Ballad of Mulan, Anonymous

[larryhammer]

Songs about Mulan were circulating in the 6th century, during the Northern & Southern Dynasties period; the earliest texts were set down in the Tang, but the oldest extant version (based on those Tang copies) is from the 11th century. Like all oral traditions, there are many variant readings, but I’m not up for any textual analysis so picked a likely looking base text and ran with it:

Ballad of Mulan

Sigh and sigh, and sigh again—
Mulan is weaving at the door.
They cannot hear the sound of the loom,
But only hear a daughter sighing.
They ask the daughter, Who’s in your heart?
They ask the daughter, Who’s on your mind?
“No one’s in this daughter’s heart,
No one’s on this daughter’s mind.
Last night I saw the conscription notice—
The Khan is mustering many troops.
There are twelve scrolls of army rolls
And scroll after scroll has father’s name.
My father has no grown-up son
And Mulan has no older brother.
I want buy a horse and saddle
And henceforth serve in father’s place.”

She bought a fine steed in the eastern market,
Bought saddle and tack in the western market,
Bought bridle and reins in the southern market,
And bought a long whip in the northern market.
Morning, it’s farewell to father and mother—
Sunset, it’s camp by the Yellow River.
She doesn’t hear father and mother calling her name
But horses splashing in the flowing Yellow River.
Dawn, it’s farewell to the Yellow River—
Sunset, arrive at the Black Mountain peaks.
She doesn’t hear father and mother calling her name
But sounds of Hu mounts neighing from Mount Yan.

Thousands of miles, they go to war—
Mountains and passes, they cross as if flying.
The north air carries the clangs of watches,
The cold light shines on iron armor.
A hundred battles, the general dead—
After ten years, the heroes return.

Returning, they meet the Son of Heaven,
The Son of Heaven in his Bright Hall.
The scrolls of merit unroll twelve times,
Rewards bestowed in hundreds and thousands.
The Khan asks her what she desires:
“Mulan doesn’t need an official post,
But just a mount that can gallop a thousand miles
And take this child to my hometown.”

When father and mother hear daughter is coming
They leave the town walls holding each other.
When older sister hears sister is coming
She stands by the door adjusting red clothes.
When younger brother hears sister is coming
He quickly sharpens the knife for the pigs and sheep.
“I open the gate of my eastern chamber,
I sit inside my western bedroom,
Then I remove my battle gown
And I put on my former skirt.”
She tidies cloud-hair by the window,
She puts on makeup facing the mirror,
Then leaves the door to see her comrades.
Her comrades all are completely surprised:
“We traveled together for twelve long years
But never knew that our Mulan’s a girl!”

The male hare has a twitchy paw,
The female has a narrow eye:
When two run side by side on the ground,
How can you tell the female from the male?

木兰辞
唧唧复唧唧，
木兰当户织。
不闻机杼声，
惟闻女叹息。
问女何所思？
问女何所忆？
女亦无所思，
女亦无所忆。
昨夜见军帖，
可汗大点兵。
军书十二卷，
卷卷有爷名。
阿爷无大儿，
木兰无长兄。
愿为市鞍马，
从此替爷征。

东市买骏马，
西市买鞍鞯。
南市买辔头，
北市买长鞭。
朝辞爷娘去，
暮宿黄河边。
不闻爷娘唤女声，
但闻黄河流水鸣溅溅。
旦辞黄河去，
暮至黑山头。
不闻爷娘唤女声，
但闻燕山胡骑声啾啾。

万里赴戎机，
关山度若飞。
朔气传金柝，
寒光照铁衣。
将军百战死，
壮士十年归。

归来见天子，
天子坐明堂。
策勋十二转，
赏赐百千强。
可汗问所欲，
木兰不用尚书郎。
愿驰千里足，
送儿还故乡。

爷娘闻女来，
出郭相扶将。
阿姊闻妹来，
当户理红妆。
小弟闻姊来，
磨刀霍霍向猪羊。
开我东阁门，
坐我西间床。
脱我战时袍，
着我旧时裳。
当窗理云鬓，
对镜贴花黄。
出门看伙伴，
伙伴皆惊惶：
同行十二年，
不知木兰是女郎。

雄兔脚扑朔，
雌兔眼迷离。
两兔傍地走，
安能辨我是雄雌？


(Thanks, WikiMedia Commons)

This is known as both 木兰诗 “Poem of Mulan” and 木兰辞 “Ballad of Mulan,” and while the former title is more common, this feels so so much like an oral ballad. The setting is the Northern Wei Kingdom (a historical twelve-year campaign against Rouran clans starting in 429 used to be one common guess of exact history, but the twelves and tens tossed about are clearly echoes for effect, not precise numbers), which was ruled by a Tuoba clan who were originally nomads from the steppes of Mongolia-and-vicinity (thus the ruler’s titles of both 可汗 “khan” and 天子 “son of heaven”).

The scrolls of army rolls seem to be a single list of households, each of which has to send a conscript, that has been posted twelve-or-so different places around town. The Black and Yan mountains are in what’s now Inner Mongolia and Mongolia proper, respectively. “Murder pigs and slaughter sheep” is an idiom equivalent to “slay the fatted calf.” A twitchy paw or narrow eye are the folkloric signs for sexing rabbits when they are picked up by the ears. It is possible the last four lines are spoken by Mulan, rather than the narrator.


(Are we still looking forward to the live-action Mulan remake? Yes. We. Are.)

Index of Chinese translations

---L.