Mo Yan - Sandalwood Death

The swine went quiet after finishing his graphic description of the execution. Strings of slobber hung from his mouth, and his eyes rolled around in their sockets as he looked up at Excellency Yuan and the Plenipotentiary. The ghastly image of the dissevered Treasury clerk floated in front of my eyes, and I could almost hear the man’s screams. But Excellency Yuan obviously liked what he’d heard. He sat there squinting, not saying a word while the interpreter finished jabbering into the ear of von Ketteler, who cocked his head and looked first at Yuan and then at Zhao. His jerky movements and the look on his face reminded me of a hawk perched on a rock.

Excellency Yuan finally spoke up. “As I see it, Plenipotentiary, that is how we ought to do it.”

The interpreter translated Excellency Yuan’s comment in a soft voice. Von Ketteler said something in that devilish language of his, which the interpreter translated: “The Plenipotentiary wants to know how long the condemned can live after he’s cut in half.”

With a slight upward tilt of his chin, Excellency Yuan signaled the swine to answer.

“About as long as it takes to smoke a bowlful of tobacco,” he said, “but it is hard to say. Some die on the spot, like lopping off the branch of a tree.”

Von Ketteler said something to the interpreter, who translated: “The Plenipotentiary does not approve. He says death might come too fast and will not serve as a proper warning to people with evil thoughts in their heads. He would like you to find a uniquely cruel method that will inflict the maximum amount of suffering and draw it out as long as possible. The Plenipotentiary would like to see an execution where the subject holds on for at least five days. Ideally, the man would still be alive on August twentieth, the day the section of railroad between Qingdao and Gaomi is completed.”

Excellency Yuan said, “Think hard, is there any punishment that fits the bill?”

The swine shook his head. “He’d die if you hung him up for five days and did nothing else to him.”

Von Ketteler said something to the interpreter. “The Plenipotentiary says that China is backward in everything but punishment techniques. This is one area in which the Chinese are world-beaters. Inflicting unbearable pain on someone before killing him is a uniquely Chinese art and is at the core of its governing philosophy.”

“Horse shit,” I heard Excellency Yuan mutter under his breath. But he quickly smothered that with a loud, impatient command to the swine: “Think hard,” he said, before he turned to von Ketteler and said, “Esteemed Plenipotentiary, if such a punishment exists in your country, I would be happy if you taught him. It would take less effort to learn that than how to build a railroad.”

The interpreter did his job, after which I saw von Ketteler scrunch up his forehead as he pondered a response. With his head down, the swine was trying to come up with something.

Then, abruptly, he excitedly jabbered something to the interpreter.

“The esteemed Plenipotentiary says that there is a punishment in Europe that guarantees prolonged suffering before death. The condemned is nailed to an upright cross and left there.”

But then, just as abruptly, the swine’s eyes lit up, and he blurted out excitedly, “Excellency, your humble servant has an idea. Years ago I heard my shifu say that during the Yongzheng reign, his master’s master put to death a man who had emptied his bowels in the Imperial Mausoleum by means of what he called the sandalwood death.”

“What does it consist of?” His Excellency asked.

The swine said, “My master described it to me only in vague terms, but the gist of it is that a pointed sandalwood stake is inserted into the subject’s grain passage and forced up all the way to the nape of his neck and out. Then he is bound to a tree.”

With a satisfied sneer, His Excellency said, “Great minds think alike. How long before the man died?”

“Three days, I think,” the swine said, “or maybe four.”

Excellency Yuan told the interpreter to immediately inform von Ketteler, who reacted almost rapturously. He stammered in stilted Chinese, “Good, the sandalwood death, that’s it!”

His Excellency said, “Since Plenipotentiary von Ketteler approves, that is what we shall do. Sun Bing will suffer the sandalwood death, but you must make sure that he lives five days. Today is the thirteenth of August. Tomorrow you make your preparations, and the day after that, the fifteenth, the punishment will be carried out.”

The swine fell to his knees. “Excellency, your humble servant is getting on in age and is not as spry as he once was. He will require an assistant for an execution of this magnitude.”

His Excellency turned to me. “Have an assistant chosen from among the executioners at Gaomi’s South Prison.”

The swine objected: “Excellency,” he said, “I would rather that the county not be involved.”

Excellency Yuan laughed. “Are you afraid they will steal your thunder on this?”

The swine merely said, “I ask that Your Excellency grant me permission to have my son serve as an assistant.”

“What does your son do?” Excellency Yuan asked.

“He butchers pigs and dogs,” the swine replied.

Again His Excellency laughed. “He sounds qualified. All right, then, in battle one relies on his brothers; in a fight, only father and son will do. Permission granted.” The swine remained kneeling on the floor.

“What else do you have to say?” Excellency Yuan asked.

“Excellency,” the swine said, “carrying out the sandalwood death will require a thick post with a crossbar on top of a high wooden platform, with an access plank on one side.”

“Make a drawing and give it to the County Magistrate for construction,” Yuan said.

The swine said, “I will also require two stakes made of the finest sandalwood and shaved down like spikes. Your humble servant will personally do the work.”

“The County Magistrate will see to that,” Excellency Yuan said.

Then the swine said, “I will also require two hundred jin of refined sesame oil.”

Excellency Yuan laughed. “Are you planning to fry Sun Bing to go with fine spirits?”

“Excellency,” the swine said, “after the stakes are properly carved, they must steep in sesame oil all day and all night if they are to slip through the body without soaking up blood.”

“Have Gaomi County take care of everything,” Yuan said. “Is there anything else? Now is the time to give me the complete list.”

The swine said, “I will also require ten strips of leather, a wooden hammer, a rooster with white feathers, two red felt caps, two pairs of high-top boots, two sets of black clothing, two red satin sashes, two bull’s-ear daggers, plus a hundred jin of white rice, a hundred jin of wheat flour, a hundred chicken eggs, twenty jin each of pork and beef, half a jin of top-quality ginseng, a medicinal pot, three hundred jin of kindling, two buckets, a water vat, and two woks, one large and one small.”

“What do you need ginseng for?” Excellency Yuan asked.

The swine said, “Hear me out, Excellency. The subject’s stomach will not be affected by the insertion of the stake, but there will be a significant loss of blood, and keeping him alive will require a daily infusion of ginseng. That is the only way your humble servant can ensure that the subject will last five days.”

Excellency Yuan said, “Can you guarantee that he will not die for at least five days with the infusion of ginseng?”

“Your humble servant guarantees it,” the swine replied emphatically.

Excellency Yuan said, “Gaomi County, go make a list and have it filled without delay!”