Saturday, January 12, 2008

The legend of Nv Wa

This is a Chinese version of how creatures on earth were created. The creator was Nv Wa! Interesting!? But how did she come into being?

女娲是 大地 的 女儿,她的 上半部 像 人,下半部 像 蛇。她 在 大地 上 一个 人 游玩,时间 长了,感到 很 孤独,就 用 泥土 造出了 人类 的 祖先,以及 各种 动物。人类 渐渐 繁殖 增加,大地-上 变得 热闹起来 了,女娲 看了 很 高兴。

可是,有 一天,天空 突然 破了,大地 也 裂了 开来,于是 整个 世界上 都是 从 天-上 落下来 的 烈火 和 地下 冒出来 的 洪水。人类 的 生活 变得 很 痛苦。女娲 看到 人类 的 痛苦,感到 十分 难过,于是 决定 去 修补 天空 和 大地。她 把 彩色的 石头 溶化了,用来 修补 天空,用 泥土 去 填平 地下 的 裂缝。她 又 砍下了 海洋 里 的 神龟 的 四条 腿 去 支撑 天空。这样,世界 又 恢复了 平静,人类 又 开始 过 安定的 生活。


Nu Wa is the Earth's daughter, Her top half was that of a woman, and her bottom half was that of a snake. She was playing by herself on the earth but as time passed, Nu Wa was feeling very bored and alone, so she made the humans' ancestors out of mud, as well as all sorts of different animals. The human race slowly began to multiply, and the earth was becoming very noisy indeed, and Nu Wa was very happy about this. However, one day, the sky suddenly burst open, and the earth also cracked open, so the whole universe was filled with raging fire that fell from the sky and floods from the earth. The human race became filled with sorrow and anguish. Nu Wa saw the human races' pain, and felt really sad, so she resolved to fix the sky and earth. So she melted various color rocks, and used them to patch up the sky, and used mud to fill up all the earth's fissures. She also chopped off the turtle deity's four legs (with her magical ninja sword) and used them to hold up the sky. With this, she universe returned to normal, and the human race lead very peaceful lives. (that is, until the badass-marshmallow-eating-dinosaurs came from Jupiter...)

Is 热闹 noise? Or is it "full of excitement"? Methinks it's better to translate it as "full of excitement".

1 comment:

Eddie Cheng said...

Try this little legend, which connects Pangu and Nvwa (taken from the reading material of the book I am using):

女娲补天

盘古打开了天和地以后,为了不让天塌下来,就用不周山把天顶着。
有一次,火神和水神在不周山下打架,水神打败了,很生气,就一头撞死在不周山下了。没想到,水神这一撞,把不周山撞倒了,天塌下来了一大块。天河里的水哗哗地流下来,把土地都淹了,人们没办法过日子了。
有个女神叫女娲,她决心把天补起来。女娲先用神龟的四只脚把天顶住。她又用五色的石头,把塌了的那块天补好。从此以后,人们又过上了太平的日子。
传说女娲补天时多下了一块五色石,后来猴王孙悟空,就是从那块石头里蹦出来的呢!