劇情簡介
燈謎 馬文蕙 著
在夜市，阿方的妹妹心心帶來一盞燈籠。上面寫著一個複雜的字。阿方好奇地把燈籠帶回家，試圖解讀這個字的意思。他點亮了燈籠。
燈籠的光芒是召喚三位古代詩人的訊號：李白、李清照和武則天。他們看到召喚，來到了遠古重生之域。第一次見面，武則天便誇耀自己在世上所犯下的所有暴行。李白渴酒了。自從他死後，他就沒有喝過一杯酒。李清照還憧景著青春，美麗，和理想的愛情。三人都為能再次進入人界而興奮不已。惟獨缺少了一個主要的關鍵：他們的名字必須由另一邊的阿方喊出才能投生。
經過幾番思量，阿方終於解開了武則天的名字。武則天隨即被送回人間。然而，阿芳和心心被武則天的到來嚇得吹滅了燈籠。李白和李清照再也沒有回到人間的可能了。
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《燈謎》獲得舊金山藝術委員會的財政支持。
Summary
A Lantern Riddle by Clara Hsu
At the night market, a fortune teller writes an intricate Chinese character on Sum Sum’s lantern. Sum Sum must bring the lantern to her brother, Ah Fong, and ask him to decipher the meaning of the character. Ah Fong brings the lantern home and lights it.
The lantern’s light is a signal calling for three ancient poets: Li Bai, Li Chingzhou and Empress Wu Zetian. They’re roused from their eternal sleep and arrive at the waiting area called the Realm of Ancients Rebirth. Empress Wu spares no time to boast about all her earthly atrocities. Li Bai is starved for wine. He hasn’t had a drink since his death. Li Chingzhou still longs for her youth, beauty, and idealistic love. All three are excited to enter the human realm again. But there is one critical element: their names must be called by Ah Fong on the other side before they can be reborn.
After much thinking, Ah Fong finally deciphers Empress Wu’s name. This sends the empress immediately back to the human realm. However, Ah Fong and Sum Sum are so frightened by the Empress’ entrance that they blow out the lantern’s light, leaving Li Bai and Li Chingzhou without any possibility of returning to earth.
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A Lantern Riddle is financially supported by a grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission.
關於燈謎
語言是人類的活文化。嬰兒一出生便開始模仿聲音，然後世代相傳。漢語有數千年的歷史。在中國南方，粵語(廣東話)就是廣東人的血脈。
大家都知道廣東話有複雜的語調和犀利的俚語。它在人民日常交往中鮮活地呼吸著、脈動著。中國詩歌濃縮了語言的優雅，是漢語的最高成就。而廣東話的發音卻包含著中國詩歌的韻, 至今仍保留著許多古代的聲調和表達方式。它是我們語言的根源。
一代又一代的詩人透過文字，闡釋著他們所處的社會、制度、價值觀、喜好;農民如何耕耘, 巫師如何舞蹈, 朝廷如何漠視民心, 以及如何帶著破碎的精神去生活。
我懷著虔誠的心寫下了《燈謎》，提醒自己，雖然我們在日常生活中不會想到詩人和詩歌，但它們卻存在著，以成語和軼事的形式點滴在我們的意識中，伴隨著我們語言的傳承。
About A Lantern Riddle
Language is the living heritage of human beings. It is handed down immediately when a child is born and carried through generations. The Chinese language dates back thousands of years. In southern China, Cantonese is the lineage of its people.
The Cantonese language is known for its complex intonations and incisive expressions. It is the bloodline of Cantonese culture, living, breathing, pulsating through everyday interactions among its people. The Cantonese sound dictated the rhymes in Chinese poetry. While Chinese poetry encapsulates the elegance of the language in its highest form, Cantonese to this day retains many of the tones and expressions of the ancient times.
Through writing, generations of poets have illuminated the ancient worlds that they lived in—their society, systems, values, likes and dislikes: how the farmers farmed and the shaman danced; how the imperial court dismissed the aspirations and the hearts of its people, and how to live with a broken spirit.
It is with a reverent heart that I wrote A Lantern Riddle, to remind ourselves that while we don’t think about poets and poetry in our daily lives, they exist, drip-dropping in our consciousness in the form of idioms and anecdotes, as we carry the language forward.