The Scattered Flock: Part Five of the Marshes of Mount Liang

The Marshes of Mount Liang

by Shi Nai'an, Luo Guanzhong, John Dent-Young

"The Scattered Flock," the last volume of this new series of translations, contains chapters 91-120 that mark the disastrous end of the 108 heroes. The action in this volume can be divided into three the campaign against Tian Hu, the campaign against Wang Qing and the campaign against Fang La. It is in the last of these that the heroes of Mount Liang begin to die. Their demise is as haphazard and casual as the scattering of the flock of geese when the Prodigy shoots them for mere amusement. The themes of the vanity of human wishes and the emptiness of ambition are prominent throughout.

Genres: China, Fiction, Classics, Literature

484 pages, Paperback

Published April 9, 2003

About the author

Shi Nai'an (Chinese: 施耐庵; pinyin: Shī Nài'ān, ca. 1296–1372), was a Chinese writer from Suzhou. He was attributed as the first compiler of the Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature.
Library of Congress Authorities: Shi, Nai’an, approximately 1290-approximately 1365

Not much biographical information is known about him. Traditionally it was believed that he was a teacher of Luo Guanzhong, who was attributed as a main compiler of Romance of Three Kingdoms, another of the Four Great Classical Novels. Some modern scholars doubt that Shi actually existed, but was merely a pseudonym for Luo himself.

Reviews

[Timons Esaias · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, this is the final volume of the Classic Chinese novel Water Margin, known in this translation as The Marshes of Mount Liang. The outcomes in the last few chapters are a bit more interesting than the general run of the other chapters, as the great epic winds down, and the heroes start dying or fading away. There is, therefore, a bit more variation on the repetitious plots; but this is still the series television of the Middle Ages.

This volume has thirty chapters, which tell the story of three military campaigns, ten chapters apiece. Each section has a mini-biography of the head of the enemy force, showing how he got into that position. Usually the story is not unlike that of our heroes, but this guy will lack innate loyalty to the Emperor. He's just out for himself, unlike Song Jiang. The campaign consists of Song Jiang and the Unicorn dividing the army between them, and engaging in some form of parallel column attack. There are successful direct assaults, there are secret-agent penetrations of the enemy city, there are bouts of magic. All of these are preceded by the duels between leaders, with their repetitious outcomes.

Everybody was kung-fu fighting.

After each campaign the Four Evil Advisors to the Emperor manage to sabotage the rightful rewards due to our heroes. The Emperor finds out what they've done, but he never actually punishes them or ditches them. Our guys help restore the kingdom, and some of them achieve enlightenment, but most reap no lasting reward.

There is a classic beautiful passage that takes place before the last campaign begins. It appears in Chapter 110 (this is a translation of the 120-chapter version), when Prodigy causes a stir by shooting a number of wild geese out of the sky, killing one with every arrow, in a fine exhibition of hunting marksmanship. But when Song Jiang arrives on the scene he chastises Prodigy. He explains the excellence of geese, and how men should admire them. "This bird is an emblem of virtue. No matter if they're ten or fifty, the group is bound together by mutual courtesy, the seniors go first, the youngest follow behind, their flight is orderly, they abide by the rules of the flock. When they rest at night they set a watch. If one of a pair is lost the other grieves and will take no other mate all its life. It is a bird that has all five virtues: humanity, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom and faith." SJ begs Prodigy never to kill this bird again. And the whole tale may be reflected here, because Prodigy has scattered the geese by poaching on them, breaking up their order and formation, by behaving like the outlaw that most of our heroes started out as. But Song Jiang brought these outlaws to the defense of the greater good, the true Order.

What happens after that is another two-column campaign, this time south of the Yangtze, but it proceeds in a manner utterly unlike all that came before. Yes, our heroes try not to disturb the locals as they march through. Yes, our heroes are bent on victory. But before the campaign even begins, their numbers dwindle. Taoist Gongsun cashes in Song Jiang's promise to let him return to his Master. Several others are held in the capital for special duty by the Emperor or the Staff. And for the first time our heroes start taking casualties, losing (we are told without every death being explained) 70% of their number on the campaign.

I note that another difference in this campaign is that Song Jiang now rarely captures the opposing commanders and then releases them, feasts them, and turns them to his will. Instead he has the lesser ones executed in the camp or the city square, and sends the main figures back to the boss for execution at the capital, or the regional HQ. I assume that it's a theory that when the Heroes start killing all the commanders, the Heroes start dying.

In the end, Song Jiang and the Unicorn are betrayed by the Emperor; and the largely nihilistic worldview of the storyteller is maintained. There's the hint of light from the gods being happy about correct behavior, and the virtues of peace to the people at large; but that's about all the good that we see from this tale.

I'm glad to have read the five volumes, for historical and craft interest. And, yes, I'm planning to take on Romance of the Three Kingdoms sometime next year (but gonna divert to The Mahabharata first). The truth is, though, that it was a bit of a slog.

[Piper · Rating 2 out of 5]

a tough read, but fortunately with a worthy ending to the saga after all is said and done.
apparently the chapters that make up the first two thirds of this book are not included in many versions, and i have to say i agree with that decision. i struggled to find anything to keep me going through those sections. i ended up skimming quite a bit of the middle section and i feel i missed almost nothing in the process.

was afraid this would inherit many of the problems i had with the second half of part 4, and it not only did that but amplified them to a tedious extent. many, many repetitive battles between uninteresting parties with unemotional conflicts resolved too quickly and easily to care. occasionally something rad happens, like the cloud dragon battle between gongsun and the enemy wizard, but mostly it's rote descriptions of whose armies are standing where, or yet another swordfight.

the first two thirds aren't complete wastes of time: small character moments like the band of brothers excited by the beauty of individual snowflakes, song jiang's conversation about geese from which the title is taken. it's just, these scenes are more few and far between than they've ever been.

while the final third didn't fix all the issues i had with the book, i did enjoy the tone of it quite a bit, the dour inevitability of the tragic ending creeping up on the party all at once and song jiang left helpless in the center of it. the mood really carries this section well & in the end the last two chapters did affect me - honestly i found it profound at points, regardless of how i felt about the rest of the book, and after all i was satisfied with the resonance of its ending. i wish more of this book was like those final scenes.

in the end, anyway, i'm glad i stuck with the water margin. despite a lot of frustration to comb through i appreciate the experience in the end. taking the 5 part story as a whole, a story with this much going on in it, even if a lot of it is disappointing there's still a lot to love - primarily the first part, but individual vignettes and scenes from all 5 parts will stick with me. i pretty much never read epic fiction and struggle to stick with long books usually so i'm satisfied i went the distance, and hope to check out more chinese classics, though i may need to take a break after this one first.

[Mary Soon Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the final book of the five-volume Dent-Young translation of the Chinese classic usually known as "Water Margin," and includes a very helpful introduction. While I didn't care for this final volume, I came closer to liking it than I did with the middle three volumes.

The epic ends in slowly-unfolding tragedy, with most of the 108 heroes dying. Though they successfully quash a rebellion, few survive to be honored by the Emperor. After victory, Song Jiang, the leader of the 108 heroes, is poisoned by corrupt imperial officials, the same corrupt officials who played a villainous role through the five volumes. In a magical dream, Song Jiang reveals to the Emperor that he was poisoned, but the officials worm their way back into favor.

As the Dent-Young introduction says, "the novel ends in disaster for the one hundred and eight. Given the ambivalence of their origin and a good deal of their behavior throughout it seems the only reasonable outcome...." Their grim fate is indeed a fitting reward for their reprehensible behavior, yet still there is a pathos to the sundering of the heroes' fellowship, all the more so as the corrupt officials remain unredeemed and firmly in power.

It is clear that the reader, or listener, was meant to be entertained by the heroes' exploits, which contain plenty of action, humor, and fantastical elements. Alas, I found the heroes too unlikable to root for them, yet the story was of interest to me on several fronts: the glimpses it offers into historical China, its intent to entertain, its use of poetry, the inclusion of several prominent woman warriors, the fantastical elements. I note also that the Dent-Yong translation reads easily, and this edition is nicely augmented by Ming dynasty illustrations.

[Christopher]

It's good to read another mystical 108 story.

This is a little repetitive or formulaic for a contemporary reader but if you like medieval literature and wizard carnage with dream visions and military strategy, then you may enjoy the Water Margin.

[Helmut · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was bleibt am Ende?

Song Jiang aus dem Osten besiegt Tian Hu im Norden, Wang Qing im Westen und schließlich auch Fang La im Süden - und am Ende ist auch er nur noch Geschichte. Das Kaiserreich hat alles erreicht - die vier Himmelsrichtungen sind wieder befriedet. Ein Meisterstück der Minister, die die Banditen gegeneinander ausgespielt haben. Auch wenn Song Jiang als Held geehrt wird, bleibt dem Leser ein schaler Nachgeschmack eines zweifelhaften Triumphes. Wie Achilles für Agamemnons Krieg stirbt und dadurch nur dessen Ambitionen befriedigt, so ist auch Song Jiang letztlich nur ein Bauer im Schachspiel der Großen.

Der Leser, der über lange Strecken das mühselige Aufbauen der Räuberbande begleitet hat, erlebt nun in der Fang-La-Kampagne, wie sich die Gruppe wieder auflöst. Dies korrespondiert zu der typisch chinesischen zyklischen Erzählstruktur, die auch beispielsweise in "Drei Königreiche" deutlich erkennbar wird. Berühmtheit, Krieg, Freude, Ruhm sind alles nur Schall und Rauch und werden vergehen, und es beginnt alles wieder von vorn. Der Roman, der so fröhlich und unbeschwert beginnt, endet in einer recht traurigen, melancholischen Nachdenklichkeit. Die sehr einsichtige Anmerkung der Übersetzer, dass sich die Liangshan-Bande nur durch Song Jiangs Loyalität zum Kaiser auszeichnet, lässt einen spekulieren, ob die anderen drei großen Banditenführer nicht auch ein ähnliches Werk, das ihren Weg beschreibt, verdient hätten, und ob es nicht genauso spannend wäre, diese zu verfolgen - dadurch wird der gesamte Roman nochmals in einen größeren Zusammenhang gestellt, und dem Leser eben diese angesprochene Vergänglichkeit vorgeführt, die so ganz dem Leseerlebnis widerspricht - literarische Meisterklasse auf einer Subtextebene.

Auch wenn diese letzten Kapitel stellenweise anstrengend und wenig begeisternd zu lesen sind, da die Schlachtenbewegungen doch sehr prosaisch beschrieben sind, so tauchen immer wieder ein paar Episoden auf, die an die ersten Kapitel erinnern - die Vorgeschichte Wang Qings gehört dazu oder die Episode um Jade Arrowtip.

Die Übersetzung habe ich bereits ausführlich gelobt: für mich die für Laien zugänglichste Übersetzung des Werks. Mein nächster Schritt wird das chinesische Original sein, denn dieses Werk hat mich so beeindruckt, dass ich dabei bin, chinesisch zu lernen. Selten genug kann man das von einem Buch sagen, und ich hoffe, dass noch viele Leser dieses geniale Meisterstück der Weltliteratur werden genießen können.