View source for poetico-botanical problems


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Reply to Li Shuyi

Verlor meine stolze Pappel, verlorst deine Weide;

o Yang, o Liu: leicht aufgeflogen zu Neunten Himmeln.

Befragen, verhören Wu Kang, was er da habe,

und Wu Kang reicht ihn entgegen, Zimtblütenwein.

Vereinsamte Ch'ang O, breitet die weiten Ärmel,

in zehntausend Meilen des Raums für die treuen Seelen

zu tanzen.

Die plötzliche Nachricht: auf Erden ergab sich der Tiger;

in Tränen brechen sie aus, wie Ströme von Regen.

(Joachim Schickel)

I lost my proud poplar, you lost your willow;

o Yang, o Liu: gently soared up to Ninth Heavens.

Questioned, interrogated Wu Kang, what's there to give,

and Wu Kang offering them: fragrant-blossom wine.

Ch'ang O in seclusion, spreads her long sleeves in space

of ten thousand miles, to dance for the faithful souls.

The sudden news then: on earth, the tiger was to surrender;

and they burst out crying, with tears pouring like rain.

(tr. A.W. Tueting)

BTW, here's still another "poetico-botanical" problem:

kuei hua chiu/gui4hua1jiu3/gueyhuajeou:

How to translate this?? - "laurel brew", "fragrant-blossom wine" etc.

In this compound (gui hua), the word gui does not have the meaning of "cassia" ( nor

"cinnamon" as given in the German version), but that of "osmanthus fragrans" or "olea

fragrans" (in German: Duftblütenstrauch/fragrant-blossom-shrub) usually used for flavouring teas.

But, if trying to be correct *botanically*, the original's reference to the Chinese Sisyphos

(the man in the moon cutting the Kuei-tree over and over again) is getting lost! Yet, also

Mao's reference already seems to be wrong: but not according to Wolfgang Eberhard who states that the

cinnamon-tree/cassia-tree (gui) and their blossoms (gui hua) *are* "osmanthus fragrans"! Any

help? --.aulun.

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