2

Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao
Thrice Investigates the Butterfly Dream
Guan Hanqing

J udge Bao is a literary figure that populates all of Chinese performing litera-
ture: drama, chantefable, Ming and Qing vernacular fiction, modern plays, mov-
ies, and television series. He is roughly based on a real historical figure, known
as Bao Zheng (999–1062), also known as Dragon Design Bao (Bao Longtu),
from his position as Academician in the Dragon Design Pavilion (Longtu ge zhi
xueshi), and as Rescriptor-in-Waiting in the Tianzhang Pavilion Bao (Bao Dai-
zhi). From the biography of Bao Zheng in the official Song History we can
glimpse what would later be called “his iron face of impartiality” (tiemian wusi):
He was summoned to be provisional Prefect of Kaifeng Superior Prefec-
ture. . . . Bao held court with strength and resolution. Imperial relatives and
eunuch officials all pulled their hands into their sleeves because of him, and
those who heard of him were all awestruck by him. People compared a smile
from Judge Bao to the Yellow River running clear. Even young children and
women knew his name, and called him “Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao.” People
of the capital spoke of him thusly, “Where bribes won’t reach there is King
Yama, Old Bao.” According to long custom, those who sued in court did not
need to go to the yamen to do so. Bao opened up the main gate, and made
sure everyone had to come before him to explain everything about the case.
None of his underling clerks dared cheat. Some eunuchs and powerful fami-
lies had constructed gardens, the trees of which began to encroach on the
Benefit the People River; and for this reason the river became blocked, and
it happened that the capital was flooded. So Bao tore them all down.
This short account, written about the same time that courtroom dramas were
in their heyday, provides the kernel of the characterization that was to make
Judge Bao such a powerful presence in literature. First is his fearless pursuit of

1. Dared not do things they should not.

2. The muddy Yellow River never runs clear.
3. This is the name of the canal that brought goods to the capital.

37
38 Guan Hanqing

justice against, and even execution of, imperial relatives or powerful eunuchs
who populated the emperor’s personal bureaucracy. This fervor is carried over
into literature where Bao is often portrayed as being in conflict with both fic-
tional and historical men of power. His integrity and incorruptibility led to the
overturning of cases that were badly handled or were tainted by outright cor-
ruption, particularly those in which a false accusation was made against a lower-
class citizen to shut him or her up. Bao treated all people equally and did not
waver in applying the law equitably. He was such a powerful figure that he was
soon thought “to judge living humans in the daytime and their souls at night”
(ri duan yang ye duan yin). Bao was apotheosized within a hundred years of
his death. He was thought to be “master of a star” (xingzhu), that is, the re-
incarnation of a star-spirit, and as we see in Little Butcher Sun (see below), he
was also believed to be President of the Court of Speedy Retribution, a high
bureaucratic post in the netherworld below Mount Tai. As the quote from his
official biography—“Where bribes won’t reach there is King Yama, Old Bao”
(guanjie budao you Yanluo Bao lao)—shows, in his lifetime Bao was already
equated with King Yama, overseer of hell in Buddhism.
He was extremely popular in drama during the Yuan and Ming, and there
are twelve plays extant in which Judge Bao appears, three of which are trans-
lated in this work:
Writing Club Little Butcher Sun
of Hangzhou
Guan Hanqing Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao Thrice Investigates the Butterfly
Dream
Li Xingdao Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao’s Clever Trick: The Record of the
Chalk Circle
Four other plays exist in other translations:
Zheng Tingyu Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao’s Clever Trick: The Flower in the
Rear Courtyard
Guan Hanqing Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao: Selling Rice at Chenzhou
Anonymous Ding-ding Dong-dong: The Ghost in the Pot
Zeng Ruiqing Wang Yueying on Prime Eve: The Left-behind Shoe
Judge Bao figures prominently in other forms of performance literature and nar-
rative fiction as well. Sixteen chantefables (cihua) in which the judge appears, pub-
lished in the 1470s, were discovered in 1967 in a Ming tomb. These were written

4. For locations of other translations, see Appendix 3: A Partial List of Modern English
Translations of Early Drama.
5. As Die Geschichte vom zurückgelassenen Schuh in Forke and Gimm 1978.
 Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao Thrice Investigates the Butterfly Dream 39

prosimetric narratives that adapted the rhetorical techniques of oral presenta-

tion. In the late sixteenth century, one hundred Judge Bao stories were assem-
bled into a vernacular hundred-chapter novel called The One Hundred Cases of
Dragon Design Bao (Bao Longtu baijia gong’an). A selection of sixty-four of these
cases, now presented as a collection of short stories, replaced the novel, how-
ever, and enjoyed continuing popularity from the seventeenth to the nineteenth
centuries. The popularity of Judge Bao continues, and there have been a number
of movies and television series produced in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

Butterfly Dream is part crime drama and part domestic play. As in Injustice to
Dou E, Guan Hanqing has utilized his sources well and, as in that drama, this
play’s theme can be traced to a Han dynasty source. In this case it is an episode
from Legends of Exemplary Women (Lienü zhuan), a text attributed to the great
Han polymath Liu Xiang (77–6 bc), who also collected a version of the “Filial
Woman of Donghai” in another of his works. The story is called “The Righ-
teous Stepmother of Qi” (Qi yi jimu):

The righteous stepmother of Qi was the mother of two sons in Qi. During
the time of King Xuan (319–300 bc) someone died from an altercation on a
road. The local Agent investigated the body and it had suffered one fatal
wound. Two brothers were standing beside the body and the Agent ques-
tioned them about it. The elder said, “I slew him.” The younger one said, “It
was not my elder brother, I am the one who slew him.” As the one-year stat-
ute of limitations for judging a case ran out, the Agent was still unable to
make a decision, so he explained his problem to the Prime Minister. The
Minister could not make a decision, and he explained it to the King. The King
said, “As the situation stands, if we pardon both, this is to release the one
who is guilty. If we slay both, this is to execute the innocent. I have deter-
mined that their mother is capable of knowing the good and evil of her sons.
Try interrogating the mother, and heed which one she desires to kill or to
keep alive.” The Minister summoned their mother and asked her this, “Your
sons have slain a person, but each of the brothers wants to stand in the
other’s stead to die for the crime. The Agent could not decide [which was at
fault] and explained it to the King. The King is benevolent and compassion-
ate, so he asked which one the mother would desire to kill.” Their mother
wept and answered in response, “Slay the younger.” The Minister accepted
her words and then went on to ask her about it, “The younger is the one
people dote on. You desire to slay him now—why?” The mother replied,
“The younger is my own son, the elder the son of the first wife. When his
father was ill and nearing death, he entrusted him to me, saying, ‘Raise him
well and look after him.’ I replied, ‘Agreed.’ Now, once you have accepted the
40 Guan Hanqing

trust someone has placed in you and have given that person your agreement,
then how can you simply forget that act of trust and not be true to your
agreement? Moreover, to slay the elder and save the younger is to reject com-
mon righteousness because of personal love. To turn my back on his words
and forget trust is to cheat the dead. To not be bound by my husband’s
words and to have already assented to them without really thinking, then
how can I live in this world [i.e., How can I be considered a person]? Though
I am certainly deeply attached to my child, could it be called right action [to
save him]?” She wept until her lapels were soaked. The Minister entered and
discussed it with the King. The King found her righteousness comely, and
he considered her actions lofty. He pardoned both children, slaying neither,
and honored the mother by naming her “Righteous Mother.” The Gentle-
man says, “The righteous mother kept her word and loved righteousness.
She was pure and concessive.” The Odes say, “A joyful and easy-going lord, /
He is a pattern for every direction.”
This tracing of sources is itself problematic, since we have no way of knowing
the exact relationship of Han written sources or Yuan written sources to oral
legend. Filial piety and righteousness are two of the basic concepts of Chinese
family life. In the case of “The Filial Woman of Donghai,” for instance, there are
at least four different versions in Han texts. While it may be that three were
copies of the first, we should remember that this was a world in which stories
first of all circulated orally and, if written down, then only in manuscript. The
power of oral exchange was far greater than in our own time. It could also hap-
pen, given the didactic nature of Chinese intellectuals, that textual stories would
be used orally to instruct nonreaders. This would account, for instance, for the
great number of stories from the classics that, like stories from the Bible in
Western culture, reappear in popular culture, either as a direct retelling or in
some structural or rhetorical recast of the original narrative. Guan may have
adapted the stories from earlier texts or from oral retellings but in every case he
has mined the basic story line for what is dramatic and crucial. Yet he has also
changed the stories to his fancy when creating the dramas themselves.
The villain of Butterfly Dream, a certain Ge Biao, is sometimes said to be a
Mongol, although there is nothing mentioned in the play to suggest that. He is
only described as an imperial relative, and since the chronological setting of the

6. This first line is cited in several early texts (Canon of Filial Piety, Mencius, and Traditions of
Master Zuo) and in historical sources thereafter. In each text one finds a matching line. It inevi-
tably is used to refer to a lord who is “father and mother to the people,” who is “loved by the
spirits,” or who “refuses to believe in slander.” The structure of the lines is reminiscent of the
poems of the Book of Odes, so it is often introduced with the same cliché, “the Odes say . . .” as a
way of granting it authority
 Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao Thrice Investigates the Butterfly Dream 41

play is clearly not the Yuan, it is more likely that his station is accentuated to
heighten Judge Bao’s integrity. It is possible, of course, to read it as a criticism of
Yuan law, in which Chinese citizens could take no revenge on any Mongol, even
for slaying their parents. In native Chinese law, a person taking revenge for the
murder of a parent could claim extenuating circumstance, particularly as in this
case when the old father had been murdered simply out of malice. Since Judge
Bao is usually acclaimed for his stand against the crimes of high officials and
members of the royal family, his stratagem for saving the youngest son seems to
be necessary to pander to a powerful family that is clamoring for revenge for the
death of its own scion. One of the ways to sidestep the conflict between Judge
Bao’s reputation as being blind to status and his obvious conniving to spare the
boy by offering up another victim instead is to read his plot as a direct criticism
of Yuan law, which forces even those of highest integrity to stoop to cleverness
instead of claiming moral high ground. This remains an intriguing but forced
reading, favored by Chinese writers who are quick to attribute all of the social
ills of the Yuan to the Mongols. Judge Bao must satisfy the common principle
that a death has to be revenged, which he does by cleverly substituting the body
of the horse thief. But in light of the totality of his representations, there is
nothing here to suggest that Ge Biao is anything more than a symbol of people
whose power put them beyond the reach of normal law.

The play in the Gu mingjia edition is a regular four-act play, with a wedge in-
corporated into the first act. As is normal with plays prior to Yuanqu xuan’s
standardization of format, this long scene, which includes the Shanghua shi and
Reprise normally found only in wedges, is not separated from Act 1. One anom-
aly of the play is at the end of the third act, when the condemned son, who has
been portrayed as something of a witty simpleton during the whole play, breaks
into song—a direct violation of all formal rules of the genre. It is, he says, his
final song, and he should be allowed to sing it. This is one of the few moments
in Guan Hanqing’s plays in which such an emphatic rupture occurs in staging.
No comparable example can be found in the thirty plays for which Yuan print-
ings have been preserved, so it seems most likely that this scene was added in
later times, when the roles of secondary characters were expanded at the Ming
court.
 Dramatis personæ in order of appearance
Role type Name, family role, or social role
Old man Father Wang
Female lead Mother Wang
Male 1 Eldest Wang
Male 2 Second Wang
Male 3 Third Wang
Villain Ge Biao
Supplemental male Constable
Yamen runners Yamen runners
Zhang Qian Zhang Qian (yamen clerk)
Official Judge Bao
Zhao Pigheaded Ass Zhao (Zhao Wanlü), horse thief

42
 Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao Thrice Investigates the Butterfly Dream

[Act 1]

(father wang with mother wang, leading three males, enters:)

The moon passes the fifteenth day—its beams grow dim,
A person reaches the middle of life—all affairs cease.
I am surnamed Wang and am a man of Zhongmou District here in Kaifeng
Prefecture. I have five souls in my family—this is my wife here. None of the
three sons we’ve spawned are willing to lead a farmer’s life; all they do is read
and write. Well, boys, just when do you think you’ll “burst into prominence
from your lowly position”? (eldest wang:) O father and mother, “ones above,”
what’s the benefit of being a farmer? If I “work till I’m wearied, toil till I’m
tired” for ten long years, I’ll be happy as a lark when I’ve won that one position!
(father wang and mother wang speak:) Such a good son! (second wang
speaks:) Father, mother—for this son, it’s been
Ten years beneath the window and no one asked of me,
But a single success will raise me to fame and renown through the world!
(father wang and mother wang speak:) Such a good son! (third wang
speaks:) O father above and mother underneath. (father wang:) What gib-
berish! How can your mother be underneath? (third wang speaks:) When I
was young, I saw you sleeping in the same bed, with father on top and mother
on the bottom! (father wang:) Just look at this twit! (third wang:) Father,
mother, what I meant to say was, “Literary talent can establish the self!”
(mother wang:) Papa, if it’s a case like this, you’d better come up with a plan
for our sons to establish their names for a long time! [Sings:]

7. The phrase fumu zaishang, translated as “father and mother, ones above,” is a term of re-
spect that can also be understood to mean “father and mother on top.”
8. A common saying; in full, “Study hard when you are young, for literary talent can establish
the self.”
9. The pun in these last two lines is on the phrase lishen, which literally means “to stand the
body/self upright.” The second level of translation would be: “(third wang [speaks]:) Father,

43
44 Guan Hanqing

([xianlü mode:] Shanghua shi)

Don’t say
“Literary talent can establish the self,”
When, alas,
Our family fortune is in direst straits.
In vain
You have labored hard “beneath the cold window,”
For right now
The little people all over town
Are partial to the deceptive, not to what’s true.
(Reprise)
They only
“Respect the clothing, not the man.”
While my
Words have never been partial in any way.
My three sons, when the spring examinations begin—
On what can they truly rely?
How can
They all be capable of leaping the Dragon’s Gate?
(They all exit.)
(father wang enters:) I’ve come here to the main street to buy some paper
and pens for my sons. I’ve run myself ragged. I’ll just rest here a spell. (ge biao
enters:)
Generals and ministers are not born as such,
A real man must vaunt his own strengths.
I am Ge Biao, and I’m from a powerful and influential family. I can kill others
with no demand in return for my own life. I usually just wind up in jail. I’ve
got nothing to do today, so I’ll go cruise the main street. (Acts out running into

mother, what I meant to say was ‘Literary talent makes a person stand upright’ [i.e., not lie prone
on the bed]. (female lead [speaks]:) Papa, if it’s a case like this, you’d better come up with a plan
for our sons to stand upright for a long time!”
10. A common idiom for passing the Advanced Scholar Examinations, found first in the San
Qin ji: “Every year at the end of spring yellow carp from the ocean and all of the streams fight
their way to a place just below the Dragon’s Gate (located on the Yellow River). Seventy-two of
them ascend the Gate every year, and when they first get into the passage clouds and rain soon
follow closely behind them. From behind a heavenly fire sets their tails on fire and they transform
into dragons.”
 Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao Thrice Investigates the Butterfly Dream 45

father wang. ge biao:) Just who is this old fella, who thinks he can run into
my horse’s head? I’ll just beat this old ass. (Acts out beating father wang, who
acts out dying, exits. ge biao:) This old guy’s faking his death to put one over on
me. Horse, bite him! Horse, bite him! Trample him, horse, trample him! Fuck
him, horse, fuck him!
(Exits.)
❅❅
(constable enters:) Eldest Wang! Second Wang! Third Wang! Are you home?
(The three enter, speak:) What are you calling for? (constable:) I am the con-
stable. Someone has killed your father on the main street. (The three speak:) It
is really true? Mother, a calamity! (All act out weeping. third wang:) And just
what whoreson killed my old man? Mother, come here quickly. (mother
wang:) Why are you so alarmed, children? (third wang:) Someone has killed
our father. (mother wang:) Oh, how did this happen? ([Sings]:)
([xianlü mode:] Dian jiangchun)
Think carefully, think it through
Twice or thrice—
This strange, untoward, affair.
I’ve run so hard
That my breath falters and my speech is thready,
And I’m upset
That my ribs won’t simply sprout a pair of wings.
(Hunjiang long)
Ah, my husband
What have you done wrong to Heaven?
Seize that murdering criminal
And I’ll seek to lay a charge against him!
My husband never once
Made contact with the enemy outside the borders,
And never
Ran afoul of anything public or private.
If anything
Has happened to this weak and meek man of mine,
I will
Take that overbearing good-for-nothing to court.

11. Literally, “which son of mine was it?” (wo na er ye); i.e., “I’ve had carnal knowledge of his
mother.”
46 Guan Hanqing

Now I am
Crossing the main streets, coursing through the markets,
All the while scratching my cheeks and tweaking my ears,
Wiping away my tears, rubbing the gum from my eyes.
(mother wang acts out going to see the corpse.)
(You hulu)
Just look at that
Place where he was wounded—a pit of purple mixed with blue,
Where his corpse is already laid out.
Well, you may have
Always worried before about our family fortune,
But couldn’t have known yesterday that you were to die today—
We don’t know today what befalls us tomorrow.
Your whole body defiled, limp, and bloody,
Your four limbs now cold, lank, and limp,
Your face, dry and yellow, looks like paper money—
In vain I call a long time.
(Tianxia le)
Beyond recovery, you’ve driven us to despair!
Our family fortune. . . .
Think carefully—
If the funeral cortege goes out tomorrow,
We won’t even have a single packet of paper money.
And we’ll have our three children all alone with nothing to offer in
sacrifice—
True it is, “A poor house manifests filial sons!”
(The three speak:) Mother, people say that it was Ge Biao who killed our father.
Let’s go find that guy and drag him to the yamen to repay life with life!
(Exit.)
(Nuozha ling)
He was originally
A scholar of the Imperial College,

12. Out of anxiety.

13. Funeral cash to burn at the funeral.
14. Every year officials selected the best students in the Imperial College (Guozi xue) to par-
ticipate in both the standard Advanced Scholar examinations held by the Board of Rites and the
special Palace Examination.
 Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao Thrice Investigates the Butterfly Dream 47

Could he have anticipated

Dying by another’s fists?
And so now wind up
A corpse for autopsy on the main street?
Even if he’s a high official
And we but an impoverished family of scholars,
We’ll still have to submit our complaint!
(ge biao enters:) I am Ge Biao. I’ve had a few cups to drink, but there’s nothing
to do, so I’ll go home for a while. (The three enter:) Isn’t that the killer? Grab
that guy! (They act out grabbing him.) Did you kill our father? (ge biao:) Yep, it
was me. I’m not afraid of you. (mother wang:)
(Que ta zhi)
When we
Go to court,
Even such a sprig as you
Can’t use your status as a “jade leaf or golden branch”
Of the royal family or imperial line—
Even if you were the grandson of a dragon or emperor’s son,
If you kill a person
You’ll still take it in court!
(The three act out beating [him]. ge biao acts out dying. The three speak:) This
killer is feigning being drunk and won’t get up. (mother wang:) I’ll try and
question him. (mother wang acts out questioning him.) Brother, what did my
old man ever do to you to deserve to die by your hand? Why are you feigning
being drunk and sleeping in the street? Enough of this! Get up! Get up! Aiya,
you three have killed him! (third wang:) What a fine mess, I never laid a hand
on him.
(Jisheng cao)
You should have
Thought what you were doing when you acted.
As it is,
What could you have been thinking?
The three of you
Have made a mess of right and wrong—
The three of you
Might have been right to beat him to death,
But the three of you
Have surely brought down a felony affair.
And
48 Guan Hanqing

These two worthless “boys of the fresh wind and bright moon,”
Have destroyed you,
Three scholars of the Jade Hall and Gate of the Golden Horse.
(mother wang points to ge biao and sings:)
(Jinzhan’er)
I reckon then, that
You never stopped to consider
That
It’s forever a case of payment and revenge,
Or that
Heaven is impartial with its retribution.
All you wanted was
To act the bully on the street—
Who could guess
You’d wind up a corpse laid out in a puddle of blood.
True it is
“A general struck by a painful arrow will feel the same pain
As the one he fires at others gives!”
(The three:) We have no money, what will we use to go to court? (mother
wang:)
(Zui zhong tian)
Every day we
“Have a gourd ladle of drink,
A wicker of food,”
Some chopsticks,
A few spoons.
If we have to brandish cash when we get to court,
Unless we pawn a little useless writing . . .

15. Fresh Wind and Bright Moon are names of two lads who serve the immortals, used to
refer to Ge Biao and old man Wang as dead fellows who make the living suffer.
16. Common reference to the literary men who surround the emperor. The Gate of the
Golden Horse was one of the portals of the Han court. Flanked by two bronze horses it was
where officials assembled when summoned to court. Han scholars were known as Academicians
of the Gate of the Golden Horse. The Jade Hall was an earlier name for what eventually became
the Hanlin Academy. The line is quoted from a congratulatory verse (kouhao) by the Song
scholar Ouyang Xiu (1107–72), written to preface the performance of a comedy at a banquet he
was attending with two friends (hence, “three scholars”).
17. See Injustice to Dou E, n. 34. Here the passage refers to their poverty and by indirection to
their moral self-sufficiency and happiness with their lot.
 Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao Thrice Investigates the Butterfly Dream 49

([mother wang:]) Even this won’t save the day. If you

Must die, then die today you must.
Even though it’s the crime of manslaughter,
You’ll leave behind a name for filial obedience!
(yamen runners enter:) Don’t let them escape! Take those killers! (mother
wang:)
(Jinzhan’er)
Bitterness on bitterness,
My tears are spilling silky threads.
This vexation has been bestowed by heaven.
They are
Dragging us sideways, pulling us down—how can we protest?
On one side
A chilling sight—my old man is lying there, a corpse;
On the other
With eyes wide in fright, my children are done in.
Know this:
“One receives fortune only once,
But disaster comes time after time.”
(yamen runners:) A killing is no small thing. Let’s go off to see the judge.
(mother wang acts out grieving:)
(Houting hua)
I know heaven will take no sides;
Truly, every act is repaid or avenged.
([mother wang:]) “He with little hatred is no Gentleman, he without poison
is no man!”
You weren’t thinking at all.
In this court case
The three of you won’t be able to stand the pain.
You are assembled worthies, budding scholars

18. That is, one must be hard-hearted and carry one’s actions out to the end; here, to see re-
venge through to the end.
19. Although this portion of the text is printed in large characters, there is a possibility that
these three lines are actually spoken text inserted within the sung lines of the aria (daiyun) to lead
into “Who will leap the Dragon’s Gate.” These sentiments are expressed again in song at the end
of the next aria, and it is standard practice to introduce topics in dialogue that are to be treated
or even repeated in the sung portions.
50 Guan Hanqing

Who were to leap the Dragon’s Gate

And snap the cassia branch.
Because your father was wrongfully killed,
It was fitting that you take private retribution.
If you are taken by the court—
To investigate the true circumstances
And seek your depositions
They will use the head clamp
And employ the finger presses.
(Liuye’er)
I never thought
This calamity would come from heaven,
You
Beat him until he was a corpse laid out in a puddle of blood,
But right it was that you cleansed away your father’s wrong.
Even though you are sentenced to death
And sent to the Courts of Hell,
You will still earn a name for filial piety.
(yamen runners:) Off to the magistrate! (mother wang:) My sons, now
that you’ve done this, what can we do? (The three:) What can we do, mother?
(mother wang:)
(Zhuansha)
Why did I tell you
To read the Odes and Documents?
To practice the classics and the histories?
Because I
Wanted to emulate how Mencius’ mother
Taught her child in days gone by.
Now incapable of
Clearly inscribing your family name on the Golden Plaque,
Instead
Your names will be written out

20. A piece of hempen rope wrapped around the forehead and then tightened with a wooden
stick.
21. Five slips of strung wood, inserted between the suspect’s fingers and squeezed by tighten-
ing the string.
22. I.e., that you took vengeance for him.
23. Mencius’ mother is known as a paragon of maternal love and concern. She moved her
residence three times so that Mencius would be raised in the right environment.
 Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao Thrice Investigates the Butterfly Dream 51

On the “stave of crime.”

When it happened
It was an unpremeditated act.
If it is to be capital punishment,
It must be ratified by imperial decree,
And only one of you will pay with your life—
Certainly they can’t cut off the Wang family sacrifices,
Nor will they exterminate [all of the sons] in our family!
(They exit together.)

[Act 2]

(zhang qian acts out walking, leading yamen runners to assemble for court.
zhang:) All horses and people in the court be at peace. Oyez. (judge bao
costumed as rescriptor-in-waiting bao enters:)
Dong, dong, sounds the yamen drum,
Public servants line up on the two sides;
Of King Yama, at the Court of Life and Death,
Of the Spirit of the Eastern Marchmount at the Soul-snatching Terrace.
I am Bao Zheng, known also as Bao Xiwen. I am a man of Oldson Village in
the District of Four Prospects, in Golden Measure Commandery, found in Lu
Prefecture. I am an Academician, Rescriptor-in-Waiting at the Pavilion of
Dragon Design, and have just been given commission as the Prefect of Kai-
feng. Now, I’d better get onto the dais and begin morning court. Zhang Qian,
bring me any documents that need to be signed and sealed and I’ll sign them
and affix my seal on them. (zhang:) Clerks of the Six Bureaus, are there any
documents that need to be signed and sealed? (Act out responding from back-
stage. zhang:) Why didn’t you say so earlier? It’s a good thing I asked you.
Oyez. There is a case of the horse thief, Zhao the Pigheaded Ass, sent here from
Suanzao District. (judge bao:) Bring him here for me. (yamen runners act
out making the prisoner kneel. judge bao:) Take off that traveling cangue. You,

24. I.e., performed by male descendants on behalf of their ancestors.

25. The Eastern Marchmount, Taishan, was thought to be the abode of “The Grand Thearch
of the Eastern Marchmount,” overseer of the eighteen levels of hell, which consisted of seventy-
two different bureaucratic offices. The second court, the Office for Apprehension and Investiga-
tion of Life and Death Cases was known as the Soul-snatching Terrace. Judge Bao was thought
to be the Officer of Speedy Retribution; see Little Butcher Sun.
26. His rank as Rescriptor-in-Waiting is a court rank used to determine his status and salary.
His office is as Prefect of Kaifeng, the capital of the Song dynasty.
52 Guan Hanqing

are you Zhao the Pigheaded Ass? Did you steal that horse? (zhao:) Right, I
stole the horse. (judge bao:) Zhang Qian, put on the long cangue and send
him down to death row. ([zhao] is pushed off stage. judge bao:) I’m exhausted
all of a sudden. Zhang Qian, don’t you or the clerks of the Six Bureaus make
any noise. I want to rest for a while. (zhang:) All runners and underlings, all
clerks of the Two Corridors, make no ruckus! The prefect wants to take a nap.
(judge bao acts out laying his head on his desk and sleeping; acts out dreaming:)
Official affairs have really riled up my heart and I couldn’t sleep if I wanted to.
I’ll wander around for a bit. Here I am at a little side door at the back of the
prefectural compound. I’m opening up the door now. Let me take a look. Why,
it turns out to be a fine flower garden. See how the hundred flowers blaze and
glow, melding in harmony in the spring scene. There’s a little pavilion with
turned up eaves over there in that clump of flowers, and from the pavilion
hangs a spider web. A butterfly is flying over the flowers and just got stuck in
that web.
I’m deeply moved to grief
By this butterfly’s sad plight.
Don’t say that only men alone die unpredictably,
Even insects have wrongful deaths.
Ai, “even things that wriggle have sentience; all possess the Buddha nature.”
Here comes a larger butterfly to rescue it and set it free. Wait, here comes an-
other small butterfly, and it’s caught in the net, too. The big butterfly ought to
rescue it, too. Strange, that large butterfly flew back and forth above the flowers,
but didn’t rescue it. And that little butterfly fluttered off leaving it there. The
sage has said, “Every human possesses the heart of compassion.” If you won’t
save it, then wait for me, I will. (Acts out releasing it. zhang:) Sir, it is already
noontime. (judge bao acts out waking up, speaks:) Every life hangs in the bal-
ance, even insects or butterflies. Zhang Qian, bring any sentenced prisoners
that need review before me, and I will interrogate them. zhang:) Clerks,
bring out any sentenced prisoners who need review for interrogation. (Act out
responding from backstage. zhang:) Oyez, Zhongmou District has dispatched
a case of three brothers who assaulted and murdered a good citizen, Ge Biao.
They have been dispatched here under guard. (judge bao:) How can common
folk in a little district dare murder a good citizen? Have they arrived yet?
zhang:) They have arrived. (judge bao:) With a blow for each step, beat
them into court. (escorts enter, driving three people on. mother wang enters,
sings:)

27. I.e., Mencius.

 Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao Thrice Investigates the Butterfly Dream 53

([nanlü mode:] Yizhi hua)

We’ve been escorted
To this Censorate that has no human feeling,
And have already reached
Kaifeng Prefecture, where abides the imperial law.
These three
Undiscovered scholars
Have been twisted alive
Into death row inmates under interrogation,
And me vainly made
Skittish, heart sunk,
Unable to still
The alarmed terror in my heart.
True it is
“A criminal’s gall is empty at bottom.”
I’m nearly compelled
To confess to this crime myself;
For here are no equals
To the bailiffs and magistrate of our little place.
(Liangzhou)
This
Kaifeng Prefecture—the king’s laws are pure and just,
And will not stoop to
The addlepated confusion of magistrate and clerks in Zhongmou
District.
Pu-dong-dong, below the steps, the drum opens the court,
Scaring me
Until my hands quiver and my feet shake,
Unable to use
Dashing bravery and careless mind.
It alarms me so much
My spirit flies away and my soul disappears,
Drives me so much
My strength is exhausted, my muscles turn limp.

28. “No human feeling” means both that it is impartial and that gifts or bribes (also called
“human feeling” in Chinese) are to no avail. It is harsh but just and impartial.
29. Literally, “great gall and coarse heart” (danda xincu), i.e., to act impetuously without care-
ful thought, here a nice play on the common saying (danda xinxi), “to act bravely after careful
consideration.”
54 Guan Hanqing

This public case

Cannot be compared to the common or ordinary
Because, to get to the center of it,
It means to suffer punishment or endure banishment.
Alas, alas, alas,
On the one hand my old man is a corpse laid out on the ground,
And what’s more, more, more,
In dire straits children and mother are put in jail and tied up in the
pen.
Ai, ai, ai,
I can foresee the brothers, suffering the knife, meeting punishment,
Will already be scared to death.
Toward the edge of this petitioners’ wall,
I will cock my ear and look with stealing eyes—
Who’s ever seen such an office?
Today’s the day
And here’s the place where fortune or calamity is determined, and
truth and falsehood are set apart.
(mother wang, with the crowd, act out seeing the official and kneeling. zhang:)
Accused, face the court! (judge bao:) Zhang Qian, remove their traveling
cangues and give the escorts the proper endorsements to send them back.
([zhang] acts out opening the cangue. third wang:) Mother, brothers, let’s go
home. (judge bao:) Where do you think you’re going? Where’s the similarity
between here and that Zhongmou District office of yours? Zhang Qian, these
three scoundrels are the murderers, but who’s that old lady? Surely, she’s a wit-
ness. If not, then she must have some relationship to these scoundrels. You, old
lady, what are these two to you? (mother wang:) These two are my older
children. (judge bao:) And the little one? (mother wang:) That’s my third
child. (judge bao:) Quiet! You’re no “Run the household by the right rules”
person! Consider how Mencius’ mother taught her son—by carefully selecting
the neighbors to live next to, or how mother Tao taught her child—by cutting
off her hair in order to treat his guest well, or how Mother Chen taught her

30. See note 23.

31. Tao Kan’s mother wove clothes for her son so that he could mingle with a higher class of
friends. After he had risen to become a district clerk, Tao Kan sent his mother some fine fish
paste. She sealed it back up and told him not to give her government provisions. Not only did it
not help her, it increased her anxiety. When a noble man visited Tao and was detained by a snow-
storm, she cut up her sitting mat to feed to the noble’s horse and cut off her hair to sell so she
could provide wine and food for a feast.
 Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao Thrice Investigates the Butterfly Dream 55

children—they wound up dressed in purple gowns and golden belts. But you,
you boorish wife, teach your children to murder good folk! Confess now, the
truth!
(He xinlang)
My children
Are violators of public law who committed a horrible capital crime,
But those officials
Do things neither human feeling nor reason can bear.
My children
Should be pardoned for killing this person,
For we
Are the black-haired masses, from humble origins, and ever poor.
I plead with you, father,
Be an advocate for my children.
These three
Have hit the books and studied from an early age,
And can only
Rely on the lessons of the written canon
That they put into practice as rites and righteousness.
How could they
Devise a plan, a strategy,
To lure someone else to harm?
Under a hundred beatings, it’s hard for them to explain clearly,
Haven’t you heard
“A third person destroys a major affair,
Six ears cannot carry out a plan?”
(judge bao:) If you don’t beat them, they won’t confess. Zhang Qian, beat
them with all your strength. (mother wang sings mournfully:)
(Gewei)
My children have run afoul
Of Xiao He’s severe law that calls for banishment, deportation,
strangling, or beheading,
And for naught have read
Confucius’ sagely books that are full of reverence, restraint, warmth,
and goodness.

32. A mother noted for her severity and uprightness, all of her three sons attained degrees
and high rank.
33. I.e., there was no premeditation; more than two people cannot keep a secret.
56 Guan Hanqing

Now beaten
Over their whole bodies—how can I watch?
So thoroughly thrashed
Their muscles are injured, their bones dislocated.
All more painful than
Suspending their hair from the rafters or piercing their thighs with
an awl.
They
Never suffered this torture by their parent’s hands.
(judge bao:) One of you three must be the ringleader. Who was first to kill
this man? (eldest wang:) Mother had nothing to do with it. Neither did my
brothers. I am the one who killed him. (second wang:) Father, mother had
nothing to do with it. Neither did my brothers. I am the one who killed him.
(third wang:) Father, O great one, mother had nothing to do with it. Neither
did my brothers. And neither did I. (mother wang:) It has nothing to with
any of my three children. Back then it was Ge Biao, the imperial relative, who
first killed my husband. I couldn’t stand the pain, and on the spur of the mo-
ment my anger got the best of me and I struggled with him, and killed him. It
was, in truth, me. I killed him. (judge bao:) Nonsense! You confess, I confess,
everyone confesses—it looks like a conspiracy to me. One of you, at any rate,
will have to give up your life. Zhang Qian, really lay it on now. (mother wang:)
(Dou hama)
They are transfixed in silence—there’s no one to rescue them,
Their eyes wide open—they suffer pain alive.
Children,
We’d better give him a confession.
I answer respectfully in front of you, sir.
That bastard bullied us
And murdered my husband.
But now you investigate me, take this wife into custody—
You public officials are like wolves and tigers.
Your honor, still your anger! Cease your rage!
Not just hemp-wrapped clubs, head clamps, and finger presses
Are the punishments for intense and unending questions and
interrogation.

34. Steps taken by exemplary students to keep themselves awake to study.

35. Literally, “from their father’s rice and mother’s stew.”
36. She’s speaking now of Ge Biao.
 Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao Thrice Investigates the Butterfly Dream 57

What are the categories of your investigation

That call for beating them until they are soaked in blood?
The eldest brother gives voice to wrong, cries, “Injustice!”
But you, sir, make no attempt to hear an explanation.
Second brother endures a living hell on earth,
How can he bear such pain?
And the third brother is beaten most harshly—
And this ties my stomach in knots and hacks away at my heart.
And here and over there, too,
We are frightened, scared, and skittish,
Eyeing each other again and again,
Back and forth we go,
Weeping and wailing, crying and bawling.
O Rescriptor-in-Waiting at the Dragon Design Pavilion, we are
beaten to death by you!
I recall now
When your father first said,
“Isn’t it true that
‘Children and grandchildren make their own fortune’?”
Now it’s hard to swallow words or spit them out,
There’s no way left to even breathe,
Except for short sighs and long moans—
A stomach of sadness like fire,
Tears of rain like pearls.
(judge bao:) Let me look at this writ that accompanied them. (Acts out looking
at it.) Those clerks in Zhongmou are really inept. How come this writ says only,
“Eldest Wang, Second Wang, and Third Wang murdered the good man Ge
Biao?” Isn’t there a single good secretary in the district offices? These three
must have proper given names. And if not, then at least a child name. You, old
lady, how do you call your eldest child? (mother wang:) He’s called Goldlike.
(judge bao:) And the second scoundrel? (mother wang:) He’s called Iron-
like. (judge bao:) And the third one here? (mother wang:) He’s called
Stonelike. (third wang:) -lyte. (judge bao:) What -lyte? (third wang:)
Stone Acolyte. (judge bao:) It’s clear they are murderers. For a peasant family
to take such “hard” and unyielding names! It’s clear that Goldlike was the mur-
derer. (mother wang:)

37. Second line of the couplet: “So don’t wear yourself out on behalf of them.” Can either
imply that children will do well without parents’ concern, or that they will simply not repay the
effort.
58 Guan Hanqing

(Muyang guan)
If he’s gold
Then what’s so hard about smelting him?
(judge bao:) Well, it must have been Stonelike who killed him? ([mother
wang:])
If this one
Is rock-solid can he be false?
(judge bao:) Well, it must have been Ironlike who killed him? ([mother
wang:])
If this one
Were iron could he withstand those “official laws like a furnace?”
(judge bao:) Beat these stubborn bags of bones. (mother wang:)
It’s not that these children
Are obstinate bags of bones;
They really are harboring injustice and bearing wrongs.
(judge bao:) Zhang Qian, it’s well said, “Those who murder owe a life; those
who borrow must pay back their debts.” Take out that eldest little bastard and
let him pay with his life. (mother wang:)
My eyes open in fright, I find no way to save him,
Now surrounded and pushed down the stairs.
It makes
It impossible for us to look at each other,
For no matter what, there’s no right way out.
O father Bao, Rescriptor-in-Waiting, you are so muddleheaded. judge bao:)
What did she say just as I was sending her eldest off to pay with his life?
(zhang:) That woman grabbed the end of his cangue with her hands and said
that you, father Bao, Rescriptor-in-Waiting, were muddleheaded. (judge
bao:) Her? She said I was muddleheaded? Bring her over here. (mother wang
acts out kneeling. judge bao:) Why did you say I was muddleheaded when I
sent your eldest out to pay with his life? (mother wang:) Would I dare, sir,
say you were muddleheaded? But, it’s just that my eldest son is filial. If you kill
him, then who will care for me in my old age? (judge bao:) Once his mother
says he is filial all of the neighbors weigh in with testimony. Well, this is a case
where I was wrong. Keep the eldest here to take care of her in her old age.
Zhang Qian, have the second son pay with his life. (mother wang:)
 Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao Thrice Investigates the Butterfly Dream 59

(Gewei)
On the one hand,
The eldest brother—concern for him ties my stomach in knots,
On the other,
The second—he is so dear that my insides ache for him.
If someone has to pay with a life, then leave the children.
I’d rather
You took this old woman!
But such harsh cruelty as this
Leaves no room to lay plaint—
All I can do is grab the end of the cangue with my hands,
And shout out, “Injustice!”

O father Bao, Rescriptor-in-Waiting, you are so muddleheaded. judge bao:)

Now what is she carrying on about? (zhang:) That woman said again that
you, sir, are muddleheaded. (judge bao:) Bring her over here. (mother wang
acts out kneeling. judge bao:) Look, woman, how come you said I am muddle-
headed when I sent your second son out to pay with his life? (mother wang:)
How could I dare say you, sir, were muddleheaded? But, it’s just that my second
son is a fine businessman. If you kill him, then who will care for me in my old
age? (judge bao:) I said the eldest had to pay and you said he was filial. I said
that the second had to pay and you said he was a fine businessman. Well, then,
just who will pay life for life? (third wang acts out putting on the cangue himself.
judge bao:) What are you doing? (third wang:) First brother won’t be pay-
ing with life, second brother won’t be paying with his, so all that’s left is me. So,
the best thing to do is to give you an early present. (judge bao:) Fine! Zhang
Qian, take out the little one to pay with his life. ([zhang] acts out pushing him
and then turning him around. judge bao:) You, lady—Is it all right to have the
third one pay with his life? (mother wang:) It’s fine. Isn’t it said, “When three
people walk together, the youngest is bound to suffer?” It’s right for him to pay
with his life. (judge bao:) And I’m not muddleheaded? (mother wang:)
You, father, are not muddleheaded. (judge bao:) Quiet! Zhang Qian, bring
him back. She almost put one over on me. Now I am setting a stepson loose!
These two are your own sons by birth, aren’t they? And this little aphid here is
an adopted son who’s being raised by you. You aren’t very fond of him and so
you’ll let him pay with his life. Woman, if you answer correctly, I have a way
out. If you answer wrongly, then don’t think I’ll cut you any slack. (mother
wang:) All three are mine. What would you have me say? (judge bao:) If you
won’t tell the truth. . . . Zhang Qian, beat her for me. (mother wang:) Brother
one, brother two, brother three, I’ll say what I have to say—don’t contradict
60 Guan Hanqing

me. (judge bao:) Are these two elder ones your own birth sons? (mother
wang:)
(Muyang guan)
This child—
Although I did not give him birth,
I certainly suckled him.
(judge bao:) And the second one? ([mother wang:])
This one—
He was so young when I began raising him
(judge bao:) And that little one? ([mother wang:])
This one here
Is my own son,
And those two there—
Well, I am their stepmother.
(judge bao:) Woman, come here. You’re doing it wrong. Have one of your
stepchildren pay with his life, and keep your own son to care for you in your old
age. Wouldn’t that be better? (mother wang:) You, sir, are the one who’s wrong.
If I indifferently let one of the children of the first wife pay with his
life,
Then I will display for all the evil heart of the stepmother.
If I imitate
That heartless woman [who fanned the grave,]
Won’t I be too ashamed
To face the virtuous auntie of Lu.
(judge bao:) Woman, you must make one of those three acknowledge that
they killed the man. (mother wang:)
(Hong shaoyao)
If my whole body was made of mouths, could I mislead you?
But I’m just like
A gourd with no mouth.

38. See Injustice to Dou E, n. 15. Here, to spurn her promise to the dead husband to raise his
children.
39. A righteous woman of Lu who, when the state was attacked by Qi, fled with her child and
her nephew. About to be overtaken by Qi soldiers, she abandoned her own child and escaped
with her nephew. Qi generals, moved by her virtue, stopped their pursuit.
 Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao Thrice Investigates the Butterfly Dream 61

You’ve beaten them

Until their flesh is split and their muscles spill out, their skin
destroyed,
And they are smeared and sullied with fresh blood—
It’s just like a living hell.
My three boys will all be sent to their deaths,
You officials and ministers all rely on each other just like you were
relatives,
So you’ll surely side with nobility and relatives of the state!
(mother wang acting out grieving:)
(Pusa Liangzhou)
If the eldest son runs afoul of punishments,
Or the second separates from me along the paths of life and death,
Or the third returns to the Courts of Hell,
Then this damned old body of mine is left behind alone.
The eldest son is filial and understands the proper distances of the
rites,
Second son can be left behind to manage the family affairs,
The third—say no more,
You shall pay with your life,
It is fitting that you go.
The proverb says,
“When three people walk together, the youngest is bound to suffer.”
Let the public officials shout and clamor!
(judge bao:) When I hear this woman speak I begin to believe the saying, “A
good merchant hides his goods so well he appears to have nothing; a gentleman
of overweening virtue has a countenance like the dull-witted.” In this affair, I
see that the mother is virtuous and the sons are completely filial. The mother
is of the same class as mothers Tao and Meng, and the sons no different than
Zengzi and Min Ziqian. Now, I just had a dream when I took a nap. I just
saw a small butterfly fall into a web and then be rescued by a larger one. The
next one was just the same. But the last one fell into the net, too, and the larger
butterfly didn’t rescue it, even though it saw it fall. It just flew on away. I have a

40. That is, like a living representation of the Courts of Hell, often vividly portrayed in
temple wall paintings, where victims are tortured, beaten, hacked, pierced with swords and awls,
boiled in oil, and subjected to various other forms of punishments. This is not, therefore a sum-
moning of a vague feeling of condemnation, but a reference to the intense physical punishment
inflicted by the lictors of hell.
41. Two disciples of Confucius noted for their filial piety.
62 Guan Hanqing

heart of compassion so I rescued the little butterfly from the net. This was
Heaven, giving me a sign that foretold what was going to happen and that I
should save this little fellow’s life. Just now,
I deduced the severity of the sentence based on codicils of law,
And didn’t understand that beyond the case lay other axes to grind.
But how can we simply forget the killing of a good citizen?
Isn’t it said that one cannot let a criminal off lightly?
So I first sent the oldest boy off to the execution ground,
But because she said he was filial and could support her,
I then sent the next one off to taste the blade.
Then she said he could fulfill her daily needs by working for a living,
And so I sent the youngest away to face the sentence,
And she most happily sent him on his way.
She showed naught but concern and kindness for her adopted sons,
But no grief at all for her own flesh and blood.
Virtue and obedience of this order should be rewarded with title and praise,
Such ardent chasteness and excelling worthiness is fit for reward.
Something just leapt to mind!
Heaven caused my roaming dream soul to be first forewarned:
Those three insects caught in the spider’s web
Equal the mother, the sons, and this official.
Three times the stepmother has abandoned her own son:
A perfect match to my noontime dream of butterflies.
Zhang Qian, throw them all into death row! (mother wang acts out hurrying
forward to clutch them:)
(Shuixianzi)
I see them
Pushed forward, pulled back, clinging to each other,
For your sakes
I grab the tip of the cangue and cry out, “Injustice!”
With staring eyes they go out, once gone never to return.
It makes me
Feel powerless in a hundred ways.
In such a mess as this
Why not die?
I’ll follow you anyway,
For, living or dead, I am at my end.
Here
I clutch their clothes tightly.
 Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao Thrice Investigates the Butterfly Dream 63

(zhang qian pushes mother wang away, pushes the three boys offstage. mother
wang sings:)
(Shouwei)
Bao of the Dragon Design Hall
Was always right on the money when judging cases in the past,
But now as an official is no great shakes.
For no reason at all
You sit in the Yellow Hall, and wear the Tiger Tally,
Receive glory and power, request salary and emolument.
While my sons—
Their grave injustice and wrongs no concern of yours—
Are cast into prison.
I’ll act in desperation
And rashly lay my plaint in the capital halls, in the offices of the
central government,
And, beating on the walls of the imperial city, I’ll drum out my
wrongs.
When I see the Simurgh Palanquin, then I’ll be impetuous and rash—
A stupid old woman, I’ll sing my tale of woe.
And if there is still no one willing to be my advocate,
Then I’ll best
Find a proper death—
You’ll see no lonely widow, childless woman here.
Far better this
Than being bereft with nowhere to turn,
Pained and hurt, weeping and wailing, suffering torture while alive.
(Exits.)
(judge bao:) Zhang Qian, come here. What do you think of this? (zhang:)
Do you think you’ve hit it right? (judge bao:) You loutish beast. Are my words
ever wrong?
I support the sagely and intelligent ruler of the present day,
Hoping to spread a pure reputation for all eternity.

42. The “Yellow Hall” is any position of authority; the Tiger Tally grants that position the
power of life and death, executed without the necessity of imperial ratification.
43. A drum was placed at the entrance to the Imperial City, where common citizens could go
and lay a complaint directly to high government officials.
44. Of the emperor.
64 Guan Hanqing

If I can’t see my way through this present case,

How can I sit in the southern court of Kaifeng Prefecture?
(Exit together.)

[Act 3]

(zhang qian entering [with li wan]:)

In my hand I hold the ruthless club,
In my lapels hide the money of dripping tears.
By light I trod the paths of wolves and tigers,
By night I sleep in the company of corpses.
I am Zhang Qian. The three Wang brothers have been put on death row. I
think I’ll call the three of them out right now. (eldest wang, second wang
enter. [eldest]:) Brother, have pity on us! ([zhang]:) Carry that cangue over
here, give him three strokes of the “Quelling Resistance Club.” (Act out beating
three times. zhang:) Where’s that third one? (third wang enters:) I was here
first! (zhang:) Li Wan, bring the rack over here, throw this belly-wrapping
chain over them and cinch it down. (Acts out cinching them down. The three act
out crying out. zhang:) Li Wan, go on home to eat, I’ll look after them just in
case the warden comes by. (mother wang enters:) All three of my sons have
been put in prison and on death row. I’ve begged some leftover soup and scraps
of food and I’ll go give them some to eat.
([zhenggong mode:] Duanzheng hao)
Gazing far off at the prison of the condemned,
I’ve just left the Field of Mercy—
Who dares say I’ll slow by half a step?
From gate to gate I’ve begged, missing not a one,
And have sponged some leftover rice and mixed noodles.
My children
Originally wanted to be Top Graduates,
To sit in the District Magistrate’s hall,

45. Although not noted in stage directions, Li Wan (Li Ten-thousand) accompanies Zhang
Qian (Zhang Thousand) on stage. Li Wan, like Zhang Qian, is a generalized stage name for a
clerk.
46. I.e., bribes offered by the convicted.
47. I.e., he apprehends criminals by day and sleeps next to them in the jail at night.
48. Welfare centers set up by Buddhist monasteries for poor folk.
 Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao Thrice Investigates the Butterfly Dream 65

And request salary and emolument.

Who has ever run as
Foul of the law as they?
They never
Violated the three thousand codicils of the five penal codes.
I
Am unwilling to eat,
Unwilling to wear good clothes,
And I sleep on ground scorched for warmth.
Has anyone ever been
As poor and base as me?
I am carrying on for Mother Chen
And her proverb from olden days—
For sure she would “Never seek for noble rank and the riches of gold
and jade,
But for sons and grandsons, and all worthy, each and every one.”
I’ve taken all I can of this suffering.
(Acts out arriving at the gate of the prison:) Here I am already. I’ll pull on this bell
cord. (zhang:) That’s probably the warden. I’ll open up the door and see who
it is. Who’s ringing the bell? (mother wang:) I rang it. (zhang acts out strik-
ing her:) You boorish old woman! Is this your home? Why are you here?
(mother wang:) I’ve brought some food for my boys. (zhang:) No lamp oil
money, no bitter injustice money? We live off our death-row inmates. If you’ve
got any money, bring it out. (mother wang:) Have a heart, brother, have pity
on me. My old man was murdered and my three sons are in cells for the con-
demned. I may eat breakfast, but never any dinner. I’ve begged through all of
the backstreets for some leftover soup and scraps of food. I want to give them
to my children to stave off their hunger. Have pity, brother.
(Tang xiucai)
The leftover soup and scraps of food I’ve begged I’ve reheated over
and over,
And the patched-up old padded jacket, I’ve worn right side and
wrong side out.
Brother, let me give you these clothes. And these
Old oversleeves I also give you, brother, as bitter injustice money.

49. See note 32.

50. Both are forms of bribes so jailors will treat the prisoners well.
66 Guan Hanqing

(zhang:) I don’t want your stuff. (mother wang:)

Thank you, brother, for watching over them
And keeping them whole.
Please have pity on my children!
(zhang:) Their sentence has already been determined. I can’t save them now.
(mother wang:)
(Tuo bushan)
Alas, “one family, one fate”—
My stomach is twisted into knots.
One above, one below—
Every word of each sentence is so full of suffering.
One to the left, one to the right—
I worry uneasily about each child.
Every swipe of the hand is a handful
Of teary rain flowing and falling.
(Zui taiping)
If you begin to enumerate their crimes,
They truly do harbor injustice.
Here I
Fret and worry, worry and fret, blame blue Heaven,
And beg you, brother, to have pity.
Those three—
Their wild and witless eyes wildly and frantically roll,
And shivering, quivering hands tremblingly quake and shake.
I am clueless, at wit’s end, unable to save them:
And it makes me so angry I’m bent over double.
(zhang:) I’ll let you in. Let me close the door. (mother wang acts out entering
and seeing them:) Oh, my children! (They all act out grieving. eldest wang:) Why
are you here, mother? (mother wang:) I’ve brought you some food. (mother
wang, in the direction of zhang qian, speaks:) Brother, can’t you let my chil-
dren loose to eat? (zhang:) Don’t you have hands? Woman, feed your children
yourself. (mother wang acts out feeding eldest wang and second wang:)
(Xiao heshang)
I, I, I run forward two or three steps,
Take, take, take this food and urge them to eat.
I, I, I scoop it all out one spoonful after another,
You, you, you gobble it down,
You, you, you moisten your throats.
 Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao Thrice Investigates the Butterfly Dream 67

(third wang:) Mom, can’t I have something to eat, too? (mother wang:)
Stone Acolyte, no matter what, mouthful by mouthful you choke this
down.
(mother wang acts out pouring all of the food on the ground, speaks:) Elder
brother, I have a baked bun for you here. Eat it but don’t let Stonelike see it. Sec-
ond brother, I have a baked bun for you, too. Don’t let Stonelike see you eat it.
(Daodao ling)
These cadged
Leftover soups and scraps of food
Can be no
Thrice-sieved finest flour.
Don’t think
Of that elegant food and jadelike wine from the feast in the
Chalcedony Forest.
Think back on
Going out of Zhongmou County, nailed in your long cangue—
We certainly can’t say,
“We went in to don our robes in the Golden Hall.”
Oh, it tortures me to think of it.
So, so, so, so,
I tell you wardens and jailers, don’t bear any grudges.
Eldest son, I am leaving. Do you have anything to say? (eldest wang:) Mother,
there is a copy of the Four Books in the house. Sell it so you can buy some
funeral cash to burn for father. (mother wang:) Second brother, what do
you have to say? (second wang:) Mother, I have a copy of the Mencius. Sell it
and have some sutras and penitences read for father. (third wang, crying,
speaks:) I don’t have anything to tell you. Just let me hug your head. (mother
wang acts out leaving. zhang qian speaks:) Woman, do you want to be happy?

51. The Garden of the Chalcedony Forest (Qionglin yuan) was the site of the imperial ban-
quet for successful candidates in the triennial national examinations. “Chalcedony” refers to the
bluish color of snow on pine trees.
52. To change from ordinary clothes into the robes of a successful examination candidate.
53. A collection, compiled in the Song, containing two essays, “Centrality and Commonality”
(Zhongyong) and “Great Learning” (Daxue)—originally chapters in the Book of Rites (Liji)—as
well as the Mencius and the Analects. These were staples of the curriculum of students and the
basic ethical texts of the time.
54. The line is at best a pun, at least ironic. The word we have translated “hug” means “to
squeeze” and is the same verb used for a head press used to torture prisoners into confession. The
line may also mean, “Just give me your head to squeeze.”
68 Guan Hanqing

(mother wang speaks:) Of course! (zhang qian acts out going into the jail,
speaks:) Which one is the eldest? (eldest wang speaks:) I am the oldest. (zhang
qian speaks:) Go to the toilet. (eldest wang acts out leaving. zhang qian:)
Woman, this oldest one is filial. Take him out safely to care for you. Does it
make you happy to see this son? (mother wang:) You bet I’m happy. (zhang
qian:) I’ll make you even happier. (Acts out going into the jail, speaks:) Who’s
the second son? (second wang speaks:) Me! (zhang qian:) Get up and go to
the toilet. (second wang acts out going to the toilet. zhang qian:) Woman, I’ve
given you another now, the second one, to make a livelihood for you. (mother
wang:) Brother, what about the third child? (zhang qian:) Well, he’ll be
trussed up and hanged to repay his life for that of Ge Biao. Come to the foot of
the wall early tomorrow morning and identify the corpse. (mother wang:)
(Shang xiaolou)
These two
Brothers he sets free and clear,
But the third one
He pushes back inside.
And when I think
How I suffered for him, that I bore him for nine months,
Nursed him for three years. . . .
Well, it’s better than letting the older two
Suffer the corporal punishments of law
Or letting others say
That I am a heartless stepmother
Who is blind to goodness.
(Reprise)
All you ever wanted was to pay injustice with injustice,
But you got caught up in something turned upside down.
Had you never heard, “A murderer pays with his own life?”
Or, “For every crime a punishment?”
Or that you must “Die without resentment?”
(Acts out looking at third wang:)
And if I am too loathe deserting him now
It will make others say,
“Here’s a stepmother
Who is pulling the wool over our eyes.”
(eldest wang and second wang): Mother, we can’t bear to leave brother here.
(mother wang:) Boys, go on home now and don’t be upset about it.
 Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao Thrice Investigates the Butterfly Dream 69

(Kuaihuo san)
Let him die, so pitiful,
Let your little brother’s life be lost to the Yellow Springs.
(Acts out looking at third wang and grieving:)
And let me turn away now and, unable to hold them back any longer,
weep flowing tears.
(eldest wang and second wang act out grieving.) (mother wang:) Enough,
enough! Let’s go home
And let him die without resentment.
(Chao Tianzi)
I
Pity, truly pity
My son, so young—
When will we ever meet again?
Still it is better
Than letting all the lives of the former family cover the Yellow
Springs,
Or senselessly
Stirring up the blame of later generations.
I have
Beaten my breast over it a hundred times
And it really
Tortures me with pain.
When tomorrow comes
“A single swipe of the knife will cut it in two” —
His corpse lying out in the marketplace—
And I’ll never see Stone’s face again.
(Weisheng)
Before he that was father
Has even been offered a burnt packet of funeral cash,
He that is son
Already faces a penalty of death.
Can I ever see either father or son again?
If I should want to see them even once,

55. A common idiom meaning “it will be over in a flash”; of course with a special overtone
here.
70 Guan Hanqing

In
Dreams alone will come a reunion of mother and son.
(Exits.)
(eldest wang and second wang follow [their mother] and exit. third wang
speaks:) Brother Zhang Qian, where have my own brothers gone? (zhang
qian:) It was the order of His Honor. Your brothers have been spared to take
care of your mother. And you shall pay for Ge Biao’s life with your own. (third
wang:) You’ve spared my brothers to take care of my mother and I have to pay
with my life! Well, let me put on these two other cangues, too. Even in death we
three lean on each other. Brother, in what way will I die tomorrow? (zhang
qian:) You’ll be trussed and hanged, then thrown over that thirty-foot wall.
(third wang:) Brother, be careful when you throw me over the wall, I’ve got
some boils on my stomach. (zhang qian:) You’ll surely die anyway. (third
wang:)
(Duanzheng hao)
A belly stuffed from books I’ve read,
(zhang qian:) What are you doing, singing? (third wang:)
It’s my finale!
I’ve mastered the Book of Rites and Classic of Changes.
Still, with frightened eyes, I see my allotted time draw to a close.
What I hoped
Was to be an official, a minister, a person of glory and nobility,
But today
I must give up both fame and fortune.
(Gun xiuqiu)
Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao—
He took even less effort than “the one who asked about the ox,”
My father—
He lacked the foresight and wisdom of “the one who instructed his
sons.”

56. From the story of Minister Bing Ji of the Han. In early spring, he saw corpses of those
beaten to death in the streets of the capital, but paid them no heed. His interest was aroused, how-
ever, by a panting ox, which he sent an underling to investigate. When criticized, he replied that the
murder was not something under his jurisdiction. The panting cow, however, may have signaled
hotter-than-normal weather, a sign that the harmonic balance of Heaven had been disrupted,
thereby portending a similar disordering of the relationship between state institutions and Heaven.
57. Possibly a reference to a certain Dou Yujun, a doting father who taught his five sons so
well that they all succeeded in the imperial examinations.
 Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao Thrice Investigates the Butterfly Dream 71

And the budding scholar

Lacked the youthful bravado of “the one who inscribed his name on
the bridge”
And, frightened, was bloodied by club and stave.
Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao—
You are also muddleheaded
And the clerks act as if they don’t know it.
On the sides of the hall,
The runners and constables line up,
Dignified and stern in appearance,
But on the whole, just a group of motherfuckers.
Being hanged out over the wall by the side of the jail
Is no “Single success to raise me to fame and renown through the
world!”
Zhang Qian, let me fuck your mother’s crooked cunt!
(Exits.)
(zhang qian follows him and exits.)

[Act 4]

(third wang enters, bearing corpse of stubborn donkey zhang on his back,
and hides in a secure place.) (eldest wang and second wang enter:) We’ve
come here with mother to seek out the corpse of third brother. Mother, move a
little faster. (mother wang enters:) I’ve heard that my son, Stone, has been
trussed up and hanged. The two brothers have gone to fetch the body and I’ve
begged some paper cash so that I can cremate my son.
([shuangdiao mode:] Xinshui ling)
Never before have I
Sneaked out of the city before dawn,
Lest
Outsiders find out
And raise a ruckus.
I’ve begged
A rag-tag passel of funeral cash,

58. On his departure from the city of Chengdu, Sima Xiangru, the noted Han poet, in-
scribed on the pillar of a bridge, “If I am not riding a tall four-horse carriage, I will not return
across this bridge”; that is, if there is no success, there is no return. Sima Xiangru became the
archetype of the lowly but soon-to-be-discovered genius and his statement a common linguistic
piety of the examination-bound student.
72 Guan Hanqing

And scrounged
A few stumpy ends of firewood.
My son,
Won’t get even a simple burial mat or carrying pole—
Who would have expected such a fiery end?
(Zhuma ting)
O child,
You, with your heart filled with vengeance,
Shall meet your father, cruelly slain, at the marker of worlds’ divide.
And should you meet,
Plot, you two, and execute a handy plan,
To
Push that murderer off the “Home-gazing Terrace!”
The grotto-black skies of heaven are just turning white,
Stark, still quiet—this wild land beyond the walls.
Indistinct, hazy—there seems to be someone coming.
But as soon as I perceive who it is, it scares me to death.
(eldest wang, second wang enter, bearing corpse on their back:) Mother,
where are you? Here’s third brother’s corpse. (mother wang acts out identify-
ing the corpse and grieving:)
(Ye xing chuan)
Scared, flustered, let us look at his face,
And his whole corpse smeared and smudged with blood.
I’ll
Hastily remove this hempen rope for you,
Quickly loosen your belt—
You boys, hurry over here and prop him up.
(Gua yugou)
Help me
Hold his head still,
And close his jaw.
On your behalf,
From a high terrace, I’ll summon your soul back.
“Ai, Stone,
In your haste, child, you lost your shoe.”
I call, but his gaze is evermore lost,

59. I.e., even the simplest of proper burial practices.

60. I.e., you lost your life.
 Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao Thrice Investigates the Butterfly Dream 73

My depression twists and grows,

My sorrow, unbearable.
In vain it makes me
Weep and sob, cry and wail,
Grieve and lament, sorrow, feel full of woe.
O Stone,

(Gu meijiu)
I will
Force myself to rouse my worn-out spirit,
And call out your childhood name until it is clearly heard,
“You,
Stone, filial and compliant, where do you now reside?”
You’ve
Cast your mommy away,
And it makes me
Beat the skin of the earth in despair.
(Taiping ling)
In vain it makes me
Weep and sob, cry and wail,
Thrash around on the ground in despair.
Nothing I do can summon you back
And this assures
My life is ruined.
Burning with sorrow, I cannot endure, I cannot bear it.
O Stone. (third wang enters and responds:) Here I am! (mother wang:)
I guess, and guess again, where is this reply coming from?
Could it be
A mountain spirit or a water demon?
(third wang enters:) Mother, your son’s right here. (mother wang acts out
being flustered:) A ghost! A ghost! (third wang:) Don’t be frightened, mother.
It’s your child, Stone. (mother wang:)

61. We believe this to be the incantation she is calling out to summon the soul.
62. This stage direction is rather unusual. Since Third Wang also enters below, this “enter”
may be a false entrance, in which the player is visible to the audience, but not to the singer. Also,
the term “respond” probably indicates a stage action rather than a simple verbal response. Since
what is represented on stage is the actual ritual of summoning the soul, it would make great stage
sense for the voice to be heard and the person to remain unseen. We should not overlook the fact
that the line may also be read, “responds from above.”
74 Guan Hanqing

(Feng ru song)
If I go forward, it catches up behind,
It scares me so much
That I tweak my ears and rub my cheeks.
It makes me
Tremble and shake, hurry to bow before my child.
On your behalf,
I’ll arrange the sacrifice of Seven Sevens.
(third wang:) Mother, I’m a person, I’m alive. (mother wang:)
If you’re not a ghost, spill it all out quickly—how did you return?
(third wang:) His honor trussed up and hanged the horse thief, Pigheaded
Ass Zhao, and then made me drag him out here. He let your child off. (mother
wang:)
(Chuan bo zhao)
This disaster was only a moment of fate already on the wane
And I can already cut my sad worry adrift.
I would have said that
My Stone had fallen into vast ocean—
You elder brothers, don’t be upset at me, but
What were you two doing?
Don’t take offense at my words,
But how could you carry this corpse here without checking it?
(Xiaohai fu’er)
You
Should have opened your eyes!
Just
Whose corpse have you lugged here?
You were neither
Happy as can be, stringing up fish on a willow osier,
Nor were you
Dispatched by ghosts, or deputed by spirits.
On your childhood name
Was a sentence of death,
So why have you suffered no harm?
(third wang:) All I know is that nothing happened. (mother wang:)

63. Seven sacrifices, one each every seven days, to liberate the souls of the dead into rebirth.
 Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao Thrice Investigates the Butterfly Dream 75

The proverb says,

“The truthful will always win out.”
So, this corpse you’ve carried here by mistake
Let’s
Bury safely in the earth.
(judge bao rushes on, speaks:) Have you killed yet another? (mother wang
and the rest act out being flustered. judge bao:) Don’t be frightened. That’s the
horse thief Pigheaded Ass Zhao, who stood in your stead to repay the debt of
Ge Biao’s life. Now, you, the whole family, listen to the Emperor’s decree:
You, having been pampered citizens beneath the imperial sleeves,
Possess the stuff to be stalwart ministers, to requite the state:
The eldest brother shall go to follow affairs at court,
The second shall wear regalia and insignia of high status.
Stone shall become Prefect of Zhongmou,
And your mother shall be enfeoffed as Lady of Stalwart Virtue.
The state treasures righteous husbands and wives of integrity,
And loves those filial children and compliant grandsons.
The ruler of sagely light has bestowed these ranks in reward—
Let us all gaze toward the palace gates to thank his beneficence.
(all speak:) Ten thousand years to the emperor! Tens of ten thousand years!
(mother wang:)
(Shuixianzi)
From the nine-layered heaven the document of pardon has flown—
Let not the three of you resent the forced confessions any more.
We all
Face the palace gates and quickly bow in respect,
Our prayer only that the ruler of sagely light will live a thousand
times ten thousand years.
That would be better than flowers sprouting afresh on withered
wood.
This debt of pus and blood they have suffered to pay,
And endured all the calamities of the prison’s cell.
Today
Ends the bitterness, now comes the sweet.
(Weisha)
We’ve just paid back our debt of terror,
And from deepest darkness fought our way out of the fortress of lost
souls.
76 Guan Hanqing

We pray that our Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao

Will be arrayed among the Three Nobles of State,
And rise a thousand ranks a day.
You have proclaimed
That the mother shall be made Lady of Stalwart Virtue,
And the son, Prefect of Zhongmou District.
You’ve pardoned mother and children, who will ever be unharmed,
Old and young, who will have no more misfortune.
All we pray
Is that our Lord on the Dragon Throne will live ten thousand years.
title: Imperial relative Ge, presuming on his power, commits a senseless
act of violence,
Pigheaded Ass Zhao, stealing a horse, sends himself to death.
name: Old Lady Wang, stalwart and virtuous, soothes her stepsons,
Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao thrice investigates the butterfly dream.