Matching Lines, Three Men on Mt. Shang

Around 838, Liang Jing of Changsha passed the second-rank exams. The next day, at a post-station on Mt. Shang, he suddenly saw three men with very old-fashioned clothing and caps. They introduced themselves as Minister of the Middle Xiao, Infantryman Wang, and Governor Zhuge. They then brought out wine and invited Jing to drink with them, and to reply with matching lines (on the topics) ‘singing of the autumn moon’ and ‘light gradually brightening in the mountains.’ [TN: read the verses now] The Middle Minister asked Jing whether he would become an advanced scholar, and Jing (replied) that he was already a second-rank examinee. The Middle Minister laughed and said, “Second-rank—so you know how to write poetry!” Jing grew angry and scolded them. They startled and scattered, losing their existence there.

Matching Lines on the Autumn Moon
The autumn moon, round as a mirror.       (Infantryman Wang)
The autumn wind, sharp like a knife.       (Middle Minister Xiao)
The autumn clouds, gentle cotton.       (Jing)
The autumn grasses, fine as hair.       (Governor Zhuge)

Matching Lines on Daybreak
Secluded (also written ‘mountain’) trees, the lofty lofty shadows.       (Middle Minister Xiao)
The mountain flowers, quiet quiet fragrance.       (Infantryman Wang)
The mountain heavens, distant passing passing.       (Governor Zhuge)
The mountain waters, quickly rushing rushing.       (Jing)

作者：商山三丈夫
〈开成中，长沙梁璟举孝廉。次商山馆，忽见三丈夫，衣冠甚古，自称萧郎中、王步兵、诸葛长史。取酒邀璟同饮，联句咏秋月，山光渐明，复为联句。中郎问璟举进士乎，璟以举孝廉对。中郎笑曰：“孝廉安知为诗哉！”璟怒，叱之，惊散，失所在。〉

秋月联句
秋月圆如镜。〈王步兵〉
秋风利似刀。〈萧中郎〉
秋云轻比絮。〈璟〉
秋草细如毛。〈诸葛长史〉

天明联句
幽〈一作山〉树高高影。〈萧中郎〉
山花寂寂香。〈王步兵〉
山天遥历历。〈诸葛长史〉
山水急汤汤。〈璟〉

Well lookie here, folks—I finally found a “matching lines” game, beloved of manhua and dramas. This is a thing for two or more people: one person recites a line of verse, and the next has to cap it as a couplet, usually in an antithetical way, and so on, with even-numbered lines rhyming. Second-rank exams were imperial-level exams that were less comprehensive than the ones testing for higher office (which are passed by advanced scholars). Apparently their scope did not include writing poetry, which the minister gets sarcastic about, thus Jing getting mad.

Textual issue 1: as you can tell, these verses have a darned obvious pattern—the first character of every line is the same, except line one of the second set. I’ve left in the editorial note of the variant that has the right character, to show what that sort of thing looks like. Why the CTP editors took 幽 as the main reading, I have no idea.

Textual issue 2: Xiao’s title is given as both 中郎 and 郎中, which are different positions, the former subordinate to the latter. I went ahead and rendered them as written, but sheesh, careless editing much?

So what’s a footsoldier doing hobnobbing with a minister and a governor? Being a demonstration that death is the great equalizer? There are other examples, later in the collection, of a group of ghosts who are all officials or nobles plus one commoner, which makes it look like a trope.

---L.