Page:Pekinese Rhymes (G. Vitale, 1896).djvu/37

 NOTES

The Chinese boys generally as far as three years old have their hair shaven; therefore a common nickname for a boy is 禿兒 t'u$1$'r, meaning a bald-headed. 咧咧咧 lie$4$-lie$4$-lie$4$, is imitative of the sound of weeping. The boy weeps and to quiet him the song is sung to him. 打水 ta$3$ shuei$3$, to draw water from a well, by a rope and a bucket. 紅纓子 hung$2$ ing$1$ tzŭ, Red silk twists fixed round the top of a chinese official hat. 乍板兒鞋 cha$4$ pan$3$'r hsie$2$, old shoes with no heels; they are so called because the noise the sole produces slapping on the ground is like the sound of a Chinese musical instrument called 乍板兒 cha$4$ pan$3$'r, consisting in two small bamboo tablets strung together, which are shaken by the fingers in a similar manner to the spanish and italian castanets 踢拉拉 t'a$1$ la$1$ la$1$, imitates the slapping of the shoe sole on the ground. 三 san$1$ is here (as very often in vulgar language) pronounced sa$1$, in order to rhyme with the precedent verse who ends with 拉.

TRANSLATION

Small bald-headed ― here he is weeping! ― to the South side it's your father who draws water from the well ― your father wears an official hat with red silk twists on it ― and your mother wears on