The Golden Days

The news that Bao-yu could already compose inscriptions evoked a smile of pleasure.

  ‘He has made progress, then!’

  Jia Zheng withdrew.

  ‘But why is Bao-yu not with us?’ she added.

  ‘The menfolk of the family are not supposed to see you without special reason,’ Grandmother Jia explained.

  Yuan-chun at once gave orders that he should be summoned, and presently he was brought in by one of the little eunuchs. When he had completed his kotow she called him over, and stretching out her arms, drew him to her bosom where she held him in a close embrace, stroking his hair and fondling the back of his neck.

  ‘What a lot you have grown-!’ she began. But the rest was drowned in a flood of tears.

  You-shi and Xi-feng now approached to announce that a feast awaited her in the Separate Residence. Yuan-chun rose to her feet, and bidding Bao-yu lead the way, walked with the rest of the company to the gate of the garden. There, in the light of the innumerable lanterns, all kinds of spectacles had been prepared for her entertainment. The route led through ‘The Phoenix Dance’, ‘Fragrant Red and Lucent Green’, ‘The Hopeful Sign’, and ‘The Garden of Spices’. This time the inspection was no perfunctory one. Yuan-chun insisted on looking inside the buildings and climbing up and down their stairs. She crossed bridges, she walked round each tiny ‘mountain’, and every once in a while she stopped to look about her and admire the view. All the places she visited were so beautifully furnished and so ingeniously planned, that she could not conceal her delight. But there was a faint note of censure in her praise:

  ‘You really mustn’t be so extravagant in future. This is far too much!’

  They had now come to the main hall. Having first decreed that they should dispense with court etiquette – which would have prevented the older ladies from sitting down at all – she took her place at the main table, while Grandmother Jia and the rest sat at little tables on either side, and You-shi, Li Wan and Xi-feng moved to and fro, dispensing wine and helping with the service.

  While they were still drinking, Yuan-chun sent for writing materials, and taking up a brush, began in her own hand to write out some names for the parts of the garden she had liked the best. The name she chose for the garden as a whole was ‘Prospect Garden’, and she composed the following couplet to go outside the main reception hall:

  For all earth to share, his great compassion has been extended,

  that children and humble folk may gratefully rejoice.

  For all ages to admire, his noble institutions have been promoted,

  that people of every land and clime may joyfully exult.

  She altered ‘The Phoenix Dance’ to ‘The Naiad’s House’, and she renamed ‘Fragrant Red and Lucent Green’ ‘Crimson Joys and Green Delights’ and named the building in its grounds ‘The House of Green Delights’. The buildings belonging to ‘The Garden of Spices’ she named ‘All-spice Court’. Those of ‘The Hopeful Sign’ she gave the name ‘Washbrook Farm’. The main hall became ‘Prospect Hall’ with separate names for the high galleries on either side:’ The Painted Chamber’ for the one on the east side, ‘The Fragrance Gallery’ for the one on the west. Among the other names which she invented for various other parts of the garden were:

  ‘The Smartweed Loggia’, ‘The Lotus Pavilion’, ‘Amaryllis Eyot’, and ‘Duckweed Island’. She also composed inscriptions for some of its prospects, including ‘Pear-tree blossom in springtime rain’, ‘Paulownia leaves in autumn wind’, and ‘Rushes in the winter snow’. The couplets composed by Bao-yu were to remain unaltered.

  Having finished with the inscriptions, she proceeded to write out the following quatrain of her own composition:

  Embracing hills and streams, with skill they wrought:

  Their work at last is to perfection brought.

  Earth’s fairest prospects all are here installed,

  So ‘Prospect Garden’ let its name be called !

  ‘There !’ she said with a smile to the girls. ‘I’m no genius, as you all well know, and I have never been much of a poet. But tonight I thought I really must write something, for this beautiful garden’s sake. Later on, when I have more time to spare, I intend to write a Description of Prospect Garden and a set of verses to be entitled The Visitation in commemoration of this wonderful night. But meanwhile I should like each of you girls to compose an inscription that could be used somewhere in the garden, and also a poem to go with it. Just write anything that comes into your heads. I don’t want you to restrict yourselves by trying to make your poems in any way relate to my own poor effort. As for Bao-yu: I am very pleased that he is able to compose verses so well, and I want him to write me an octet for each of the four places in the garden I like best: the Naiad’s House, All-spice Court – those are my two favourites – the House of Green Delights, and Washbrook Farm. The couplets he has already written for them are very good, but these are four such special places, that I feel they deserve to have something more written about them. And apart from that, if Bao-yu can show me these four poems while I am here, I shall feel that the efforts I made at teaching him when he was a little boy were worth while.’

  Bao-yu could scarcely refuse, and went off to rack bis brains for some good lines.

  Tan-chun was by far the most gifted of the Three Springs and joined Bao-chai and Dai-yu in writing octets. Li Wan, Ying-chun and Xi-chun, none of whom had any talent for versification, contented themselves with a quatrain apiece, but found even four lines a considerable effort.

  When the girls had all finished, Yuan-chun took up the papers one by one and examined the results of their labours. Here is what they had written:

  Ying-chun: Heart’s Ease

  The garden finished, all its prospects please.

  Bidden to write, I name this spot ‘Heart’s Ease’.

  Who would have thought on earth such scenes to find

  As here refresh the heart and ease the mind ?

  ∗

  Tan-chun: Brightness and Grace

  Water on hills and hills on waters smile,

  More bright and graceful than the Immortal Isle.

  Midst odorous herbs the singer’s green fan hides;

  Her crimson skirt through falling petals glides.

  A radiant jewel to the world is shown,

  A fairy princess from her tower come down:

  And since her steps the garden’s walks have trod,

  No mortal foot must desecrate its sod.

  ∗

  Xi-chun: Art the Creator

  The garden’s landscape far and wide outspreads;

  High in the clouds its buildings raise their heads;

  Serene in moonlight, radiant in the sun –

  Great Nature’s handiwork has been outdone!

  ∗

  Li Wan: All Things Bright and Beautiful

  The finished garden is a wondrous sight.

  Unlettered and unskilled, I blush to write.

  Its marvels are not in one phrase expressed,

  Yet ‘Bright and Beautiful’ I judge the best.

  ∗

  Xue Bao-chai: Auspicious Skies

  West of imperial walls the garden lies;

  The sun beams on it from auspicious skies.

  Its willows orioles from the vale invite;

  Tall bamboos tempt the phoenix to alight.

  Poetic arts this night must celebrate

  Filial affection dressed in robes of state.

  Dare I, who have those jewelled phrases read,

  Add more to what She has already said?

  ∗

  Lin Dai-yu: The Fairy Stream

  To fairy haunts far from the world’s annoy

  A royal visit brings a double joy.

  A thousand borrowed beauties here combined

  In this new setting new enchantment find.

  Its odours sweet a poet’s wine enrich;

  Its flowers a queenly visitor bewitch.

  May she and we this favour hope to gain:

/>   That oft-times she may pass this way again!

  As soon as she had finished reading the poems, Yuan-chun praised them all warmly. ‘But Cousin Lin’s and Cousin Xue’s poems are specially good,’ she said. ‘Our Jia girls are no match for them!’

  Dai-yu had confidently expected that this night would give her an opportunity of deploying her talents to the full and amazing everyone with her genius. It was very disappointing that no more had been required of her than a single little poem and an inscription; and though she was obliged to confine herself to what the Imperial Concubine had commanded, she had composed her octet without enthusiasm and in very perfunctory manner.

  Meanwhile Bao-yu was far from finished with his consignment. He had finished composing the poems for the Naiad’s House and All-spice Court and was still in the middle of a poem on the House of Green Delights. Bao-chai took a peep over his shoulder and noticed that his draft contained the line

  Some wear sheathed skirts of lucent green curled tight.

  When no one was looking she gave him a nudge:

  ‘You can tell Her Grace didn’t like “lucent green” because she only just now altered it to something else in your inscription. If you insist on using it in your poem, it will look as if you are deliberately flaunting your difference of opinion. There are so many allusions to plantain leaves you could use, you shouldn’t have much difficulty in substituting something else.’

  ‘It’s all very well for you to talk,’ said Bao-yu, mopping the perspiration from his brow, ‘but at this particular moment I can’t think of any allusion that would do.’

  ‘Why don’t you put “in spring green waxen sheaths” in place of your “sheathed skirts of lucent green”?’

  ‘Where do you get “green waxen” from?’ said Bao-yu.

  ‘Tut, tut, tut!’ Bao-chai shook her head pityingly. ‘If this is what you are like tonight, Heaven knows what you’ll be like in a few years’ time when you come to take the Palace Examination. Probably you’ll find you have forgotten even the Child’s First Primer of Rhyming Names. It’s from the Tang poet Qian Xu’s poem “Furled Plantains”:

  Green waxen candles from which no flames rise.

  Do you mean to say you’ve forgotten that?’

  The scales fell from Bao-yu’s eyes.

  ‘Good gracious, how stupid of me! The words are there ready-made and I didn’t think of them! I shall have to call you my “One Word Teacher”, like the poet in the story! I shan’t be able to treat you like a sister any more, I shall have to say “sir” when I speak to you!’

  ‘Sister!’ said Bao-chai with a little laugh. ‘Stop fooling about and get on with your poem! That’s your sister, sitting up there in the golden robe. I’m no sister of yours!’

  Fearing that he would waste more time if she stayed, she slipped quietly away.

  The poem finished, Bao-yu had now completed three out of the four commanded. At this point Dai-yu, who was still full of dissatisfaction because her talent had been underemployed, noticed that Bao-yu was struggling and came over to the table at which he was working. Observing that ‘The Hopeful Sign’ still remained to be done, she told him to get on with the copying out in fair of the three poems he had already completed while she thought of something for ‘ The Hopeful Sign’. When she had completed a poem in her head, she scribbled it out on a piece of paper, screwed it into a little ball, and tossed it in front of him. Bao-yu smoothed it out on the table and read it through. It seemed to him to be ten times better than the ones he had written himself. He copied it out in neat kai-shu after the other three and handed the finished task to Yuan-chun for her inspection. This is what she read:

  The Phoenix Dance

  Perfected now at last, this place is fit

  For Bird of Paradise to enter it.

  Each graceful wand lets fall a dewy tear;

  Each glossy leaf breathes coolness on the air.

  Through narrow-parted blocks the pent stream leaps;

  Through chinks of blind the incense thinly seeps.

  Let none the checkered shade with violence rude

  Disrupting, on the slumberer’s dreams intrude!

  ∗

  The Garden of Spices

  Fragrance of flower-drifts in these quiet confines

  Mingles with headier scents of eglantines,

  And summer’s herbs in a soft, spicy bed

  Their aromatic perfumes subtly spread.

  Light mist half screens the winding walks from view,

  Where chilly verdure soaks the clothes with dew.

  Here, slumbering quietly at the fountain’s side,

  The dreaming poet all day long may bide.

  ∗

  The House of Green Delights

  In this quiet plot, where peace reigns through the year,

  Bewitching ladies rank on rank appear:

  Some wear in spring green waxen sheaths curled tight,

  Some carmine caps, that are not doffed at night.

  Some from the trellis trail their purple sleeves,

  Some lean on rocks, where thin mists cool their leaves.

  Their Mistress, standing in the soft summer breeze,

  Finds quiet content in everything she sees.

  ∗

  The Hopeful Sign

  An inn-sign, through the orchards half-discerned,

  Promises shelter and a drink well-earned.

  Through water-weeds the pond’s geese make their way;

  Midst elms and mulberry-trees the swallows play.

  The garden’s chives are ready to prepare;

  The scent of young rice perfumes all the air.

  When want is banished, as in times like these,

  The spinner and the ploughman take their ease.

  Yuan-chun was genuinely delighted.

  ‘You really have made progress!’ she said. She singled out ‘The Hopeful Sign’ as the best of the four and changed the name ‘Washbrook Farm’ back to ‘Sweet-rice Village’ by way of acknowledgement. She made Tan-chun copy all ten poems – Bao-yu’s and the girls’ – on to a sheet of fancy paper and sent a eunuch to show it to the gentlemen outside. Jia Zheng and the others were very complimentary, and Jia Zheng presented a eulogy of his own composition entitled The Visitation. Yuan-chun also ordered Bao-yu and Jia Lan to be given presents of junket and mince, both of some special kind only made in the Imperial kitchens. At this period Jia Lan was still only a very little boy and did not really know what was going on. He was taken by his mother Li Wan into Yuan-chun’s presence and stood beside his uncle Bao-yu to make his little bow of thanks.

  All this time Jia Qiang and his troupe of girl players had been waiting impatiently below for an order to begin their performance. Just as they were reaching a peak of impatience, a eunuch came running down to them.

  ‘They’ve finished writing poems,’ he said. ‘Quick, give me a play-bill!’

  Jia Qiang hurriedly handed him a list of the pieces they had rehearsed, together with a brochure containing the stage names of each of the twelve players and some notes on the parts which each of them played. Four pieces were chosen: ‘Shi-fan Entertains’ from The Handful of Snow, ‘The Double Seventh’ from The Palace of Eternal Youth, ‘The Meeting of the Immortals’ from The Han-dan Road and Li-niang’s death-scene from The Return of the Soul. Jia Qiang supervised the preparations, and soon the rock-splitting little voices and spell-binding movements of the actresses had taken over, and the stage was full of passions which were no whit less overwhelming for being counterfeit.

  No sooner had they finished than a eunuch came round, bearing a variety of fancy cakes and sweetmeats on a gilded salver.

  ‘Which is “Charmante” ?’ he asked, referring to the stage name of the little soubrette who had played the part of Li-niang’s maid in The Return of the Soul and a dashing young huntsman in the ‘play within a play’ in The Handful of Snow.

  Jia Qiang realized that the confectionery was a present for the little actress, and taking the salver from t
he eunuch, made Mademoiselle Charmante come forward and kotow her thanks.

  ‘Her Grace says that she enjoyed Mademoiselle Charmante’s performance the most and would like to see her in two more pieces,’ said the eunuch. ‘She may choose any two she likes.’

  Having replied to the eunuch, Jia Qiang told Charmante that she ought to play two more pieces from The Return of the Soul: ‘The Walk in the Garden’ and ‘The Dream’. But neither had a part suitable for a soubrette in it, and Charmante obdurately refused. She said she would do ‘The Assignation’ and ‘The Altercation’ from The Bracelet and the Comb, in which the part of the pert young maidservant would allow her comic talent a fuller scope. Jia Qiang failed to talk her out of this decision and had to let her do as she wished. Yuan-chun was delighted, and gave special instructions that Charmante was to be well treated and to have the best possible training. She also awarded her, over and above her share of the presents that the whole troupe would receive in commemoration of her visit, two dress-lengths of tribute satin, two embroidered purses, and some miniature gold and silver ingots.

  The feast was now cleared away and Yuan-chun recommenced her tourhe garden, visiting those places which she had not had time to look at before dinner. When they came to the little convent nestling under its hill, she washed her hands and entered the shrine-hall to offer incense and pray before the image of the Buddha. She also wrote an inscription for the board which hung above the image:

  THE SHIP OF MERCY ON THE SEA OF SUFFERING

  and gave instructions for various extra presents to be bestowed on the little nuns in addition to those which, along with all the other members of the household, they were already due to receive in commemoration of her visit.

  A list for the latter had already been drawn up and presently it was submitted to Yuan-chun by a kneeling eunuch for her approval. After reading through it in silence she approved its contents and asked that they should be distributed forthwith. The presents distributed were as follows:

  To Grandmother Jia:

  one golden ru-yi sceptre

  one jade ditto

  a staff of carved aloeswood