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62 Cantonese Love Songs Song 4 Listening to the Oriole in Spring The broken-hearted dread to hear the oriole's song in spring [i.e. because the oriole, the bird of joy and music, symbolized friendship]; A song that can so easily rend even the soul. The dawn of spring stirs a man's discontent. o oriole! Are you and spring together going to crush my heart? If the oriole's song can, as people say, make me forget my sorrows, then I will listen a while. Do you think a man cannot compare with a bird, or that a bird cannot compare with a man? Look how the oriole exults in his own sweet-tongued voice; It flies to scenes of natural beauty, and there communes with spring. If only you would speak some round words to that fickle lover for me ... But I am afraid that even though you did not mince your words, he would pretend he had never heard them. Could I in my dreams be changed into a bird, I would flyaway with you to seek him out; a Stone (:fjfiJi"§c ) was composed in the later part of AD 17th century by Tso Suetkan (If'§rn (chapters 1-80) and Go Ngoh (~~~) (chapters 81-120). Third Sister, (jt=-~~, Yau Saam Ie), is the youngest of three sisters. The eldest was married to Ga Chan (W~); and the second sister was the concubine of his brother, Ga Lin (WfJ!). Third Sister was unmarried and lived with her two sisters in the Ga household, which had a reputation for debauchery and licentiousness. Third Sister's virtue, however, was unsullied, despite her surroundings. One day the scholar Lau Seung-lin (fJ)Diffiri) met Third Sister, and for both of them it was love at first sight. They were betrothed, and Lau Seung-lin gave Third Sister two swords with the characters for mandarin drake and duck# (,.., yuen yeung) engraved on them. Some time later, Lau Seung-lin came to hear of the dissolute habits of the Ga family with whom his betrothed was living. Fearing Third Sister had been corrupted by them, he broke off their engagement and demanded back the two swords he had previously given her. Third Sister handed back one sword to Lau Seung-lin. With the other she stabbed herself to death. Grief-stricken, Lau Seung-lin became a Buddhist monk. Obviously Third Sister was a model of both passion and virtue. # 'Mandarin drake and duck' (,. , yuen, the drake; ;t , yeung, the hen): The Chinese have taken these beautiful waterfowl (Chinese teal) that manifest a unique degree of attachment to each other as a symbol of married love and fidelity; a symbol that appears again and again in these songs. 62 Cantonese Love Songs Song 4 Listening to the Oriole in Spring The broken-hearted dread to hear the oriole's song in spring [i.e. because the oriole, the bird of joy and music, symbolized friendship]; A song that can so easily rend even the soul. The dawn of spring stirs a man's discontent. o oriole! Are you and spring together going to crush my heart? If the oriole's song can, as people say, make me forget my sorrows, then I will listen a while. Do you think a man cannot compare with a bird, or that a bird cannot compare with a man? Look how the oriole exults in his own sweet-tongued voice; It flies to scenes of natural beauty, and there communes with spring. If only you would speak some round words to that fickle lover for me ... But I am afraid that even though you did not mince your words, he would pretend he had never heard them. Could I in my dreams be changed into a bird, I would flyaway with you to seek him out; a Stone (::ElfIJ!"§c ) was composed in the later part of AD 17th century by Tso Suetkan (If'§rn (chapters 1-80) and Go Ngoh (~~~) (chapters 81-120). Third Sister, ()t=-~~, Yau Saam Ie), is the youngest of three sisters. The eldest was married to Ga Chan (W~); and the second sister was the concubine of his brother, Ga Lin (WfJ!). Third Sister was unmarried and lived with her two sisters in the Ga household, which had a reputation for debauchery and licentiousness. Third Sister's virtue, however, was unsullied, despite her surroundings. One day the scholar Lau Seung-lin (fPOiffiri) met Third Sister, and for both of...

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