— 21 —
bedding? ― I have for bedding a goat's skin ― what have you for coverlet? ― I have a dog's skin ― what have you for pillow? ― I have a linen-beater ― the father-in-law takes up in his hands as many bricks as could form a pile ― the mother-in-law holds up in her hands a row of whips ― and they beat the wife so that she runs away as quickly as a stream of smoke.
XII
寒鴉兒寒鴉兒過
一遍打十個
熬着吃
煑着吃
剝了皮兒更好吃
NOTES
寒鴉兒 han2 ya1'r' is the Corvus monedula, a white breasted crow; a large number of them comes to Peking from the North, at the beginning of winter, and their first apparition is greeted by the Pekinese boys with these verses who are however too gastronomic to be sentimental. The flesh of these crows is eatable, but the taste for it is not general. 一遍 i1 pien4, at one time. 剝 puo1 is read vulgarly pao2.
