Pekinese Rhymes/6

by Guido Vitale

VI

小禿兒
咧咧咧
南邊兒打水是你爹
你爹戴着紅纓帽
你媽穿着乍板兒鞋
走一步
蹋拉拉
十個脚指頭露着三

NOTES

The Chinese boys generally as far as three years old have their hair shaven; therefore a common nickname for a boy is 禿兒 t'u¹'r, meaning a bald-headed. 咧咧咧 lie⁴-lie⁴-lie⁴, is imitative of the sound of weeping. The boy weeps and to quiet him the song is sung to him. 打水 ta³ shuei³, to draw water from a well, by a rope and a bucket. 紅纓子 hung² ing¹ tzŭ, Red silk twists fixed round the top of a chinese official hat. 乍板兒鞋 cha⁴ pan³'r hsie², old shoes with no heels; they are so called because the noise the sole produces slapping on the ground is like the sound of a Chinese musical instrument called 乍板兒 cha⁴ pan³'r, consisting in two small bamboo tablets strung together, which are shaken by the fingers in a similar manner to the spanish and italian castanets 踢拉拉 t'a¹ la¹ la¹, imitates the slapping of the shoe sole on the ground. 三 san¹ is here (as very often in vulgar language) pronounced sa¹, in order to rhyme with the precedent verse who ends with 拉.

TRANSLATION

Small bald-headed ― here he is weeping! ― to the South side it's your father who draws water from the well ― your father wears an official hat with red silk twists on it ― and your mother wears on her feet old shoes with no heels ― as she advances a step ― it sounds t'alalà — and of her ten toes three peep out of her shoes.