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Tag Archives: androgyny

huli jing [act ii]

24 Tuesday Mar 2015

Posted by babylon crashing in drama

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9-tailed fox, Act II, androgyny, Chinese mythology, drama, Giraudoux, Huli Jing, Jinggu, Ondine

HULI JING: the 9-tailed fox

[a reworking of Giraudoux’s Ondine]

ACT II

Huli Jing, a 9-tailed fox-spirit.
Jinggu, a Wu-Shaman.
Niu and Qui (Huli Jing’s human parents)
The Voices of Male and Female Forest-Spirits; the Young Girl With No Eyes; Old Man With Ivy in His Hair (various forest-demons and gods)

][][

Nighttime in a roadside inn
somewhere in mythological China.
All the characters are in the exact
same places as before.

JINGGU
And then that happened.

NIU
Lord Buddha knows, madam, he won’t listen to anyone whenever he gets into one of his moods. It’s always, “These damn mortals this” and “These damn mortals that” and “Wait until the Queen of the huli-jing hears about this” –

JINGGU
Huli-jing?

QUI
Fox demons, madam.

NIU [waving her hand in the air]
Superstitious nonsense, that’s what I call it.

JINGGU
Well, shut him up in his room and refuse to feed him.

QUI
He never eats food, at least not as far as we can tell. And no door seems to actually be able to hold him.

JINGGU [shrugging]
How curious. O well, I’m still hungry. Go and fricassee another rabbit, will you?

QUI [sadly]
I’m afraid that was the last one.

JINGGU
O dear! But what about my hunger pains?

NIU
Pains, madam? We have got a salted trout, though. Qui will bring you that instead.

[Exit Qui]

NIU
I’m very sorry that he annoyed you, madam.

JINGGU
He annoyed me because he spoke the truth. We shamans are as vain as peacocks … at least the male ones are. I guess that would make me as vain as a peahen. What does a peahen have to be vain about? [Shudders.] Nasty birds. Where was I?

NIU
Vanity?

JINGGU
O yes! You know, my good innkeeper, most of my colleagues think, at least I think that they think, that just because we can talk to gods and purify invisible things in the air, that somehow it makes us better than other people.

QUI [calling from the kitchen]
I can’t find the trout anywhere, Niu, dear.

[Sighing, Niu goes out to the kitchen. For a moment nothing happens, then Jinggu gets up and attempts to dry her robes by the fire, humming to herself, “I dropped the berry in a stream/ And caught a little silver trout.” Failing at that she raises the hems and attempts to dry her thighs. Silently Huli Jing enters and comes up behind her.]

HULI JING [whispering into Jinggu’s ear]
My name’s Huli Jing.

[Jinggu, startled, drops the hems and quickly tries to smooth down her robes.]

JINGGU [turning around, embarrassed]
O! It’s you! Yes, er, Huli Jing, did you say? Ah! That’s a very pretty name, er, for a boy. Someone was just saying something about a huli-something – now what was it?

HULI JING
You’re Jinggu and I’m Huli Jing. I think those are the loveliest names in the world, don’t you?

JINGGU [humoring and slightly condescending]
Ah! But what about Huli Jing and Jinggu?

HULI JING
O, no! Jinggu must come first, she’s the mortal, she’s got to go first. Mortals are the ones who believe in us, so they give all the orders. Huli Jing will simply walk a step behind Jinggu.

JINGGU
They do? He does?

HULI JING [clapping his hands excitedly]
Yes! And he doesn’t even speak.

JINGGU
Er, Huli Jing doesn’t speak? How on earth does he manage that magic?

HULI JING [giggling]
It’s no magic! Jinggu is always a step ahead of Huli Jing: at Court – in bed – into the grave. [Suddenly ridiculously serious, peering up into Jinggu’s face.] Jinggu has to die first; it’s the natural order of things. But don’t worry, Huli Jing hates to be alone. So he’ll kill himself, too.

JINGGU
What are you talking about? Who has to die?

HULI JING
Huli Jing’s beloved, of course. Isn’t that what is suppose to happen in all the great romances?

JINGGU [sitting back down at the table]
I’ve never understood why the younger generation thinks that dying is always somehow romantic. Staying alive is much harder and proof that you have something to stick around for.

HULI JING
O, don’t worry! Huli Jing’s beloved doesn’t die immediately, of course. That would be silly. Tell me that you love me!

JINGGU
Boy, I’ve only known you a few minutes, and here you are predicting that I’m going to die? I thought that we weren’t speaking, anyway, because of the rabbit.

HULI JING
Silly rabbit. Serves it right for being so trusting. It should have kept away from mortals if it didn’t want to be part of a sacrificial ceremony. That’s what shamans do, right? Sacrifice things? Even Huli Jing? I’m trusting too, aren’t I? Now you’ll sacrifice me just like the rabbit.

JINGGU
Sacrifice? Why, for all the celestial gods, would I sacrifice you?

HULI JING
Vanity? Pride? Love?

JINGGU
Didn’t your mysterious friend out there in the dark woods warn you away from love?

HULI JING [wrinkling his nose]
Pfff. She was talking nonsense.

JINGGU
It couldn’t have been a very long conversation, you were only gone for a few minutes.

HULI JING
I’m a very fast listener when I’m afraid.

JINGGU
You’re afraid of the woods?

HULI JING
I was afraid that you might leave me while I was gone. She said that you’ll betray me.

JINGGU
How could I betray you? I’ve only just met you.

HULI JING
How could you say that you loved me?

JINGGU
I haven’t.

HULI JING
But you will. Still, she said that you weren’t beautiful, so if she can be wrong about that she can be wrong about other things, too.

JINGGU
There you go, flirting with older women. What about you, then? Should I tell you that you are handsome?

HULI JING [giggling]
O, that’s up to you … I’ll look be whatever you want me to be. I’ve always liked the word “handsome” and I’ve always liked the word “beautiful,” so either way is fine.

JINGGU
You are a very strange little boy. Did she say anything else?

HULI JING
Who?

JINGGU
Your friend.

HULI JING
She said if I kissed you, I’d be lost. I don’t know why, because I wasn’t even thinking of your lips – then.

JINGGU [startled, touches her lips with a finger]
Kiss me? Are you thinking about them now?

HULI JING
Desperately. But don’t worry, even though you’ll be kissed tonight I think it’s lovely to wait, that’s all. So that we’ll remember this time later – the time when you hadn’t kissed me.

JINGGU
My dear child –

[As Huli Jing’s fox-magic begins to work upon her Jinggu finds herself blushing and breathing harder, despite her best attempts otherwise.]

HULI JING
We’ll both remember the time when you hadn’t told me that you loved me, either. But you needn’t wait anymore. Come on, tell me. Here I am; my lips are so close to yours. Tell me.

JINGGU [blinking and trying to focus]
Do all boys your age act this way? I never know, I grew up with sisters.

HULI JING
Are all mortals as slow as you? I only want to do the right thing. Would you like it better if I sat in your lap? Then you could feel everything.

[Huli Jing climbs onto Jinggu’s lap and runs his hand inside her robes, fondling her.]

JINGGU
Look here, you’re mad! I’m old enough to be your aunt.

HULI JING
I already have an aunt and she is much older than you.

JINGGU
Then … I’ll be your younger, far prettier aunt.

[While Huli Jing kisses Jinggu’s neck and breasts an otherworldly male voice is heard outside the window.]

MALE FOREST-SPIRIT
Huli Jing!

HULI JING [turning to the window]
Shut up! Nobody asked for your opinion!

JINGGU [gasping, her head swimming]
O! I, er, who are you talking to?

HULI JING
Pfff, neighbors.

JINGGU [trying to disengage from Huli Jing, failing]
But … O! But I thought that this was the only house for miles?

HULI JING
There are spiteful gods everywhere. They’re jealous of me.

FEMALE FOREST-SPIRIT
Huli Jing!

JINGGU
They’re … they’re delightful, these voices.

HULI JING
No, they’re not, it’s just my name that you think is delightful.

[The face of the Young Girl With No Eyes appears at the window.]

YOUNG GIRL WITH NO EYES
Huli Jing!

HULI JING
Go away!

[The Young Girl vanishes.]

JINGGU
Is that the friend that you were talking about?

HULI JING
My aunt? No. [Shouting out to the woods.] You’re too late! I’m kissing her! She loves me!

[Huli Jing slides off Jinggu’s lap and disappears under her robes. The face of the Old Man appears at the window.]

OLD MAN
Huli Jing!

HULI JING [muffled]
I can’t hear you!

[The Old Man vanishes.]

HULI JING [coming up for air, shouting over his shoulder]
Anyway, it’s too late, I tasted her essence and even you know what happens then!

[A noise from the kitchen doorway is heard. Jinggu stands, drunkenly trying to rearrange her robes, with some success.]

JINGGU [feeling just how much her cheeks are glowing]
O! I! My! Me! Your parents are coming –

[Huli Jing stands while Niu and Qui enter.]

QUI
Please, madam, I don’t know how to tell you, but we seem to have lost the trout!

HULI JING [carelessly]
Yes, I know, I hid it so that you’d leave us in peace. But it’s cooking now, even as we speak.

NIU
O, you wild boy!

HULI JING [giggling]
I haven’t wasted my time, either. Jinggu is going to marry me, my dear parents! The mystical Madam Jinggu, subduer of mountain demons and purifier of the Emperor’s essence, is going to marry me!

NIU
Stop talking nonsense and help your father.

HULI JING [spinning around on one foot]
That’s right. Give me the cloth, Father, I’m going to wait on Jinggu. From now on I am her servant and she is my lady and mistress.

NIU [trying to ignore her son]
Madam, I’ve got a bottle of Mongolian wine down in the cellar, and would be very happy to offer it to you, if you’ve no objection.

HULI JING [producing a curious mirror out of thin air]
A mirror, Madam Jinggu, to comb your hair before the meal?

QUI
Wherever did you get that mirror from, Huli Jing?

HULI JING [producing a curious bowl out of thin air]
Water for your hands, my lady and mistress?

JINGGU
What a superb bowl! Even the Empress would be jealous of that.

NIU
First time we’ve seen it, madam.

HULI JING [bowing]
You shall teach me all my duties, Madam Jinggu. I must be your servant every hour of the day and night.

JINGGU
That’ll be a task in itself, I sleep very soundly.

HULI JING
O, good! Tell me how to wake you.

QUI
Huli Jing! The chop sticks!

HULI JING
O, father, you set the table yourself. Madam Jinggu is teaching me how to wake her up. Let’s see [to Jinggu] pretend that you’re asleep …

[Sighing Qui exits.]

JINGGU [sniffing the air]
How can I, with this marvelous smell of food?

HULI JING [hovering over Jinggu’s shoulder, cooing and fussing]
Wake up, little Jinggu! Coo-coo-coo! Two kisses before the break of day! One for our love and one to send you on your way.

NIU
Don’t mind him, madam. It’s only baby talk. We spoil him too much.

[Qui enters, carrying a fish on a plate and a bottle of wine.]

QUI
He’s still a child. He gets fancies. They’re cute in their own way but they mean nothing.

JINGGU [ravenously]
Now this is what I call trout!

NIU
Salted, madam.

HULI JING
I shouldn’t have woken you up! Why would I wake up someone that I love? When you’re asleep you’re all mine. I like how that sounds! But when you open your eyes you belong to the whole world. Go back to sleep, my sweet Madam Jinggu … [begins singing] “The wind is quiet, the moon is bright/ My little baby, go to sleep tonight, Sleep, dreaming sweet dreams.”

JINGGU [being offered more trout]
Well, one more fin, if you please.

HULI JING
Strange, it doesn’t look like you want to be loved. It looks like you want to be stuffed.

NIU [rolling her eyes]
O, yes, with lines like that you’ll make a fine husband, scamp!

JINGGU [mouthful]
Any port in a storm, child.

QUI
Huli Jing, dear –

NIU [to Huli Jing]
If you’d just be quiet for a moment there’s something I’d like to say.

HULI JING [stamping his foot]
I will make a wonderful husband, too! I can be everything my lady and mistress loves, everything that she dreams me to be. I’ll be her satisfaction and humbleness, her breath, her sandals. I’ll be her weeping and laughter. The pillow under her head, the food on her plate …

JINGGU
Eh?

HULI JING
Go on, darling, eat me instead!

QUI
Huli Jing, hush, your mother is trying to speak.

NIU [raising her glass]
My lady, as you are doing us the honor of spending the night under our roof –

HULI JING [whispering into Jinggu’s ear]
A hundred nights. A thousand nights.

NIU
… allow me to drink to the lord of your heart –

HULI JING [interrupting]
O, thank you, mother!

NIU
– To the most noble lord of the Court, your betrothed, the Lord Tsu Tia-Chua!

HULI JING [rising in panic, knocking the cup out of Jinggu’s hand]
What did she say? What did you say?

NIU
I’m only repeating what the lady shaman told me herself!

HULI JING
Then you’re confused! Who would ever call me Tsu Tia-Chua? It’s a terrible name!

QUI
She doesn’t mean you, dear.

HULI JING
Of course she does! I’m the lord of Jinggu’s heart. Everyone knows that!

NIU
The shaman is betrothed to Lord Tsu Tia-Chua and she’s going to marry him when she gets home. Isn’t that right, madam? Everyone knows that.

HULI JING
Then everyone are fools and liars.

NIU
Now see here, Huli Jing –

HULI JING
No! I’d rather see there. I’ve been betrayed already and my heart is still young! Wait, maybe you got it wrong. [To Jinggu.] Is there a Tsu Tia-Chua, yes or no?

JINGGU
Yes, there is. Or at any rate there was. No, he must still be alive, so there is.

HULI JING
Ha! It’s true what my auntie told me about these damn mortals! They ensnare you and entice you with their round hips and sharp nipples! They kiss your mouth until your lips bleed! They rub their fouled, earth-born hands all over your celestial flesh! And all that time they’re thinking about false men, cads and cuckolds called Tsu Tia-Chua!

JINGGU
My hands aren’t foul.

HULI JING
Yes, they are! I’ve tasted your essence and this is how you repay me? [Biting his own arm while making fox-like yip sounds.] I’m a mass of cuts and bruises. Look! [To his parents.] Look at my arm – she did that!

JINGGU [to the parents]
Your son seems a tad queer, and still –

HULI JING
“I can be everything my lady and mistress loves,” I said. “I’ll be her satisfaction and humbleness, her breath, her sandals,” I said. “I’ll be her weeping and laughter. The pillow under her head, the food on her plate,” I said. I said all that and all the time she had in her heart the love for this prattling mortal that she calls her betrothed!

JINGGU
My dear Huli Jing!

HULI JING
O, I hate you, I will piss you out of me!

NUI
Language!

JINGGU
Will you please listen –

HULI JING
O! I can see him from here, the prattling mortal, with his drooping mustache and ridiculous feet. Yes, and I can see him naked, with his plucked eyebrows and a cock no bigger than an eunuch’s!

NUI [slapping the table]
Shame on you for speaking so rudely in front of our guest!

JINGGU
Huli Jing, if you would just listen to me –

HULI JING
Don’t touch me! I’m going to go hibernate for a thousand years!

[Huli Jing opens the door. It’s pelting rain. The trees moan.]

JINGGU [rising, chop sticks in hand]
But I don’t love Tsu Tia-Chua anymore.

HULI JING
There, you see! Mortals betray mortals, even the ones that they claim to love. My poor parents are red-faced at your shameful conduct.

NIU
Don’t you believe him, my lady!

HULI JING [to Niu]
If you don’t send this horrible person away at this very moment I’ll never come back! [Pausing.] What did you just say?

JINGGU
I said, “I don’t love Lord Tsu Tia-Chua anymore.”

HULI JING
Liar. Good-bye.

JINGGU
What? Again?

[Huli Jing vanishes into the night.]

[End of Act II]

][][

notes:

In ancient times, the land lay covered in forests,
where, from ages long past, dwelt the spirits of the gods.

– Hayao Miyazaki, Princess Mononoke (1997)

It’s odd how that, when telling a love story, it’s easy to attribute human emotions to non-human things.

When I began this project I originally thought of Huli Jing as a Manic Pixie Dream Boy; that is, one of those one-dimensional blokes whose only role is to patiently counter all of the heroine’s shyness/ stubbornness/ aggressiveness/ whatever-the-audience-feels-is-unattractive-in-women, at the same time while appreciating all her many quirks and helping her learn, “a very important lesson” about love.

Of course, since Huli Jing isn’t actually a “he” (yay, androgyny!) then “he” could also easily be defined by that other trope known as the Manic Pixie Dream Girl: a “bubbly, shallow creature that exists solely … to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures.” (AV CLUB, 2007). Perhaps the reason that I saw Huli Jing like this was because that was how the French playwright, Giraudoux, created the character that Huli Jing is based on: the water sprite, Ondine.

Though written in 1939, the character Ondine appears to fit the role of MPDG completely. She is both quirky and uninhibited; and, most importantly, she exists solely for the male protagonist’s (Hans) happiness. As with almost all MPDG stories, misogyny and traditional gender roles are the norm, which means you end up with lines like:

Hans. Yes. Ondine and Hans.
Ondine. Oh no. Hans first. He is the man. He commands. Ondine is the girl. She is always one step behind. She keeps quiet.

(Valency. Giraudoux: Four Play, 1958, page 186)

What the hell is a person suppose to do with lines like that? (Besides mock them, I mean) … which led me to think about how, in stories about love affairs between humans and non-humans (I’m thinking of every Irish folk story where a mortal is seduced by the Fey), they always end terribly, usually for the human but, regardless, everyone is miserable in the end.

On the other hand, if you substitute, “ghost lover,” with, “emotionally-stunted male,” then we’re in Rom-Com territory; where a successful woman, who just can’t find the love of a good man, is miserable until she stumbles upon the man-child of her dreams, which then allows for the customary misunderstandings and zaniness to ensue.

Except Huli Jing is neither a MPDG nor a MPDB. It’s fox-magic that we’re dealing with, and fox-spirits are, as E. T. C. Werner put it, “cunning, cautious, sceptical … and fond of playing pranks and tormenting mankind.” (Myths and Legends of China, 1922, page 371.) Indeed, Huli Jing casts a spell on Jinggu, and goe so far as to, “taste her essence,” because “his” motivations are far different than Ondine’s. Like all Trickster figures there is something both child-like and sinister in everything that they do. It is a complexity that Giraudoux’s nymph was never written with.

huli jing [act i]

20 Friday Mar 2015

Posted by babylon crashing in drama, Feminism, Humor

≈ Comments Off on huli jing [act i]

Tags

9-tailed fox, Act I, androgyny, Chinese mythology, drama, Giraudoux, Huli Jing, Ondine

HULI JING: the 9-tailed fox

[a reworking of Giraudoux’s Ondine]

ACT I

Huli Jing, a 9-tailed fox-spirit.
Jinggu, a Wu-Shaman.
Niu and Qui (Huli Jing’s human parents)

][][

The scene is mythological China.
Nighttime inside a roadside inn.
Outside a forest storm rages.

NIU [at the window]
He’s out there … in the dark.

QUI
Indeed, Niu, dear. In the dark.

NIU [peering]
It’s a very dark night.

QUI
Indeed. If it was lighter it would be daylight.

NIU
Listen! The boy is laughing! No, that’s the wind. That sounded like the wind, didn’t it?

QUI
Well, if it isn’t the wind what else could it be?

NIU [uncomfortable, not wishing to state the obvious]
Shush your mouth. You know that I don’t know.

QUI
So, he’s out among the trees, singing with the wind?

NIU
Don’t laugh at me, old man!

QUI [smiling to himself]
I was merely remembering when I was a boy his age. But we lived in a city and there were no trees.

NIU
City-life would’ve taken the forest out of him. We’re too soft with him, Qui. It isn’t right, a boy running about in the woods at this time of night. I shall have to talk gravely to him when he returns.

QUI
If he returns. But why complain? He helps with the housework around the inn every day, doesn’t he?

NIU
I don’t know. Does he?

QUI
I’m the one in the kitchen. You’re the one seeing to the guests. I’ve yet to hear you complain that we’re serving meals on dirty dishes.

NIU
That’s not the point. Whether he has to wash dishes, cups or tables, it always the same time – I turn my back for a moment and everything is clean and shining.

QUI
Complaining about efficiency is odd, coming from you. Would you rather a layabout and a slob for a son?

NIU [not paying attention]
And then he brings things home. He says that he finds them in the woods. Queer bowls and cups that look like they’re fashioned out of roots. You know what he has been doing today?

QUI
Probably doing what a boy his age does. Do you remember a single day in all these years that we’ve had him that he has done anything expected of him? And yet, somehow, he makes everyone who comes to this inn happy.

NIU
Huh, except for the ones that he spooks away.

[The window suddenly flies open]

NIU [startled]
Whaa!

QUI [getting up and coming over]
Why so jittery? It’s only the wind.

NIU
Wind? It’s him! You know how he loves to play tricks on me. Making all those ghastly faces peer in at the window when my back is turned. That young girl with no eyes gives me the heeby-jeebies.

QUI
I like the old man with the beard, though. Still, if you’re frightened, shut the window.

[There is a flash of lightning, and the face of an young girl with unkempt hair and empty eye-sockets appears in the window.]

YOUNG GIRL WITH NO EYES
Hello, mama-dear!

NIU [shrieks]
Huli Jing, you scalawag!

[She shuts the window. It flies open again. The head of an old man with a long beard appears in another flash.]

OLD MAN [cheerfully]
Good evening, master Qui!

QUI [cheerfully]
Ah! Good evening, sir!

[The Old Man disappears. Qui goes to the door and peers out into the storm.]

QUI [calling]
Huli Jing, come in this minute! Your mother is very angry!

NIU [calling out the window]
Yes, in you come, Huli Jing! I’m going to count up to three, and if you’re not in by then, I’m going to lock the door! [To herself] The boy can sleep outside.

[A flash of lighting and crash of thunder comes as a response.]

QUI
Mother, you don’t mean that!

NIU
You see if I don’t. Huli Jing – one!

[A second roll of thunder.]

QUI
You’re only making the forest angry every time you speak!

NIU
It’s not the forest who is angry, is it? Huli Jing – two!

[A third boom of thunder even louder than the last.]

QUI
This isn’t how one keeps good neighbors —

NIU
“Neighbors,” my foot – three!

[Sudden magical silence falls over the inn. Even the wind cannot be heard.]

QUI [dryly]
Well, somebody heard you.

NIU [getting up and locking the door]
There! The inn is closed for the night, as far as I’m concerned. Now we can go to bed.

[Suddenly the door blows open and with it the sounds of the night. Niu and Qui turn, startled. Silhouetted in the doorway stands Jinggu, a female wu-shaman.]

JINGGU [cheerfully stepping into the room]
The door isn’t locked, I hope?

NIU
O! A guest. [Stepping forward.] Madam, my name is Niu, at your service.

JINGGU
Many thanks. I’ve been walking all day through these woods. Do you think that I might find a room tonight?

NIU
O, please, madam, make yourself at home.

JINGGU [sitting down and shaking rain water from her robes]
Buddha in heaven, what a storm! It’s been pouring down my neck ever since noon. Of course, robes are robes and these deserve to be burned, but there’s not much one can do. The one thing we shamans simply dread, you know, is rain. That, and rat-demons, of course.

NIU
Of course. Er, well, madam, perhaps you could take them off and I could see that they get properly washed?

JINGGU
Take my robes off? Have you ever seen a snail without its shell, Niu? Well, I suppose that would make it a slug, come to think about it. But the analogy still works. A shaman without her robes? A naked wu-shaman? Unthinkable! Well, except for when it comes to the licentiousness, of course. There is an awful lot of that, except in Court these days. It’s that blasted Confucianism that keeps saying that women need to leave their robes on. And now that the Empress is so keen on Confucianism there isn’t much a shaman can do except not take her robes off. You did say your name was Niu, yes?

NIU
Ah, yes, madam, and this is my husband, Qui.

QUI [bowing]
Please excuse us, madam. We rarely get Court shamans in these parts.

JINGGU
O, I’m not a Court shaman, my good man! I’m just a shaman from the Court. It’s the men who are all the ritual bureaucrats and moral metaphysicians these days. Especially now that the Empress is worried that her yin has somehow become polluted.

NIU
Polluted, madam?

JINGGU
I know, sounds crazy, doesn’t it? There’s that damn Confucianism, again. I use to be in charge of purifying mountain demons and now I’m reduced to purifying the Empress’ yin.

NIU
Does that work?

JINGGU
If I do it once a day it keeps her happy. It’s hard work, mind you. She keeps producing so much of it. Copious amounts. But she must be getting very cranky of late, I’ve spent a whole month in this forest, vainly searching for a mother-of-pearl comb belonging to a “hollow-cheeked young moon of springtime’s ebb with plumed clouds canopied about her.” Then it started to rain. Lucky for me I’ve stumbles on Niu’s and Qui’s quaint roadside inn.

QUI
That’s right, madam! Er, I know it’s not proper to ask a guest questions, madam, but may I just ask if you’re hungry?

JINGGU
Food? Food! I should that say I am. I’d be most glad for a meal.

QUI
I’ve got a rabbit in the kitchen. Perhaps you’d care for that?

JINGGU
I most certainly would! I have an unholy passion for rabbit.

QUI
Would you like it boiled, madam, or poached?

JINGGU
Ah, steamy lapin water. Er, no. I prefer fricassee, truth be told.

[Niu and Qui look at each other in dismay.]

QUI
O … fricassee? I usually boil them for twenty or thirty minutes, madam, they’re very nice that way.

JINGGU
But you just asked how I like rabbit, and I like fricassee.

NIU
He poaches them, too, madam.

QUI [sadly]
You would like me to saute and braise the meat, madam?

[In the far distance: thunder and lightning]

JINGGU
I don’t know, I just like the word, “fricassee.” It sounds rather indecent. An indecent rabbit, ha!

NIU [stiffly]
It certainly does, madam.

JINGGU
Then that’s settled then. I want fricassee.

NIU
All right, Qui. Go and … do that thing for the lady.

QUI [in the doorway]
It’s very nice simmered, madam, in a small amount of —

NIU [shooing him away]
Go on, old man.

[Qui goes into the kitchen. Jinggu settles back in her chair.]

JINGGU
You seem quite keen on Court shamans in these parts.

NIU
Well, madam, we prefer them to wild beasts and demons.

JINGGU
I rather like demons, at least the ones from the mountains. Not that I’m a monster or anything, it’s just what I was trained in.

NIU
It’s rare to find a woman with a trade, madam.

JINGGU
Thing is, you see, I like talking. I’ve got a talkative nature, I suppose. With demons there’s always someone to chat with. Most shamans are far from congenial, if you get my drift. Chimei demons are the best, of course, they’re thousands of years old and they’ll tell you their whole life stories. Some people say that their name means “hornless dragon,” which is odd because dragons are, you know, celestial, whereas Chimei aren’t. You’d think that was perfectly obvious. But scholars are a pretty thick lot, especially the Court ones, pfff. You see, the problem is, and I think it is a problem, that I don’t know anything about forest demons, certainly not enough to carry on a conversation. So I’ve spend a month lost in these damned woods, and I’ve yet to exchange a single word with anyone. Even my own echo finds me boring of late, which is a shame since I’ve got so much to say!

NIU
But whoever could have made you come to a dreadful place like this?

JINGGU
Who do you think? A man, of course!

NIU
Ah! Huh, well, I won’t ask you any more, madam.

JINGGU
Ha ha! Yes you will, this very minute! Lord Buddha and the Diamond Sutra, Niu! I haven’t talked about a man for a whole month! You don’t think I’m going to miss the opportunity, now that I’ve got you within earshot!

NIU [clearing uncomfortable about the subject but trying to be polite]
It’s fine, madam, I’ve never found the subject to be all that stimulating —

JINGGU
Come on, now! Hurry up and ask me his name!

NIU
Madam …

JINGGU
Do you want to know his name or not?

NIU [sighing]
What is his name, madam?

JINGGU
His name, good innkeeper, is Tsu Tia-Chua. Isn’t it a manly name!

NIU [dryly]
O … very manly, madam.

JINGGU
Other men are always called Bingwen, Huizhong, or Jianguo – well, I mean, anyone can be called Bingwen, or Huizhong, or Jianguo, but only someone special deserves a name so solemn and deep and thrilling. I expect you want to know if he’s handsome, dear Qui?

QUI [just coming in]
Who is handsome, madam?

NIU
The lady is talking about Tsu Tia-Chua, my dear, Lord Tsu Tia-Chua of the Court.

QUI
Er, yes. Handsome is he? I mean, is he handsome?

JINGGU
Is he handsome! But you’ll see for yourself, my dear friends, because you will both come to my wedding. I invite you here and now! Tsu Tia-Chua promised to marry me on the one condition that I returned from this forest; and if I do return, it will be entirely thanks to you. Well, Qui, my dear, I think you’d better go and fetch that rabbit of mine. We don’t want it over-fricasseed, do we? Wait, is that even possible?

[The door opens, and Huli Jing appears. He stands motionless on the threshold.]

HULI JING [marveling]
O, you’re beautiful!

NIU [standing up]
Why, you moss-tailed miscreant!

HULI JING [coming in, a wild thing from the wild woods]
Isn’t she beautiful?

NIU
Excuse me, madam, this is our son. I’m afraid he doesn’t know much about manners.

HULI JING
It’s just that I’m so happy to know that a mortal woman is as lovely as that. I’m not frightened of them now.

NIU
He’s still a child, madam. Please try to forgive him.

HULI JING
I knew there must be some good reason for deciding on being a boy today!

NIU
Huli Jing, please, you’re annoying the lady.

HULI JING
I’m not, you know. The moment I walked through the door she began to overflow with essence. I could smell it way out in the forest, that’s why I came home early. Look at her face! She’s glowing. What’s your name?

NIU [horrified]
For all that is holy, boy, you can’t address a shaman like that!

HULI JING [coming up to Jinggu]
What’s her name?

JINGGU
Her name is Jinggu.

HULI JING
I should have known. When it’s a dewy morning, and your breath goes out like a cloud, bearing all your sadness with it, you say Jinggu. That’s so pretty! Why have you come? To take me away?

NIU
That’s quite enough from you. Go to your room this minute.

HULI JING
O, take me! Abscond with me!

[Qui returns with the cooked rabbit.]

QUI
Here’s your fricassee, madam. Just you settle down to that. It’ll be better than listening to this mad son of ours.

HULI JING [twirling around in horror]
Did you say fricassee?

JINGGU [eating with gusto]
Yum – it’s magnificent!

HULI JING
Father, did you dare to braise a rabbit?

QUI
Be quiet. It’s done now, anyway.

HULI JING
O, my poor darling rabbit, you’ve slept all winter dreaming under the snow only to end up in a sauce pan!

NIU
Now you’re not going to start making a fuss about a rabbit!

HULI JING
They call themselves my parents … and they took you and threw you cut you up into little pieces and sauteed you!

JINGGU
I asked them to, little boy.

HULI JING
You did? Yes, I should have known that too. I can see, now I look at you closer. You stink of mortality, don’t you?

[Far away, but coming closer: thunder and lightning.]

QUI [bowing]
O, madam, forgive us!

HULI JING
You don’t know anything about anything, do you? You think dream interpretation really works? I’ve seen your “sacrificial rain ceremony,” what a joke! You lot are so eager for your Elixirs of Immortality but the moment something truly awe-inspiring comes by all you want to do is fricassee it!

JINGGU [her mouth full]
Try some, child! It’s delicious!

HULI JING
Well, it won’t be delicious much longer!

[Huli Jing takes the dish and throws the rabbit out of the window.]

HULI JING
Go on and eat it now! Good-bye!

QUI
Huli Jing! Where are you going?

HULI JING
There’s someone out there who hates mortals and wants to tell me all about them. I always refused to listen, because I’ve had my own ideas – but not anymore!

QUI
You’re not going out again, in this weather!

HULI JING
Yes, and in a minute I’ll know everything; what they’re like and what they’re capable of – the thought of what I’m about to hear sets my fur flying.

NIU
Young man, have I got to stop you by force, eh?

[Huli Jing slips away from his mother.]

HULI JING
I already know that mortals are all evil and liars and smell, and the beautiful ones are really grotesque, and the magical ones are plain and repulsive!

JINGGU
Really, child? What if one of them fell in love with you?

[Huli Jing stops, but does not turn round]

HULI JING
What did she say?

JINGGU [looking down at her chop-sticks]
O, nothing. Nothing at all.

HULI JING
Say it again.

JINGGU
Suppose one of them fell in love with you?

[Directly overhead: thunder and lightning. The Inn’s lights all flicker.]

HULI JING
I’d still hate them.

[Huli Jing vanishes into the night.]

[End of Act I]

][][

notes:

I am a firm believer in the Bechdel Test, which is a rating system based on that: (1) the work in question has to have at least two women in it, who (2) who talk to each other, about (3) something besides a man. Even though Jinggu seems to want to do nothing but talk about her man appearances can be deceptive.

At first I had the fox-spirit, Huli Jing, simply female, but then I began to think of the glories of androgyny; why not have a girl play an immortal boy who seduces an “older” mortal woman? It’s fascinating how generations of Western audiences have had no problem with Peter Pan always being played by, clearly, an adult woman, even when “he” is seducing Wendy Darling from the very beginning.

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