Page:Pekinese Rhymes (G. Vitale, 1896).djvu/112

 jou4 chiao1 'r, lit. "my flesh dear", an endearing term for a little girl, meaning to say: you are my own flesh and blood. 氣包兒 ch'i4 pao1 'r， curious expression said of a person who has the privilege of irritating somebody constantly. The literal translation would be "the wrath-bundle". The small girl speaks so because it is generally admitted and practiced in chinesepractised in Chinese [sic] families that the elder brother's wife carries on continual warfare with her sisters-in-law. Afterwards the girl pretends to want to know what their relations will give her on her wedding day. To give cadeaux to a bride to form her dowry is called 賠 p'ei2, or more completely 賠送 p'ei2 sung4. 奶奶 nai3 nai,3 one's father's mother. The bannermen call nai3 nai3 a mother. 針線笸籮 chen1 hsien4 p'uo3 luo2， a basket where needles, pin, thread, scissors are kept and everything else required for ladies' work. 姑娘 ku1-niang2, is here used instead of the personal pronoun thou or you. 罈子 t'an1 tzŭ, a big bottle to contain salt vegetables, water and also coal. 罐子 kuan4-tzŭ， other sort of vessel made of porcelain or of earthenware. 嫁漢子 chia4 han4 tzŭ to marry a husband, a man. Here it would perhaps be better to translate "a fellow," as the woman's words are not inspired with friendly feelings altogether.

The red pumpkin ― has crushed sides ― I am my grandfather's "own dear flesh and blood" ―