In the tenth year of Tang Xuanzong's Tianbao (751), it was time for another year of scientific examinations, and candidates from all over the country marched to Chang'an.
On this day, one of the candidates stayed at a hotel.
At night, the moon was very bright, and he couldn't sleep and was very bored, so he simply took advantage of the bright moonlight to go out for a walk.
He was pacing, when suddenly, an ethereal and distant chanting sounded in his ears, vague and unclear.
He pricked up his ears and listened carefully, but only listened to the man chanting over and over again--"At the end of the song, no one is seen, and there are several peaks on the river."
He subconsciously looked around, but saw that the courtyard was silent and the moon was clear, and there was no one but him.
For a moment, I was surprised and confused, and I almost thought I had a big dream.
Finally, it was time for the scientific examination, and the title of the examination was called "Xiangling Drum ser", which required the writing of a five-word rhythm.
The story of "Xiangling Guser", which he is very familiar with, tells the poignant legend of Emperor Shun and Empress Dowager Ying in ancient times.
According to legend, when Emperor Yao was the leader of the tribe, he saw that Da Shun (that is, the One who ruled the water) had both moral integrity and ability, and won the hearts of the people, so he married his two daughters, Empress Dowager Ying, to him, and gave him the position of chief.
After 39 years of emperor Shun's reign, he went to the Yangtze River for one year to inspect, and unfortunately died in the wilderness of Cangwu and was buried on the Nine Ridges Mountain.
Empress Dowager Ying was overwhelmed with grief when she heard the bad news, and they stood on the edge of the Xiang River, tears spilling on the bamboo, and since then there have been tear marks on the bamboo.
They finally jumped into the rolling Xiangjiang River and transformed into the Xiangjiang Goddess, leaving a poignant story for future generations.
When the examinee looked at this topic, he suddenly remembered the two poems he heard that moonlit night, so he no longer hesitated, and with a stroke of pen and ink, a poem flowed on the white paper.
Before the exam time was over, he turned in his papers in advance.
The invigilator took this thin test paper and casually looked at it, and ten words suddenly came into his eyes, and he couldn't help but clap the case and exclaim:
"Such a wonderful and ethereal ending can only be written with the help of gods and creatures!"
In that year's provincial examination, the candidates won in one fell swoop, and thus became famous. (This story is from the Old Book of Tang and the Biography of Qian Hui, and is just a legend.) ）
This candidate is Qian Qi, the head of the Tang Dynasty's "Ten Talents of the Great Calendar", and the name of this poem is called "Provincial Examination Xiangling Drum ser":
Good drum cloud and Ser, often heard of the emperor's spirit.
Feng Yikong danced by himself, and Chu Ke was unbearable.
Bitter tune miserable golden stone, clear sound into the meditation.
Cang Wu came to complain, and Bai Zhi moved Fangxin.
The flowing water spreads to Xiaopu, and the sad wind passes through the cave court.
Qu finally disappeared, and several peaks on the river were green.
"Good drum cloud and se, often heard of the emperor's spirit." Feng Yikong danced by himself, and Chu Ke was unbearable. ”
"Yunhe", the name of the mountain, is famous for producing the qinser, and was later used as a good name for musical instruments. "Feng Yi", the legendary name of the river god, "Chu Ke", The Han Dynasty Jia Yi was once demoted to Changsha for three years, and later it was generally referred to as a person who degraded Chu Land.
The first two sentences of the poem are tightly related to the title of "Xiangling Drum ser", pointing out the legend that the Xiangshui goddess is good at drumming.
The goddess landed on the shore of the Xiangshui River, her face full of sorrow, and gently played the clouds and the ser, and the voice of sorrow was lingering and weeping.
The sound alarmed the river god Feng Yi, making him can't help but dance on the water; the tune was low and mournful, so that Chu Ke's heart also flooded with layers of waves, and the pain of depreciation and the desolation of the detention brigade were all in his heart for a while.
"Bitter tune miserable golden stone, clear sound into the meditation." Cang Wu came to complain, and Bai Zhi moved Fangxin. The flowing water spreads to Xiaopu, and the sad wind passes through the cave court. ”
The middle 6 sentences deliberately render the appeal of the sound, and the poet allows his imagination to float freely.
The mournful drumming sounded, circling back and forth on both sides of the Xiangshui River, the cangwu wilderness, and the Dongting Lake.
The kind of deep mourning seems to make the hard golden stone miserable; the kind of clarity and loudness seems to resound through the clouds and penetrate the darkness.
The music reached the wilderness of Cangwu, and even the spirit of the Emperor Shun, who rested on the Nine Ridges Mountain, was touched by it, and gave birth to feelings of mourning and admiration; Bai Zhi, who grew up in the Cangwu area, also revealed more Qingfen because of this music.
In this way, the music spread along the flowing water to the Xiang River, turning into a sad wind and flying over the faint Dongting Lake, making the heavens and the earth sad, and making the grass and trees also moved.
"At the end of the song, no one is seen, and there are several peaks on the river."
At the end of the song, the figure of the Xiangshui goddess of the drum was no longer visible, and the fog on the river had faded, leaving only a river of water and a few green mountains.
The last two sentences can be described as a song that has been sung for eternity.
Extremely pure and bright pictures, splashed ink landscape painting-like artistic conception, but bring people infinite deep sorrow. Like the end of all the stories, the tea is cold and the willows are on the moon.
The Si people are gone, only the remaining flowing water veins and green mountains.
Although the words are exhausted, and the afterglow is still lingering, how many feelings of mourning and compassion are contained in the depths of that green mountain, and the thoughts are endless...
【Copyright Notice】This article is originally published by Poetry World, author: Ye Han.