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Re: 唐朝選詩 Selected poems from the Tang Dynasty

Author: CHUNG Yoon Ngan
Date: 06-24-11 00:34

杜甫詩 A poem by Du Fu (712AD to 770AD)

040. 禹廟(*1A) The temple of Yu

禹廟空山裏,---Yu miao4 kong shang li3,
秋風落日斜.---Qiu feng luo4 ri4 xie2.
荒庭垂橘柚,---Huang ting2 chui2 ju2 you4(*2B),
古屋畫龍蛇.---Gu3 wu hua4 long2 she2.

雲氣生虛壁,---Yun2 qi4 sheng xu bi4,
江深走白沙.---Jiang shen zou3 bai2 sha.
早知乘四載,---Zao3 zhi cheng2 si4 zai4(*3C),
疏鑿控三巴.---Shu zao2(*4D) kong Sanba(*5E).
..............................................................

The explanations in plain Chinese and English.

(1) 夏禹王的一所廟宇, 是在那空山的裏面,
The temple of King Xia Yu is in the deep mountain,
(2) 當蕭蕭的秋風起來的時候, 太陽已落下去了, 這裏已是久無人跡;
When the autumn wind soughs and sighs and the sun has gone down there will
be no one coming here. In fact for a long time no people come here..
(3) 祇見荒僻的庭心中, 低陲著許多橘柚,
There are only many tangerine trees growing in the desolate garden,
(4) 古舊的屋子裏, 繪畫著無數龍蛇.
Inside the old building there are numerous drawings of dragons and snakes.

(5) 雲氣蓬勃, 好像生在虛空的牆壁上,
The vigorous floating clouds painted on the wall look like real things.
(6) 江水深遠, 能走動浮泛的白沙;
The deep and faraway water of the river can move the white sand.
(7) 我早知道禹王治水的時候, 有水行陸行山行泥行四種載深的方法,
I already know that King Yu used four methods to tame the river by making
sure that boats could sail on the water, carts could travel on land, crossing
the mountains by animals and walking on the sand by sledge.
(8) 便可以將山水疏鑿相通, 控制這三巴地方了.
King Yu drilled through the Big Ba Mountain (大巴山) and thus he controlled
the land of the three Ba [3C]

Notes:
(*1A) 夏禹王 (The King of Xia Yu)

In about 2297BC, there was a strange phenomenon happening in China. It rained
non-stop for a long, long time and all the rivers in the land overflowed
their banks. Houses and farmlands were submerged. People and animals were
drowned and the survivors fled to the highlands. All the inhabitable land
was flooded. It was called "The Deluge 大洪水" by the historians.

Si Gun (姒鯀) was ordered by Yao Di (堯帝), the legendary chief of federated
tribes in ancient China, to take charge of the water works to dredge the
rivers. For nine years Si Gun failed to tame the rivers and lead the water
in the rivers to flow smoothly into the sea. Si Gun was executed for his
failure by Yao Di.

Si Wenming (姒文命), the son of Si Gun, was appointed by Yao Di to continue
his father's job. Water started receding after thirteen years of hard work.
The water in the rivers flowed smoothly to the sea and the land started
to dry up. The workers were rewarded with big stipends and awards.

In 2205BC, Yao Di abdicated and Si Wenming was elected as the new of the
federated tribes. Si Wenming was installed as Yu Di (禹帝) and he established
his capital at Anyi (安邑 the present day Xia county 夏縣 in Shanxi province
山西省). Yu Di founded the Xia Dynasty (2100BC to 1600BC).

(*2B) 橘柚 = 禹貢, 揚州厥苞橘柚錫貢.

(*3C) 四戴 = 夏禹治水時, 水行乘舟. 陸行乘車. 山行乘畜輦, 泥行乘橇.
戴身而行, 謂之四戴 (詳見史記)。

(*4D) 疏鑿 = 就是開通水道

[*5E] 三巴 (Sanba) = San Ba is in the present day province of Sichuan (四
川省)
The San Ba are: (1) 巴縣 (Baxian); (2) 巴東 (Badong); (3) 巴西 (Baxi).

Posted to asiawind.com
By CHUNG Yoon-Ngan (鄭永元)

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