Cat Collab with China History Podcast

I recently got the honor of getting to come back on the China History Podcast over with the head honcho at Teacup Media. Here are all the poems and prose text that we read on the Catastic podcast (other than Xiran Jay Zhao’s, and her excellent translations can be found here). If you see any mistakes or have different interpretations, feel free to shoot me an email at: chineseliteraturepodcast@gmail.com. 

Kitty

Lin Bu

I catch a little fish out of the stream on my thin hook, 

and my cat, full, lies beneath the shade of flowers, happy as can be. 

Because of him, the rats are hate me and poverty never comes to my house, 

I am not ashamed, in my little hut, to hold an office without doing any of the work. 

猫儿

北宋·林逋

纤钩时得小溪鱼,饱卧花阴兴有余。

自是鼠嫌贫不到,莫惭尸素在吾庐。

Given as a Present to Mr. Pink Nose

Sunset after sunset, my cat tears apart mice frequently, 

angry, his whiskers, sprayed with blood, protect the leftovers of what I have stored up. 

How could he compare himself to the houses of rich cats, 

where they fill up on fish all day and sleep on the brocade cushion?

贈粉鼻

連夕狸奴磔鼠頻，怒髯噀血護殘囷。

問渠何似朱門裏，日飽魚飧睡錦茵

Big Rat

Fat rat, fat rat,

don’t eat my millet. 

I have served you for so long, 

but you have not taken care of me. 

I swear I’m going to leave you, 

I’m going to take off for that other happy land. 

Happy land, happy land, 

that is where I’m going to be. 

Fat rat, fat rat,

don’t eat my wheat. 

I have served you for so long,

but you ain’t done me any favors. 

I swear I’m going to leave you,

I’m going to take off for that other happy country.

Happy country, Happy country,

that is where I’ll find my reward. 

Fat rat, fat rat,

don’t eat my seedlings.

I have served you for so long,

but you still haven’t given me anything in return. 

I swear I am going to leave you,

I’m going to take off for that happy suburb. 

Happy suburb, happy suburb,

oh man, sighhhhh. 

魏風·碩鼠

碩鼠碩鼠，無食我黍！三歲貫女，莫我肯顧。逝將去女，適彼樂土。樂土樂土，爰得我所。

碩鼠碩鼠，無食我麥！三歲貫女，莫我肯德。逝將去女，適彼樂國。樂國樂國，爰得我直？

碩鼠碩鼠，無食我苗！三歲貫女，莫我肯勞。逝將去女，適彼樂郊。樂郊樂郊，誰之永號。

Requesting a Cat

Night comes and these fucking rats take advantage of my cat’s death,

They eye my jars and turn over my plates, messing with my sleep. 

I heard that your kitty had a couple of kittens,

I have some fish strung through on a willow branch, and I would like to hire one of your cats. 

乞貓

夜來鼠輩欺貓死，窺甕翻盤攪夜眠。

聞道狸奴將數子，買魚穿柳聘銜蟬

Thank you Zhou Wenzhi for Sending me a Kitty

Your cat has demonstrated he has battle skills, 

He is clearly carrying on the family tradition of the great general Zhou Yafu. 

With a thin meal of one scoop of fish, he is not satiated, 

he commands all the rat holes in all four of my walls. 

谢周文之送猫儿

养得狸奴立战功，将军细柳有家风。

一箪未厌鱼餐薄，四壁当令鼠穴空。

Teasing  the Cat

Mottled tiger like skin of my cat is clean and new,

they sleep pampered on the brocade cushion, like a loved family member.

The mouse crosses between the roof beams, his strategy muddled,

But outside, he goes to steal a chicken, this is too heartless. 

嘲猫

姚勉

斑虎皮毛洁且新，绣裀娇睡似亲人。

梁间纵鼠浑地策，门外攘鸡太不仁。

Sleeping Cat

There are grains in the bottles and cups, the rats steal them all,

the cats asleep on the bed and knows nothing about it. 

His helpless family still cherishes him,

they buy him fish and rice and raise him like a son. 

睡猫

胡仲弓

瓶中斗粟鼠窃尽，床上狸奴睡不知。

无奈家人犹爱护，买鱼和饭养如儿

Liu Ji – 郁离子-捕鼠

There was a person from Zhao who was suffering from mice, and he begged a cat from Zhongshan. The cat that the person from Zhongshan gave, that cat was good at hunting mice and chickens. More than a month later, all his mice were gone, oh, and also all his chickens were gone too. His son was worried about it, and he asked his father, “Why not get rid of the cat?” His dad said, “You’re thinking about it wrong. If we are suffering from mice, we don’t care if we don’t have chickens. Think about it, if we got rats, they steal our food, they destroy our clothes, they punch holes in our walls, they destroy our tools, and, with this, we will freeze and starve, let’s not be troubled by not having chickens. With no chickens, we won’t be able to eat chicken…and that’s it. Starving and freezing, that is way worse. What would we do without a cat!”

《郁离子·捕鼠》

刘基

赵人患鼠，乞猫于中山。中山人予之猫，猫善捕鼠及鸡。月余，鼠尽而鸡亦尽。其子患之，告其父曰：“盍去诸？”其父曰：“是非若所知也。吾之患在鼠，不在乎无鸡。夫有鼠，则窃吾食，毁吾衣，穿吾垣墉，毁伤吾器用，吾将饥寒焉，不病于无鸡乎？无鸡者，弗食鸡则已耳，去饥寒犹远，若之何而去夫猫也！”

Writing a Poem for Funsies on Getting a Cat from Nearby Village and Naming him Snowy

He climbs trees like a tiger, 

like a foal, he does not bear the burden of a carriage. 

Only he knows the empty rat holes, 

and he has no intention of eating fish. 

He often gets drunk on catnip, 

Night by night he keeps warm on the carpet. 

In a past life, he must have been my pageboy,

accompanying me from that old mountain village. 

得猫於近村以雪儿名之戏为作诗

似虎能缘木，如驹不伏辕。

但知空鼠穴，无意为鱼餐。

薄荷时时醉，氍毹夜夜温。

前生旧童子，伴我老山村。

Offering a Sacrifice to My Cat

Since I got my cat, Mr. Five White,

Mice did not attack my books.

This morning, Mr. Five White died, 

I offered a sacrifice of fish and rice. 

I buried him in the river, 

I do it to pray for you, not to distance myself from you.

Back in the day, you nibbled on a rat,

Gnawing on it, you would meow and circle the yard. 

You wanted to frighten the other mice, 

and to clear them out of my little shithole house.  

When I was on a boat, we would stay together in a room. 

Although my rations were thin, 

at least I didn’t have to deal having mice pissing in and eating my food. 

The fact is, you worked hard, 

harder than chickens and pigs. 

Lots of folks value animals that can pull a plow or drive a cart, 

they say that cats aren’t as good as a horse or a mule. 

WTF? I don’t want to talk about this any more,  

Mr. Five White, I will cry for you.  

祭貓

自有五白貓，鼠不侵我書。

今朝五白死，祭與飯與魚。

送之於中河，呪爾非爾疎。

昔爾齧一鼠，銜鳴遶庭除。

欲使衆鼠驚，意將清我廬。

一從登舟來，舟中同屋居。

糗糧雖甚薄，免食漏竊餘。

此實爾有勤，有勤勝雞豬。

世人重驅駕，謂不如馬馿。

已矣莫復論，爲爾聊欷歔。

Asking for a Cat

Wen Zhengming

I treasure the little cat that you gave me, 

my girl already laid out the carpet. 

Because of the cat, I can lie on my couch at night free of worry, 

especially in terms of that cat guarding the old books in my mountain studio. 

I hired him with a present of salt wrapped in bamboo leaves, 

On my record of meritorious service, let it not be said that I fed no fish. 

The flower’s shadows cover the ground, the spring games are about to begin, 

It is now time for the silk worm to hibernate for more than two months. 

《乞猫》

珍重从君乞小狸，女郎先已办氍毹。

自缘夜榻思高枕，端要山斋护旧书。

遣聘自将盐裹箬，策勋莫道食无鱼。

花阴满地春堪戏，正是蚕眠二月余