[Pointing to the water bottle.]
She was represented to me
As beautiful.
[They laugh. The First Chinese strikes the instrument, and looks at the Third Chinese, who yawns.]
First Chinese [reciting]. She was as beautiful as a porcelain water bottle.
[He strikes the instrument in an insinuating manner.]
First Chinese. She was represented to me
As young.
Therefore my song should go
Of the color of blood.
[He strikes the instrument. The limb of the tree creaks. The First Chinese notices it and puts his hand on the knee of the Second Chinese, who is seated between him and the Third Chinese, to call attention to the sound. They are all seated so that they do not face the spot from which the sound comes. A dark object, hanging to the limb of the tree, becomes a dim silhouette. The sky grows constantly brighter. No color is to be seen until the end of the play.]
Second Chinese [to First Chinese]. It is only a tree
Creaking in the night wind.
Third Chinese [shrugging his shoulders]. There would be no creaking
In the windless pavilions.
First Chinese [resuming]. So far the lady of the present ballad
Would have been studied
By the hermit and his candle
With much philosophy;
And possibly the emperor would have cried,
"More light!"
But it is a way with ballads
That the more pleasing they are
The worse end they come to;
For here it was also represented
That the lady was poor—
The hermit's candle would have thrown
Alarming shadows,
And the emperor would have held
The porcelain in one hand ...
She was represented as clinging
To that sweaty tragedian,
And weeping up the hill.