Ladyship, I have found out the truth about the Emerald Pavilion.
Just now I went quietly through the dusk there, my Lady; and I heard His Majesty order a eunuch
To ride as fast as he could through the darkness to fetch
The lady who fell from favour and was moved to the east pavilion.

Lady:
Ah! So it is the Lady Plum Blossom! And did she go?

Maid 2:
In less than no time the eunuch came back with the lady, and they went directly to the Emerald Pavilion.

Maid 1:
Are you certain of what you said?

Maid 2:
Quite certain.

Lady:
Ah Heaven! It is Lady Plum Blossom after all! She is in favour again.

Maids:
Don't be distressed, Your Ladyship!
I heard, my lady, from an eunuch, that yesterday the emperor secretly sent a pack of pearls to her from Blooming Flower Pavilion; But she wouldn't accept them and sent them back with a poem saying that
since her dismissal she has not decked her hair,
And pearls cannot console her in her grief.
That accounts for what happened tonight.


Lady:
Come with me, both of you, to the Emerald Pailion!

Maid:
Why do you want to go there, my lady?

Lady:
I will see what magic she uses, what spell she casts
To charm our lord and fascinate him so!

Maids:
The emperor didn't want you to know, my lady. And it's nearly midnight now; His Majesty will be asleep. If Your Ladyship goes there suddenly, it may embarrass him. You had better rest and deal with the matter tomorrow.

Lady:
Very well. But waht sleep can I get tonight?
Time flies too fast for him, as he takes his pleasure,
Leaving me here to lie in a lonely bed.