Robert Gulik: The Haunted Monastery

"Where is that fellow off to?" Judge Dee asked Kuan.

"He'll be going to our dressing room, sir," the director answered. "He'll be anxious to get rid of his make-up and his costume."

"Was he on the stage about one hour ago?" the judge asked again.

"He has been on ever since the interval," Kuan replied with a smile. "And he had to wear a heavy wooden mask all through. He was acting the part of the Spirit of Death, you know. Anyone else would have been tired out now, but he is an extraordinarily strong fellow. Just now he came on again because he couldn't resist the temptation to show off his skill."

Judge Dee hadn't heard his last words. His eyes were riveted on the stage, where the bear had now raised itself on its haunches. It was groping with its enormous paws for the girl, growling angrily. The girl drew back, but suddenly the bear was on her with amazing swiftness. The girl fell on the floor, and the animal stood over her, opening its huge jaws lined with long yellow teeth.

The judge suppressed a cry. Suddenly the girl crept out from under the hulking animal and came gracefully to her feet. She patted the bear on its head, then took it by its collar and made a deep bow. She led the animal off stage amid thunderous applause from the audience.

Judge Dee wiped the perspiration from his brow. In the excitement he had forgotten all about his cold, but now he realized again that he had a bad headache. He wanted to get up, but the abbot laid his hand on his arm and said: "Now Mr. Tsung Lee, the poet, will pronounce the epilogue!"

A young man with a shrewd, beardless face stood in the centre of the empty stage. He made a bow, then began in a sonorous, well-modulated voice:

"All you good men and women! Noble Excellencies!

Monks and lay-brothers, and all you novices!

To all of you who kindly watched our humble play

Of the stirring story of that poor erring soul

Losing her struggle with Doubt and Ignorance, I say:

Never despair of reaching in the end your goal!

However long the forces of Darkness scheme,

The Truth of Tao shall all of you redeem.

Hear now the Sublime Truth, expressed in clumsy verse:

All wicked evil, Truth and Reason shall disperse,

Defeat for ever the deadly shades of night,

Dissolve the morning clouds in the Eternal Light!"

He made another deep bow and left the stage. The orchestra struck up the finale.

Judge Dee looked questioningly at the abbot. Spoken in a monastery called Morning Cloud, the last line about "dissolving morning clouds" was most inauspicious, even rude. The abbot barked at the director: "Get me that poet here!" And to the judge: "The impudent rascal!"

When the young man was standing in front of them, the abbot addressed him harshly: "What made you add that last line, Mr. Tsung? It completely spoilt the auspicious atmosphere of this solemn occasion!"

The young man seemed quite at ease. He gave the abbot a quizzical look and replied with a smile: "The last line, Your Holiness? I had feared that the line before the last might perhaps be considered inappropriate. It's not always easy to find the right rhymes on the spot, you know!"

The abbot was about to make an angry retort, but Tsung continued placidly: "Short verses are easier, of course, Like this one, for instance:

One abbot up in the hall,

One abbot under the floor.

In all two abbots —

One preaches to the monks,

The other to the maggots."

The abbot angrily stamped his staff on the floor. His face was twitching. Judge Dee expected him to burst out in a fit of rage. But he succeeded in mastering himself. He said coldly: "You may go, Mr. Tsung."

A Poet Taunts a Taoist Abbot

He rose. The judge noticed that his hands were trembling. Judge Dee took leave of him with a few polite phrases.

As they were walking towards the exit, the judge said to Tao Gan: "We'll go now to the actors' dressing room. I must have a talk with that fellow Mo Mo-te. Do you know where it is?"

"Yes, Your Honour, on the same floor as mine, in a side corridor."

"I never saw such a rabbit warren!" Judge Dee muttered. "And what is all that nonsense about no ground plan being available? They are required by law to have one!"

"The almoner claims, sir, that the section higher up — that is, the part of the monastery beyond the temple — is closed to everybody except the abbot and the ordained monks. That forbidden part may not be charted or depicted. The almoner agreed that it was awkward not to have a plan, for this is a very large place. Even the monks themselves sometimes lose their way."

"A preposterous situation!" the judge said peevishly. "Just because the Palace has deigned to show interest in the Taoist creed, those people think they are above the law! And I hear that Buddhist influence is also growing at Court. I don't know which of the two is worse!"

He walked over to the office on the opposite side of the hall. He told the monk in charge there that after he had changed, he wanted a novice to take him to Master Sun's quarters. Tao Gan borrowed a lantern from the monk, then they waited a while in front of the office to let the throung of monks who were leaving the hall file past them.

"Look at all those able-bodied fellows!" Judge Dee said sourly. "They ought to do their duty to society, marry and raise children!" He sneezed.

Tao Gan gave him a worried look. He had come to know the judge as a man of a remarkably equable temper; even if he was annoyed he rarely showed it so clearly. He asked: "Did that solemn abbot give a satisfactory explanation of those three deaths that occurred here?"

"He did not!" the judge said emphatically. "It is just as I thought; there are highly suspicious features. When we are back in Han-yuan, I shall first obtain from the families of the dead girls more details about their background, then we'll come back to this monastery with Sergeant Hoong, Ma Joong, Chiao Tai, the scribes and a dozen constables, and institute a thorough investigation. And I'll not announce that visit beforehand, mind you! That's the little surprise I have in store for our friend the abbot!"

Tao Gan nodded contentedly. Then he said:

"The almoner told me the same story about the ghosts of the people who were killed here a hundred years ago. I now know why that novice was listening so keenly up there in the corridor!"

"Why?" Judge Dee asked wiping his moustache.

"It is said that those ghostly apparitions sometimes whisper one's name. That means that the person who hears them will die soon."

"Silly superstitions! Let's go upstairs to the dressing room of those actors."

When they arrived on the first landing, Judge Dee looked casually into the narrow, semi-dark corridor on their right. He halted. A slender girl in a white dress was hurrying along away from them.

"That's the girl with the bear!" the judge said quickly to Tao Gan. "I want to talk to her! What's her name again?"

"Miss Ou-yang, sir."

The judge went after the white figure. When he was close behind her, he said: "Wait a moment, Miss Ou-yang!"

She swung round with a frightened cry. The judge saw that her face was of a deadly pallor and her eyes wide with fear. It struck him again that she closely resembled Miss Pao. He said kindly: "You needn't be afraid, Miss Ou-yang. I only wanted to congratulate you on your performance. I must say that…"

"Thank you, sir!" the girl interrupted in a soft, cultured voice. "I must hurry along now, I must…"

She looked anxiously past the judge and made to turn around again. "Don't run away!" Judge Dee ordered curtly. "I am the magistrate, and I want to talk with you. You seem quite upset. Is that actor Mo Mo-te perhaps bothering you?"

She impatiently shook her small head.