空山靈雨 Empty Mountain, Spiritual Rain11 / 45

蜜蜂和農人 The Bee and the Farmer

蜜蜂和農人Bees and Farmers

蜜蜂和农人

雨剛晴，蝶兒沒有簑衣，不敢造次出來，可是瓜棚底四圍，已滿唱了蜜蜂底工夫詩：The rain had just cleared; the butterflies, having no straw raincoats, dared not venture out rashly — but all around the melon trellis, the bees were already singing their work-song to the full:

雨刚晴，蝶儿没有蓑衣，不敢造次出来，可是瓜棚底四围，已满唱了蜜蜂底工夫诗：

『彷彷，徨徨！"Fluttering, faltering!徨徨，彷彷！Faltering, fluttering!

生就是這樣，徨徨，彷彷！Life is just like this — faltering, fluttering!

生就是这样，徨徨，彷彷！

趁機會把蜜釀．Seize the chance and make the honey.

趁机会把蜜酿．

大家幫幫忙；Everyone lend a hand;

大家帮帮忙；

別誤了好時光．don't let the good hours slip by.

别误了好时光．

彷彷，徨徨！Fluttering, faltering!徨徨，彷彷！』Faltering, fluttering!"

蜂雖然這樣唱，那底下坐着三四個農夫却各人擔着煙管在那里閒談．Though the bees sang like this, sitting below them were three or four farmers, each holding his pipe, chatting idly there.

蜂虽然这样唱，那底下坐着三四个农夫却各人担着烟管在那里闲谈．

人底壽命比蜜蜂長，不必像他們那麼忙麽？A man's life is longer than a bee's — need he be as busy as they are?未必如此．不過農夫們不懂他們底歌就是了．但農夫們工作時，也會唱底．他們唱底是：Not necessarily so. It's only that the farmers don't understand the bees' song. But when the farmers work, they too sing. What they sing goes:

人底寿命比蜜蜂长，不必像他们那么忙么？未必如此．不过农夫们不懂他们底歌就是了．但农夫们工作时，也会唱底．他们唱底是：

『村中鷄一鳴，"When the village cock crows once,

『村中鸡一鸣，

陽光便上升．the sunlight begins to rise.

阳光便上升．

太陽上昇好插秧．With the sun risen, it's good for transplanting the rice seedlings.

太阳上升好插秧．

禾秧要水養，The seedlings need water to nourish them,

禾秧要水养，

各人還爲踏車忙．so everyone is busy treading the water-wheel.

各人还为踏车忙．

東家莫截西家水；The house to the east must not cut off the water of the house to the west;

东家莫截西家水；

西家不借束家糧．the house to the west will not lend grain to the house to the east.

西家不借束家粮．

各人只爲各人忙——Each person is busy only for himself——

各人只为各人忙——

「各人自掃門前雪，"Each man sweeps only the snow before his own door,

「各人自扫门前雪，

不管他人瓦上霜．」and troubles not over the frost on another's roof tiles."

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What it’s about

As rain clears, bees fill the air around a melon shelter with a work song urging one another to seize the moment, make honey together and not waste good weather. Beneath them three or four farmers sit smoking and chatting. The narrator first wonders whether humans can idle because their lives are longer, then rejects that explanation: the farmers simply do not understand the bees' song. Yet when the farmers work, they too sing, and their song begins with sunrise, transplanting rice and the shared labor of operating waterwheels.

The apparent parallel breaks at the farmers' refrain. East must not cut off west's water, west will not lend east grain and everyone stays busy only for himself, summed up by the proverb about sweeping one's own doorstep while ignoring frost on another's roof. Bees make collective labor sound instinctive; human cultivation depends on resources whose division creates rivalry. Xu does not merely shame the resting farmers, since their own song knows exactly how work is organized. The fable asks why beings capable of articulating cooperation are also capable of making isolation into common sense.

When it was written 背景

Work songs were a familiar feature of rural labor and an important object for early twentieth-century folklorists, who treated oral song as a record of ordinary social life. Xu builds a literary imitation through repeated sounds and alternating lines, contrasting the bees' communal hive with farmers divided by property, irrigation and debt. Paddy agriculture often required coordinated control of water, so the dispute over blocking channels is material rather than a vague moral failure. The closing proverb usually reads “each sweeps the snow before his own door”; Xu's version makes that ethic the farmers' chorus. Period readers could hear both a call for social cooperation and a critique of individualism. Learners should read the two songs aloud: their similar rhythm makes the opposing economies especially clear.

Words in this chapter 生词