第三本 ACT III

第一折 前候

（莺莺引红娘上云）自昨夜听琴，今日身子这般不快呵。红娘，你左则闲着，你到书院中看张生一遭，看他说甚么，你来回我话者。

（红云）我不去，夫人知道呵，不是耍！

（莺莺云）我不说，夫人怎得知道？你便去咱！

（红云）我便去了，单说：“张生，你害病，俺的小姐也不弱。”

春昼不曾双劝酒，

夜寒无那又听琴。

〔仙吕·赏花时〕（红娘唱）

针线无心不待^[1]拈，

脂粉香消懒去添。

春恨压眉尖。

灵犀一点，

医可病恹恹^[2]。

（红娘下）

（莺莺云）红娘去了，看他回来说甚么。

十分心事一分语，

尽夜相思尽日眠。

（莺莺下）

（张生上云）害杀小生也！我央长老说将去，道我病体沉重，却怎生不着人来看我？困思上来，我睡些儿咱。

（睡科）

（红娘上云）奉小姐言语，著^[3]俺看张生，须索走一遭。俺想来，若非张生，怎还有俺一家儿性命呵！

〔仙吕·点绛唇〕（红娘唱）

相国行祠，

寄居萧寺。

遭横事^[4]，

幼女孤儿，

将欲从军死。

〔混江龙〕

谢张生伸致，

一封书到便兴师。

真是文章有用，

何干天地无私。

若不剪草除根了半万贼，

怕不灭门绝户了一家儿。

莺莺君瑞，

许配雄雌；

夫人失信，

推托别辞；

婚姻打灭，

兄妹为之。

而今搁起成亲事。

一个糊涂了胸中锦绣，

一个淹渍了脸上胭脂。

〔油葫芦〕

一个憔悴潘郎鬓有丝，

一个杜韦娘不似旧时，

带围宽过了瘦腰肢。

一个睡昏昏不待观经史，

一个意悬悬^[5]懒去拈针黹^[6]；

一个丝桐上调弄出离恨谱，

一个花笺上删抹成断肠诗。

笔下幽情，

弦上的心事，

一样是相思。

〔天下乐〕

这叫做才子佳人信有之！

红娘自思，

乖性儿，

何必有情不遂皆似此。

他自恁抹媚^[7]，

我却没三思^[8]，

一纳头只去憔悴死。

却早来到也。俺把唾津儿湿破窗纸，看他在书房里做甚么那？

〔村里迓鼓〕

我将这纸窗儿湿破，

悄声儿窥视。

多管是和衣儿睡起，

你看罗衫上前襟褶祬^[9]。

孤眠况味，

凄凉情绪，

无人服侍。

涩滞气色，

微弱声息，

黄瘦脸儿。

张生呵，你不病死多应闷死。

〔元和令〕

我将金钗敲门扇儿，

（张生云）是谁？

（红娘上云）我是散相思的五瘟使。

（张生开门，红娘入科）

（张生云）夜来多谢红娘姐指教，小生铭心不忘。只是不知小姐可曾有甚言语？

（红掩口笑云）俺小姐么，俺可要说与你：

他昨夜风清月朗夜深时，

使红娘来探尔。

他至今胭粉未曾施，

念到有一千番张殿试。

（张生云）小姐既有见怜之心，红娘姐，小生有一简^[10]，可敢寄得去，意便欲烦红娘姐带回。

〔上马娇〕

他若见甚诗，

看甚词，

他敢颠倒费神思。

他拽扎^[11]起面皮，道红娘：“这是谁的言语，你将来？”

这妮子，怎敢胡行事！

嗤，扯做了纸条儿。

（张生云）小姐决不如此，只是红娘姐不肯与小生将去，小生多以金帛拜酬红娘姐。

〔胜葫芦〕

你个挽弓酸俫

没意儿，卖弄你有家私^[12]，

我图谋你东西来到此？

把你做先生的钱物，

与红娘为赏赐，

我果然爱你金赀^[13]？

〔后〕

你看人似桃李春风墙外枝，

卖笑倚门儿。

我虽是女孩儿，

有气志。你只合道，

可怜见小子，只身独自，

我还有个寻思。

（张生云）依著红娘姐，“可怜见小子，只身独自”，这如何？

（红云）兀的不是也？你写波，俺与你将去。

（张生写科）

（红云）写得好呵，念与我听。

（张生念云）张珙百拜奉书双文小姐阁下：昨尊慈以怨报德，小生虽生犹死。筵散之后，不复成寐。曾托稿梧，自鸣情抱，亦见自今以后，人琴俱去矣。因红娘来，又奉数字，意者宋玉东邻之墙，尚有庄周西江之水。人命至重，或蒙矜恤。珙可胜悚仄待命之至。附五言诗一首，伏惟赐览：

相思恨转添，

漫把瑶琴弄。

乐事又逢春，

芳心尔亦动。

此情不可违，

虚誉何须奉？

莫负月华明，

且怜花影重。

张珙再百拜。

〔后庭花〕

我只道拂花笺打稿儿，

元来是走霜毫^[14]不构思。

先写下几句寒温序，

后题著五言八句诗。

不移时，翻来覆去，

叠做个同心方胜儿^[15]。

你忒聪明，忒煞思，

忒风流，忒浪子。

虽是些假意儿，

小可的难到此。

〔青哥儿〕

又颠倒写鸳鸯二字，

方信道“在心为志”。

喜怒其间我觑意儿。

放心波学士！

我愿为之,

并不推辞，

自有言辞。

我只说昨夜弹琴那人，教传示。

这简帖儿，我与你将去。只是先生当以功名为念，休堕了志气者！

〔寄生草〕

你偷香手，

还准备折桂枝。

休教淫词污了龙蛇字，

藕丝缚定鹍鹏翅，

黄莺夺了鸿鹄志。

休为翠帏锦帐一佳人，

误你玉堂金马三学士。

〔赚煞尾〕

弄得沈约病多般，

宋玉愁无二，

清减做相思样子。

（张生云）红娘姐好话，小生终身敬佩。只是方才简帖，我的红娘姐，是必在意者。

（红云）先生放心。

若是眉眼传情未了时，

我中心日夜图之。

怎因而“有美玉于斯”，

我定教发落这张纸。

我将舌尖上说辞，

传你简帖里心事，

管教那人来探你一遭儿。

（红娘下）

（张生云）红娘将简帖去了，不是小生夸口，这是一道会亲的符箓。他明日回话，必有好处！

若无好赋因风去，

岂有仙云入梦来。

（张生下）

注释：

[1]不待：不想、没心思，懒得做某事。

[2]恹恹（yān yān）：形容体弱多病而精神萎靡。

[3]著（zhuó）：派遣。

[4]横（hènɡ）事：灾祸、凶事。

[5]悬悬：思念、牵挂。

[6]针黹（zhǐ）：即针线。

[7]抹媚：深深迷恋、迷惑。

[8]没三思：即没心思、无心。

[9]褶祬（zhě zhì）：衣物上的褶皱。

[10]简：即书信。

[11]拽扎：原为绷紧意，此处是板起面孔的意思。

[12]家私：家产、家财。

[13]赀（zī）：计算，也是钱财、费用的意思。

[14]霜毫：本指秋时的兽毛，而此时的兽毛最为细密，制笔为宜，故以霜毫代指毛笔。

[15]方胜儿：原是古时妇女用丝织品编织而成的装饰物，此处是指折叠成方或菱形的信笺。

Scene 1 First Expectation

Yingying enters with Rose and says:

I have been feeling uneasy since I heard the lute last night.Rose,as you have nothing to do at the moment,you had better go to see Master Zhang in the library,hear what he has to say and come back to tell me.

Rose says:

I dare not go there.What if my Mistress were to know it?

Yingying says:

How can she know anything if I tell her nothing?You had better go now.

Rose says:

All right,I will go just to tell him that you are no less ill than he is.

You’ve not yet drunk your cup of nuptial day

But heard on chilly night his lute’s sweet lay.

She sings to the tune of ENJOYING FLOWERS IN COMPANY OF FAIRIES:

She won’t attend to needle and thread

Nor renew the rouge and powder on her face.

Spring sorrow knits the brows on her forehead,

Which only mutual love can erase.

(Exit.)

Yingying says:

Now Rose is gone.I’ll wait and see what she has to tell me on her return.

I can express in words only one-tenth of what I’ll say;

Thinking of him all night long,I’m drowsy all day.

(Exit.)

Master Zhang enters and says:

How terribly I suffer!I requested the abbot to tell them I am ill.Why is there no one sent to pay me a visit?Now I am tired.I’ll go and sleep for a while.

(He sleeps.)

Rose enters and says:

On my Young Mistress’order,I am going to see Master Zhang.If it were not for him,how could our family be still alive?

She sings to the tune of ROUGED LIPS OF A FAIRY:

The Premier’s coffin had to rest

In lonely Temple for the Blessed,

When suddenly

Came a calamity:

My fair Young Mistress in an alien land

Was in danger of falling in the bandit’s hand.

Tune: DRAGON IN TROUBLED WATER

To Master Zhang we owe our thanks:

A letter sent,there came the files and ranks.

It’s true that letters had their worth;

It’s not the merit of Heaven and Earth.

If the five thousand bandits had not been wiped out,

Our family could not survive,no doubt.

The lovers should be man and wife

Throughout their life,

But Madame broke her words

Under one pretext or another,

And they were severed like two single birds,

And called each other sister and brother.

Now the marriage is never talked about.

The Scholar’s literary thought then disappears;

The Beauty’s rouge and powder are bedewed with tears.

Tune: FIELD CRICKET

I see him waste

And pine away

With grizzled hair;

I see her not so fair

As in her better day,

Her girdle wider than her slender waist.

He will not read his classics and history;

She pays no heed to her embroidery.

He plays on lute the tune revealing grief to part;

She writes a poem with broken heart.

What does her poem express?

What does his lute confess?

Nothing but lovesickness.

Tune: UNIVERSAL JOY

This is indeed a case

of Scholar and Beauty who interlace,

O how peculiar they seem to my eyes!

But all frustrated lovers act likewise.

He’s lovesick for the fair.

For whom should I then care?

I should bury my head

And pine away until I’m dead.

She says:

Here I am.I’ll lick the window’s paper screen and break it so as to see what he is doing in the library.

She sings to the tune of VILLAGE DRUMS:

I peep in after breaking the window’s paper wet,

And seem to see him get

Up after having gone

To bed with clothes on.

Creased is the front of his silk gown.

How sad is he to sleep alone

with none to attend on!

Behold!His brightness gone.

Listen!His breath is weak

With hollow cheek.

Oh,Master Zhang,without relief,

You’d die,if not of sickness,at least of grief.

Tune: SONG OF PEACE

I will knock at the door with the pin in my tress.

Master Zhang says:

Who is there?

Rose continues to says:

I am the spirit spreading lovesickness.

(Master Zhang opens the door and Rose enters.)

Master Zhang says:

I am very grateful for what you told me last night,and I will never forget your kindness.But I wonder whether your Young Mistress said anything to you last night.

Rose covering her mouth with sleeve,laughs and says:

As for my Young Mistress,I’ll tell you what she said.

She continues to sing:

When the moon was bright

And the wind was fresh in the deep of night:

She ordered me

To come to see

Her lover from her heart she could not erase.

Even now she neglects to rouge her powdered face.

She only thinks of you

Who are a talent true.

Master Zhang says:

Since your Young Mistress has shown so much love for me,Miss Rose,I have a letter to send to her,but I don’t know whether I may trouble you to take it for me.

Rose sings to the tune of CHARMING ON HORSE:

When of your verse she comes in sight,

She’ll be beside herself with sweet delight.

She says:

But she will pull a long face and say:“Rose,from whom is this message you dare to bring to me?”

She continues to sing:

“You little minx!How dare you be so impudent!”

And see the letter she will tear up in fragment.

Master Zhang says:

I am sure your Young Mistress will not do this.It is only an excuse for you not to take this letter for me.Will it do for me to give you a handsome reward for your trouble?

Rose sings to the tune of BETTER THAN GOURD :

You are a wretched,vulgar registrar;

You want to make a show of how rich you are.

Do you think I have come to see

What I can get out of you?

If you give me the salary

You have in view,

Do you believe I could be sold

For your reward in gold?

Tune: PETTY SONG

You think we are like branches of peach or plum trees

Waving in vernal breeze

And smiling to all passers-by,

But such is not the case of decent girls as I.

You ought to say:

“Have pity on poor,lonely me,I pray.”

In that case,we may try

To find for you a way.

Master Zhang says:

As you say,Miss Rose,have pity on poor,lonely me,I pray.Will that do?

Rose says:

Yes,that is it.Now write your letter and I will take it.

(Master Zhang writes.)

Rose says:

How nice your handwriting looks!Read it to me,please.

Master Zhang reads:

Zhang Gong salutes a hundred times and presents this letter to Miss Oriole.The other day your kind mother rewarded my service with unkindness so that I felt more dead than alive.When the feast was over,I could not fall asleep.So I played on my lute to express my helpless feelings so that you might see from then on both the lute and its player would be gone for ever.Now that Rose comes,I will send you a few lines in the hope that you,who are so near and yet so far away,may have pity on me and come to the rescue of my life.While awaiting your decision,I add a poem which I hope you will condescend to read:

Gnawed by lovesickness,

I play on my lute.

Spring is happiness.

Can your heart be mute?

Love can’t be disobeyed.

Of vain fame make light.

Pity the flower’s shade;

Don’t miss the moon bright!

Zhang Gong once more salutes a hundred times.

Rose sings to the tune of BACKYARD FLOWERS :

I thought you’d smooth the paper for a draft,

But you have written like the frost and snow that waft.

Your letter begins with greetings you send;

A poem of eight lines comes at the end.

In a moment you’ve got

It folded up in lover’s knot.

You are so clever,

Thoughtful forever

You are so free

And full of gallantry.

Even if you pretend to do something,none

Could have succeeded as you’ve done.

Tune: BLUE BOY

Writing“birds love”instead of“love-birds,”you reverse

The word order to show your deep feeling in verse.

I must watch if the letter will annoy

The one whom you adore

Or cause her joy.

Make your mind easy,sir,on that score!

I’m only pleased to do

All this for you.

I won’t refuse you,nay,

I know what I should say:

The dear lute-player of last night

Told me to give you the letter he did write.

She says:

I will take this letter for you,sir.But you must not forget your ambition and your career.

She sings to the tune of PARASITIC GRASS:

Your hands that wish to carry off the lady fair

Must be ready to pluck the laurel crown;

Your brilliant handwriting beyond compare

Should not be used to profane your renown.

Don’t let love’s rope bind a roc’s wing

Nor let his ears listen to an oriole sing!

The silk bed-curtain for a beauty made

Should not detain the-golden horse from the Hall of Jade.

Tune: EPILOGUE

Don’t waste through lovesickness nor pine away

Like sick and sad scholars night and day!

Master Zhang says:

Your kind words I will bear in mind for the rest of my life.But as to the letter,dear Miss Rose,you must be careful.

Rose says:

Make yourself easy,sir.

She continues to sing:

Before your love’s revealed in your exchange of glances,

Day and night I reflect on your chances.

Now you entrust this jade-white letter to my care.

Could I neglect to send it to my Mistress fair?

I’ll use my word

To convey your feelings true

So as to make it heard

And my Young Mistress pay a visit to you.(Exit.)

Master Zhang says:

I dare say without boasting that this talisman will make lovers meet.

When she comes back tomorrow,she is sure to bring me good news.

If no fair breeze should send to her my poem fine,

How could the fairy come into sweet dreams of mine?

(Exit.)