Re: Looking for Rhymes

["Dylan W.H. Sung" <mabr12@dial.pipex.com>]

Dear Florence,

Thanks for your message. I have CC this to the Hakka Forum where the audience
there may help further.

Hakka
1. cid5 gu1 xin1 , cid5 zi3 moi4
2. da3 hoi1 yuan2 mun2 loi2 zag5 coi4
3. zag5 yid5 pi2, liu2 yid5 pi2
4. liu2 dau4 tian1 guong1 ngid5 ga5 man1 yi2
5. ga4 dau4 nai4? ga4 dau4 vo2 cin2 boi4
6. gai1 gung1 lung2 gug5, giu3 tab6 doi4
7. ngo2 tiau1 sui3, ab5 se1 coi4
8. fu2 li2 sau1 fo3, miao4 cau3 coi4
9. ab5 ma2 jim4 sui3 dug5 mug5 soi4

Loose translation
1. Seven star Plieadies, seven sisters
2. Sweep open the doors to pick tea
3. Pick one shoot, leave another
4. Until the dawn when they'll be wed
5. Married where? To Rice Jar Village
6. Where the roosters dehusks the grain, the dogs do the pounding;
7. The geese fetch water, the ducks washes the vegetables;
8. The fox stokes the fire, as the cat makes the dinner;
9. And the duck gets soaked falling asleep

Some notes for those not familiar with our culture.
Line 4. Yi2 means maternal aunts, that is, the sisters of one's mother. So, if
you're a girl and you have sisters, everyone in your husband's families will
call your sisters "a-yi2", so married sisters are often called that.

Line 5. Boi4 is an often seen character appended to names of villages. It means
"behind", "back" etc.

Line 6. A "doi4" is a device which pounds, rather like a pestle and mortar, but
huge. We used to have one inside our village home when my great grandfather was
still around. Basically its a long beam with the pestle head attached to one
end. In the ground is a depression, where you put your grain and so on. To work
it, you had to step on the other end of the beam to raise the head and then let
it drop to pound the grain.

Hope that's what you wanted.
Dylan.

-----Original Message-----
From: Flornece <fiqa@bigfoot.com>
To: mabr12@dial.pipex.com <mabr12@dial.pipex.com>
Date: 09 August 1999 03:31
Subject: Looking for Rhymes


:Hi Dylan,
:
:I had browse though your web page and it is so informatic.  It must have
:taken up a lot of you time to put these information up on the net.
:Thanks.
:
:I am writing to ask for your help since most of my generation knew
:nothing about Hakka rhymes.  I am in the mist of collecting traditional
:nonsensical rhymes from all the different dialect group and it seems
:that none of friends are able to recall any of them.  Do you have any
:traditional rhymes?   If you do please share a little with me.
:
:Thanks
:
:Florence
: