Pekinese Rhymes/1

by Guido Vitale

PEKINESE BABY-SONGS

I

拉大鋸撘大棚
扯大鋸唱大戲
鋸木頭接姑娘
蓋房子請女婿
姥姥家小外甥
娶娘子你也去

NOTES

Singing these words, the mother or any elder of the family takes the baby by the hands and pushes him for and backwards as if it was really the matter of drawing a saw. 姥姥家 lao³ lao³ chia¹, the family of the mother's mother. 娶娘子 ch'ü³ niang²-tzŭ, goes to fetch the bride for her son, niang²-tzŭ is the name for a wife, and here it is used instead of 新姑娘 hsin¹-ku¹-niang², the real term for a bride. 撘大棚 ta¹-ta⁴-p'eng², they raise a large matshed. The Chinese houses have not generally large rooms, therefore in marriage, death, anniversary, and other occasions in which many guests are to be invited, an additional matshed is raised in the court-yard. 大戲 tā-hsī, a play performed in the matshed by hired actors, an amusement much liked by the Chinese, but which only rich people can afford to have in their houses. 接姑娘請女婿 chie¹ ku¹-niang² ch'ing³ nü³-hsü⁴, the grandmother with her family invites on this marriage occasion her married daughters and their husbands. 外甥 uai⁴-sheng¹, is the name by which a sister's son is designed.

TRANSLATION

(People) draw the saw―pull the saw—saw the wood―build rooms—the grandmother and her family go to fetch the bride―a large mat-shed is raised―in which a play is performed―and they come to take home the married daughters―and to invite their husbands―small nephew―do you want also to go?

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