Grymm has sent in his entry:
Translation by Cleary
A poet of a later day wrote:
At Coiling Snake, The Dragon plucked at strings
The Great Horse brought the black carts to the fore
The Third Tiger through down the forest and hills
The Yet Betrayer led the charge of retreats
Those clad in invincible reeds followed fast
Striking out at false ambush with their swords and bongs
The snake trembled under the phoenix's wake
Heaven disapproved
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9 comments:
Who's Cleary?
Is he as bad a translator as I think he is?
:)
I reread your poem and left out the word "bongs". Yup... no relevance to the rest of the poem. Amazing how you can add words just for the sake of it. pants.
Am I not high enough to understand this poem or is it real that confusing?
-Gordon
That Cleary is a poor translator was basically the point. Well at least in part. He is very prolific, but his translations offer no commentary, and are often of more questionable integrity of other works.
And if it were not in the style of Cleary, there would be commentary as to why Bongs is there, which is not a perfect translation, but instead should be the true etymological root of Bong, from the Thai baung or "cylindrical wooden tube", referring to their equiptment, as it is what the rattan wearing soldiers were carrying. But as it is Cleary style translation, it is off slightly and the meeting is somewhat lost.
You, sir, are a freak.
I love you.
Oh, and since I suspect that not all of you are up on your Chinese history, the poem commemorates the Seventh defeat of Meng Huo and the Nanman tribes. They had oiled rattan armour that would repel attacks. Zhuge Liang tricked them into a valley that he filled with bombs, sealed off the escape route and dumped flaming carts down on them.
Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...
-Gordon
Do you mean bombs or bongs?
G-
ps: well played, Grymm. Well played.
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