第一回: Chunk 9
henning
July 18, 2008, 07:57 AM posted in General Discussion娲皇氏只用了三万六千五百块,只单单剩了一块未用,便弃在 此山青埂峰下.谁知此石自经煅炼之后, 灵性已通, 因见众石俱得补天,独自己无材不 堪入选,遂自怨自叹,日夜悲号惭愧.
My try:
Now it gets really strange. Not only heaven-fixing goddesses but also a whining stone in this one!
Empress 娲 only needed 36500 pieces, so only one piece wasn’t used. Then she got rid of it below the summit of mountain 青埂. Unexpectedly this stone, after it underwent some training, got a soul. And because it saw all those stones were used to fix heaven, and itself didn't have the ability to be chosen, it therefore started to blame and sigh. Day and night it cried sad in shame.
Breakdown:
Empress 娲 (娲皇氏) only needed 36500 pieces, so only one piece wasn’t used (只单单剩了一块未用).
Then (便!) got rid of it (弃) below the mountain (在 此山) 青埂summit (峰)
Unexpectedly (谁知, lit. “who knew?”) that stone (此石)
after it underwent some hardening/training (自经煅炼之后)
灵性已通the spirit (灵性) already connected (已通?)
-> it got a soul
因见众石俱得补天
Because it saw (因见) so many / all stones (众石) [-> and therefore the rest]
entirely (俱得) were used for fixing heaven (补天)
独自己无材不 堪入选
Alone by itself (独自己)
without the talent/quality (无材] it couldn’t (不 堪) be (入选)
-> all alone and without the ability to be chosen
遂自怨自叹
therefore (遂) it started to blame and sigh by itself (自怨自叹)
日夜悲号惭愧
Day and night (日夜) cried sad (悲号) in shame (惭愧)
liansuo
July 19, 2008, 06:31 AM
Good to have you here, Marcel!
re 灵性已通: I have become very fascinated by the idea of 灵 and its companion 通. It must be a basic one since it needs so many different translations and explanations. What I rather doubt for this passage is the translation "trained", implying some kind of personal effort. It sounds more as if the goddess forging or honing the rock, had inadvertently penetrated/imbued it with some of her life energy/spirit, giving it a fledgling soul of its own.
Before we move on too far from this strange passage: What do the numbers -- if anything – mean here? I am no good at this kind of stuff – but the 高经 in height十二 丈 12 times 3,3m, 方经, with a base of 二十四丈 24 times 3,3 m 顽石 boulder made of 36500 pieces of forged or hewn?? rocks – does it mean something mathematically? To me this sounds like time units.
henning
July 19, 2008, 06:41 AMMy collegue said those numbers definately have a deeper meaning and also come back later (in form of women).
This whole 女娲 / 灵性已通 feels a bit too Chinese for me, I am definately missing something - due to a lack of cultural and philosophical background.
changye
July 19, 2008, 08:37 AMHi henning,
I don't know much about 红楼梦, but probably 'the remaining one piece of stone' is the reason why this classic 白话小说 is also called "石头记". I've just got it. By the way, I read about 女娲 somewhere before. She is a very famous mythological character, who is a Chinese equivalent of "Eve" in the Western world. I guess that she is as famous as 嫦娥 (change2 e2) here in China.
marcelbdt
July 19, 2008, 10:42 AMA wild guess about the 36500 stones... The number of days in a year is 365 (plus about 1/4 day, but I'm not sure that Nüwa would be that scientific). The days divide the sky into 365 sections. This is the same reason that we have 360 degrees to a circle. The Babylonians who invented degrees of angles at the time seem to have thought that the year has only 360 days.
Maybe Nüwa needed exactly a hundred stones for mending every section of the sky?
About 煅炼 - The basic meaning of 煅 is "to forge" (like steel). From wikipedia:
"""(340 - 278 BC) author: Qu Yuan, book: "Elegies of Chu" (Chuci), chapter 3: "Asking Heaven" (天問, or Wentian), account: "Nüwa Mends The Firmament" detail: The name Nüwa first appeared here. This story states that Nüwa molded figures from the yellow earth, giving them life and the ability to bear children. Demons then fought and broke the pillars of the Heavens. Nüwa worked unceasingly to repair the damage, melting down the five-coloured stones to mend the Heavens."""
So she was melting stones - wich I suppose means that she was casting or forging them.
marcelbdt
July 18, 2008, 10:39 PMI have been away from the magic net for a couple of weeks, else I would have posted in this group before.
埂 seems to be a ridge between fields, maybe it means a mountain ridge here?
灵性已通 I would guess "intelligence penetrated it" - wenlin quotes Karlgren for the meaning "penetrate,pervade" of 通.
独自己无材不 堪入选 According to the excellent dictionary at http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw, 不 堪 actually can mean precisely "not qualified" :
不能勝任。三國演義˙第十一回：「老夫年邁，二子不才，不堪國家重任。」紅樓夢˙第六十三回：「究竟賈府二宅皆有先人當年所獲之囚，賜為奴隸，只不過令其飼養馬匹，皆不堪大用。」