The bandit lair in the dead of night is pitch-dark. The tyrant, the youth, and the lady grope in the dark in search of one another, and there, a perilous misunderstanding is about to play out...
Male Role: Fan Jie
Female Role: Zixin
Comic Villain: Wu Wang
Scene I
(Fan Jie at stage upper left, Zixin at stage upper right. Wu Wang lies on the ground, his eyes closed)(The two people grope in the darkness of Wu Wang's lair)
(Their hands make contact in the dark, but not knowing who the other is, they draw away in alarm)
(Wu Wang awakens)
(Aside)
Wu Wang: "Why, that girl is as willful as I, to dare to strike me so."
Wu Wang: "No one is about. Perhaps they have fled further within."
Wu Wang: "Hmph. The night is come, the gate is closed."
Wu Wang: "Unless they jumped the wall, how should that maiden escape? Surely not by the gate!"
(Wu Wang enters the hall)
(Aside)
Wu Wang: "Hah. These louts are drunk out of their gourds. Not one light they lit!"
Wu Wang: "Well, let me get myself one, and let us begin our search."
(Wu Wang steps on Fan Jie's foot in the dark, and they both draw back)
Wu Wang: "Haha, so there you are!"
(Wu Wang stretches his arms out to lunge at Fan Jie, who ducks. They stumble about in the dark as Zixin shrinks into a corner)
(Wu Wang finally grabs Fan Jie)
Wu Wang: "I have you!"
(Aside)
Wu Wang: "Hmm? Have you grown so wide about the waist since last we met?"
Fan Jie: "I put on more clothes, all the better to keep warm with."
Wu Wang: "Indeed, one must wear more in cold weather."
Wu Wang: "Then why have you grown so tall?"
Fan Jie: "I have worn high shoes, all the better to put on a show with."
Wu Wang: "Oh, surely that must be difficult."
Wu Wang: "And why have your hands grown so rough?"
Fan Jie: "Well... Lean closer and I shall tell you."
Wu Wang: "Of course, of course."
(Fan Jie stabs Wu Wang with his sword)
Fan Jie: "To bear a sword, All the better to take your life with."
(Wu Wang falls)
Scene II
(Aside)
Fan Jie: "Foul villain. But a stroke, and you are slain."
Zixin: "Are you Fan Jie?"
Fan Jie: "This voice — you must be Miss Zixin!"
(Fan Jie and Zixin reach out and touch each other)
Zixin: "Fan Jie!"
Fan Jie: "You must have suffered."
Fan Jie: "I have slain that devil. His minions are all that remains."
Fan Jie: "His death shall scatter them like monkeys when their great tree falls."
Fan Jie: "Do not fear, I shall break the gate."
(Fan Jie breaks the gate)
Zixin: "Ah! My life would have been forfeit had you not arrived."
(Dongtang, lento, innig)
Zixin: "A heart of pearls in your house shall nest."
Fan Jie: "In the skies with the wind shall we find rest."
Fan Jie: The white moon shines o'er the catalpas glade.
Zixin: And with lowered head, the promise is made.
—End—