THE SONG OF GREEN CHEESE
A day will come, so the poor were informed
As they sat at their mother’s knees
When a child of low birth shall inherit the earth
And the moon shall be made of green cheese.
When the moon is green cheese
The poor shall inherit the earth.
Then goodness will be a thing to reward
And evil a mortal offence.
‘Where there’s merit there’s money’ won’t sound quite so funny
There will really be no difference.
When the moon is green cheese
There won’t be this difference.
Then the grass will look down on the blue sky below
And the pebbles will roll up the stream
And man is a king. Without doing a thing
He gorges on honey and cream.
When the moon is green cheese
The world flows with honey and cream.
Then I shall become a pilot again
And you’ll get a deputy’s seat.
You, man on the loose, will find you’re some use
And you, ma, can put up your feet.
When the moon is green cheese
The weary can put up their feet.
And as we have waited quite long enough
This new world has got to be born
Not at the last minute so there’s nothing left in it
But at the first glimmer of dawn
When the moon is green cheese
The very first glimmer of dawn.
MRS YANG: He won’t come now.
The three of them sit there and two of them look towards the door.
Interlude
Wang’s Sleeping-Place
Once more the gods appear to the water-seller in a dream. He has fallen asleep over a large book. Music.
WANG: How good that you have come, Illustrious Ones! Permit me a question which disturbs me greatly. In the tumbledown hut belonging to a priest who has left to become an unskilled labourer in the cement works I discovered a book, and in it I found a remarkable passage. I should like to read it to you. It runs: With his left hand he thumbs through an imaginary book laid over the book in his lap, and lifts this imaginary book up to read from it, leaving the real one lying where it was. ‘In Sung there is a place known as Thorn Hedge. There catalpas, cypresses and mulberries flourish. Now those trees which are nine or ten inches in circumference are chopped down by the people who need stakes for their dog kennels. Those which are three or four feet in circumference are chopped down by rich and respectable families who want planks for their coffins. Those which are seven or eight feet in circumference are chopped down by persons seeking beams for their luxurious villas. And so none reaches its full quota of years, but is brought down prematurely by saw or by axe. That is the price of utility.’
THE THIRD GOD: That would mean that the least useful is the best.
WANG: No, only the most fortunate. The least good is the most fortunate.
THE FIRST GOD; Ah, what things they write!
THE SECOND GOD: Why are you so deeply moved by this comparison, O water-seller?
WANG: On account of Shen Teh, Illustrious Ones! She has failed in her love because she obeyed the commandment to love her neighbours. Perhaps she really is too good for this world, O Illustrious Ones!
THE FIRST GOD: Nonsense. You poor, feeble creature! It seems to me that you are half eaten away by scepticism and lice.
WANG: Certainly, O Illustrious One! I only thought you might perhaps intervene.
THE FIRST GOD: Out of the question. Our friend here – he points to the third god, who has a black eye – intervened in a quarrel only yesterday; you see the result.
WANG: But they had to send for her cousin yet again. He is an unusually capable man, I know from experience, but even he could not set things straight. It looks as if the shop were already lost.
THE THIRD GOD, disturbed: Do you think perhaps we ought to help?
THE FIRST GOD: My view is that she has got to help herself.
THE SECOND GOD, strictly: The worse the difficulties, the better the good man will prove to be. Suffering ennobles!
THE FIRST GOD: We are putting all our hopes in her.
THE THIRD GOD: Our search is not progressing well. Now and again we come across a good start, admirable intentions, a lot of high principles, but it hardly adds up to a good person. When we do find people who are halfway good, they are not living a decent human experience. Confidentially: The nights are getting worse and worse. You can tell where we have been spending them from the straws sticking to our clothes.
WANG: Just one request. Could you not at least …
THE GODS: Nothing. We are but observers. We firmly believe that our good person will find her own feet on this sombre earth. Her powers will wax with her burden. Only wait a little, O water-seller, and you will find all’s well that ends …
The gods’ figures have been growing steadily paler, their voices steadily fainter. Now they disappear, and their voices cease.
7
Yard behind Shen Teh’s Shop
A few household goods on a cart. Shen Teh and Mrs Shin are taking washing down from the line.
MRS SHIN: I can’t think why you don’t put up a better fight for your business.
SHEN TEH: How? I can’t even pay the rent. I have got to pay the old people their 200 silver dollars back today, and because I’ve given them to someone else I shall have to sell my stock to Mrs Mi Tzu.
MRS SHIN: All gone, eh? No man, no stock, no home! That comes of trying to set oneself up as a cut above our lot. How do you propose to live now?
SHEN TEH: I don’t know. I might earn a bit as a tobacco sorter.
MRS SHIN: What are Mr Shui Ta’s trousers doing here? He must have gone off in his shirt.
SHEN TEH: He’s got another pair.
MRS SHIN: I thought you said he had gone away for good. What does he want to leave his trousers behind for?
SHEN TEH: Perhaps he’s finished with them.
MRS SHIN: Oughtn’t you to make a parcel of them?
SHEN TEH: No.
Mr Shu Fu bursts in.
MR SHU FU: Don’t tell me. I know it all. You have sacrificed your young love so that two old people who trusted you should not be ruined. It was not for nothing that this malicious and mistrustful district christened you ‘The Angel of the Slums’. The gentleman to whom you were engaged proved unable to raise himself to your moral stature; you threw him over. And now you are closing your shop, that little haven of refuge for so many! I cannot stand by and see it. Day after day I have stood at the door of my shop and seen the knot of down-and-outs before your window, and you yourself doling out rice. Must all that vanish for ever? Must goodness be defeated? Ah, if only you will allow me to assist you in your good works! No, don’t say a thing! I wish for no assurances. No promises that you will accept my help! But herewith – he takes out a cheque-book and writes a cheque, which he lays on the cart – I make you out a blank cheque, which you can fill in for any sum you like; and now I shall go, quietly and modestly, demanding nothing in return, on tiptoe, full of respectful admiration, not a thought for myself.
Exit.
MRS SHIN examines the cheque: This’ll save you! People like you have some luck! You can always find a mug. Now hurry up. Write in 1,000 silver dollars and I’ll run to the bank with it before he comes to his senses.
SHEN TEH: Put the laundry basket on the cart. I can pay for the washing without the cheque.
MRS SHIN: What do you mean? You’re not going to take the cheque? That’s criminal! Is it just because you feel you would have to marry him? That would be plain crazy. A fellow like that just asks to be led by the nose! That sort really likes it. Are you still wanting to hang on to that pilot of yours, when everyone here and in Yellow Alley knows how badly he’s treated you?
SHEN TEH: It all comes from poverty. To the audience:
At night I
watched him blow out his cheeks in his sleep: they were evil
And at dawn I held his coat up to the light, and saw the wall through it.
When I saw his sly smile I was afraid, but
When I saw the holes in his shoes I loved him dearly.
MRS SHIN: So you’re still sticking up for him? I never heard anything so idiotic. Angry: I shall be relieved when we have got you out of the district.
SHEN TEH staggers as she takes down the washing: I’m feeling a bit giddy.
MRS SHIN takes the washing from her: Do you often feel giddy when you bend or stretch? Let’s only hope it isn’t a little one! Laughs. He has fixed you good and proper! If that’s it then the big cheque will turn sour. It wasn’t meant for that sort of situation. She goes to the rear with a basket.
Shen Teh looks after her without moving. Then she examines her body, feels it, and a great joy appears in her face.
SHEN TEH, softly: Oh joy! A small being is coming to life in my body. There is nothing to see yet. But he is already there. The world awaits him in secret. In the cities they have heard the rumour: someone is coming now with whom we must reckon. She presents her small son to the audience: An airman!
Salute a new conqueror
Of unknown mountains, inaccessible countries!
One Carrying letters from man to man
Across the wastes where no man yet has trod!
She begins to walk up and down, leading her small son by the hand. Come my son, inspect your world. Here, that is a tree. Bow politely, greet him. She performs a bow. There, now you know one another. Listen, that is the water-seller coming. A friend, shake hands with him. Don’t be nervous. ‘A glass of cool water for my son, please. It’s a hot day.’ She hands him the glass. Ah, the policeman! I think we will avoid him. Perhaps we might collect one or two cherries over there, from rich old Mr Feh Pung’s orchard. This is a moment not to be seen. Come, poor little bastard! You too like cherries! Soft, soft, my son! They walk cautiously, looking around them. No, round this way, where the bushes will shield us. No, no going straight to the point in this case.
He seems to be dragging away; she resists. We’ve got to be sensible. Suddenly she gives in. Very well, if you can’t do it any other way… . She lifts him up. Can you reach the cherries? Shove them in your mouth, that’s the best place for them. She eats one herself, which he puts into her mouth. Tastes fine. O god, the police. This is where we run. They flee. Here’s the road. Now gently, walk slowly so we don’t attract attention. As if nothing whatever had happened… . She sings as she walks along with the child:
A plum off my tree
Bit a man on the knee
The man had a thirst
Got his own bite in first.
Wang the water-seller has entered, leading a child by the hand. He watches Shen Teh in astonishment.
SHEN TEH, as Wang coughs: Oh, Wang! Good day.
WANG: Shen Teh, I have heard you are in difficulties, that you must even sell your business to pay debts. But here’s this child without any home. It was playing about in the slaughterhouse. They say it belongs to Lin To the carpenter, who had to give up his workshop a few weeks ago and is now on the drink. His children are wandering around starving. What can be done with them?
SHEN TEH takes the child from him: Come on, little man! To the audience:
Here, you! Someone begging for shelter.
A chip of tomorrow begging you for a today.
His friend, the conqueror, whom you know
Can answer for him
To Wang: He can quite well live in Mr Shu Fu’s sheds, where I may be going too. I myself am expecting a child. But do not repeat that, or Yang Sun may hear of it, and we can only hamper him. See if you can find Lin To in the lower town, and tell him to come here.
WANG: Many thanks, Shen Teh. I knew you would find an answer. To the child: See? A good person always knows a way. I’ll go off quickly and fetch your father. He starts to go.
SHEN TEH: Oh, Wang, I have just remembered. What happened about your hand? I did want to give evidence for you, but my cousin …
WANG: Don’t bother about my hand. Look, I’ve already learnt to do without my right hand. I hardly need it at all. He shows her how he can manage his carrying pole without his right hand: See how I manage?
SHEN TEH: But you mustn’t let it get stiff! Take that cart, sell the lot, and use the money to go to the doctor. I am ashamed of having let you down like that. And what must you think of me for accepting the barber’s offer of the sheds!
WANG: The homeless can live there now, and you yourself. After all, that matters more than my hand. I’ll go and fetch the carpenter. Exit.
SHEN TEH calls after him: Promise me you’ll let me take you to the doctor!
Mrs Shin has come back and has been making repeated signs.
SHEN TEH: What is it?
MRS SHIN: Are you mad? Giving away the cart with all you’ve got left? What’s his hand to do with you? If the barber gets to know he’ll throw you out of the last lodging you’re likely to find. You haven’t paid me for the washing yet!
SHEN TEH: Why are you so unpleasant?
To trample on one’s fellows
Is surely exhausting?
Veins in your temples
Stick out with the strenuousness of greed.
Loosely held forth
A hand gives and receives with the same suppleness. Yet
Greedily snatching it has got to strain. Oh
How tempting it is to be generous. How welcome
Friendliness can somehow feel. A kindly word
Escapes like a sign of contentment.
Mrs Shin goes off angrily.
SHEN TEH, to the child: Sit here and wait till your father comes.
The child sits on the ground. Enter the elderly couple who visited Shen Teh on the day of the opening of her shop. Man and wife are dragging big sacks.
THE WOMAN: Are you by yourself, Shen Teh? When Shen Teh nods she calls in her nephew, who is also carrying a sack. Where’s your cousin?
SHEN TEH: He went away.
THE WOMAN: Is he coming back?
SHEN TEH: No. I’m giving up the shop.
THE WOMAN: So we heard. That’s why we’ve come. These are a few sacks of leaf tobacco which somebody owed us, and we’d be ever so grateful if you could move them to your new home with your own things. We’ve no place to put them yet, and if we have them in the street people are bound to notice. I don’t see how you can refuse to do us this little favour after the bad luck we had in your shop.
SHEN TEH: I will do it for you gladly.
THE MAN: And if anyone happens to ask you whose sacks these are you can say they’re yours.
SHEN TEH: Who would want to know?
THE WOMAN, giving her a sharp look: The police for one.
They’ve got it in for us, and they’re out to ruin us. Where do we put the sacks?
SHEN TEH: I don’t know; just as this moment I’d sooner not do anything that might get me into gaol.
THE WOMAN: Isn’t that like you? All we’ve been able to save of our things is a few rotten old sacks of tobacco, and a lot you care if we lose them!
Shen Teh is stubbornly silent.
THE MAN: Don’t you see that this stock of tobacco might allow us to start manufacturing in a small way? Then we could work our way up.
SHEN TEH: All right, I’ll keep your sacks for you. They can go in the back room for the present.
She goes in with them. The child has been watching her. Now it looks round timidly, goes to the dustbin and starts fishing in it. It begins to eat something that it has found. Shen Teh and the others return.
THE WOMAN: You realise we’re completely in your hands?
SHEN TEH: Yes. She notices the child and stiffens.
THE MAN: We’ll call on you the day after tomorrow in Mr Shu Fu’s buildings.
SHEN TEH: Please leave at once; I’m not well. She pushes them out. Exeunt the three. He’s hungry. Fishing in the dustbin.
She lifts up the child and expresses her horror at the fate of poor children in a speech, showing the audience his dirty mouth. She proclaims her determination never to treat her own child in such a heartless way.
O son, O airman! What sort of a world
Awaits you? Will you too
Be left to fish in the garbage? Observe
The greyness round his mouth! She exhibits the child. Is that
How you treat your fellow-creatures? Have you
Not the least compassion for the fruit
Of your bodies? No pity
For yourselves, you unfortunates? Henceforth I
Shall fight at least for my own, if I have to be
Sharp as a tiger. Yes, from the hour
When I saw this thing I shall cut myself off
From them all, never resting
Till I have at least saved my son, if only him.
What I learnt from my schooling, the gutter
By violence and trickery now
Shall serve you, my son: to you
I would be kind; a tiger, a savage beast
To all others if need be. And
It need be.
She goes off to change herself into her cousin.
SHEN TEH, walking off: Once more it must be done, for the last time I hope.
She has taken Shui Ta’s trousers with her. Mrs Shin returns and stares inquisitively after her. Enter the sister-in-law and the grandfather.
THE SISTER-IN-LAW: Shop shut, all her stuff in the yard! It’s the finish!
MRS SHIN: That’s what comes of selfishness, irresponsibility and the lusts of the flesh! And where is she heading? Downwards! To Mr Shu Fu’s sheds, along with the rest of you!
THE SISTER-IN-LAW: She’ll be surprised at what she finds there! We’ve come to complain! A damp rabbit-warren with half rotten floors! The barber only let us have them because his stock of soap was going bad there. ‘I can give you shelter, what do you say to that?’ We say, it’s a scandal!