Indeed, Sing was tipsy and all was delightful But then there appeared a vision frightful:
A ghostly visage hung in the air, Fixed him with a malevolent stare.
Thinking he’d over-imbibed, Sing set his wineglass down, rubbed his eyes, and shook himself. But the apparition remained, piercing him with the same unwavering gaze. He could neither blink nor look away.
He lost all command of muscle and bone, His mind and senses no longer his own.
His wife’s spirit had taken him captive – Tsiu Sing himself would serve as her instrument of revenge:
She possessed him completely, Body and soul,
Gone were intention, Will and control.
A-mi startled at the sudden change that had come over her husband. One minute they'd been spooning and nuzzling, exchanging winey endearments, warm and intimate. The next instant his eyes had glazed over, his skin turned a sickly pale, his hands cold to the touch.
A-mi: What is it, dear – are you not feeling well? Have you had too much to drink?
Tsiu Sing didn’t reply. He rose to his feet and slapped A-mi hard across the face, he who had raised a hand to her; had always, in fact, fawned over her. Now he was carrying on like a mad man.
In a rage he bellowed, cursed and swore,
“You killed my wife, you filthy whore!
I’ll have revenge: a life for a life.”
On the table lay a carving knife.
“You’re drunk,” cried Mi-a, “addled with drink!
You’re wrong to accuse me – it’s not what you think”:
Gong-thau played the evil trick – He laced her soup with arsenic.
When she began to twist and writhe, He barred the door and watched her die.
Seizing the knife, Sing grabbed a fistful of A-mi’s luxuriant hair and wrenched her head back, exposing the delicate flesh of her throat.
“Gong-thau’s the one, he’s the culprit –”
He cut her short with a blade to the gullet.
***
Days of hard drinking had caught up with Gong-thau. Slumped in a chair, he’d fallen into an uneasy slumber. A-mi’s scream jolted him back to consciousness. The flunky gaped at what he saw: knife in hand, Tsiu Sing loomed over the woman’s lifeless form. Dark arterial blood ran from a gash in her neck, soaking the bodice of the garment she wore. A chilling look from his boss warned Gong-thau of what was to come.
“Boss, you’ve killed your wife,” cried he,
“And now you mean to murder me!
Drunks, they say, are calm and serene, But, truly, you’ve gone off your bean!”
He scrambled to his feet and fled indoors, seeking cover as instinctively as a cockroach dodging a boot heel. Drunk and disoriented, he ducked into the first enclosure he happened on, the kitchen pantry.
“To kill the plotters, one by one.
To slay the murderers, I have come.
Gong-thau, next, the vile louse!”
Sing followed the man into the house.
Unable to stifle his dread, Gong-thau let out a frightened whimper. The avenger threw open the pantry door to find the wretch crouched in a corner, partially hidden behind a stack of cooking utensils.
What gave him out? A fearful cry!
’Twas in the kitchen that he’d die –
Gong-thau: What cause have you to kill me, Boss?
Alas, my life ain’t worth a toss!
I’m your loyal servant, Factotum tried and true – Obeyed your every order, Did all you told me to!”
Tsiu Sing: So, now you claim you’re innocent?
Your guilt is plain, it's evident:
Then with a flick of his wrist, He gave the blade a nasty twist, Eliciting a strangled gasp –
The odious menial breathed his last.
Though the voice was her husband’s, the words were Guat-li’s:
Avenged myself, I have, this day, Torn the poison roots away.
Settled the score with all but one:
The father of my orphaned son.
But the dead woman relinquished her husband’s body and mind, returning him to his senses:
Tsiu Sing felt deep regret all that he had done, the love and trust he’d betrayed. The guilt and remorse would drive him to his final act.
Torn by sorrow, racked with rue, He’d but one thing left to do – Too soon wealthy, too late wise,
In parting, he sought to advise:
“In this life, our time’s not long, I urge you, men: do right, not wrong.
Ponder my missteps –
Don’t walk in my footsteps!”
His words echoed out into the night:
Tsiu Sing, Tsiu Sing!
Heedless, I danced to lust’s wicked tune – He without scruples will pay for his crimes,
I’m warning you, brothers, repent while there’s time!
Hear me, fellows! Heed my plea!
Or suffer what has come to me – By carnal love I was undone, Abandoned wife and infant son.
.
I leave this world a chastened man, Compelled to die by my own hand;
Surrender self to fate’s decree, Disgraced by infidelity.
Tsiu Sing then turned the knife on himself:
He rent his guts – Slash! Slash! Slash!
And blood ran red from every gash, And yet his corpse still stood somehow – And brother Kin, where was he now?
***
The festivities in Monga concluded, Ong Kin was on his way home in a rickshaw. He’d had more than a little to drink, but he was a man who could hold his liquor, and though slightly inebriated, he was well in possession of his faculties. When he got down from the vehicle, his step was firm and steady. In addition to the fare, he left the rickshaw coolie with a generous holiday tip. He was humming the melody of a song he’d sung with
friends earlier in the evening as entered the domicile; it had been a merry gathering.
Kin called out to announce his return but got no response. An unusual stillness hung over the house. He followed a hallway into the kitchen, recoiling at what he saw there.
Gong-thau, dead on the floor, Carcass splayed in a puddle of gore!
The door that gave onto the courtyard hung open on its hinges – perhaps a thief had crept in and, caught in the act of burglary, killed the servant and fled through the outdoor
enclosure, up and over a wall, escaping by way of an alley that ran in back of the property.
Kin dashed out into the open space:
A scene of wanton butchery, Out-and-out atrocity:
The sight of A-mi – windpipe severed, limbs a-sprawl – Cleared his head of alcohol.
Away in Monga, not weeks but days, What had gone on while he was away?
And what had been the fiend’s design, The hand behind this ghastly crime?
And Brother and wife, where were they now?
From front to back, Kin searched the house.
***
Ong Kin found Tsiu Sing in the room where, unbeknownst to Kin, Guat-li had died only days before. Bloody entrails spilled from Sing’s belly, his eyes were frozen in a sightless stare, yet somehow he remained on his feet. Then Kin spotted the bloody on the floor, and it all became clear to him. Beside the lay a blood-spattered sheet of paper, with his name on it.
Kin read all that Sing had written:
“By love for Mi-a I was smitten;
Wealth is what she married for, She loved me not, the greedy whore.”
“The son I abandoned, I leave in your care.
Raise him as your dependent, That he may carry on the line, My one and only descendant.
Kin made his friend a promise, Most solemn did he swear:
The boy would bear the surname Tsiu, His father’s only heir.
No sooner had Ong Kin uttered the vow, Than Tsiu Sing’s corpse came tumbling down.
When he’d reached the missive’s end, Kin dropped down to his knees.
“I should have tried to warn you, Brother – Would you have heard my pleas?”
I know full well what drove you to this – Your overweening hubris!
***
Ong Kin made the funeral arrangements. Due to the gruesome nature of the deaths and the many unanswered questions surrounding the incident, services were conducted privately and concluded quickly.
Three coffins were borne to the burying place, The dead interred with all due haste –
The graveyard was quiet, nary a sound;
Three wooden caskets were laid in the ground.
But lest this tale go on too long, The time has come to end my song.
Tsiu Sing had come to the end of his journey:
His grave unmarked by stele or stone, Far from family, hearth and home – A resting place for time eternal,
Through autumns dreary, springtimes vernal.
He set off full of good intentions, A country boy with no pretensions –
But earthly desires debased him, His beastly behavior disgraced him.
***
Acting at Sing’s behest,
Ong Kin honored his every request – He’d carry on the trade in tea,
Kin hired a nurse to suckle the tot, Still so very small;
He grew to be an affable lad, Beloved by one and all.
Acting in loco parentis,
Kin made the boy his apprentice.
And when the youth had come of age, Bequeathed his father’s estate.
After a few years, Ong Kin went into semi-retirement to spend his time doing the things he loved most – playing chess, chatting and drinking tea with friends. He turned the reins of the company over to the young man, who proved himself a more than able
administrator:
The tea concern grew larger still, For Tsioh was one of steadfast will – Endowed with sense and acumen, His dreams by hard work realized – Purveyor of exquisite teas,
Sold throughout the Southern Seas:
Hong Kong, Saigon, Singapore Jakarta, Manila, Kuala Lumpur.
Raised by Ong Kin – loyal brother! – The son grew richer than the father:
But Tsioh found worldly riches hollow, And chose the monkly path to follow.
I urge you all to Good aspire – Never give in to illicit desire.
I beg you not to think me rude,
But now, I fear, I must conclude.
A final word before I go –
It’s Lust that leads the way to Woe!
And that, friends, is the story of Tsiu Sing.
Coda:
Consumed, he was, by carnal fire / His life cut short by brute desire / Such appetites are never sated / Health and wealth are dissipated / It’s never too late to mend one’s ways / In righteousness live out your days!
Appendix B: “The Ballad of Tsiu Sing” (Chu-lin/Ng text) 周生過台灣歌 ( 竹林/黃版本)
上本 1
歌仔是阮親手編 專勸兄弟佮少年 一百外年兮故典 則編周生四句連
2
周生在厝真有孝 卜別妻父目屎流 台灣初次則來夠 伊對淡水起定頭 3
周生不仁佮不義 着月裡儂真慈悲 替君厝邊共借錢 夠台發達無想伊 4
父死過台卜探听 望君伊會來歡迎 手抱兩歲親生囝 揣無周成佮親情 5
換講泉州安溪縣 滯佇三都龍河村 周溫佇咧教武館
囝想卜過台灣 6
姓周 滯佇鄉里 單生成也一囝兒 月裡新婦細漢飼 安溪眾人都捌伊 7
周生心肝足煩惱 家內散赤卜如何 儂講台灣光景好 卜去船租錢又無 8
父囝對坐咧商議 儂講台灣好時機 恨咱家貧斷寸鐵 賢妻有身卜夠時 9
我妻有身得卜生 愛卜出外𧺣無錢 想着激心喉就滇 倒在眠床想規暝 10
囝汝愛卜去尾省 厝邊共借錢三千 出外錢着節咧用 有趁代先寄來還 11
周生就共老父接 好得月裡我妻兒 即層做汝免掛意 我會先寄來還伊 12
着即个好內助
借錢互我做船租 我若會得通進步 全是賢妻兮功勞 13
翁某兩儂在房間 月裡將話勸周生 有趁卜用恰儉省 共借先寄轉來還 14
即層做汝免交帶 有趁我會先寄回 父母放互汝奉待 着恰有孝則應該 15
丈夫身體着保重
出外厝裡看 着
唔成寒熱無滾笑 早暗咱着穿恰燒 16
月裡衫褲那咧款
卜互 翁過台灣
想著心肝誠散亂 單身出門無安全 17
台灣恰早生番岫 不比在佇咱泉州 所費汝着用恰守 衫褲包好互汝收 18
紲買一包茯苓膏
賢妻真 發落
入去拜別 父母
延延驚船搭 着
19
周溫勸囝着守己 出外咱著看時期 汝愛台灣做生理 全望神明相扶持 20
周生別妻佮父母
月裡叮嚀 丈夫
唔免掛念咱兮厝 吉人自有天上扶 21
周生改勸 牽手
結做翁某是冤仇 佫且忍耐恰屈守 有趁我會轉泉州 22
千言萬語講 盡
翁某離別卜起身 家中委託賢妻恁 着恰有孝咱雙親 23
勸君路上免煩惱 現在細囝着猶無 轉來着有囝通抱 家內妾身會伐落 24
交帶賢妻着會記 汝也有身得卜生 對頭話听會入耳 出外好歹由在天
25
看君去甲卜入霧 何時再佫見丈夫 月裡做儂真可取 只款女人世間無 26
船今拋着淡水港 看着海水白濛濛 起水台灣唔知總 初夠唔捌半个儂 27
初來夠台儂唔捌 台灣兮錢淹跤目 遇着親堂周阿六
共我 去滯台北
28
稅厝台北是真好 小可生理合伊熬 六哥替我恰煩惱 若無親堂厝稅無 29
出外咱着恰拚勢 無做事業儂看衰 就咧合儂賣雜細 初做度食三頓糜 30
雜細做了有進步 有錢儂着會曉舒 肖招就去開查某 一暗開去幾十箍 31
小可生理無愛變 出去合儂咧經絲 纏着市仔郭阿麵 放蕩無心想趁錢 32
守佇花間規暗頭 行甲規冥逐日抄 有錢花間暗暗夠 無錢得罪老蔥頭 33
老蔥儂叫規房間 無做事業閒閒閒 講着肖拍大家興 規陣等卜拍周成 34
眾儂看着周成來 規陣咧講歹東西 即帶算是花柳界 有錢有銀眾儂開 35
量早共我閃恰邊 唔通合儂店咧纏 周成听着面就變
罵 大家那牲牲
36
听佫應話迹酷刑 出手共伊拖咧舂 看汝有甲偌本領 跤櫼拳頭拍無停 37
一儂一下無讓手 簡那親像躂跤球 周成出生就喝救 台灣流氓誠虎鬚 38
今日為著查某害 是我自己做得來 想甲激心卜跳海 卜是有刀家治刣 39
決心自殺講唔畏 有儂合我來相隨 我是得卜來跳水 面前唔通共我圍 40
汝是為着哪一項 盍會想卜來跳港 迹寒落水是真凍 改勸朋友死唔通 41
好心汝着互我跳 無死即事難得消 因為資本夆拐了 了錢佫互查某僥 42
我也是卜來自盡
因為資本開無徵 了錢野恰無要緊 煞互查某看咱輕 43
若假安爾唔通死 汝我無差甲半絲 咱來結拜做兄弟
知通改過野 遲
44
汝我意思算真長 有命免驚無通向 卜算路頭是真遠 泉州安溪石牌庄 45
周生是我兮名姓 過來台灣想趁錢 因為綴着郭阿麵 錢了煞𡕗拍佮櫼 46
汝我平平安爾生 若有性命驚無錢 姓王名根我名字 算真兩儂運真纏 47
原早阿甜咧趁食
看我生理真 拚
伊厝合我肖隔壁 看我貨出規十車 48
查某海口外利害
三轉兩斡不時來
看伊儂範都 䆀
我則有去共伊開 49
果子家治佇咧配
果子家治佇咧配