Pekinese Rhymes/7

by Guido Vitale

VII

痲子痲
上樹爬
狗又咬
人又拿
嚇的痲子摔了個痲跟頭
痲大錢
買了個痲燒餅
痲子吃
痲子看
痲子打架痲子勸
痲衙役
拿板子
單打痲子的痲腿子

NOTES

This song is profusedly interspersed with the character 痲 ma² whose meaning is "smallpox." This disease is so common in China that very often children who have been sick with it and keep marks on their faces are familiarly called 麻子 ma²-tzŭ. Furthermore the word is used in other relative meanings. Here throughout these words, it is impossible to translate it always, as the repetition is done for the sake of playing on the word. The character I have written here is the regular one, but popularly the other character 麻 ma², which means hemp, is substituted for it. In the first verse it is repeated to intensify the original meaning, thus saying "much marked with small pox." 痲跟頭 ma² ken¹ t'ou², ken¹-t'ou² is a tumble; the word 痲 ma² is referred to the subject. 痲大錢 ma² ta⁴ ch'ien², so is called a cash when its surface is sugged, uneven, as if there were marks of small pox on it. 痲燒餅 痲² shao¹ ping³, a wheaten cake with an uneven surface, as it is when sesamum seeds are placed on it. 燒餅 shao¹ ping³, round wheaten cake.

TRANSLATION

The boy much marked with the small pox ― climbs up a tree ― the dog barks ― and people go to catch him. ― The small-pox marked is so scared that he tumbles. ― With an old rugged cash he buys a cake ― a small pox marked eats ― and a small pox marked looks on ― the small pox marked come to a fight ― and a small-pox marked advises peace ― small pox marked policemen 一 take the bamboo stick 一 and only thrash the legs of the small pox marked boy.