Pre-Qin: Anonymous
Give me papaya and give me Qiongju in return. It's always good to be rewarded by a bandit!
Give me peaches and give me Qiongyao in return. It's always good to be rewarded by a bandit!
You gave me wood and plums, and you gave me Qiongjiu in return. It's always good to be rewarded by a bandit!
◆? Translation
You give me the papaya, and I will give you the Qiongju in return. It's not to thank you, cherish the affection and stay with me forever.
You give me the wooden peach, and I will give you Qiong Yao in return. It's not to thank you, cherish the affection and stay with me forever.
You give me the wooden plum, and I will give you the Qiongjiu in return. It's not to thank you, cherish the affection and stay with me forever.
◆? Notes
Papaya: a deciduous shrub (or small tree) from the Rosaceae family. The fruit is oblong, yellow in color and fragrant. It is eaten after being steamed or soaked in honey. Note: The papaya produced in Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and Taiwan and other places today is called papaya. It is eaten raw and is not the same thing as the papaya here.
Qiongju (jū): beautiful jade, the same as "Qiongjiu" and "Qiongyao".
Bandit: No.
Peach: The name of the fruit is hawthorn, which is smaller than papaya.
Wu Li: The name of the fruit is also called Mu Li.
◆? Appreciation
"The Book of Songs·Daya·Yi" contains the sentence "Give me a peach and repay you with a plum". In later generations, "reciprocity" became an idiom, such as Give each other gifts and reciprocate courtesy. In comparison, the article "Wei Feng·Papaya" also contains the idiom "Throw wood to repay beauty" (for example, "throw wood to repay gold") which is derived from "Throw in papaya (peach, plum), repay with Qiongju (Yao, Jiu)". There is a record in Song Dynasty You Miao's "Full Tang Shihua" of "throwing wood to repay the beauty, and the righteous general will be safe"), but the frequency of use of "throwing wood to repay the beauty" cannot be compared with "reciprocity". But in terms of the degree of recitation, "Papaya" is still higher. It is one of the most widely recited famous poems in the Book of Songs.
? Regarding such a well-known pre-Qin ancient poem with uncomplicated sentences, there have been as many as seven interpretations of its purpose throughout the ages (according to Zhang Shubo's "Collection of Guofeng"). According to the "Preface to Mao's Poems" written in the Han Dynasty, it says: ""Papaya" is also a beautiful poem by Duke Huan of Qi. In the state of Wei, the Di people were defeated in Cao. Duke Huan of Qi rescued and sealed them, leaving behind the chariots and horses. The Wei people were defeated. People think about it and want to repay it generously, so they write poems." This statement was supported by Yan Can ("Shi Ji") and others in the Song Dynasty, and Wei Yuan ("Shi Gu Wei") and others in the Qing Dynasty. According to Chen Qiaochong's "Research on the Remains of Lu Poetry", the poems of the Three Families that are roughly at the same time as Mao Shuo, Lu's poems "were written as tributes to the ministers". Wang Xianqian's "Collection of Poems of the Three Families" by Wang Xianqian has the same conclusion. Starting from Zhu Xi in the Song Dynasty, the theory of "men and women giving each other gifts" became popular. "Collected Poems" says: "If someone gives me a small thing, I should repay it with a big treasure, but it is not enough to repay it, but I want it to last long. "It is good but not forgotten. Questioning is also a poem for men and women to answer each other, such as "Jing Nu". This reflects the spirit of reforming the ancient school of poetry in the Song Dynasty. However, this statement was refuted by Yao Jiheng, one of the important representatives of the independent thinking school of Poetry in the Qing Dynasty. The General Theory of the Book of Songs said: "It is not acceptable to use (it) as a friend to give and respond to each other, so why should they be male and female!" "Modern scholars generally follow Zhu Xi's theory, and more clearly point out that this poem is a love poem. Therefore, there are many different interpretations of the purpose of the poem, and "papaya" as a literary image has been given a variety of different symbolic meanings. Among them, the three images of "subjects want to repay their loyalty to the monarch", "lovers' love is as strong as gold and jade", and "friends give gifts lightly but love more" have gradually become the mainstream connotation of the "papaya" image.
? The poem "Papaya" is very distinctive in terms of its chapter and sentence structure. First of all, there is no four-character sentence, the most typical sentence pattern in the Book of Songs. It’s not that you can’t use a four-character sentence (for example, if you use a four-character sentence, it becomes “throw me a papaya (peach, plum), and repay Qiongju (Yao, Jiu); the bandit will repay you, and you will always think it’s good.”), but The author intentionally or unintentionally uses this sentence pattern to create an ups and downs of charm, which is easy to achieve the effect of both voice and emotion when singing. Secondly, statements have a very high degree of overlap and duplication. Not to mention that the last two sentences in each chapter are exactly the same, even the first two sentences are only one word different, and although the words "Qiongju", "Qiongyao" and "Qiongjiu" have slightly different meanings, they have the same meaning, while "Papaya" and "Mu" According to research in Li Shizhen's "Compendium of Materia Medica", "Peach" and "Wu Li" are also plants of the same genus. The difference between them is roughly like the difference between tangerines, tangerines and oranges. In this way, the three chapters are basically repeated, and such a high degree of repetition is not many in the entire "Book of Songs". The format looks like the "Yangguan Sandie" song written in the Tang Dynasty based on Wang Wei's poems - naturally this It was decided by the dual nature of music and literature in The Book of Songs. "You give me fruit, and I give you jade in return." Different from "reciprocity", the value of the things returned is much greater than the things received. This reflects a noble human emotion (including love, including friendship) . What this kind of emotion emphasizes is the congeniality and spiritual agreement. Therefore, the things given in return and their value actually only have a symbolic meaning here. They reflect the love for others' feelings towards oneself, so it is said that " Bandits report." "You gave me papayas (peaches, plums), and in return you gave me Qiongju (Yao, Jiu)", its deep meaning should be: Although the thing you gave me was papaya (peaches, plums), your affection is truly more precious than anything else. Qiongju (Yao, Jiu); I can repay you with Qiongju (Yao, Jiu), but I can't express my gratitude to you in my heart. Niu Yunzhen of Qing Dynasty commented on these words in his "Shi Zhi": "For those who benefit more than papaya, they use papaya as a metaphor, which is a way of lowering one frame to highlight it; Qiong Yao is enough to repay, but saying that bandit retribution is a way of further peeling off." His words are not unreasonable, but it seems that other interpreters of this poem also suffer from the same problem of taking basically abstract objects such as papayas and Qiong Yao too seriously. In fact, the author is so broad-minded that he no longer has the heart to weigh the thickness and weight. What he wants to express is: cherishing and understanding other people's thoughts is the most noble intention. From this point of view, later in Zhang Heng's "Poetry of Four Sorrows" of the Han Dynasty, "The beautiful woman gave me a gold knife, why should I repay Ying Qiong Yao", although it said "throwing gold in return for jade". Its meaning is actually the same as "throwing wood in return for gold".
◆? Creation background
As for the background of "Wei Feng·Papaya", the first Qin ancient poem, there are many differences in the analysis throughout the ages. According to Zhang Shubo's "Collection of Guofeng", there are seven main theories. Modern scholars generally follow Zhu Xi's theory and more clearly point out that this poem is a love poem and the author should be a young man.