Page:Pekinese Rhymes (G. Vitale, 1896).djvu/103



These words are sung by children to imitate the perambulating vendors in the street. 一副筐 i1 fu4 k'uang1 a pair of baskets hanging from the pole called 扁擔 pien3 tan. 八根兒繩 pa1 ken1'r sheng2, eight strings. As every basket is attached to an end of the pole by four strings, so eight strings comes to mean a porter's pole and more generally every sort of small Chinese industry practiced by vendors furnished with such a pole. 九城 chiu3 ch'eng2, the nine cities, the city of Peking. 靑茶 ch'ing1 ts'ai4 every sort of green vegetable. After speaking of the vendors of vegetables the song comes to speak of a curious sort of small industry practiced in Peking. Two men go together. One marches forward and beats a little drum, the other bearing