Post #4411087

Rhyming translation of the little song of an unlucky woman in the Book of Han: [context: there is a succession dispute over two princes with different mothers, because the son with less rank is considered a stronger leader. The mother with more power, the Empress Dowager, is abusing the other one, a concubine, while the sons aren’t home to see] Madame Qi sang while she was husking rice: “My son is a king, his mother a slave; oh how his comfort do I crave! Husk, husk, from dawn until dusk, With only Death beside me. Three thousand miles you went away; Who could I send to tell thee?” [The Empress Dowager, at least according to the story, poisoned Madame Qi’s son and then brutally tortured Madame Qi herself. The Empress Dowager’s son, the new Emperor Hui, went insane with shock at her cruelty.] #classicalchinese #translation