英译《翩翩》Pianpian, the Fairy ，唯美MV，致敬刀郎

This song sings of the Taoist idea that life itself is more important than worldly successes. In the book Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio by Pu Songling (1640-1715) Pianpian is a fairy, who heals a young man who has wasted his health and money in a brothel. She feeds him and changes water to wine with her magic jar and makes him clothes with green plantain leaves. They fall in love and live together in a cave. When another fairy is visiting them, he covets her. His clothes immediately change to leaves. He suppresses his lust, and the leaves change back to clothes. The two fairies make fun of him in a light vein that he should freeze to death. Pianpian continues to treat him well, and they have a son. When the son is 14, he marries the daughter of the other fairy. Life is perfect but he misses his worldly life and goes to visit his hometown with his son and daughter-in-law. When he comes back to the cave, Pianpian is gone for good.

Handan Dream mentioned in the song is another story written hundreds of years earlier than Pianpian. It’s about a poor lad who meets an immortal in an inn on his way to the capital for the national examination. The immortal gives him a pillow, and the lad falls asleep on it while dinner is being cooked. He dreams that he tests into the officialdom and becomes the prime minister. Then he indulges too much in lust and dies early. He wakes up in misery while the dinner is not ready yet. He realizes his endeavor for success is meaningless. Life itself is more important. However, how many men takes this lesson? Very few.

The song is based on these stories but not entirely about them. To test into the officialdom is the most ambitious dream for most Chinese people in the past, and it represents the greatest ambition of most Chinese people even today. In their endless and useless endeavors, how sweet it is to relax once in a while! Don’t they know enjoying life itself is more important than seeking worldly successes and fame? Alas, they don’t. Not even when Pianpian has offered a man such an immortal life, does he not fully appreciate it. Even though Lan Caiho, the immortal, sings on the market about human follies, they do not listen and still seek their stupid dreams.

仙女翩翩挽救富家公子罗生，而罗生仍留恋尘世，仙人蓝采和醉歌以及黄粱美梦这些故事我们都熟悉，中文可以简断洁说。科考进入官场是中国人自隋唐以来的最大梦想，是代表中国人奋斗而成功的典型途径。在这无休止却往往无效的奋斗中，睡个懒觉是多么惬意！但人们往往忘记享受生命本身比追求世俗的成功和名利更重要。很少有人能像卢生那样经过一枕黄粱而醒悟。哪怕有蓝采和的警世醉歌，人们也不听。甚至有翩翩提供仙人生活，罗生还是脱不了凡俗。

《翩翩》
“Pianpian, the Fairy”

谁不是错过了四下报更的鼓声
Who has never missed the predawn drum in his slumber?
总有人偷偷拨弄镜月的指针
Someone always changes the clock hands in his chamber.
罂缶的酒瓶化来绮纨与楼阁
The endless wine changes into fine clothes and a grand house.
绿芭蕉红樱桃孑然一身的过来人
Between green leaves and red cherries transits the lone spouse.

未曾走到绝境路彼岸花不开
Before getting to the end the bloom won’t be pretty.
辛酸只为长安远倒卧在琼台
Pity is he who falls on the way to Chang’an City!
小心那流射的海市售卖开花杖
Avoid the flower wands sold on the mirage market.
辽遥的天河啊纷纷流淌的挽歌郎
The river of time has washed away many a kid.

蓝采和啊醉酒当歌
As Immortal Lan Caiho sings intoxicatingly:
红颜易老转眼桑田泛清波
The youth is soon gone, the land transforms to the sea.

她也曾是越过了银河万里的荒原
Pianpian has transcended the void from the Milky Way.
他也曾是划破了绚烂流落在人间
The lad has been rich but falls here in rags today.
唯有那不眠的凭栏与情仇依舍
Everyone is gone; only love and hate remain.
是云摇是雨散都在同一个摇篮
Cloud or rain, all feelings, fall onto the same plain.

邯郸梦啊古今同
Handan dream, alas, is always the same.
荣华易去青山处处英雄冢
The fame and wealth of great men all burn in the flame.

蓝采和醉酒当歌
As Immortal Lan Caiho sings intoxicatingly:
红颜易老转眼桑田泛清波
The youth is soon gone, the land transforms to the sea.

2023年9月17日

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdiIMUCJdvU