卷十四

至元十六年彰德路民谣
元史五行志二
苇生成旗。民皆流离。苇生成枪。杀伐遭殃。
Words referring to people (civilians) having to leave home and wander around to escape from war, and to how they are killed in the war.
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至正二十八年彰德路童谣
元史五行志二
塔儿黑。北人作主南人客。塔儿红。朱衣人作主人公。
When the color of the Tian Ning tower was black, people from the north ruled; when the color of the tower was red, a man in red shall be the master. This is a children’s song predicting the coming to power of Zhu (meaning red) Yuan Zhang’s coming to power and the end of the Mongolian dynasty.

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至元十六年彰德民谣
元史五行志二
李生黄瓜。民皆无家。People become homeless when cucumbers grow on a plum tree. Words referring to the difficulty of life when China was in the transition from the Yuan (the Mongolian) dynasty to the Ming dynasty.

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至元五年八月京师童谣
元史五行志二
白雁望南飞。马札望北跳。
The white geese fly towards the south and the horses jump towards the north. A children’s song in the capital city referring to the Mongolians’ heading north for home soon.
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至正五年淮楚间童谣
元史五行志二
富汉莫起楼。穷汉莫起屋。但看羊儿头。便是吴家国。A rich man should not build a mansion and a poor man should not build a house. Simply looking at the head of a sheep, then you know you have neither home nor country. A children’s song referring to the rough life under the Mongolians’ rule.

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至正十五年京师童谣
元史五行志二
一阵黄风一阵沙。 千里万里无人家。 回头雪消不堪看。 三眼和尚弄瞎马。A gusty yellow and dusty wind blows on thousands of miles where people do not reside. When one turns one’s head, the snow melts before sees it. A three-eyed monk is playing with a blind horse.

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元统二年彰德民谣
元史五行志二
天雨【氂】。 事不齐。
When the sky is raining white hair, everything is going wrong.
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至元三年彰德民谣
元史五行志二
天雨线。 民起怨。 中原地。 事必变。
When the sky is raining threads, people are complaining greatly. Something severe is going to happen to the central plains (of China).

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金末庚午岁童谣
元史郭宝玉传
摇摇罟罟至。 河南拜閼氏。
A children’s song predicting the defeat of the Jin army by the invading Mongolian army.

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夏贵引谚
元史洪君祥传
杀人一万。 自损三千。
When one kills ten thousand people in a war, one has to lose three thousand sodiers at the same time.

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雷州民为乌古孙泽歌
元时乌古孙泽传
舄卤为田兮。 孙父之教。 渠之泱泱兮。
长我稻。 自今有生兮。 无旱无涝。
A song sung by people of Lei Zhou praising their official Wu Gu Sun Ze, who was able to plan irrigation for farm lands properly.

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时人为归暘吴柄语
元史归暘传
归暘出角。 吴柄无光。
Words praising Gui Yang for not going along with some people who failed in an attempt to establish their own government during the Yuan dynasty. His contemporary Wu Bing went along and was despised.

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绍兴乡里为俞母语
元史列女闻氏传
欲学孝妇。 当问俞母。If one wants to be a filial daughter-in-law, one should consult Yu Xin’s wife.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

苏州民为张士信等谣
明史五行志三
丞相做事业。 专靠黄蔡叶。 一朝西风起。 干。
Words predicting the defeat and death of Zhang Shi Cheng, who was one of the major warlords at the end of Yuan dynasty

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建文初年道士歌
明史五行志三
莫逐燕。 逐燕日高飞。 高飞上帝畿。
A song sung by a Taoist practitioner predicting the coming to power of Emperor Cheng, who took away the throne from his nephew Emperor Jian Wen by military force.

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正统二年京师小儿歌
明史五行志三
雨帝雨帝。 城隍土地。 雨若再来。 还我土地。
A children’s song sung in the capital city, predicting that when Ming’s Emperor Ying, who was captured by a northern tribe, returned to the capital, his younger brother, who took over the throne, would have to give the throne back to him.

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万历末年道士歌
明史五行志三
委鬼当头坐。 茄花遍地生。
A song sung by a Taoist predicting that when the eunuch Wei Zong Xian took control of the court, there would be much bloodshed.
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万历末年谣
明史五行志三
鄴台復鄴台。 曹操再出来。
A rumor predicting an uprising organized by Luo Ru Cai against the Ming government.
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官人为马后歌
明史太祖孝慈高皇后马氏传
我后圣慈。 化行家邦。 抚我育我。
怀德难忘。 怀德难忘。 於万斯年。
毖彼下泉。 悠悠苍天。
A song sung by the servant maids in the Ming court about Empress Ma who was really kind to everyone, including the emperor’s concubines in the court.

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方孝孺绝命词
明史方孝孺传
天降乱离兮。 孰知其由。 奸臣得计兮。 谋\国用犹。
忠臣发愤兮。 血泪交流。 以此殉君兮。 抑又何求。呜呼哀哉兮。 庶不我尤。Words said by Fang Xiao Ru, who was loyal to Jian Wen Emperor, before he was executed by Emperor Cheng, who took away Jian Wen’s throne by military force. In these words, he said he did not regret dying for the cause of being loyal to his emperor.
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韩郁引谚
明史高巍传
亲者割之不断。 疏者续之不坚。
It is impossible to cut off one’s relations with one’s blood relatives, just as it is impossible to establish any bond with someone who is not a blood relative.

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时人为韩雍陈选语
明史陈选传
前有韩雍。 后有陈选。
Words referring to two greedy and corrupted officials.

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江阴民为周斌歌
明史杨瑄传附周斌传
旱为灾。 周公祷\之甘露来。 水为患。 周公祷\之阴雨散。
A song sung by people of Jiang Yin concerning their official Zhou Pin, who was able to call for rain when people needed rain, and able to stop rain when a flood was forming.

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京师为左鼎练纲语
明史左鼎传
左鼎手。 练纲口。
Words spread in the capital city concerning two officials. Zuo Ding was good at writing reports to the emperor, and Lian Gang dared to say anything to the emperor.

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成化时谣
明史万安传
纸糊三阁老。 泥塑六尚书。
Words referring to those high-ranking officials surrounding the emperor. The words describe how incompetent and useless they were.

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时人为朱銓龙文语
明史石亨传
朱三千。 龙八百。
Words referring to how two people actually bought their way into the government posts they were holding.
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彭时引谚
明史彭时传
子出多母。
A son comes out of many mothers. A proverb used by Peng Shi to advise the emperor to spread his love to different concubines in the court instead of just focusing on one who could no longer bear children, since the emperor still had no heir at the time.

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时人为李东阳刘健谢迁语
明史刘健传
李公谋\。 刘公断。 谢公尤侃侃。Mr. Li was good at thinking, Mr. Liu was good at judging, Mr. Xie was good at speaking. Words referring to three outstanding officials during Ming’s Emperor Xiao’s reign.

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时人为王恕谣
明史王恕传
两京十二部。 独有一王恕。
Words about how Wang Shu, a high-ranking official, was always ready to tell the emperor what he thought was right, to the point at which the emperor was tired of him, too.

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川东人为梳贼\官军土兵谣
明史洪钟传
贼\如梳。 军如篦。 土兵如剃。
A song sung by people of Eastern Si Chuan about how the government troops were killing and robbing the people, like the bandits they were trying to catch.
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潯州人为陈金语
明史陈金传
永通不通。 来葬江中。 谁其作者。 噫。 陈公。Words by people of Xun Zhou complaining about how Chen Jin, the governor of Southern China, had come up with a bad policy to deal with the minority group Miao.

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江西民为土贼\土兵谣
明史陈金传
土贼\犹可。 土兵杀我。
A song sung by people of Jiang Xi about how the government troops were worse to the civilians than were the bandits whom the troops were trying to eliminate.

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都下为林俊张黻语
明史林俊传
御史刑曹。 黄门出后府。
Words referring to how two officials who would not flatter and bribe got into trouble and were thrown in jail.

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京师为严嵩严世蕃谣
明史杨继盛传
大丞相。 小丞相。
Words referring to the father and son, Yan Song and Yan Shu Fan. They were dominating the court even without official titles.

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都门为万采方祥谚
明史董传策传
文武管家。
Words referring to how two officials in the court were serving Yan Song as though they were his butlers.
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吕坤引蜀民语
明史吕坤传
入山一千。 出山五百。
Words said by the loggers of Si Chuan about how logging was a tough job. You got one thousand man to the mountain and you would only get half of them out of the mountain alive.

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都人为陈与郊语
明史王汝训传
欲京堂。 须弹章。
Words said about Chen Yu Jiao, who were impeached and yet were promoted after that. The words said that if one wanted to be promoted to high positions, one should be impeached first.
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南康士民为林学曾李应昇谣
明史李应昇传
前林后李。 清和无比。
A song sung by people of Nan Kang referring to two very good judges who were able to save innocent lives.

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秦中士民为曹文詔谣
明史曹文詔传
军中有一曹。 西贼\闻之心胆摇。
A song sung by people of Shan (first tone) Xi and Shan (third tone) Xi about Cao Wen Zhao, who was in charge of eliminating bandits in these two provinces. The words say that if there is one Cao in the army, all the bandits will be scared just by the thought of him.
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诸军为左良玉猛如虎谣
明史猛如虎传
想杀我左镇。 跑杀我猛镇。
Words said by the soldiers about two generals. They missed Zuo Liang Yu, since he never let them work too hard, and they complained about Meng Ru Hu, since he trained them too hard.
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济寧人为方克勤歌
明史方克勤传
孰罢我役。使君之力。孰活我黍。
使君之雨。使君勿去。我民父母。
A song sung by people of Ji Ning about their official Fang Ke Qin: It is all because of him that we get out of mandatory labor, it is he who gets us rain for our crops, and he had better not go anywhere as he is like a parent of the people.

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松江民为赵豫谣
明史赵豫传
松江太守明日来。
Teasing words said by people of Song Jiang about their new governor, Zhao Yu. People of Song Jiang liked to sue one another. Zhao Yu would advise them to think things through and come back tomorrow. The words go like this: the Song Jiang Governor will come tomorrow.

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时人为何廷仁黄宏纲钱德洪王畿语
明史钱德洪传
江有何黄。 浙有钱王。
Words referring to the outstanding students of Wang Shou Ren, who could really expound their teacher’s thoughts well.

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吴人为皇甫氏张氏兄弟语
明史皇甫涍传
前有四皇。 后有三张。Words referring to the good writers: four brothers of the Huang Fu household, and three brothers of the Zhang household.

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馆中为许国李维楨语
明史李维楨传
记不得。 问老许。 做不得。 问小李。Words said by people in the National Archive of certain period of Ming dynasty. If you do not remember something ask Xu Guo Qi, if you cannot do something well, ask Li Wei Zhen. These are words praising the two knowledgeable people.

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焦芳引谚
明史阉党焦芳传
无钱拣故纸。If one does not have money to buy new paper, one should just use some scrap paper from before. A proverb suggesting how a poor person can save money.
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时人为李恒茂李鲁生李蕃语
明史阉党霍维华传
官要起。 问三李。
If one wants to get government jobs or be promoted, one should ask those three Mr. Li’s who are hot at the moment.
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时人为田尔耕谣
明史阉党田尔耕传
大儿田尔耕。
Words referring to one man, Tian Er Geng, who worked for Wei Zhong Xian, a powerful eunuch during a certain period of Ming. He was almost like the big son of Wei Zhong Xian (who could not possibly have sons).
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福王时南都人语
明史奸臣马士英传
职方贱如狗。都督满街走。
Words referring to the time when an evil court official, Ma Shi Ying, was dominant. At that time, one would only have to pay him to get a government job.
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华人为猫里务语
明史合猫里国传
若要富。须往猫里务。
If one wants to get rich, one should go to Ma Li Wu, the small island nation that was a trading center at the time. It is close to the present-day Philippines.

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舟人往西洋谚
明史宾童龙国传
上怕七州。下怕崑崙。针迷舵失。人船无存。
Words referring to the danger of traveling on ships to oceans west of China.

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真腊谚
明史真腊国传
富贵真腊。
Words referring to a rich country, Zhen La.

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三佛齐国旧港语
明史三佛齐国传
一年种谷。 三年生金。
Words referring to the country San Fuo Qi in present day Southeast Asia. This place has very fertile, arable land and very prosperous trading activities.