It was in times like these that a superintendent needed all his wits about him. After all, heaven could be controlled as efficiently as cormorant - eh? When we see the ghosts of starvation walking the land, we most certainly cannot sit by and leave such things as rain to chance. The priests are to be consulted. The families must gather with a plan. And that god of gods - the water-god and Dragon-king must be courted like a fine lady in the best brothel. Witness how it’s done.

Scene 1:

Still no rain. These late rains were becoming very late indeed. Everyone looked daily to the skies. At first there was no call for alarm. The rains had been late before - they would soon come. But, they did not come - and the land began to parch - the rivers and lakes dry up. Sunflowers drooped their heads, while millet and barley failed beside the struggling rice. There was no doubt then that heaven was angry. The jade emperor was not pleased with the activities of man. Village elders met every day in every hamlet to decide on the best course of action. All families burned incense to the family gods daily. They baked little stone cakes for the dragon-king. Soon there were long processions in the center of every town to worship at the dragon wells. Even though these well were drying, there was still enough for a cupful for each household to use in a ceremonial blessing of the field.

My master was sore at heart. He tried every ceremonial required, but to no avail. He even dressed up a mongrel dog as a ridiculous bride and had it paraded through the city. The citizens saw the dog and rolled over with laughter - for it was written, that one sure way to induce rain was to laugh at dogs. But this mutt must have been a devil dog, because although it was the most ridiculous animal that ever walked - so much so that the laughing was genuine - no rain came. Not that day nor any day after - as the dog laughing want on for two weeks.

Scene 2:

My lord, do I disturb you?

No Xin Ch’u. I am just taking a little time alone to think this thing out.

I know it may be injudicious of me to mention this, but we are berraged from the elders. The Pao-t’ien of every district had reported crop loss. I fear the taxes will not be coming forth this year and all we have worked for will fail us. And worse. We must prepare for many more souls in Su-chou. I have seen such crisis. We must prepare.

We will open the Imperial granaries to the people.

My lord, with all respect, that must be a last resort. Please trust me in these matters. The very last resort!

I hear I am being cursed in the villages for my waterworks projects.

But my lord, your repair of the dikes, canals and bridges save thousands of lives from floods and disease . . .

But they say the dikes could not be easily broken to flood the fields when needed - and now the rivers are too low to get the water where it’s needed. I heard a report that said the superintendent has given us a safeguard from floods, which never came and has doomed us to a starvation that will surely come.

We have opened the local rice bins.

Small consolation.

But unfortunately, Ch’ien Mu is still active and his ranks grow daily.

Let him plunder. It is a ghost anyway, and we all know why heaven withholds the rain.

You cannot blame yourself for that. It was circumstance. You acted as you needed to act in that case. The fact that there were facts you did not know does not make you responsible.

I am responsible for all my judgments, regardless of the circumstances. The truth is truth - and fact remains, this pretended Ch’ien Mu was an innocent boy - an idiot made to pose as the villain. In fact, such was the act against me by the real Ch’ien Mu that I was felled like a pillaged town and my peace of mind stolen.

My lord, may I be candid? (Li consents) I have not always agreed with you in all issues. In fact, when you first came here, I had no respect for you - even before I laid eyes on you. And then when I met you that first time, naked in the tent, I was assured that you were filled with folly and it would be easy to maintain my grasp of the administration here. And then your eyes penetrated my soul. You somehow saw through me - and see through all who come near you. Yet, even though you have been strict and very much toward your goals, you have been fair. I have worked closely with you - and advised you as well as assist you. I can truly say, I have never met a man like you - so, keen to know others and so sensitive to their ways.

Xin Ch’u, I appreciate you word, but they have no bearing on . . .

Oh, but yes they do. If you had followed you instincts about the imposter Ch’ien Mu, then your true instincts on the temper of the mob would have been ignored. There would have long lasting mischief here had you not done the deed. And this imposter, is that not a crime to represent yourself as someone you are not? And if that person deserves to die a traitor, shouldn’t you die a traitor as well?

But the boy was deranged. He didn’t even know where he was and what he was about. He did know the pain however. I may not blame myself - and you may not blame yourself, but heaven’s judgment is beyond mortal logic. What else can to be done? We need to apply ourselves to spiritual matters now, unless we can climb to the sky and scrape some rain off the Sun.

Well, we have thrown the city god into the Lin-shui canal so he may know what water feels like and what to ask the Jade Emperor for.

My lord, shall we go to the street to laugh at the dog today? Or shall we rest a bit together (points inside)

Fu Lin-t’o. (sighs) My thoughts have turned to purity - to the classics and the true way. Only that sort of thinking can remedy this problem.

And our love is not pure?

Our love is not mentioned in the classics. Pure or impure, who can tell but heaven.

But when the classics speak of love, they speak of the spirit of love. How we bed is not subject to heaven’s law - but how we love is a primary course in heaven, and as such the classics speak to our love as well and its purity.

Commentary indeed. Two men in love.

I will never stop l loving you.

I wish I were any place but here - truly. I wish I were at home in Gui-lin, in the shadows of Chicken Cage Hill and at the edge of my precious Li River.

And I would be at your side.

(ignoring him) Gui-lin - how I miss you. I thought this fabled Willow Pavilion would be like home, but all is yellowing here - the fish bubbled dead to the top of the pond, then the pond dried away. Every bloom has become a brown mess and the tree garden is a mass of burnt sticks. How I long for Gui-lin sitting majestically of the banks of the River Li.

And I would be at your side?

(Still in his reverie)The river reflects the steep mountains elegantly - and those mountains are no simple cluster of foothills - but special mountains, blessed by the gods themselves, who put them there as if they were part of the ocean - the dragon’s sea. They are beehives swarming up to the heaven with blue-grey mist always kissing the cone-shaped peaks, shawling them like a mother’s mantel. (sighs)

(To Fu, who by now concerned about his status) There is no starvation there. So green is this place, it is called the Shining Emerald Place to the South.

The Emperor’s Green Carpet

Still, when the morning mist is still dewy at the river’s edge, the cabbage flowers infuse the air with their musty aroma. Then there’s the noontime rain, chilling the marrow to raise all flesh to goose-skin. No wonder the people of Gui-lin feel special in heaven’s eye.

Yes, Gui-lin - all those fields of green, special to all other fields as they rest in the shade of the Li River hills. All manner of bean and variety of rice - cabbage planted to the extreme edge of the road - thrived.

Scallions grow in seemingly endless harvest over shadowed only by emerald rows of peas.

And the radishes - tart, sweet radishes.

And in the trees, millions of birds - all chirping - a beautiful racket of life and wonder. Row upon row of Cassia trees with millions of singing birds.

And crickets haunting the corners of the house.

And all manner of man and variety of back bent in dutiful attendance to the harvest's rule. Not even His Majesty, the Sung Emperor . . .

May he live ten thousand years . . .

In his distant capital, can command such reverent bows.

Women cut turnip greens piling them in buckets. Slung across their shoulder poles, they carry them to market.

And the water buffalo graze . . .

Wherever they want . . .

Resting from the toil they share with their masters.

Pigs run wild among the paddies. So, did the naked children, covered with mud -

Good mud.

Clean mud. The mud for making brick.

And the good east wind caresses the children’s hair and blows the morning mist away, declaring a fine day, filled with the breath of sweet cassia and bird-song.

Oh the wine - yes the wine.

And don’t forget the chilies.

Oh Gui-lin (sigh - together)

Now indeed I am afraid. He is so distant and consumed. I can usually see through him as clearly as he can see through me - but the glass is clouded and I feel cold and alone. I wish the rains would come and water the drying field of our love. I am afraid and very concerned.

At night, as I lay sleepless, I can hear him dream - and talk of things. He never talked of things while he slept before. And he sometimes speaks of her - Mei-lin. And my heart sinks that I should need to share his heart. But indeed, I have been circumspect and have never flaunted my advantages. I have never been cross with Mei-lin, although I have felt her longing to see the back of me.

And there in the stillness of the night with the moon streaming through the lattice across his ass, his skin sings to me and tenderly caresses my brow. And I reach out in the darkness to touch him, the silk parting like waves over his chest. And I know I am sorely in love as I have never loved or been loved before. But now I am a rabbit, warrened in the night fearing the end - and then he speaks of purity and the classics and the review of all things to restore balance - and I am afraid.

(snapping to) But surely Lin-t’o, he will never cast you aside. Be a man and face up to the realities of it all. She is but a woman and his wife - and after all a man can have two wives - and I am less meddlesome as I can’t supply a son to vie for the fortune. (laughs nervously)

My master was in a foul mood those days. He was at me constantly to run this errand and that - and whenever I returned, did I get thanks or reward. Not a bit of it. It was always "K’u Ko-ling, are you sure you delivered it" or "are you certain it is spotlessly clean." What a pain in the ass some people are. Now, my master was never a pain in the ass and usually wasn’t a pain in the ass, but when he was a pain in the ass, he was a great pain in the ass.

Scene 3:

My lady, did you laugh at the dog today?

Ch’u, do not tell my lord, but I find it difficult to laugh at anything.

Well, today’s dog was dressed as a Taoist priest. It had a little crown of golden feathers on its head and a few of the feathers were dangling free. The little mutt tried to catch them and fell off the liter and rolled about chasing his hat. What a belly laugh that was.

I would have like to see that, but even with such a belly laugh we still have no rain. And my lord is distressed and I fear he will do something drastic.

Oh dear. I have heard that in days passed officials sacrificed to gods using their own fingers and such. You don’t think he will start cutting off his fingers and burn them at the altar.

Dear me, Ch’u, you are gruesome. Where do you hear such things? No, I mean he might give up his superintendency. That’s what they do, when all else fails.

Does that mean we will move?

Absolutely - a long, tough arduous journey - and I’ll need you to carry my belongings on your back the whole trip.

Dear wife. And how are your labors today.

Labors none - concerns about you however stay with me always. You are sad. And it saddens me. Surely the rains will come today.

We are working on it, but I am afraid that my miscarriage of justice in this Ch’ien Mu affair has set heaven against us. But my son is in your womb - and no matter how much heaven scorns me with no rain - I will not be denied my posterity.

I cannot believe that heaven is judging you on one law case - and especially since it was not mishandled.

In practice it was not mishandled. In spirit however, it has gone astray. No, it is Ch’ien Mu’s death that haunts me.

What else do you think it could be? Have you looked into your heart and found any other cause?

Yes I have. Indeed, I feel I have neglected you.

Neglected (points to her belly) I think not my lord. You have been most attentive indeed.

Fu Lin-t’o is flawless in my view. We can discuss literature, paint and write poetry together. And we explore our bodies to the full extent that men can and to an extent that men and women cannot. When I am near him, my heart sings - and I know he loves me as well. In fact, when I am near him I cannot focus at all, so deliriously in love am I. And this is not a passing fancy. I must confess to you, I have known men since I was a boy on the river. I have had many lovers while in the academy and while in Chang-sha. These were all passing fancies. But, I would give all away for the sake of Fu Lin-t’o’s love.

This has not concerned me. I know you love me and I shall always be your wife. There were times I felt threatened that Fu would isolate you completely from my heart, but Fu is a good and gentle soul and has always accorded me the respect I deserve as your first wife. And I thought you might tire of this "cut-sleeve affair and perhaps would take a second wife. But, I can see it plainly. I understand.

No, Mei-lin, you don’t understand. Our love is being judged.

Certainly not by me - and not by the Ya-men.

Heaven can judge as it will, but I think you are judging yourself.

I fear that he must leave me - but how can I tell him. And how can I survive it. I was with him just now, and wanted to tell him how I feel and what we must do, but I could not.

And you want me to tell him?

Fu Lin-t’o? - (no answer) Fu?

I am here?

And did you hear us?

Most painfully so.

I wish it was other news - but he is trying to balance everything for the administration. He is torn, as I have never seen him torn. And I know he loves you much more than he loves me. But, a wife should not seek a husband’s love. She must seek to support him in his affairs and household and obey him in all things. Second wives and young scholars enjoy the luxury of true love.

He is the light of my soul - and when he is gone I will live in darkness, more darkly than in the house of pain. He has recently urged me to take the examinations and assures me K’ang Yu-wei would sponsor me into a post. Then I too would be off on an official career like some vagrant hollow - hollow of all feeling but that of duty and filial piety! And I know this a convenient advantage the governor has arranged to place me at a permanent distance. How can I live without his being? I cannot thrive on just the memory of his love.

Well he needs to have just that - the memory of your love. He loves you and has given it to you. You have taken that love - and you must, if you truly love him, leave with that love.

How can I? (angrily) I have loved him from the first day I set eyes on him, that evening in my hometown when we first bedded. But it is not the bed that I love, it is his being - his essence! And I will not be a scholar-official! I will walk the roads of Chiang-nan and beg rice in the streets. I will give myself up to a brothel life and die misbegotten, unloved and not loving, for he has torn whatever love I have had and beat it with his fists.

My lady, do not weep. I didn't mean to be so angry. I am crushed - you can see that.

Still - no rain.

Scene 4

My teacher and master Han Lin said that when all is correct with the heart, mind and soul, all is correct with heaven and earth. All things will prosper. And yet as it cannot rain all day - it cannot be dry forever, unless the rage of heaven is such that it will ignore my calls and pleading. And so it closes not much unlike the way it begins.

"My dear lord and master, K’ang Yu-wei - I am resigning my position as the Superintendent of Su-chou. In view of the recent lateness and lack of rain, the earth is in dire distress. I have performed all the required ceremonials and rituals and have sought guidance from the works of the masters. I have reviewed my administration and my legal precedents. It appears that I have misjudged a case - the case of one Ch’ien Mu - and therefore must remove myself from office to preserve the balance.

"I remember your last visit fondly and remember your words clearly. I have convinced Fu Lin-t’o to seek the examinations and office. As yourr offer to sponsor this endeavor was most graciously extended, I would like to recommend him to your care."

You summoned us, my lord. (sees Li’s distress) Perhaps another time.

No, no. Come now. The deed is done and we are all in line for reprieve. (to Mao Fei) Mao Fei, open the Imperial granaries. Sound the alarm in the drum tower. I have declared a general amnesty. Open the doors of the House of Pain. Clear the entire court schedule for the next superintendent.

Xin:

Master, I hear thunder.

Wait. I think I hear it also. Yes it is; and not a dream.

It is thunder. And master, it is raining. See, it is raining.

It’s raining? (goes to the window) It is raining!

(Mei-lin appears at the door. The others bow and exit)

My lord, the heavens answer your call.

It would seem so, dear wife. The people will be happy and I must be content.

But the rains come. There is no imbalance. The heavens answer your call.

The earth will rejoice in this - but I am still joyless - a leaden spirit - a stone for a heart. You can understand this.

I truly believe you should be more than content. The heavens answer your call.

And all Su-chou celebrated that the disaster was averted for it rained for 20 days. And my master was not seen for many days - having taken to his bed so tired was he. And soon he was a father - to a son - and I was the godfather - because . . . I deserve to be so. In time, K’ang Yu-wei summoned my master for the national exams, where he passed with great acclaim and managed to become the tutor to the Emperor’s ninth son, Prince Kang - another story - for another time. And Fu Lin-t’o braved the comments from the courtiers and remained a fixture in my master’s house long after most in that household went to visit the ancestors. And as for me, I traveled up and down and back and forth and in exile and in favor and in mountains, valleys, rivers and plains. Few men have seen or done so much as I. I could write a book about it, if I could write. And as for that letter of resignation to the Governor . . .

Scene 5:

I burned that letter, I did. Fuck heaven! Yet, who’s to say if I resigned then that I would not have walked this empire as I have, like a vagrant hollow - but not hollow of all feeling and love - love I have had. I might have retired then and return to my beloved Gui-lin and spend each day at the river’s edge; and, at night, when the moon is bright and clear, fish with birds. Phwush! But no, I burned that letter - and here I sit, the lap dog to His Majesty . . .

May he live ten thousand years . . .

- just another cormorant waiting for the collar to be loosened.

Hey. Who is there?

It is only me, master. K’u Ko-ling.

Oh, just you K’u, my faithful boy. I have dreamed tonight of things that have been - and things that could have been.

It’s the pork you ate before you retired for the evening. You know you can’t eat so close to bedtime and expect to sleep well.

I thought of those times in Su-chou.

Ah, Su-chou. That was a long time ago.

Yes, it was. And I thought of her

Dear mistress - and of him.

Of him (sadly quivers) O yes, I have had such stirrings. Such thoughts of passed days. Such stirrings.

(begins to doze) such stirrings . . . (pause) (he snores gently)

The End - Fishing with Birds