From The Drunken Man's Talk: Tales from Medieval China by Luo Ye, translated by Alister D. Inglis and Wilt L. Idema
When Qiu Langzhong governed Jian’an,1 he counted Weng Yuanguang among his coterie. Accordingly, whenever there was a banquet, Weng was certain to be invited. Since all of Qiu’s courtesans poured the wine on such occasions, Weng gained a thorough knowledge of their looks as well as of their artistic and musical talent. He therefore chose a flower to symbolize the characteristics of each. While his poems have their strengths and weaknesses, each is founded on reality. Indeed, people were quick to circulate them. I have therefore arrayed them below.2
1 The famous Tang poet Yao He (c. 779–846) wrote a heptasyllabic quatrain entitled “To Qiu Langzhong.” This suggests that the recipient of Yao’s poem might have been the same person referred to in the current text. If so, Luo Ye again transcribed Tang material in this chapter. For the text and title of Yao’s poem, see Quan Tang shi, 497: 88.
2 What follows are poems of the yongwu genre. Such poems would take something from the phenomenal world as their subject, frequently a type of flower or other flora, without directly alluding to it; often only the title would indicate the subject. In this chapter, each poem is prefaced with the name of the courtesan to whose characteristics it alludes and sometimes a brief explanation of the metaphorical device. It would, nevertheless, have been unusual for any one scholar-official to have kept such a large number of concubines. If the authorial introduction is reliable, many of the women either may have been hired on an occasional basis or else may have been courtesans in government service.
Swelling cloud that looks so light; the snow seems spotless.
Jade and jasper both have mellowed; the moon has living essence.
Loathe to boast of beauty that equals the peach and plum,
The first child of spring alone to the mortal world has come.
Yang Qian: Narcissus (alluding to her airy and ripe fairy’s figure; she is considered second-in-line to the queen of flowers)
Soon to take on dusty form are silken stockings light,
Rippling gossamer gowns reflect in the water bright;
A gorgeous floral bloom that from the Luo has come,3
It concedes not in dignity to its brother plum.
Soon to take on dusty form are silken stockings light,
Rippling gossamer gowns reflect in the water bright;
A gorgeous floral bloom that from the Luo has come,3
It concedes not in dignity to its brother plum.
3 The Luo referred to here is the Luo River.
