The Oil Vender and the Courtesan

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E-mail: [email protected]

2009 9 193-204

The oil vendor and the courtesan: Tales from the Ming Dynasty 1

Ted Wang

Chen Chen 2Wang & Chen, 2007, pp. ix-xii

The Oil Vendor and the Courtesan

Feng Menglong

Ted Wang, Chen Chen

New York, Welcome Rain Publishers

2007

271

ISBN1566491398

14


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John Lyman Bishop 1956 The colloquial short story in China: A study ofthe San-Yen collectionsCyril Birch 1950 Stories from aMing collection 1978

Traditional Chinese stories: Themes and variationsAnne E. McLaren The Chinese femme fatale: Storiesfrom the Ming period1994

1979 258

Traditional Chinese stories: Themes and variationsPreface

Lau & Ma, 1978, p.

vii


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Ted Wang Chen Chen

absolute freedomwith no restraintsfromarcane academic conventionsWang & Chen, 2007, p. ix

The oil vendor and the courtesan

informatively spice up their reading listspp. ix-xip. xii



Ted Wang Chen Chen The oi l vendor and the courtesan

The Oil Vendor and the Courtesan1


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In the last years of the Song Dynasty, Emperor Huizong placed his trust in

a covey of corrupt ministers. Neglecting affairs of state, he emptied the empires

coffers to build parks and gardens for himself and frittered away his time in

revelry.p. 3


a covey of corrupt

ministers


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This is the story of a servant who single-handedly helped his widowed mistress

set up a prosperous family business, married out her three daughters, and

obtained wives for the two young masters, but had not an iota of wealth to his

name when he died. To this day, his name remains inscribed in the annals of

history.

The events in this story took place during the reign of Emperor Jianjing of the

current Ming Dynastyp. 73

The faithful old servant loyalty, p.92

The oil vendor and the courtesanCudgelingher brains, Widow Sun came up with an idea. Can you guess what it was?

p.



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Peter Newmark

Newmark SL

2005 61-62





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Pei the Ninth advanced on his knees and said, This humble person s name

is Pei the Ninth. I have one son, whose name is Pei Zheng, and who was en-

gaged to Liu the Elders daughter Huiniang when the two were quite young.

p. 121

this small person

So he corrected himself at the last moment and said, This small person saw

this lthy thing lying by the roadside. Finding it objectionable, I threw it into

the river. I do not know where it came from.p. 217

humble abode

The woman asked, May I ask this young master his family and given name?

Xu Xuan replied, This humble person is from the Xu family. My personal

name is Xuan, and I am the rst male in the generational line. The woman

then asked, Where is your home? and Xu Xuan replied, My humble

abode is in the Black Pearl Lane near Guojun Bridge. I tend to sales at an

apothecary.p. 134


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I this humble personthis small person my humble abode

seventylifrom Suzhou Prefecture, in the

county of Wujianp. 174he put up for sale a thousand muof land for somethree thousand taels of silver, to be paid in one lump sum.p. 86 mu tael li A unit ofdistance equivalent to approximately one third of a mile.

the second moonp. 17 the middle of the seventh moonp. 81 on the sixth day of the first lunar monthp. 88



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You are a waif, a crab without legs! 6

My childgirls in our trade cannot afford to

behave like soft-shelled eggs, so do not be so

tender and thin-skinned.

9

My mouth is like the sea. I could talk the night

through and not feel thirsty.9

I am like a warty toad in a sewer that dreams of

dining on swans flesh.19

It was as the saying goes: The fisherman profits

when the snipe and the clam grapple.70

Li Keyong was a stingy man, of the sort that

insists on saving a hind leg even when dining on

no more than a louse.

157

The oil vendor and the courtesanacrab without legsMymonth is like the sea

snipeclamwartytoadswans flesh


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17

1624 1627

20031983 1989

Hanan 2006 Falling in love: Stories from Ming China Yang & Yang

2000 Stories old and new: A Ming Dynasty collection 2005 Stories to caution the world: A

Ming Dynasty collection



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2. Ted Wang 2007 1 16

http://www.translators.com.cn/Archives/News1024.html The oil vendor and the courtesanChen Chen

2007116http://www.translators.com.cn/Archives/News1024.html

19791255-262

2003171983198920032005P. NewmarkA textbook of translation

Birch, C. (Trans.). (1958). Stories from a Ming collection: Translations of Chinese short stories pub-lished in the seventeenth century. NY: Grove Press.

Bishop, J. L. (1956). The colloquial short story in China: A study of the San-yen collections. Cam-

bridge: Harvard University Press.

Hanan, P. (Trans.). (2006). Falling in love: Stories from Ming China. Honolulu: University of

Hawaii Press.

Lau, J. S. M., & Ma, Y. W. (Eds.). (1978). Traditional Chinese stories: Themes and variations.

NY: Columbia University Press.

McLaren, A. E. (Trans.). (1994). The Chinese femme fatale: Stories from the Ming period. Hono-lulu: University of Sydney.

Wang, T., & Chen, C. (Trans.). (2007). The oil vendor and the courtesan: Tales from the Ming

Dynasty. NY: Welcome Rain Publishers.

Yang, S., & Yang, Y. (Trans.). (2000). Stories old and new. Seattle, WA: University of Wash-

ington Press.

Yang, S., & Yang, Y. (Trans.). (2005). Stories to caution the world: A Ming Dynasty collection.

Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press.

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