Page:Pekinese Rhymes (G. Vitale, 1896).djvu/111

 The words are supposed to be said by a small girl. 紅葫蘆 hung2 hu2 lu2, red pumpkin; the boys who have not enough money to buy playthings, content themselves with pumpkins which they go whirling about. 軋腰兒 ya4 yao1 'r， "with crushed sides" is the name of a sort of pumpkin shaped in the form of two balls placed one on the other. Cutting this pumpkin in the middle one has two cups. As to the relation between these words to what follows, I suppose the girl speaks of herself as of a precious little thing, because that kind of pumpkin is sometimes appreciated by the Chinese who buy the smallest for two or three taels, and wear them on the body as an ornament. 肉姣兒