Ma Decides to Rape Kieu

As you can tell by the title, this section is about Ma contemplating raping Kieu. At this point he has already taken her from her house and they are en-route to his home. You find out in this passage that Ma already has a wife and that they run a brothel together. They are both quite despicable people but this passage is only the beginning. Ma seems like a really terrible guy but wait until you meet his wife. That'll be the next thing I translate.

Nguyen Du, as the Vietnamese frequently are, was a cultured man. Towards the end of the passage Ma is discussing Kieu's virginity, but Nguyen Du utilized a lot of metaphors involving fruit and flowers. Just keep in mind that he is talking about raping and deflowering Kieu. This passage is pretty sad and cruel but it doesn't feature Kieu at all. She will definitely be in the next passage I translate. 

I stuck with the poetic meter that I discussed in the last post, except I altered it a bit. Instead of 6-8 syllable couplets, I wrote it in 6-8-6 triplets with a similar rhyming scheme to the original. I used the same stress pattern of two dactyls in the 6 syllable lines and two dactyls followed by a trochee in the 8 syllable line. I think for the next passage I'm going to try 12-16 syllable couplets with the original rhyming scheme because it is really difficult to fit a complete thought in English in just six syllable. Nguyen Du was lucky that all Vietnamese words are one syllable. 

I took the pictures a at misty Ha Long Bay. I thought they were kind of ominous...

Enjoy!

Still unsuspecting of Ma,

Scoundrel that he is, pure evil,

Pleasure houses, he knows well.

Dark luck for the feeble.

This marriage will make Ma quite rich.

Tu-ba, her brothel in,

Waiting for Ma and bitch.

Prostitute Tu Ba was, now old,

Grace and charm passed her by.

By chance they met, once bold

Yet now the pair are cruel, harsh crooks.

Sawdust and bitter melons.*

They didn’t have the looks,

Yet together, cash they acquired,

Opened a store they did.

All year, girls were hired,

Selling their perfumed body,

Ma would go to the towns,

Looking for girls to lobby,

Pose as a suitor, whisk them home.

Instruct them in the ways

To please men, never roam.

Fortune and despair, we can’t choose,

Just Heaven knows our path.

Bitter! Like those damn shrews,

Misery demands another.

Pity the young ladies,

Bring a rose, and smother

The poor girl with your lust, your choice.

Caught in his web of lies

Kieu, nothing to rejoice,

Small price paid, fake rites played.

Delighted! Drunk with greed,

Money, gold! All that jade!

                "The flag is in my hand! All mine!*

Awesome beauty she is,

One smile’ll make the men pine,

No joke! She, Kieu is my ticket

To the riches of the world.

She won’t’ve heard one cricket,

Before princes, rich fellows

Bid to pluck her flower.

Mine, best of bordellos,

Three hundred taels at least I’ll get.

That’s just the beginning!

Later I’ll never fret,

For she is my cash cow, my jade.”

A tasty morsel hangs,

Will he take a bite? Morals fade,

Greed is all, he has nothing more.

                “A peach branch, ripe with fruit,

I’ll pull that branch to the fore,

Savor all the earthly delights,

Countless men and playboys

Are looking for that bite,

How many men can really tell

A ripe peach, from one just

A few days past its swell?

Pomegranate juice ‘n rind will do,

And some cockscomb up there.

She will look as new,

A virgin on her wedding day.

It’s easy to deceive

A man under the sway

Of a woman’s touch; in dim light.

She’ll fetch a tidy sum,

My wife may see Kieu’s plight,

She’s keen to know something’s amiss.

She would make my life hell.

I can take my wife’s hiss!

I’m a man! She’s just an old hag.

Besides, home is far,

The long road, such a drag...

Certainly Kieu’ll suspect something

If I do nothing...

I’ll go have my fill, like a king!”

*Sawdust and bitter melons: The original Vietnamese for this line is: Mạt cưa mướp đắng which literally means "Sawdust  and bitter melon". This goes back to an old Vietnamese story about two crooks. One would sell sawdust but say it was grain, and another would sell bitter melons but say it was a cucumber. One day they met and ripped each other off without knowing it. The implication is that Ma and Tu Ba are both crooks, bad people, and belong together.

*The flag is in my hand! All mine!: The original Vietnamese also mentions a flag and the implication is that Ma has an opportunity and he should press his advantage.

Chẳng ngờ gã Mã Giám Sinh,

Vẫn là một đứa phong tình đã quen.

Quá chơi lại gặp hồi đen,

Quen mồi lại kiếm ăn miền nguyệt hoa.

Lầu xanh có mụ Tú Bà,

Làng chơi đã trở về già hết duyên.

Tình cờ chẳng hẹn mà nên,

Mạt cưa mướp đắng, đôi bên một phường.

Chung lưng mở một ngôi hàng

Quanh năm buôn phấn bán hương đã lề.

Dạo tìm khắp chợ thì quê,

Giả danh hầu hạ, dạy nghề ăn chơi.

Rủi may âu cũng sự trời,

Đoạn trường lại chọn mặt người vô duyên!

Xót nàng chút phận thuyền quyên,

Cành hoa đem bán vào thuyền lái buôn,

Mẹo lừa đã mắc vào khuôn,

Sính nghi rẽ giá, nghinh hôn sẵn ngày.

Mừng thầm cờ đã đến tay,

Càng nhìn vẻ ngọc càng say khúc vàng;

                “Đã nên quốc sắc thiên hương

Một cười này, hẳn nghìn vàng chẳng ngoa.

Về đây nước trước bẻ hoa,

Vương tôn quý khách ắt là đua nhau.

Hẳn ba trăm lạng kém đâu,

Cũng đà vừa vốn, còn sau thì lời!”

Miếng ngon kề đến tân nơi,

Vốn nhà cũng tiếc, của trời cũng tham:

“Đào tiên đã bén tay phàm,

Thì vin cành quýt cho cam sự đời!

Dưới trần mấy người biết hoa?

Nước vỏ lựu, máu mào gà,

Mượn màu chiêu tập lại là còn nguyên.

Mập mờ đánh lận con đen,

Bao nhiều cũng bấy nhiêu tiền, mất chi.

Mụ già hoặc có điều gì,

Liều công mất một buổi quỳ mà thôi.

Vả đây đường sá xa xôi,

Mà ta bất động nữa người sinh nghi.”

Kieu in Dactyls, maybe Trochees

Up until this point I've hid behind the excuse that translating the Tale of Kieu in its original meter and with the original rhyming scheme was too difficult. I'm going to finally give it a shot. I did some research and discovered that the Tale of Kieu is actually apart of a larger tradition of Vietnamese lyric poetry going back a thousand years. The Tale of Kieu is actually a very long ca dao. Ca dao are Vietnamese folk poems that were meant to be sung. They had a strict meter and rhyming scheme so they would be easier to remember. So similar to the Illiad the Tale of Kieu was meant to be memorized and recited.
The poetry in Kieu is broken up into 6-8 syllable couplets with an interesting rhyming scheme. For example:

Thương tình con trẻ thơ ngây,                                 6

Gặp cơn vạ gió tai bay bất kỳ.                                8

Đau lòng tư biết sinh ly,                                          6

Thân còn chẳng tiếc, tiếc gì đến duyên?                  8

The interesting thing about the rhyming scheme is that it is not in line with the couplets; the bottom 8 syllable couplet rhymes with the next top 6 syllable couplet. The rhyming threads the couplets together, holding the whole poem together.

Aside from meter and rhyming, the next important thing is where the stressed and unstressed syllables fall. Unlike English, Vietnamese is a tonal language but that doesn't mean it is a fundamentally different system. This reminds me of when I was talking to a Vietnamese guy and he told me that English had tones like Vietnamese. I was skeptical at first but he explained to me something which should have been obvious to an English teacher like myself. After you learn the pronunciation, vowel and constant sounds, you have to learn which syllable is stressed. This is not something I have to think about, but for someone learning English it is very important. So according to my friend, stressed and unstressed syllables in English words are similar to the Vietnamese system of tones. I would agree with him to a certain extent but I would say the tones in Vietnamese are more complicated.

I've been reading a book of translations of  ca dao by John Balaban. According to his research the stress pattern of ca dao is the second, sixth, and eighth syllable must be "even tones" (flat or falling) and the fourth syllable must be a "sharp tone" (any of the other tones). To translate this to English I decided that "even tones" were most like unstressed syllables and the "sharp tones" were most like stressed syllables. Take a look at the same example:

Thương tình con trẻ thơ ngây,                                

Gặp cơn vạ gió tai bay bất kỳ.                                

Đau lòng tư biết sinh ly,                                          

Thân còn chẳng tiếc, tiếc gì đến duyên?                  

Those are all the "even tones" and the following shows the "sharp tones":

Thương tình con trẻ thơ ngây,                                

Gặp cơn vạ gió tai bay bất kỳ.                                

Đau lòng tư biết sinh ly,                                          

Thân còn chẳng tiếc, tiếc gì đến duyên?                  

I'm still experimenting but I tried to adjust English poetic conventions to the rules of ca dao, and my idea at the moment is to maintain the 6-8 syllable couplet structure along with the rhyming scheme. As for the stress patterns, I used two dactyls (Stress-Unstressed-Unstressed) for the six syllable line, and two dactyls plus a trochee (Stressed-Unstressed) for the 8 syllable line. I thought this best maintained the rules spelled out to me by Mr. Balaban. This is my first shot at translating this way. I couldn't keep the same number of lines but I did my best to keep the translation true to the original. As Nguyễn Khắc Viện said about translating ca dao: "...like drawing a bucket of water from a well where the moon is mirrored and unavoidable losing the silvery shine of her light." (also from Balaban).

Here is the Vietnamese:

615-620 

Thương tình con trẻ thơ ngây,

Gặp cơn vạ gió tai bay bất kỳ,

Đau lòng tư biết sinh ly,

Thân còn chẳng tiếc, tiếc gì đến duyên?

Hạt mưa sá nghĩ phận hèn,

Liệu đem tấc cỏ quyết đền ba xuân.

Here is my new translation followed by my old translation:

Pity the young, alas...

Gusts of wind bring calamity.

Her heart bleeds insanity,

Kim, so far away, feels like death.

Kieu’s life fades in a breath,

Pain and regret, she must accept.

Drops of rain, haven’t yet wept

O’er the short life they encompass.

Grateful are blades of grass,

For the three beautiful spring months.

There can only be sympathy for the innocence of youth,

The winds of calamity blow so unexpectedly.

Separation from Kim tortured Kieu’s heart like a death in the family,

Can she still live without regret, even consider an amorous future?

A drop of rain doesn't dwell on its humble fate,

A blade of grass is grateful for the three months of spring.

Kieu and her Father's Mournful Goodbye

This passage is right after Kieu has pledged herself to marry Ma so she can get some money to pay her family's debt. She has already met Ma and knows that he is bad man. Kieu's father is lamenting that his daughter, who is just becoming a woman must be sent away with a strange man to an uncertain future. This is where I think Nguyen Du's real philosophical critique of his society and Confucianism in general comes out. 

In Confucius's mind, family is the most important aspect of someone's life and it is vital that the hierarchy of the family is maintained so they can live harmoniously. In the Confucian hierarchy, the father is the head of the family and a family without a patriarch is a recipe for disaster. This scene would be a good conundrum for Confucius to explain. I'm not sure if a similar situation is discussed in the Analects.

In this scene, Kieu's father is so distraught that he is losing his daughter that he even contemplates killing himself. He let his emotions run wild to the extent that he might have even hurt himself and his family for the sake of his daughter. His anguish is understandable but in the Tale of Kieu; Kieu is the example of virtue and so she cannot give into fear. In an interesting twist, she is forced to explain to her father about the moral debt she owes to him for bringing her into this life. She seemingly is calm about sacrificing herself to keep her father out of prison and protect her family. I think it can assumed that if her father and brother were in prison then her and the rest of her family would be killed, or worse, by bandits and other archetypal "bad men". 

In the passage there is mention of a "Lady Oanh" and somebody called "Ly". According to what I read, they are women from old tales that exemplify filial piety. There is one metaphor towards the end of the passage that I want to bring up:

"Consider me to be a flower bud, everlastingly green."

What I understood from this is that she wants her father to always think of her as a young child, someone who never matured or "blossomed". Kieu is continually referred to as a flower in the story. Perhaps she wants him to think of her as always innocent and young so that his memory of her will be frozen in time; as if she died as a child. Even if she does ever return home, which she doubts will ever happen, she won't be the same daughter that he remembered.

It's a very tragic scene, but I like it because unlike a lot of old Asian tales depicting filial piety, Nguyen Du really tried to bring the humanity of the characters to the surface. He didn't just wash the situation with some allusions to Confucian aphorisms and I like the irony that Kieu has to disobey her father to save him. 

655~684

Thương tình con trẻ cha già,

Nhìn nàng ông những máu sa ruột ràu

-“Nuôi con những ước về sau,

Trao tơ phải lứa, gieo cầu đáng nơi.

Trơi làm chi cực bấy trời!

Này ai vu thác cho người hợp tan.

Búa rìu bao quản thân tàn,

Nỡ đày đọa trẻ, càng oan khốc già.

Một lần sau trước cũng là,

Thôi thì mặt khuất, chẳng thà lòng đau.

Theo lời càng chảy dòng châu,

Liều mình ông rắp gieo đầu tường vôi.

Vội vàng kẻ giữ người coi,

Nhỏ to nàng lại tìm lời khuyên can:

-“Vẻ chi một mảnh hồng nhan,

Tóc tơ chưa chút đền ơn sinh thành.

Dâng thơ đã thẹn nàng Oanh,

Lại thua ả Lý bán mình hay sao?

Cội xuân tuổi hạc càng cao,

Một cây gánh vác biết bao nhiều cành.

Lòng tơ dù chẳng dứt tình,

Gió mưa âu hẳn tan tành nước non.

Thà rằng liều một thân con,

Hoa dù rã cánh, lá còn xanh cây.

Phận sao đành vậy cũng vầy,

Cầm như chẳng đậu những ngày còn xanh.

Cũng đừng tính quẩn lo quanh,

Tan nhà là một, thiệt mình là hai.”

Phải lời ông cũng em tai,

Nhìn nhau giọt ngắn giọt dài ngổn ngang.

655~684

You have to pity the father and child,

He gazed at her, felt his blood sink and his heart mourned.

“You raise a daughter, giving her everything,

You hope she will find a nice man, one that deserves her.

Oh Heaven! Why have you punished us so harshly?

Who slandered us to break up our happy home?

This withered body could face the executioner’s ax!

Heaven ill-treats the young, while condemning the old to tears.

 There will be a day, sooner or later, when I will die,

If only I could die, it would be better than this heart wrenching pain!”

Following his speech, as tears streamed down his face,

Caution was lost to him and he went to smash his skull against the limestone wall.

The guards and servants rushed to stop him,

Kieu went to her father and put her mouth to his ear,

She searched for the right words to soothe him:

“What is the beauty of a woman?

This small promise of marriage does not even come close

To the debt I owe you for bringing me into this world.

I would be ashamed if I couldn’t live up to Lady Oanh’s filial piety,

Am I not as worthy as Ly who sold herself?

Father, you are like an aged spring tree that as it grows

Shoulders the burden of so many branches.

Even though the tenderness of my heart pulls me towards you,

I won’t break off the engagement,

For it would bring a disastrous storm upon our home.

Rather, I will sacrifice my young body,

One withered flower petal will fall,

But the leaves on the branch will stay green.

I am resigned to my fate, bound to it,

Consider me to be a flower bud, everlastingly green.

Don’t wallow in worry, don’t fret over me,

Or our family will fade away and you will suffer in dismay.”

He let her wise words sink into his ear,

They gazed at each other with tear-filled eyes,

And wept so hard it could be heard far and near.

Wooden Statue of Confucius in the Temple of Literature, Hanoi

Kiều gặp Mã Giám Sinh (Kieu meets Ma)

Đoạn văn này là về khi Kiều gặp Mã Giám Sinh. Mã là người rất xáu. Khi Kiều đang đi bộ đền trước anh Mã, với mỗi bước, Kiều càng gần càng buồn. Kiều khóc quá. Từ đoạn này Truyện Kiều rất buồn. Tôi thích thơ này: 

"Ngại ngùng rợn gió e sương,

Nhìn hoa bóng thẹn, trông gương mặt dày.

Mối càng vén tóc bắt tay,

Nét buồn như cúc, điệu gầy như mai."

Thơ này rất cảm động và tôi muốn dịch tốt nhưng vậy dịch khó. Nều bạn có thể dịch thơ này tốt hơn thì nói đi! Cảm ơn :) 

This passage details the first interaction between Kieu and Ma, the scholar. He is buying Kieu as a wife. This was a fairly common practice in pre-modern times. Ma is portrayed as a scoundrel and as you will see later, is exactly that. There is some nice imagery and metaphorical language towards the end which I found difficult to translate. I gave it my best shot. I hope you enjoy it. 

616~638

Gần miền có một mụ nào,

Đưa ngưòi viễn khách tìm vào vấn danh.

Hỏi tên, rằng: “Mã Giám sinh.”

Hỏi quê, rằng: “Huyện Lâm Thanh cũng gần.”

Quá niên trạc ngoại tứ tuần,

Mày râu nhẵn nhụi, áo quần bảnh bao.

Trước thầy sau tớ lao xao,

Nhà băng đưa mối rước vào lầu.

Ghế trên ngồi tót sỗ sang,

Buồng trong mối đã giục nàng kíp ra.

Nỗi mình thêm tức nỗi nhà,

Thềm hoa một bước, lệ hoa mấy hàng.

Ngại ngùng rợn gió e sương,

Nhìn hoa bóng thẹn, trông gương mặt dày.

Mối càng vén tóc bắt tay,

Nét buồn như cúc, điệu gầy như mai.  

Wilted Chrysanthemum
Can be found at this website.

Trong Tiếng Anh:

616~638

There was an old woman living nearby,

She found a suitor and brought him in,

A complete stranger no less!

When asked for his name he responded:

“I am Ma, distinguished scholar.”

When asked about his origins he replied:

“I am from Linqing, quite close by.”

He was advanced in his years, at least 40,

Clean shaven and smartly dressed.

The suitor entered with an uproar, followed by his entourage.

The old woman welcomed him upstairs.

He, lacking all courtesy

Chose the best seat in the house for himself,

The old woman urged Kieu to come out of her cloistered chamber.

Her sadness and the woe of her family ever increasing weighed on her,

With each painful step she took towards him,

Her tears fell like countless flower petals.

She hesitated and quivered,

Shame coated her like frosty dew,

Even seeing the shadow of a flower made her feel ashamed,

She could not look at herself in the mirror.

The old woman coaxed her,

Stroked her hair and rubbed her hands,

The sadness in her face resembled a wilted chrysanthemum,

She seemed as gaunt as a dried apricot.  

Misty mountains,
Taken at Ba Vi

Kieu's Decision

This section does not make a lot of sense without knowing the background to what happened. I didn't translate the whole thing because it was a bit long and tedious. After Kim left Kieu behind she brooded for awhile and wallowed in sadness. It didn't take long however for Kieu's life to get even worse. Some bad men accused her father of owing a large debt (this debt doesn't actually exist and it is merely a scam). Even if the debt is a hoax Kieu's father is powerless to fight back against these guys and he along with Kieu's brother are imprisoned. Kieu decides that the only thing she can do is sell herself off as a wife or concubine to a rich man and that's where we are now.
The paintings are from the artist Ngoc Mai and her artwork about the Tale of Kieu can be found here. You can read more about her here.

Kieu and Kim Trong

615~623

Thương tinh cơn trẻ thơ ngây,

Gặp cơn vạ gió tai bay bất kỳ.

Đau lòng tử biệt sinh ly,

Thân còn chẳng tiếc, tiếc gì đến duyên?

Hạt mưa sá nghĩ phận hèn,

Liệu đem tấc cỏ quyết đền ba xuân.

Sự long ngỏ với bang nhân,

Tin sương đồn đại xa gần xôn xao.

There can only be sympathy for the innocence of youth,

The winds of calamity blow so unexpectedly.

Separation from Kim tortured Kieu’s heart as if he had passed away,

Can she still live without regret, even consider an amorous future?

A drop of rain doesn't dwell on its humble fate,

A blade of grass is grateful for the three months of spring.

She made her wishes clear to the matchmakers,

Rumors spread far and wide like morning frost.

Kieu giving herself up to the matchmaker

The beginning of this passage is meant to evoke sympathy from the reader. Kieu is already downtrodden and in a pathetic state. She made her decision to sell herself already and this passage is her coming to terms with what she must do. The first several lines bring up the fact that without Kim in her life she considers herself impoverished and not of much worth. She has essentially given up on herself. The part that I find interesting is this:

Hạt mưa sá nghĩ phận hèn,

Liệu đem tấc cỏ quyết đền ba xuân

I don't know if I did a good job translating it but the first line alludes to something along the lines that Kieu's fate is fragile and hopeless like a drop of rain. The second line uses a play on words with tấc cỏ which together mean gratitude or gratefulness but cỏ by itself is a blade of grass. I'm still a beginner in Vietnamese poetic language so don't expect me to have a clever answer to the grammatical nuances in Vietnamese poetry. 

What I get out of those two lines is that the imagery of the raindrops, blade of grass, and of course spring is nice and provocative. It's interesting that he would use spring seasonal imagery since this is a very dark passage of the book and spring is usually portrayed as an optimistic season. 

More importantly however, the emphasis on Kieu accepting her dark destiny definitely has the gleam of Buddhist fatalism, while second line has a strong Confucian ring to it. She must accept her fate and at the end of the day be also grateful for her father raising her just as the blade of grass is grateful to spring. The passage begins with a strong sense of pathos and ends with a rigid, self-sacrificing proclamation. I think it goes well with the overall theme of the story.