王青

The girl slept on a bed
of goose feathers
enwrapt in ivory silk
and embroidered pillows
with golden tassles.

Each day before she slept
the mui tsai placed
the jade emerald under
her pillow, the green jewel
given her by the dragon-slayer
who had said,

"Wait for me at Xī Hú,
Wang Qing:
After a year
I will come to collect the gem,
which is the symbol of our love.
And do not let
the Night Goddess see the stone
or she will come for you
and kill you in cold blood.

In the daylight she is
blind as a beggar,
yet she sees everything
at night: You must hide it to keep it.
Do not be tricked;
she is the ruler of masks."


At evening
Wang Qing's mui tsai
walked with her
to the edges of Xī Hú to see
the larks darting wildly
above the water's brim.

After a while the girl would say

"Now we go back,
for I need to sleep."

The young men
would look away
when she passed
for she was a royal princess,
and to see a princess
eye to eye was certain death.

She moved swiftly
in small assured steps
towards her alabaster palace.
For if she waited until the moon was high,
the Night Goddess could see
the glistening gem,
and then she would slay Wang Qing
with a single word and retreat
with her reward
back into the black heavens.

One day, after a year, at dusk
the sky turned dark
and the maid said,

"Today we cannot go to Xi Hu.
Heaven is angry
for the Queen of Heaven
has lost a jewel,
the one she stole from the golden dragon
in the high mountains,
the one beloved
by the jade phoenix.
Now they are attacking heaven
and that is why the sky is dark,
the thunder flashing and lightening.
But she is stronger--
They can never defeat her."

But Wang Qing
knew that she would
never see the Dragon Slayer
if she did not wait at Xi Hu.
And so she said to the servant,

Girl We will go as we always do.
but this time bring me
the emerald the Dragonslayer gave me.
For today I believe
I will see him at the lake.

The maid did as she was told.
She placed the emerald
in a silk purse
and on a thin chain of gold
suspended it
between Wang Qing's breasts
beneath her blouse.
"Hurry," she said, "we haven't much time
before the storm comes
and turns the lake
from a calm meadow
into a white frothed sea."

As they approached
the rain became a white mist,
and the bridges were like spindles
stretched across the gray water.

On the third bridge
Wanq Qing saw a thin shadow
vague, an ink wash
moving in the way of a man.

As they came close
the figure became more distinct;
It was surely the Dragonslayer,
dressed in a carnelian tunic
sword at his side,
helmet in his left hand.
She could not see his face.

"Princess," he said,
"Do you have have the jade prize,
the green emerald
I gave you as token of our love?"

"Yes," she said, her heart
leaping in disbelief,
"I have it safely here
between my breasts.
It is yours for the asking,
Does it mean you will always love me.
Does it mean I will come to live
with you as your wife?"

"Of course," said the figure
in a thin voice,
"It must mean that,
or why have you troubled
to hide it it so carefully
for all of a year?
Why would I ask you
to keep it from the prowling eyes
of the Dark Goddess?"

She reached the chain
from round her neck,
and the beautiful stone
shot forth the radiance of a moon beam.
But when the shape
stretched forth its hand to take it,
it was not the hand of a man.

Before Yan Qing
could fetch it back
the ancient witch grasped
the gem in her fleshless hand
and began her ascent into the sky.

"Aha," she said glowering,
rounding the last black cloud.
"So much now for your lovely prince
and your dreams. For I killed him
and fed his bits to my dogs a year ago
when he came near to my palace
in search of treasure. Yet for one night--
disguised as you Wang Qing--
he was mine--as he will never be yours,"

And so the Night Goddess
fled into heaven with her treasure,
and Wang Qing and the maid
returned to the albaster palace.

After a year,
the dragon and the Jade phoenix
abandoned their war
against the heavenly witch.

After twenty, the Night Queen died,
as the owls mourned and
the jewel slipped from her hand
through the clouds into the lake,
into Xī Hú