# The Daughter of Heaven/Act 1

ACT I
First Tableau
THE GARDEN OF THE PALACE AT NAN-KING.
The Daughter of Heaven
SCENE I
Rock, Fir Sapling, Strong-arm, Humpback, gardeners. In the distance a bell and a drum can be heard.
Rock
[Stopping his work and listening.] Do you hear the great bronze bell and the drum? Another Prince is passing through the Gateway of State and making his entrance into our Palace of Nanking.
Fir-Sapling
Yes, I hear——but I would rather see.
Strong-arm
Beautiful sights are not for us to see.
Rock
The great ceremonies do not need the gaze of such as us.
Fir-Sapling
Yes! We know that. Our duty is to work on in silence,—patiently to prepare the beauty of the festival which is not for our eyes.
Strong-arm
Are you complaining?——Every creature must accept the place in life which falls to its lot.
Rock
That law governs all. There are some animals that are proud and splendid, birds with magnificent plumage, and there are also rats and horrible insects, which inspire loathing.
Strong-arm
Among trees there are kings, and among flowers princesses.
Rock
And many poor plants have neither beauty nor perfume.
Fir-Sapling
The rain refreshes them just the same, and the sun warms them.
Humpback
It sometimes happens that chance favours the most humble. Listen to me. Though I was in no way to blame, I have witnessed a sight which I was forbidden to see.
Strong-arm
You? You have witnessed such a sight?
Fir-Sapling
What was it? Tell us.
Humpback
Well, it was yesterday, after sundown. The other gardeners had just gone away; I had not yet finished my task, but remained to polish one of those great marble lions, at the Gateway of State. I was working all unsuspicious, when suddenly I heard the great drum and the clanging of the bell, and I saw the watchers descend from their tower to open the great gate. The guards and generals and ministers were all running. I heard it said that the new arrival was the most important of all the invited guests, the Viceroy of the Southern Provinces. How could I make my escape in the midst of all these wonderful personages? It was impossible! I hid behind one of the huge paws of the lion and made myself very small. No one took any notice of me——and I saw, I saw through the pierced globe, you know, which the lion holds in his clutch——.
Fir-Sapling
You saw the Viceroy of the South enter with his retinue?——
Humpback
Yes, I saw! Oh! Such costumes of silk and gold! Such horses shining with gems! Such banners! And some terrible faces, too, some glances awful in their pride!——But when he came, oh! Then I understood that besides him all the others counted for naught. He was pale, with a very weary air, on ​a horse led by two attendants——His costume was simple, but seemed richer than all the others——He was so imposing that my heart would no longer beat in my breast, and it seemed to me that if only he turned his unseeing eyes towards me, I should drop dead.
Fir-Sapling
Ah, was it like that? If one feels like that for no more than a Viceroy, how would it be if one were gazed upon by the Emperor himself?
Humpback
But I assure you, no one who has not seen him can——
Fir-Sapling
Hush! Hush! Here comes a Palace official.
SCENE II
Rock, Fir-Sapling, Strong-arm, Humpback, Arrow-bearer, a Palace official.
Arrow-Bearer
So this is the way you do your work? You fritter away in foolish chatter the few precious moments which are left.
Humpback
The work will be finished, my Lord.
Arrow-Bearer
Will be finished! What, when I see the ground still strewn with petals and dead flower——and here, of all places, around the Pavilion of the Ladies-in-Waiting. [Aside] where blooms that living flower whom I adore.
Humpback
No sooner have we put all straight than the spiteful wind shakes the branches and we have to begin all over again.
Arrow-Bearer
Remove them from the moss, at all events——Those faded flowers look like so many stains.
SCENE III
Rock, Fir-Sapling, Strong-arm, Humpback, Arrow-Bearer, Golden Lotus, Cinnamon, Pearl, Tranquil Beauty—Ladies in Waiting.
The ladies appear hestitatingly on the verandah of the Pavilion. Golden Lotus advances and rests her elbows on the balustrade. Arrow-Bearer gazes upon her with evident emotion.
{{c|Cinnamon [in a whisper]
I thought I recognised the voice of my lord Arrow-Bearer.
Tranquil Beauty
Golden Lotus recognised it before you.
Pearl
That young man is always stealing about here.
Tranquil Beauty
We all know the reason.
Cinnamon
See, he greets our companion as if she were a Queen.
Tranquil Beauty
Is she not the Queen of his heart?
Arrow-Bearer
The breeze of spring time caresses me gently and intoxicates me with the perfume of the lotus.
Tranquil Beauty
Cinnamon
It is well known that The breeze of spring-time signifies love.
Pearl
And her name is Golden Lotus.
Golden Lotus [to Arrow-Bearer]
My lord, I heard that you ordered the flowers to be removed—— Was I misinformed?
Arrow-Bearer
I dared to raise my voice to give that order —— Can I have displeased you?
Golden Lotus
Oh! no But I desire to ask your indulgence for the lovely dead flowers. Permit them to remain there as a carpet at the foot of our pavilion. Though broken from their stems, they are still beautiful and keep their perfume.
Arrow-Bearer
What glory for me to obey you! I envy those flowers which will be trod by your little feet.
[He makes a sign for the gardeners to with-draw.]
Tranquil Beauty
[Pulling at the sleeve of Golden Lotus]
Enough, Golden Lotus. It is not proper for us to listen to such remarks.
Arrow-Bearer
Have you nothing more to say to me?
Tranquil Beauty
Let us go. Come, we must return to the Pavilion.
Golden Lotus [to Tranquil Beauty]
No, stay a moment.
Golden Lotus [to Arrow-Bearer]
My lord, you know news travels slowly to the ​quarters of the Ladies-in- Waiting, and my curiosity is eager on this most solemn day, when our Empress is to restore the throne of the bright dynasty of the Mings and to take on her the regency of the Empire. At what precise hour will the festival begin?——Do you know the order of the ceremonies?
Arrow-Bearer
What great pleasure for me to be able to inform you. The Criers of the Minister of Rites proclaimed last night the order of the ceremonies. I have taken note of what I heard.
[He takes from his sleeve a small scroll.]
I hope to write several poems about this later. It is a date quite unique in the annals of China.
Golden Lotus
Oh! read it to us, my lord.
[The young girls eagerly gather about Arrow-Bearer.
Arrow-Bearer [reading]
"On this holy day on which our Empress, laying aside her mourning for her illustrious Husband, is about to take up the power in the name of Her son, in defiance of that usurper who for three hundred years has held all China under his yoke: An order to all high Dignitaries of the Palace, to the Masters of the Ceremonies, to the Grand Secretaries of State, to the Ministers, Warriors, and Princes, to the Guardians of the Imperial Seal! Let them ​Page:Daughter of Heaven.djvu/35 ​Page:Daughter of Heaven.djvu/36 ​Page:Daughter of Heaven.djvu/37 ​
Golden Lotus
Ah! yes, the rumor of that war came to us. But what was the cause of it?
Tranquil Beauty
How politics interest her!
Pearl
Yes! when that young man is her teacher.
Arrow-Bearer
The cause of it was peculiar. A Prince, kinsman to the Tartar usurper, conceived the foolish idea of mustering an army of bandits to hurl upon the hated Christians in the north of China. But the horde, once let loose, got out of hand. It rushed against the barbarian strangers, whose presence has for a long time been tolerated in the neighbourhood of the Palace. Then the armies of the Western nations came to sack Peking, whence the Tartar Emperor fled with his entire Court.
Golden Lotus
Doubtless it is unhappy for us that the usurper has made peace——
Arrow-Bearer
Who knows? Perhaps China might have fallen under a more evil dominion still.
Tranquil Beauty
Is the lesson not finished yet?
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