“your job is to protect your family & your family is everyone/power to the people: give it a chance”

[larryhammer]

Another follow-on from an previous translation. This is the earliest surviving literary retelling of the Mulan story, by mid-Tang scholar-official Wei Yuanfu (701-771). It adds a few details missing from the original ballad, such as why her father can’t serve, that have become canon. (If you’re interested in how the Mulan story has evolved over the centuries, this website is All About That, including source texts in translation.)

Song of Mulan, Wei Yuanfu

    Mulan is holding the shuttle and sighing.
    “I ask again, because of whom?
    I want to hear from whence these woes.”
    The feelings stirred are forced to her face.
    “Father is on the army rolls,
    Yet every day his strength declines—
    How can he walk for thousands of li?
    He has a son too young to go.
    The Hu sands sink both horse and soldier,
    The northern winds crack men’s skins—
    Father is old and getting feeble,
    He uses his strength to prop himself.
    Mulan will take his place and leave—
    Feed horse and ready arms, then go.”
    She exchanges her fine silk gown,
    She washes off her white face-powder:
    She spurs her horse to the army tents,
    With fervent sighs, takes sword in hand.
    At dawn they camp ’neath snowy mountains,
    At dusk they stop by Qinghai Lake.
    They capture at night a Yan brigade
    And also seize the Yutian Qiang—
    The general triumphs and then returns,
    Foot-soldiers head to their hometowns.
    When Father and Mother see Mulan,
    They’ve utmost joy, which turns to sorrow—
Mulan now must endure the faces of her parents,
So she unwraps her sleeves and tunes her strings to sing:
    “Before an ardent soldier’s might,
    I’ve now a tender girl’s appearance.
Our family raise their cups, congratulate my parents,
Now understanding men and women’s worth’s the same.”
    Before her gate, her former comrades,
    Ten years together through thick and thin—
    At first they joined a band of brothers
    And swore through war to never change,
    But now when they behold Mulan—
Although her voice is right, the look of her face is different.
    Amazed, they do not dare step forward,
    Their gasps are followed by happy sighs.
    If our generation had officials
    With integrity like Mulan’s—
    Loyal and filial, both unchanging—
How, for a thousand ages, could our fame be lost?

木兰歌
木兰抱杼嗟，
借问复为谁。
欲闻所戚戚，
感激强其颜。
老父隶兵籍，
气力日衰耗。
岂足万里行，
有子复尚少。
胡沙没马足，
朔风裂人肤。
老父旧羸病，
何以强自扶。
木兰代父去，
秣马备戎行。
易却纨绮裳，
洗却铅粉妆。
驰马赴军幕，
慷慨携干将。
朝屯雪山下，
暮宿青海傍。
夜袭燕支虏，
更携于阗羌。
将军得胜归，
士卒还故乡。
父母见木兰，
喜极成悲伤。
木兰能承父母颜，
却卸巾鞲理丝簧。
昔为烈士雄，
今为娇子容。
亲戚持酒贺父母，
始知生女与男同。
门前旧军都，
十年共崎岖。
本结弟兄交，
死战誓不渝。
今者见木兰，
言声虽是颜貌殊。
惊愕不敢前，
叹息徒嘻吁。
世有臣子心，
能如木兰节。
忠孝两不渝，
千古之名焉可灭。

Hu refers generically to the peoples of the northern steppes and where they live, Qinghai Lake was in the northwest frontier of modern Qinghai Province, and Yutian was a country even further west in what’s modern Xinjiang ruled by the Tibetan-related Qiang peoples. Yan usually means the region of the northeastern Warring State of that name, roughly Hebei + Liaoning, so unless Mulan’s army is scrambling across the entire northern frontier (and it’s possible that’s intended), it should be a generic “in the north” reference, possibly evoking Mt. Yanran (see 3TP #201). The sleeves are cloth wrappings worn to protect the forearm when you don’t have armor (you might have noticed these in Disney’s recent Mulan).

Can’t say I’m fond of the patriotic moralizing conclusion, especially compared to the gender interrogation of the original ballad. Overall I prefer the original, folk-process gaps in the narrative and all, though I do appreciate giving her a clear motivation.

---L.

Index of Chinese translations

Subject quote from A Pragmatist’s Guide to Revolution, Kyle Tran Myhre aka Guante.

Comments

[mme_n_b]

Thank you, and a separate, special thanks for the index.

[larryhammer]

Bu ke qi.

I try to remember to include a link to the index with each translation post. (The index itself is so I can find things, so I figure it'd be useful for others.)

[mme_n_b]

I tend to see indices as a sort of treasure map, so even if I don't use one right away it's a pleasure to find.

[larryhammer]

We likes the maps, yes we does.

[sartorias]

Ah yes, that one. The different versions are so interesting ins hat they reflect (distantly) about their times.

[larryhammer]

Yup. Very different preoccupations.