小脚儿娘
小脚儿娘
The Small-footed Girl
Nursery Rhyme
Nursery Rhyme
(Chinese)
(English)
小脚儿娘爱吃糖
没钱儿买
搬着小脚儿哭一场
The small-footed girl
With the sweet little smile,
She loves to eat sugar
And sweets all the while.
Her money's all gone
And because she can't buy,
She holds her small feet
While she sits down to cry.
Notes
Ray Lee sent the following literal translation with the note: "This is the general meaning... it sounds very weird…"
Little-Feet Girl
Little-feet girl likes to eat candies
No money to buy
Holding her little feet and start crying.
I made Ray's version rhyme a bit:
The girl with the small feet
Likes to eat sweets,
She has no money (for them) to buy,
She holds her feet and starts to cry.
Here's Yuan Ping's version:
The little lady with the small feet likes to eat sugar
But she has no money to buy it
And sits cross-legged and weeps for a good while.
The first English translation comes directly from Headland's book of Chinese Mother Goose rhymes. The translation is loose (it was done to sound like an English Mother Goose rhyme and was made to rhyme). The other translations are more literal.
Thanks and Acknowledgements
This rhyme and the English translation above are from the book, Chinese Mother Goose Rhymes, by Isaac Taylor Headland of Peking University (copyright 1900).
Many thanks to Yuan Ping for typing this rhyme in Chinese text for us and for a translation. Thanks to Ray Lee for his translation.
M goi! & Xie xie!
