鸳鸯贾母首席侍女 · 29
Leaf 29 of the Red Chamber · 大丫头 Head Maid of the Dowager
Yuanyang 鸳鸯
In Dream of the Red Chamber 紅樓夢 (c. 1791) · in the Maids (丫鬟) · nicknamed 大丫头 “Head Maid of the Dowager”
She is the only person in the house who can say no to an old master to his face, and she pays for the refusal the moment her protectress dies.
The great deeds 大事記
- ch. 40
Three Calls of the Domino Game
三宣牙牌令At the Dowager's garden banquet she calls the domino-word game, standing over the table with a licence no ordinary servant would dare, while the ladies' answers turn frankly double-edged.
- ch. 46
Rather the Shears Than Marriage
鴛鴦抗婚Jia She asks for her as a concubine; pressed by Lady Xing, she runs to the Dowager, swears before the household to cut her hair rather than marry, and turns Jia She away in public.
- ch. 110
The Dowager Dies, the Shield Goes
賈母壽終She has spent decades handling the old woman's keys, money and words; when the Dowager dies in the middle of the house's collapse, Yuanyang is left without the only shield she ever had.
- ch. 111
Hanging in the Mourning Shed
鴛鴦殉主With Jia She's people circling again she makes good her oath: she is found hanging in the mourning shed, and the chapter sends her ghost into the Land of Illusion.
結局 The ending
On the day Grandmother Jia's coffin is carried out, Yuanyang hangs herself in the mourning shed rather than become Jia She's concubine. The text makes her a martyr to one sentence of refusal: chapter 111's title sends her ghost into the Land of Illusion, and nothing more is claimed for her.
The book itself: what happens, how long it is, which English version to read — The story · How long it is · Which translation · The lamp-oil night · The family tree · The first expulsion