Ballad of Mulan

The Ballad of Mulan (Chinese: 木蘭辭) is a narrative folk song about Hua Mulan composed in the sixth century CE.

At dawn she takes leave of Father and Mother,
In the evening camps on the Yellow River's bank.

Quotes

• 昨夜見軍帖，可汗大點兵。
  軍書十二卷，卷卷有爺名。
  阿爺無大兒，木蘭無長兄。
  願為市鞍馬，從此替爺征。
  東市買駿馬，西市買鞍韉。
  南市買轡頭，北市買長鞭。
  朝辭爺孃去，暮宿黃河邊。
  不聞爺孃喚女聲，但聞黃河流水鳴濺濺。
  • Last night I saw the draft posters,
    The Khan is calling many troops,
    The army list is in twelve scrolls,
    On every scroll there's Father's name.
    Father has no grown-up son,
    Mu-lan has no elder brother.
    I want to buy a saddle and horse,
    And serve in the army in Father's place.
    In the East Market she buys a spirited horse,
    In the West Market she buys a saddle,
    In the South Market she buys a bridle,
    In the North Market she buys a long whip.
    At dawn she takes leave of Father and Mother,
    In the evening camps on the Yellow River's bank.
    She doesn't hear the sound of Father and Mother calling,
    She only hears the Yellow River's flowing water cry tsien tsien.
    • Excerpt from the poem, translated by Han H. Frankel in The Flowering Plum and the Palace Lady: Interpretations of Chinese Poetry (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1976), pp. 68–72

External links

• Ode to Mulan at YellowBridge
• Works related to Translation:Ballad of Mulan on Wikisource