User:Bob the Wikipedian/南山經

This translation is in progress. I am sharing my work so that others may enjoy reading this piece that has been hidden for so long from the western world.

Editor's notes

The particular version I am translating is one annotated by Guo Pu, illustrated by Jiang Yinghao and Wu Linfu, and engraved by Li Wenxiao. [1]

The 🟢 symbol (after a literal translation of Guo Pu's name) indicates where he made an annotation. My own annotations are marked by the 🟡 symbol.

The word "classic", though many consider it to mean "guide", seems to mean "sacred text". The views and beliefs expressed in this classic do not in any way reflect my own personal views and beliefs; I share only to preserve the stories as someone who values ancient lore.

I have in my research stumbled across various translations into English (including print versions for sale), but upon examining the contents have found these translations lack the basic translation wisdom I feel they should have, often settling on strange translations or even going with the bare minimum. For example e.g. a passage translated character-for-character as "horse with a white head" is more accurately translated as "horse with white hair" (in the same way that an elderly person has white hair; "white head" could be compared to the English phrase redhead, a person with red hair). That particular beast is said to have magical properties that promise one children and grandchildren, so it would make sense for the beast to have white hair. I have made efforts to check for compound words in as many places as possible to catch common mistakes like this.

As another example, the "scarlet-scarlet". Many translations I have read indicate the creature crouches when it walks and runs like a human, and that if you eat it you will run faster. These concepts seem fairly arbitrary to me, so I have done extra research to find out alternate meanings of characters, with Wiktionary being indispensable to this end. In my translation, I have found that "crouches when it walks and runs like a human" is better translated as "waits for people to walk by" and "if you eat it you will run faster" is better translated as "if you eat it you can have a nice walk"-- when read together, this must mean the creature sits and waits for people to walk by, and (if not eaten) will ruin their walk. Eating it makes walking more pleasant, of course!

I do not have experience with the Chinese language, but have a good amount of experience translating German-English, and have also done translations of obscure languages including Old Norse and Old Icelandic. This project is a slow and tedious one, but the longer I work on it, the more sense I make of it. - Bob the Wikipedian (talk)

Cover

 Front Cover

Complete Books of the Four Storehouses: Masters and Philosophers

Inside cover

 Page i

Complied by Imperial Order, Complete Books of the Four Storehouses

Masters and Philosophers

Classic^[1] of Mountains and Seas

1-3

^[2]

 Page iiComplied by Imperial Order, Complete Books of the Four Storehouses

Masters and Philosophers 12

Novels and Stories 2

Classic of Mountains and Seas

Strange Stories

1. 🟡Classic is a term used to indicate a sacred text.
2. 🟡The rest of this page contains text that the OCR didn't scan, probably describing the document itself.

Summary

Official^[1]

1. 🟡Partially untranslated content omitted. Generally talking about how children need to have something to read, and that this book of fairy tales fills that need. Goes on to say that grown-ups can imagine the tiny particles of energy and essence that make up everything in the universe, and how amazing that is, and that children need a similar wonderful thing to think about.

Classic of Southern Mountains

 1

Magpie Mountain

The classic of the southern mountains begins with Magpie Mountain. Its peak is the Caller of Waves, saying to the sea, "Come in from the west!"^[1]

• Caramel trees^[2][3]
• Gold and jade

1. 🟢The indulger is a Shu island mountain. The southern mountain's western shore also receives the western sea.
2. 🟡The word 桂 (gui) is used for this kind of tree.
3. 🟢The gui leaf is like a loquat; size: 2 chi long and wide. It is said the white flower has a slight, pungent smell. It grows in clusters on mountain peaks year round, evergreen, not mixed among trees. Mr. Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals call fragrant osmanthus gui.

Wish-for-Leftovers

There is a type of grass here which looks like a leek^[1] with a green flower. Its name is Wish-for-Leftovers.^[2]

• Eat: no famine

1. 🟢The word 韭 used for "leek" is a homophone for a type of beautiful jade. Pronounced like jiǔ ("nine"). The Er-ya says the leek is a grass which spreads quickly in the mountains.
2. 🟢Perhaps for making caramel tree tea

Wander Grain

There is a type of tree here  2like paper mulberry with a black grain-texture.^[1] Its four blossoms shine.^[2] Its name is Wander Grain.

• Fetish^[3]: no wandering

1. 🟢Paper mulberry is a mulberry with skin like paper. The word 榖 used for "paper mulberry" is a homophone for a type of beautiful jade. Paper mulberry can also mean anything with fruit like a paper mulberry.
2. 🟢Says there is light... like a brilliant red wood's brightness would shine in the soil. Also, this story... cf. the Encountering Sorrow classic.
3. 🟡佩之 throughout the classic indicates a person may use some part of an animal or plant as a fetish for its magical properties.

Scarlet-Scarlet

There is a type of beast here like a yu-monkey with white ears.^[1] It waits for a person to walk by. Its name is Scarlet-Scarlet.

• Eat: have a nice walk^[2][3]

1. 🟢The yu-monkey 禺 (yu) is like a Rhesus monkey with big, red eyes and a long tail. Today in the southern mountains around the Yangtze there are many. Perhaps it is not a monkey, but a 牛 (niu "cow"). And if they are shaped like cows, perhaps the picture of them shaped like monkeys is also the same mistake... It is pronounced like 遇 (yu "encounter").
2. 🟡It waits for a person to walk by . . . have a nice walk: This beast seems to be one that makes strolling through its territory generally unpleasant, although how it does so is withheld; perhaps it is bothersome, aggressive, or predacious. In a rather sarcastic proverb, if eaten, it evidently would no longer make walking by unpleasant.
3. 🟢The Scarlet-Scarlet yu-monkey beast that looks like an ape waits for someone to cross its path on foot. Also, this story... cf. Jing Fang Yi.

River of Beautiful Deer

The River of Beautiful Deer springs here ^[1][2]and flows west. It empties into the sea. From it branches flourish.^[3]

• Fetish: no gall disease^[4]

1. 🟡Deer: Approximation based on a character with multiple parts.
2. 🟢Pronounced the same as 几 (ji "bench")
3. 🟢Unclear
4. 🟢when one's gall ails

Courtroom Lawn Mountain

And east 300 miles is one called Courtroom^[1] Lawn Mountain.

• Yan trees^[2]
• White apes^[3]
• River jade^[4]
• Yellow gold^[5]

1. 🟢堂 ("courtroom") is just like 常 (tang "normal").
2. 🟢棪 (yan) is another word for "tough". Its nuts are hard and red but edible. Pronunciation is like 剡 (yan "sharp").
3. 🟢Today, 猿 ("ape") is like a rhesus monkey with big arms and long legs. They are nimble and quick. Their color: there are black ones and there are yellow ones. Their cry sounds like mourning.
4. 🟢水玉 ("river jade") is today called 水精 ("water essence" = quartz)... Cf. the above annotation about the trees, "river jade" could be a pile of red pine nuts that are eaten. See Biographies of Immortals.
5. 🟡Although 黃金 translates as "gold", I have preserved the color word here to differentiate it from 赤金, "pure gold", literally "red gold".

Mountain of the Winged Ape

Figure 1. Mountain of the Winged Ape.

And east 380 miles is one called the Mountain of the Winged Ape. Therein are strange beasts; 3the rivers, strange fishes.

• White jade
• Viper-creatures^[1]
• Strange serpents
• Strange plants
• Forbidden to go

(See plate 1.)

1. 🟢

Sun's □ Mountain

And east 370 miles is one called the Sun's □ Mountain.^[1] On its sunny side is red gold;^[2] on its dark side, white gold.^[3]

1. 🟢
2. 🟢
3. 🟢

Shu Deer

There is a kind of animal here like a horse with white hair. Its markings are like a tiger's, and it has a red tail. Its voice is like a song.^[1] Its name is Shu Deer.

• Fetish: Have children and grandchildren^[2]

1. 🟢
2. 🟢

Strange River

The Strange River rises from here and flows eastward into the Flying Law^[1] River.

1. 🟡According to Discord user onny, 憲翼 is used here to indicate the name of a river.

Spinning Turtle

In it are mysterious turtles; these are like turtles with bird's heads and hui-viper's tails^[1],^[2] and are called Spinning Turtles. Its voice is like splitting wood.^[3]

• Fetish: Not deaf, can be used for that^[4].^[5]

1. 🟡hui-viper's tails: A hui is a fantastical type of viper.
2. 🟢
3. 🟢
4. 🟡Anne Birrell translates 可以為底 to mean "can be used for calluses". Discord user `K confirmed that 為 can mean "can be used for".
5. 🟢

Root Mountain

 4And east 300 miles is Root Mountain.^[1]

• Rivers
• No vegetation

1. 🟢

Lu

There is a type of fish here that looks like a cow and is a hill-dweller. It has a serpent's tail. There are wings, and the fins of a flatfish on the underside.^[1] Its voice is like a zebu's.^[2] It is called Lu.^[3] In the winter, it disappears; in the summer it returns.^[4]

Eat: have no swelling sickness

1. 🟢
2. 🟢
3. 🟢
4. 🟢

Mountain of Barrenness

And east 400 miles is the Mountain of Barrenness.^[1]

• Rivers
• No vegetation
• Forbidden to go^[2]

1. 🟢
2. 🟢

Zhong

There is a beast here that looks like a raccoon dog, and it has a mane. Its name is Zhong.^[1] Since it is both female and male, eat it and you will not envy.^[2] (See plate 2.)

1. 🟢
2. 🟢

Basic Mountain

 5And east 300 miles is Basic Mountain. On its sunny side is jade; on its dark side are strange plants.

【□甫寸】□

There is a beast here that looks like a sheep with nine tails and four ears. Its eyes are in the back. Its name is【□甫寸】□.^[1]

Fetish: fear nothing^[2]

1. 🟢
2. 🟢