The Injustice to Dou E: Selected Plays of Guan Hanqing

The Injustice to Dou E: Selected Plays of Guan Hanqing

Guan Hanqing

(Enter Old Madam Cai, played by an elderly female-role actor. She recites a poem.)

OLD MADAM CAI:

Flowers may bloom again after they have faded, But youth, once gone, will never return. One need not seek great wealth or high position; To live in peace and happiness is to be an immortal.

I am Old Madam Cai, a native of Chuzhou. There were originally three members of my immediate family. Unfortunately, my husband passed away, leaving me with only one son, now eight years old. Mother and son have lived together ever since, and our household possesses a fair amount of money.

There is a scholar here named Dou who borrowed twenty taels of silver from me last year. Including principal and interest, he now owes me forty taels. I have demanded repayment several times, but Scholar Dou always says that he is too poor to pay.

He has a daughter, seven years old this year, a delightful and lovely child. I have taken a liking to her and would gladly have her as my daughter-in-law. If I cancel the forty taels he owes me in exchange, would that not benefit us both?

He said that today was an auspicious day and promised to bring his daughter personally to my house. I shall not go out to collect the debt. Instead, I shall stay at home and wait for him. At about this hour, Scholar Dou should be arriving.

(Enter Dou Tianzhang, played by the elderly male lead, leading his daughter Duanyun. He recites a poem.)

DOU TIANZHANG:

I have read ten thousand volumes bound in blue and yellow, Yet poverty has brought me as low as Sima Xiangru. Should the Han court summon me to serve one day, I shall speak not of selling wine, but of the grand Rhapsody of Zixu.

My surname is Dou, and my given name is Tianzhang. My ancestral home is Chang'an, in the capital district. From childhood I studied the Confucian classics and acquired a considerable knowledge of literature. Unfortunately, fortune has not favored me, and I have failed to obtain an official degree.

My wife died some years ago, leaving behind this little daughter, whose childhood name is Duanyun. Her mother died when she was three, and she is now seven years old.

I am utterly impoverished and have drifted into Chuzhou, where I now live. Here there is an Old Madam Cai whose family possesses considerable wealth. Having no money for my traveling expenses, I borrowed twenty taels of silver from her. With interest, the sum has now risen to forty taels. She has repeatedly demanded repayment, but what can I possibly give her?

Unexpectedly, Madam Cai has sent people several times to propose that my daughter become her son's wife.

Now the spring examinations are approaching, and the examination halls are opening. I intend to travel to the capital and compete for an official degree, but I lack the necessary traveling expenses.

With no other choice, I must send my daughter Duanyun to Madam Cai to become her daughter-in-law.

(He sighs.)

Ah! How can this truly be called marrying off a daughter? It is plainly no different from selling her.

If the forty taels I owe can be canceled, and I can obtain a little additional money to pay the expenses of the examination journey, that will be more than I can hope for.

While speaking, I have already arrived at her door.

Madam Cai, are you at home?

(Old Madam Cai enters.)

OLD MADAM CAI: Scholar Dou, please come inside. I have been waiting for you for quite some time.

(They greet each other.)

DOU TIANZHANG: Today I have brought my little daughter and place her entirely in your hands. How would I dare to speak of her becoming a daughter-in-law? Let her simply serve you in your household.

I must leave immediately for the capital to seek success in the examinations. I leave my daughter here and ask only that you take good care of her.

(Enter Sai Luyi, the physician, played by a painted-face actor. He recites a poem.)

SAI LUYI:

A physician must carefully weigh his cures, And prescribe according to the herbal classics. The dead he cannot bring to life, But the living he can surely kill.

My surname is Lu. People say that I possess extraordinary medical skill, and so they call me Sai Luyi, the Physician Who Surpasses Lu.

I operate a herbal medicine shop outside the southern gate of Shanyang County.

There is an Old Madam Cai living in the town. I borrowed ten taels of silver from her, and with principal and interest I now owe her twenty. She has repeatedly come to demand the money, but I have nothing with which to repay her.

If she does not come, all will be well. But if she does, I have an idea of my own!

For now, I shall sit here in the medicine shop and see who arrives.

(Enter Old Madam Cai.)

OLD MADAM CAI: I am Old Madam Cai. I moved to Shanyang County some time ago and have been living here quietly.

Thirteen years have passed since Scholar Dou Tianzhang left his daughter Duanyun with me to become my daughter-in-law. I changed her childhood name and called her Dou E.

After she married my son, less than two years had passed before my poor boy died of a wasting illness. My daughter-in-law has now been a widow for almost three years, and her mourning period is nearly over.

I told my daughter-in-law that I was going outside the town to collect a debt from Sai Luyi.

(She walks.)

Around this corner and past that house—here I am already at his door.

Sai Luyi, are you at home?

SAI LUYI: Madam, please come inside.

OLD MADAM CAI: You have owed me those twenty taels of silver for a long time. Please repay me.

SAI LUYI: Madam, I have no silver at home. Come with me to my country estate, and I shall get the money for you there.

OLD MADAM CAI: Very well. I shall go with you.

(They walk.)

SAI LUYI: We have reached this place. There is no one to the east and no one to the west. If I do not act now, what am I waiting for?

I happen to have a rope with me.

Hey, Madam! Who is calling you?

OLD MADAM CAI: Where?

(Sai Luyi puts the rope around her neck and begins strangling her. An old man and his son Zhang Lü'er rush in. Sai Luyi flees in panic. The old man saves Madam Cai.)

ZHANG LÜ'ER: Father, it is an old woman! She was almost strangled to death.

OLD ZHANG: Madam, where are you from? What is your surname and name? Why was that man trying to strangle you?

OLD MADAM CAI: My surname is Cai, and I live in the town. I have only a widowed daughter-in-law, and the two of us depend upon one another.

Sai Luyi owes me twenty taels of silver. Today I came to collect the debt. Who could have imagined that he would trick me into coming to this deserted place and try to strangle me rather than repay the money?

If I had not encountered you two gentlemen, how could I have escaped with my life?

ZHANG LÜ'ER: Father, did you hear what she said? She has a daughter-in-law at home!

We saved her life, so she must surely reward us. Why don't you take the old woman as your wife, while I take her daughter-in-law? Would that not suit us both perfectly?

Go and speak to her.

OLD ZHANG: Madam, you have no husband, and I have no wife. Would you be willing to become my wife? What do you say?

OLD MADAM CAI: What kind of talk is this? Let me return home, and I shall prepare a generous sum of money to thank you for saving my life.