| << Previous | Up | Next >> |
Pao Yu dreams that he is in an identical garden to the one in his own house. When he finds his maidservants in the garden, he approaches them. They seem to recognize him at first, but then they act confusedly and say "Oh I am sorry -- we mistook you for Pao Yu, our master, but you are not as handsome as he is." As the maidservants leave, Pao Yu is left dumbfounded and decides to follow them. He then arrives to a patio that seems very familiar. He goes up the stairs and enters his room, where a young man lies in bed talking to his maidservants. One of the maidservants asks the young man: "What are you dreaming Pao Yu? Is something troubling you?". "I had a strange dream. I dreamt that I was in a garden and that you didn't recognize me and left me alone. I followed you all the way to my house and found another Pao Yu sleeping in my bed". When Pao Yu hears this dialogue he comes into the chamber and exclaims, "I came in search of another Pao Yu, and it's you". As both men embrace, a distant voice calls Pao Yu from the garden. Both Pao Yus tremble. The dreamt one leaves. Pao Yu wakes up. His maid asks him, "What are you dreaming, Pao Yu? Is something troubling you?". "I had a strange dream. I dreamt that I was in a garden and that you didn't recognize me..."
Tsao Hsue-Kin, "The Dream of the Red Chamber"
Tsao Hsue-Kin (1719-1764), Chinese novelist, born in the province of Kiangsu. Ten years before his death he began writing the vast novel "The Dream of the Red Chamber", of which "Pao Yu" is just a chapter. Jorge Luis Borges, Adolfo Bioy Casares and Victoria Ocampo included a slightly modified version in their compilation "Antología de la literatura fantástica". In his "Textos cautivos" Borges writes that the topic of "Red Chamber" is "the degradation of man and his final redemption through mystics." Dreams appear frequently, and "they are intense, the more because the writer does not tell us they're being dreamt, and we believe they are reality, until the dreamer awakes."
Pao Yu faizode kuardeles uvaroda lizun bigni tugia varod muym yin. Jharim yivetebrid wuk yin uverodi mech ololunen. Kivakendeka estiva, sekeseke fene reore narowoceka mime mate wo "Ao solsolki e, kai su kai gurmo to jozimis Pao Yu, chebuluym khai, ime miba jo alde umas o mechde". Libetebridi ferim, Pao Yu sise ucakhamiamo, mime zedele nikudez. Mech mime se koldamo brirwo o sosoki biriakade. Dele weykes enteveyi mime wadele brir yin, o ka wima ve narmatade majama cuyenim libetebrid yin. As yivetebridi dace yikha wimi wo, "O faizode to, Pao Yu? Jho arse jho temusiakomo khu?". "Lifait druda zu. Faizode uvaroda edes ni jae alkhivakus ni ferku caka e jas. Zikudu jae solodelus minic guynnem ye, acheo jhoru erem Pao Yu je menda majam ye de." Ve Pao Yu keode yichuiwai wo sim mech wadele mor kaifi mime tumate wo, "Arsu dutininenim iterem Pao Yu, mawo jo mechde". Lisase kach gurdiwim, ghul ciruwa brude uBao Yu itae ferodi. Sase ka Pao Yu abre. Ka faiti fere. Pao Yu gamdabatamo. Betebridi dace yin wo, "O faizode to, Pao Yu? Jho arse jho temusiakomo khu?". "Lifait druda zu. Faizode uvaroda edes ni jae alkhivakus..."
1. The Infinite Dream of Pao Yu
1. Fait lagabat uBao Yu
2. Pao Yu dreams that he is in an identical garden to the one in his own house.
2. Pao Yu faizode kuardeles uvaroda lizun bigni tugia varod muym yin.
3. When he finds his maidservants in the garden, he approaches them.
3. Jharim yivetebrid wuk yin uverodi mech ololunen.
4. They seem to recognize him at first, but then they act confusedly and say "Oh I am sorry -- we mistook you for Pao Yu, our master, but you are not as handsome as he is."
4. Kivakendeka estiva, sekeseke fene reore narowoceka mime mate wo "Ao solsolki e, kai su kai gurmo to jozimis Pao Yu, chebuluym khai, ime miba jo alde umas o mechde".
5. As the maidservants leave, Pao Yu is left dumbfounded and decides to follow them.
5. Libetebridi ferim, Pao Yu sise ucakhamiamo, mime zedele nikudez.
6. He then arrives to a patio that seems very familiar.
6. Mech mime se koldamo brirwo o sosoki biriakade.
7. He goes up the stairs and enters his room, where a young man lies in bed talking to his maidservants.
7. Dele weykes enteveyi mime wadele brir yin, o ka wima ve narmatade majama cuyenim libetebrid yin.
8. One of the maidservants asks the young man: "What are you dreaming Pao Yu? Is something troubling you?".
8. As yivetebridi dace yikha wimi wo, "O faizode to, Pao Yu? Jho arse jho temusiakomo khu?".
9. "I had a strange dream. I dreamt that I was in a garden and that you didn't recognize me and left me alone. I followed you all the way to my house and found another Pao Yu sleeping in my bed."
9. "Lifait druda zu. Faizode uvaroda edes ni jae alkhivakus ni ferku caka e jas. Zikudu jae solodelus minic guynnem ye, acheo jhoru erem Pao Yu je menda majam ye de."
10. When Pao Yu hears this dialogue he comes into the chamber and exclaims, "I came in search of another Pao Yu, and it's you".
10. Ve Pao Yu keode yichuiwai wo sim mech wadele mor kaifi mime tumate wo, "Arsu dutininenim iterem Pao Yu, mawo jo mechde".
11. As both men embrace, a distant voice calls Pao Yu from the garden.
11. Lisase kach gurdiwim, ghul ciruwa brude uBao Yu itae ferodi.
12. Both Pao Yus tremble. The dreamt one leaves. Pao Yu wakes up.
12. Sase ka Pao Yu abre. Ka faiti fere. Pao Yu gamdabatamo.
13. His maid asks him, "What are you dreaming, Pao Yu? Is something troubling you?"
13. Betebridi dace yin wo, "O faizode to, Pao Yu? Jho arse jho temusiakomo khu?".
14. "I had a strange dream. I dreamt that I was in a garden and that you didn't recognize me..."
14. "Lifait druda zu. Faizode uvaroda edes ni jae alkhivakus..."
1. fait 'dream', from the same root as fit 'seeing'.
2. faizo 'dreaming' comes from the same root as fit ~ fi 'seeing'. Some dialects produce fricative mutation after the old aspirated stops (that's the origin of the fricative mutation after the genitive yi-), which would make this word a reflex of /*fe:d_hnO/, with the adjectival ending /nO/ as found in yerno 'pregnant, full', and reduced in gauro 'bounded'.
3. wuk means 'several, some', and is consistently in certain dialects and idiolects as an optative plural marker.
4a. Note the use of the 'seemingly' affix -ka: kivakendeka '(they) seem-to-be-recognizing (him)'.
4b. -oce makes an active meaning passive, for adjectives: narow 'confusing' ~ narowoce 'confused'.
4c. Idiomatic: kai su kai gurmo 'we came and thought' = 'we were thinking, we were wondering'.
4d. Idiomatic: ... alde umas o mechde 'not be... to the degree that he is', 'not be as... as him'.
8a. Note the syntax of the question, not unlike modern English: o faizode to? 'what are you dreaming of-what?'. Yivokuchi tends to repeat the interrogative pronoun in place, especially when it's inflected.
8b. temusia 'troubled' is literally te- (negative) + musia 'seated, sitting back, still'.
9. Note the tense syntax. Storytelling employs the copula in the present tense. The past tense zu belongs to the introduction.
10. cuiwai has cuy 'talk', apparently with the -ai suffix for verbal nouns (cf braomai 'agreement'). Note that -ai works on vowel-lengthened verb stems, so the medial /w/ may come from metatesis of *cuwy-ai.