Page:Pekinese Rhymes (G. Vitale, 1896).djvu/34



These words are adressed by the chinese boys to the water-carriers who are generally people of the Shantung province. As no water-ways of any kind exist in Peking, a great many of these fellows take the water from the wells into the houses. Their bad pronunciation, and their awkward manners delight extremely the Peking cockneys. The boys have therefore composed for their benefit this special song, which they hum at their back, and whose general aim is to define them as turtles. The word turtle in China is used for one of the most direst insults, as this animal is phantastically empeached of an unnatural crime. The insult is however so largely used that people are not shocked by it. 哥 ko$1$ means elder brother, but here is used in the meaning of man, fellow in the same way as the Russians use the word brat (latin frater). 窩 uo$1$ means not only a nest but also a den, a hole. 晒蓋子 shai$4$ kai$4$-tzŭ, to dry the shell in the runsun [sic], as turtles do. 縮 suo$1$, to withdraw one's head, to retreat. This last phrase is allusive to the fact that the water-carriers do not go out when it rains, as the turlesturtles [sic] do too.