Pekinese Rhymes/24
XXIV
立了秋來立了秋
八月十五月兒照高樓
鴉雀無聲人烟靜
瞧見了兩個押虎子走籌
一根燈草嫌他不亮
兩根燈草又怕費了油
有心要買一枝羊油爉
怎奈我手中沒有猴兒頭
NOTES
立秋 li⁴ch'iu¹, the beginning of winter. 照 chao⁴, illumines. 人烟靜, jen² yen¹ chin⁴', men and smoke (houses) are resting； everything is quiet. 押虎子 ya¹ hu³ tzŭ, Peking street watchmen, kept by the Government to tell the hour by striking on a bamboo rattle. 走壽 tsou³ ch'ou², to take round by night time a bamboo tally from one watch-post to another. 一根燈草 i¹ ken¹ teng¹ ts'ao³, a lamp wick made of the stalk of the Juncus communis (rushes). 怎奈 tsen³ nai⁴, there is no remedy, no way. 猴兒頭 hou² 'r t'ou², a monkey's head, slang Pekinese term to mean money. Several words are used in the same meaning as for instance 大軲轆 ta⁴ ku¹ lu⁴， the big wheel. 官板 kuan¹ pan³, official stamp, stamped by the Government. Several terms cannot be written at all, wanting a character for them, not with standing I 、vill venture to write them down with homophonous characters. So for instance read ka〜 Ex. 我的 這個搭 連兒就 剩了叫 嘆了 uo^ ti' che-ko ta'-lien- ，r ciou' sheng la chiao huan* ka- la, there is noting left in my purse but noisy cash" meaning that the purse only contains two or three cash which at every step meet and ring. It is also said 古 Pg ku: ka-. Ex. 古 沒有 ku^ ka' niei- ioii、'， I have no cash. Another term is 侧 ts'o?, or 側 羅 tsV lo-. Foreign words are sometimes used as chi'-ha', the Chinese transformation of the Manchu word jiha "money" and chao' su'， said to be Mongol and generally used, peculiarly in the whole phrase chaoi sa' u kuei', which is meant for "I have no money" and is all in Mongol.
TRANSLATION
The autumn has set in, the autumn has set in ― on the fifteenth of the eighth month the moon illumines the high palaces ― crows and other birds are silent and men and houses are resting ― I have seen two watchmen who went round taking the watch-tally ― here, with only one wick in the lamp, I am sorry it is dark 一 but I am afraid to consume too much oil burning two wicks ― I intend buying a candle of mutton-tallow ― but, alas I I have not a single cash in the hands.