poetico-botanical problems
Reply to Li Shuyi
Verlor meine stolze Pappel, verlorst deine Weide;
o Yang, o Liu: leicht aufgeflogen zu Neunten Himmeln.
Befragen, verh�ren Wu Kang, was er da habe,
und Wu Kang reicht ihn entgegen, Zimtbl�tenwein.
Vereinsamte Ch'ang O, breitet die weiten �rmel,
in zehntausend Meilen des Raums f�r die treuen Seelen
zu tanzen.
Die pl�tzliche Nachricht: auf Erden ergab sich der Tiger;
in Tr�nen brechen sie aus, wie Str�me 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: Duftbl�tenstrauch/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.