Pekinese Rhymes/20

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XX


金軲轆棒
銀軲轆棒
爺爺兒打板兒
奶奶兒唱
一唱唱到大天亮
養活了個孩子沒處兒放
一放放在鍋台上
嗞兒嗞兒的喝米湯

NOTES

軲轆棒 ku1 lu4 pang4, a child toy, consisting in a short wood mace with a handle. The wood above the handle is circularly worked as to give the idea of wheels 軲轆 ku1 lu4. It is the imitation of an ancient Chinese weapon. 大天亮 ta4 t'ien1 liang4, when the daylight was very bright. 嗞兒嗞兒, tzǔ1 'r tzǔ1 'r, imitates the sound produced by the lips of a person who is sipping broth. There was no character in the dictionary for it, but I was forced to adopt the above written as corresponding to the exact sound and having by side the radical 口.

TRANSLATION

Gilt wood mace ― silvered wood mace ― the husband strikes the castanets and the wife sings ― and they have been singing till broad daylight ― and she has born a child, and there was no place to lay him ― and they have laid him on the kitchen-stove ― where he is sipping the rice gravy.