— 54 —
NOTES
The beginning of the song does not seem to have any comprehensible meaning and I can only translate it literally. 褡連兒 ta1 lien2 'r， cloth purse in which the Chinese keep their banknotes, called also 錢褡連兒 ch'ien2 ta1 lien2 'r， money purse. Another sort is styled 樓鄉搭 連!^ ping> lang? ta' lien? 'r, and is used for holding betel nuts, as the name shows. 作親家 tsuo ch，in， chia'， to become a relative. The word ch'in' chia' means all relations who bear a different family name. The word is in modern Pekinese wrongly pronounced ch'ing^ chia'. 梳了個 麥子熟 shui la< ko mai tzti shou->， she has taken as much time to comb her hair, as would be required for the wheat to become ripe in the fields. 上了架 "has grown on the bower". Cucumber plants are made creep on small bowers. 打 提 溜 ta^ ti' liu", to swing, pushed by the wind.
TRANSLATION
The purse, the purse ― I have become a relation of the purse ― the purse family's girl knows how to dress her hair ― and has taken as much time to comb it as is required for the wheat to get ripe ― for the wheat to be ground and made into flour ― for the sesamum to be ground and made into ail ― for the cucumber to grow on the bowers ― and for the brinjal fruit to be swung by the wind.
