Classic Poem

(Chung-lü-tiao, mu-yang-kuan )

The clouds came restlessly and went
Only a little rising moon appeared.
Unguessably wicked were Hung-hsin's plans.
He waited there for Liu Chih-yüan
As slowly the hour deepened into late night.
A short time after the watchman's second drum
A fresh wind blew upon men's cheeks.

The wall was tumbled on the northwest side
And suddenly, there, appeared another hero.
He leaped the ruined wall as nimble as could be
And poised to run to the thatched hut.
Hung-yi was delighted.
The fellow was fit for death.
And all his grievances would be avenged! (Coda)

" No man has a rear-looking eye to see his danger through. "
Li Hung-yi cannot restrain his rage.
He will smite with his club his enemy's back
And break him quite in two.
Hung-yi in rage
Gripped the stick so tight it gave a puff of smoke.
A man of stone
Would be felled by such a stroke.
Struck such a blow on the back, the man was helpless. All seven feet of him toppled to the earth with a heavy crash!

(Hsien-lü-tiao, tsui-lo-t'o )

Hung-yi with an angry curse
Put all his strength into his hands.
Down fell the other, his heart full of hate,
Wishing he were dead, so great the pain.

Hung-yi stooped, dragged the stranger up, and looked at him.
In the light of the moon, he recognized the face.
It wasn't the pauper Liu Chih-yüan,
He looked more carefully — it was Li Hung-hsin!
Hung-yi between fright and smile, Hung-hsin between pain and patience. " I was afraid that you, big brother, would not be able to down that paupered devil. That's why I came to watch you. " It has been true from the beginning of time that the net of Heaven stretches everywhere. Its meshes are wide, but nothing escapes it. In a moment, they saw Chih-yüan followed by several men. They all came smelling of wine. Hung-yi grabbed him: " Our father and mother are dead but a few days. How dare you drink! " The villagers replied: " We only drink to keep from crying. " But the brothers would not let be. When morning came, they bound Liu Chih-yüan with rope and would have taken him to court, but San-weng got wind of it.

(Huang-chung-kung, shuang-sheng tieh-yün )

Li Hung-hsin and Li Hung-yi
Bound the Hidden Dragon
And together began an endless din:
" Since he came to our home as a son-in-law
He's looked upon us as children's toys.
We'd say go this way and he'd go that!
Always wrangling!

" We told him to mind the orchard, uncle,
And back he came soggy drunk.
We clouted him and he got mad
And picked a fight with us!
Uncle, judge who is right and who is wrong. "
When San-weng heard their words,
He shouted angrily: " Quiet, you cattle! (Coda)

" You both pick on him whenever you can
Yet now complain he's mannerless —
Well, which of you is a gentleman? "
" If you take him to court, " said San-weng, " I'll fix you before the judge! " Bystanders threatened him too, so Hung-yi gave up. Several days passed and the brothers laid another plot. They sent Liu Chih-yüan to sleep in the thatched stable saying they thought the cow would soon calve. Even San-niang was unaware of their plot and Chih-yüan did not suspect them. When the deep of night had come, he slept soundly inside the stable.

(Nan-lü-kung, ying-t'ien-ch'ang )

Chih-yüan was depressed and sad at heart,
His tears flowed like rain.
Time and again he sighed at length
And secretly, he thought:
" Here am I, Ancestor-to-be [of the Han dynasty]
Born to a prominent family.
We lost our wealth,
I left my mother and all my kin,
Heaven led me to this place.
My father-in-law was very kind,
He asked me to marry his daughter
And was happy he could help.

" My wife and I are the fish and the stream.
Her parents we never did resent,
But alas! Disaster! They both died.
Li Hung-hsin and Li Hung-yi have
Nursed their hatred and harshly treated me.
San-weng is fond of me and guards me from much harm,
But surely one day I'll be caught up by their plots. (Coda)

" My troubles riddle as hard as the Classic of Filial Piety!
I love my San-niang; I wish to leave but cannot.
Yet if I stay, can I bear our lot? "
Held by San-niang's love
He will grow old but never leave her.
Thinking of the hatred of those two
He cannot leave here fast enough.
No way out has he. When will his sorrows cease? Late at night the Hidden Dragon fell asleep. Outside the door, Li Hung-yi listened cautiously and his heart grew cruel as he began his wicked work.

(P'an-she-tiao, ma-p'o-tzu )

Hung-yi judged it had passed the second watch.
The bright moon [sparkled] like an autumn river.
Hung-yi approached so silently
One could have heard a light pin drop.
For a while he sat by the cow-pen,
Long he stayed and cocked his ear but finally was pleased.

He remembered: " In the wine-shop . . .
O, how I was knocked about!
And then he was brought
Into the family as a son-in-law —
My father himself protected him!
But now, how can he escape!
He soundly sleeps, his snore is thunderlike.
This thorn in my eye will soon be plucked out
And after today I shall be glad again. " (Coda)

He's got him in a cow-shed covered with thick thatch.
To burn it down is simple,
Just bar the gate, toss the torch, and let the fire catch!

P'ang Chüan himself was not as cruel
As this rustic wolf.
Huang Ch'ao is merciful as Buddha
Compared to Hung-yi,
Alas! The Emperor-to-be
Must end his life in the flames.

(Shang-chiao, ting-feng-p'o )

Liu Chih-yüan sleeps soundly and wakes not,
Snoring as the tigers roar amidst the hills.
How can San-niang know
She may never meet her love again!
This is not a pretense and not a dream,
His shade is destined to return to the Yellow Springs!

Just then Li Hung-yi
Cups his ear and listens carefully.
He hesitates, he vacillates,
(Still, how can Chih-yüan save himself?)
And then as he touches torch to hut,
Suddenly a noise is heard that startles the great oaf.
He quickly jerks his head to look: (Coda)

The stars have moved, the dipper's turned
And then it was third watch again.
Now will the Emperor's fortune show itself!
Clouds there were not nor even fog
Yet of a sudden it began to rain!
His sufferings were the same as Kuang Wu's. His escape as miraculous as Chin Wang's. The rain quenched the fire. Chih-yüan awoke and though he knew Hung-yi had done it, he dared not complain. Next day Chih-yüan harnessed the ox and donkey to their cart to work near the Temple of Three Religions. At noon, he rested for a while in the temple and slept. Soon a group of older villagers came there for respite from the summer heat. Li San-weng was among them.

(P'an-she-tiao, ch'in-yüan-ch'un )

Liu Chih-yüan tied both ox and ass,
He did not think about the cart
But climbed the temple steps.
So troubled was he these many days past
He threw himself down in a heap
To sleep for a little while.
San-weng was standing by
And looked upon him anxiously,
His brows were knit.
" Here is a plight to wound the heart:
Just this. A beautiful jade from Ching-shan hill
Buried here deep in the mud! "
As the old man stood there saddened,
Suddenly was heard a clap of thunder from the sky
And all were startled by the crash.
Then they saw the lightning flash
And it frightened them to death:
It shook their souls out till none was left.
Then something caught their eyes
And they raised their heads to look:
In such a wild, ill-omened storm
The tender grain is battered down
And everywhere there'll be a desert
And famine-stricken folk. (Coda)

The good Dragon of the clouds
Has sent his devils with this rain.
Black clouds stretched across the skies
To pour the Four Seas down again.
The lightning darted silver snakes. The thunder pealed an iron gong, the winds dashed against the sky, and the heavy rain was a torrent. The ox and donkey, frightened, snapped the hemp rope, ran away, and disappeared to who knows where. San-weng shouted a warning to Chih-yüan who raced to catch the beasts, but they had gone. When it grew dark, Liu Chih-yüan did not dare return to the village.

(Kao-p'ing-tiao, ho-hsin-lang )

When Chih-yüan heard San-weng's shout, he jumped,
Left San-weng, and hurried from the shrine.
He cared not that his leather shoes got soiled
But searched all through the lake of mud.
Along the way he murmured to himself a thousand times:
" These two sons of piebald donkeys
Will tie me to the mulberry tree
And straightway I'll get fifty stripes. "

Now, history has come to the end of T'ang
And reached the age of Five Dynasties.
The people have lost their way; the multitudes are sorely oppressed
But rich and famous men show bravery and brilliance,
And new-come heroes are hard and firm.
In T'ai-yüan district they brand their young recruits.
Chih-yüan wants to join but still he vacillates.
Not that he is of two minds
But is it strange that he should be pulled two ways at once?
So sad, so hard it is to leave San-niang!
When evening came, Liu Chih-yüan dared not return to the village. He wished to steal secretly away and join the army in T'ai-yüan. But his affection for San-niang is great; he cannot leave her. Under the bright moon, he could find sufficient reason neither for going nor staying, and he sighed again and again.

(Tao-kung, chieh-hung )

Wringing his hands and rubbing his fingers,
Chih-yüan beneath the moon
Heaved a deep sigh and talked to himself:
" Could I have avoided kicking and boxing?
Even no trouble at all causes trouble between Hung-yi and me,
Each of us irks the other so.
How much worse it will be now,
For I have lost both ox and ass!
If I return to the village, what will they say?
I am afraid to face Hung-hsin and Hung-yi.
I urge you, all young men and youths,
Try as best you can with each of your lives
To avoid becoming a son-in-law such as I.

" While her parents were yet alive
All things were good and living easy.
Since their death the others have harried my wife and me.
Those men and their wives are never still,
They find fault with everything in us.
You can ruin any good man by slicing away at him
Till he struggles for his very breath.
I was so long poor, and not once rich,
They said that this could never change.
Just a beggar owning nothing but a hearty appetite.
Can a man stand five score insults such as these?
Can anything good ever be cut from such cloth? (Coda)

" Throughout the village, grown men and young girls too
Gave me a nickname, will they never stop?
Everyone calls me Beggar Liu. "
It was slightly past the second watch when Liu Chih-yüan secretly returned. He had come to bid San-niang good-bye.

(Hsien-lü-tiao, sheng-hu-lu )

Beneath the moon moved Mr. Liu like a wisp of smoke,
His mouth still full of complaints
Because he hadn't found the ox and ass.
Holding back his alarm, containing his fear,
He tiptoed forward and traveled
Roundabout through the orchard.

" I say good-bye to my San-niang;
I go to T'ai-yüan.
When I'm in and branded
We'll be together again.
I walk but know not if I move little or much.
So strong are the feelings of husband and wife
This is like leaping a fence or scaling a wall
While tied by a rope to one leg. " (Coda)

Just then he approached the cattle-shed
To slip from sight, but slip he could not
For someone grabbed him by the arms instead.
It frightened the Hidden Dragon to death. Who has seized him? He turned his head — it was his wife San-niang: " Husband, why do you come so late? My brothers and their wives with clubs lie in wait for you. " Chih-yüan told her the whys and the wherefores: " Tonight, I came just to say good-bye secretly, for I couldn't come openly to see you. "

(Cheng-kung, chin-mo-tao )

Startled, he turned in fear
And saw it was San-niang who caught him:
" I tell you, my husband,
The work was hard enough before
But after you left this morning
I could hardly wait for dark.
Oh, how anxious I grew!
There was still no trace of you
And my brothers and their wives were in such a rage!
They're waiting for you now and will give you no quarter. "
What emotion!
As Chih-yüan listened to San-niang's words
His tears flowed like a spring.
He replied: " In the Temple of Three Religions,
I hid myself to escape the heat.
When I had fallen fast asleep
It began to rain as though a cistern had overturned.
When I awoke neither ox nor ass could be found
And half the slope had turned into a lake.
I searched for the beasts till evening came;
In the dark of night I could not come through the main gate,
So I leaped the wall to see my bride. (Coda)

" It will be hard to live in Sha-t'o village
But stay, bear with your troubles, and farm the land.
For I must go to Ping-chou and take a soldier's brand. "
Dripping tears, San-niang replied: " If you go to T'ai-yüan, how will I get through the days? " Chih-yüan replied: " The governor of nine districts is raising an army now and I go to join it. I came here only to say good-bye. " When San-niang heard this, she felt a knife in her heart: " I am already several months with child. I had to tell you. "

(Chung-lü-tiao, mu-ta-sui )

Li San-niang's black eyebrows knit,
She covered her sad face with cupped hands.
Then her delicate fingers caught Liu Chih-yüan's ragged clothes:
" If you go to T'ai-yüan to take the soldiers' brand,
Come back soon, and carry me away from here.
I am three months gone, remember, please!
Li Hung-yi and Li Hung-hsin are wolf and tiger.
" Topsy-turvy" and " Prickle-stick" long since have earned their evil names!
I have to stay and face their angry looks and squinted eyes.
Even the gods here are not at peace,
And the signs of the Heavens are at sixes and sevens.

" No lie leaves my mouth,
Whatever I promise, I'll keep my word:
I am your wife while I live,
I'll still be your wife when I die.
No matter what foolishness they may talk
I'll never heed any one of them.
I'll never be faithless,
Meng Chiang-nü will be my model.

" Do not worry! When they tell me to find another life,
I'll shout them away.
Only when I cannot stand their beating me,
Only when I no longer can endure it,
And when it is impossible to escape,
I'll cut my throat or hang myself
But die I will — somehow. "

She finished her words and her tears dropped like pearls.
Teardrops wet her silken clothes.
She whispered crying, she crying whispered
But dared not loudly cry.
Whoever had blood in him or ate food —
No, even were he carved in stone or iron cast —
He would be moved. (Coda)

She is a pear-blossom drenched in spring rain,
An empress sobbing her grief beneath the moon.
How does she behave?
Like Hsiang Fei, who speckled the bamboo
With tears she shed on Great Shun's grave.
Her eyebrows, even furrowed by grief, were so delicate that Hsi-tzu, the Prince of Wu's mistress, had none as lovely. Her face, even drenched in tears, was yet more beautiful than Ch'i-shih, Han Kao-tsu's love. " My husband, as long as you are in T'ai-yüan, I'll do nothing but stand by the door and wait for you. Sir, tarry a while, I'll go for money for your trip. " A while passed, but she didn't come back, so Chih-yüan in turn went to look.

(Huang-chung-kung, k'uai-huo-nien )

" My wife has not yet come back and she's been gone too long.
She lets me wait in the deep of night which shows no sign of anyone. "
Stealthily he crept inside and went to his wife's room.
The double doors were locked. He put his head in the window to look.
He saw San-niang.

She held a great ax. What did she care for death!
No one lives twice,
So death comes but once.
From ancient times till now
Few had more contempt for death than she,
And even Meng Chiang she surpassed in fidelity. (Coda)

Her tumbled hair lay on the table top
She raised the ax and frightened Liu to death!
Before he could even move — kerchop!
Chiang-nü at the Great Wall was never this faithful, nor was Yü-fei at Kai-hsia as virtuous. But what of San-niang's life?
The blow of the ax had only cut off a lock of her black hair. She wrapped it in a robe of black and violet figured silk, opened the door, and handed both to young Liu. " I pray you'll never forget me. " She saw him to the wall of the compound.

(P'an-she-tiao, shao-pien )

When yin and yang first parted to form Heaven and Earth
The separation was very hard,
But do not imagine it was more difficult
Than what this husband and wife did now.
Tonight they cannot bear to leave each other.
Let us exaggerate a little —
They were like Su Hsiao-ch'ing with her student Shuang Chien in the post-house when she saw him to the River Ch'ien-t'ang.
They were as Hsü, the commandant, surrounded by Sui troops giving his half of the mirror to Princess Yüeh-ch'ang at Huang-p'o.
They were like the Hegemon leaving his mistress Yü at Kai-hsia,
Like the Cowherd and the Spinning Maid parting after the seventh evening of the seventh month.
And the rain and clouds parted as they did
When the beloved goddess of Wu-shan left Sung Yü in his grief.

" If sold, my robe of figured silk can furnish money for your trip, " said San-niang.
Her generosity is as great as the mountain.
A moment before she had let down her cloud of black hair
And cut off a lock of it with the ax.
She hands it now to young Liu saying:
" Remember often tonight's love. "
Should you recall examples from the past
Of such affectionate partings,
I think no grief in all the world
Could be compared with theirs.
Her pain was so great, again and again the tear pearls fell.
The earth was mourning, Heaven was plunged in sorrow,
The sun itself gave no light.
If Buddha of the Eternal Smile were witness, he too would frown. (Coda)

A mandarin duck driven from its mate,
Lien-li trees cut asunder,
Uncaring Hung-hsin and Hung-yi have made
The lonely luan bird and solitary phoenix separate.
Hung-hsin was a fence as high as the sky. Hung-yi was a wind-screen reaching the earth. " Prickle-stick " was the awl to undo their love-knot. " Topsy-turvy " was the saw which cut the lien-li trees with interlocked branches. The whole day they plan to drive Chih-yüan from their house and cause husband and wife to live apart. Chih-yüan and San-niang had just said good-bye to each other when suddenly they heard a shout.

(Hsieh-chih-tiao, shua-san-t'ai )

Li San-niang and Liu Chih-yüan —
A couple who had scarce begun to live together.
Her tears were as many as the raindrops.
" An old grief is seldom dispersed by a new one. "
" When you arrive at Ping-chou
Send back for me.
Don't make me wait too long by the door,
Think often on tonight's parting,
Sir, recall everything of our past. "

Suddenly there was a loud shout
Which startled husband and wife.
Li Hung-yi dressed all differently:
(His face about to burst with rage)
A shiny black turban, his tunic girt by a cord,
Leather boots for which two rabbits had once been brought to grief.
The sash about his middle
Was three feet wide, of ornamented purple silk.
His shirt was woven of coarse hemp.

In his hand he held a club
Which in the past had knocked down five rough fighters.
His ears stood out like dried-out mulberry leaves.
His nose, arrogant, eyes deep set inside his face.
His thighs were big, his buttocks huge,
He had a quick and ox-lipped mouth
Which drank the crudest village wine without a pucker.
He cursed Liu Chih-yüan:
He called his mother a gallows bird
And him a spine-broken pauper
Who had seduced his little sister — just a child. (Coda)

He opened his mulberry-eating, sesame-chewing mouth
With a shout that matched an ox's bellow,
Which not only Chih-yüan trembled to hear
But the unicorn itself would have fled in fear.

Both brothers raised their clubs to harm the future Emperor.
Both their wives hiked up skirts and raced to belabor the Empress.
Alas! The time had not come for phoenix and mate.
How sad! The swallow and sparrow cheat them.

(Nan-lü-kung, ying-t'ien-ch'ang )

Li Hung-yi and his brother fly into a rage,
Their strength was the wolf's, the tiger's strength.
They raise their clubs
And wildly shout:
" You useless pauper! Not content to lose the ox and ass
You even had the cheek
To come back to the compound and lead your wife astray!
Get out this moment and you'll save your life,
If you wait, both our clubs are raised against you! "

Both brothers were rough enough at all times
And more so now for they could not resist their wives' chatter,
Like a field of magpies all let loose at once.
They insulted their brother-in-law
Until the Hidden Dragon could stay no longer
But had to leave the compound.
Angrily he cried: " One day I'll come on the wind and thunder
And carry back my San-niang! (Coda)

" I go! I go away! I leave at once! "
Chih-yüan watched her and she watched him
As gradually they drew apart.
Both wept:
The one for he was saddened, the other for she was sick at heart.
Chih-yüan, leaving, cried angrily to the other couples: " One day I'll reach my goal and I'll never forgive you! " The brothers laughed: " When you are famous, we'll snuff up three pecks and three pints of vinegar. " And their wives added: " We'll eat three pecks and three pints of salt. "

(Huang-chung-kung, ch'u-tui-tzu )

Chih-yüan shouted: " Now I am in shadow,
But as the storm is followed by bright sunbursts
So I'll return to take my beauty back.
Then will I show vengeance to my enemies and kindness to my friends! "

Hung-yi and Hung-hsin repeated their oath:
" When you are famous, we'll sniff up three measures of vinegar! "
The brothers' wives added their bit to be unpleasant:
" When you're honored and make your name
We'll certainly eat our three measures of salt! " (Coda)

" Don't hope to raise the parasol of rank
Nor sit in a saddle and conduct the drill,
If the cold doesn't get you then hunger will! "
When they had finished, both couples seized San-niang and dragged her into the compound. Liu Chih-yüan set out alone on the old path to T'ai-yüan. Next day, he came to Ping-chou and asked the inhabitants for information. They told him where to find the army camp and advised him to visit Brigade-general Yüeh Chin. The ranks had not yet been filled. Following this advice, Chih-yüan went to the camp [. . . .] The ceremonial visit being finished, next came competition in drawing the bow. Chih-yüan rejected one bow as too soft. The general, in anger, had the (stiffest) bow of the brigade brought out from the arsenal to be drawn.

(Chung-lü-tiao, fu-ni-shang )

Officers and the commander-in-chief
Watched Chih-yüan and their faces were pleased.
He stood like a pine.
Like a pine he stood,
His body seven feet high, his presence majestic and awesome.
All disciplines of military art he had accomplished
And drilled in them for many years.
The time had come [. . .]
To serve his palace and protect his home.

The noble hero drew the bow as though it were but rotten wood,
Displaying well his mighty strength.
His voice rang like a bell,
Like a bell rang his voice
As he thundered his replies
With his back rigidly to the west
And his face squarely to the east.
Whirling the iron mace, he makes the north wind blow.
Wrestling, who can match him?
Swinging the mace back and forth
He startles the commander-in-chief. (Coda)

Brigadier Yüeh is nearly startled to death
As he watches Liu Chih-yüan. For it seems as though
An eight-clawed dragon draws that mighty birch bow.
The general saw above Chih-yüan's head a red glow and struggling dragons twined together. To himself he said with a sigh: " Someday this man's wealth and honor will be limitless. " Thereupon he gave him a jar of wine, three strings of cash, and gave him a furlough in the camp. Later he called Li Hsin, his vice-commander, and ordered him secretly to act as go-between. " I have a daughter of marriageable age not yet betrothed and I seek a husband for her. What I tell you, you must do and I won't admit any excuse. " Li Hsin understood. He privately visited Chih-yüan and told him about the marriage offer from the Brigade-general's family. The Hidden Dragon wept and told the vice-commander about his wife San-niang.

(Hsieh-chih-tiao, yung-yü-lo )

When Chih-yüan heard Li Hsin's words
He clasped his hands, gave a bow and said:
" My little San-niang in Sha-t'o village is awaiting news of me.
She cut me off a lock of her hair
And when I left, she gave me something for the trip.
Secretly she made me a present of her lock together with her garment of ornamented silk.
When I'm branded to the army, if I take another wife,
She surely will hear of it. "

" Today I want to make you a groom, " said Li Hsin,
" This betrothal, our commander is bound he'll have.
His daughter's beauty is the equal of Ch'ang-o,
Her face surpasses that of Lo-p'u.
The family would not ask you directly.
" One remembers present favors and forgets past faithfulness,"
They said of old and say it now.
What matter if a principle suffers?
With a new wife it's easy to forget the old. "
" Already I have a wife, how dare I marry once again? " Li Hsin replied with a smile: " Sir, how simple you are! Sir, don't you know when the camp gate is shut, the general is king? If you don't comply, disaster will be upon you! " Chih-yüan sighed deeply. The only thing left to do was to accept the betrothal gifts.

(P'an-she-tiao, ch'in-yüan-ch'un )

Li Hsin delivered his message,
The groom was fearful because a general was his go-between.
Chih-yüan could not escape,
He accepted the betrothal gifts,
With his face contorted in grief and his brows drawn down.
[. . . . . . . . . . . .]
[. . . . . . . . . . . .] who is who.
How can one know [. . . . . .] Ch'in [. . . . . .]
[. . . . . . . . . . . .] Ch'i.

His speech now proves deceptive.
Like a needle in cotton,
Like poison in honey.
" No need to mention T'ang Tun-chuan in the past,
Or speak of Tsung-tao, who once divorced his wife.
For now I am more perfidious than Huang Ch'ao,
I am heartless as P'ang Chüan.