【古文英译】王阳明《瘗旅文》

李熊熊

Sacrifice for those who died in a foreign land
An Prose Version of Pipa Xing by Wang Yangming in the Ming Dynasty
On the third day of a month in the autumn of the fourth year of Zhengde (1509), there was a man who claimed to be an official from the imperial capital, but did not know his name, and followed a servant to his post with a son. Stay at the local Miao people's home when you pass the Dragon farm. I saw him through a crack in the fence, and it was rainy and dark, and I tried to inquire about the North, but it didn't happen. The next morning they sent to see him, but they were gone.
Near noon, someone came from Centipede Slope and said that an old man had died at the bottom of the slope, and two people were crying. I said, this must be the death of the official, it is really sad! In the evening others came and said, There are two dead men down the slope, and there is a man sitting beside him weeping. I inquired about the situation and deduced that his son had also died. The next day someone came and saw three bodies piled up under the centipede slope. It was a sad thing that his servant had died too!
When I thought of their bodies lying in the wilderness, with no one to collect them, I took two boys with a dustpan and shovel and went to bury them. The two boys' faces looked troubled. I said, you and I are just like them! The two boys shed tears of sorrow and wished to go with them. We dug three pits at the foot of the hill next to the bodies and buried them. With a chicken, and three bowls of rice, sigh and cry, sacrifice to them.
How sad! Who are you? I am Wang Shouren, an official of Longchang, from Yuyao, Zhejiang Province. You and I both grew up in the Central Plains, I don't know where you are from, why do you want to be the ghost of this mountain? The ancients did not leave their hometown easily, and went abroad to be an official for no more than a thousand miles. I was banished here because of the derogation of officials. What are you guilty of? I have heard that your official position is only that of an official, the salary is less than five buckets, and you can also get it by farming with your wife and children! Why do you want to change your seven-foot body because of this five-meter salary? That's not enough. What about your son and your servant?
How sad! If you really have come because you are greedy for these five meters, you should be glad to go on your way. Why did I see you yesterday with a sad face, as if you were overwhelmed with sorrow? You braved the wind, frost and dew, climbing on the steep mountain road, climbing over countless peaks, hunger and thirst, fatigue and fatigue, physical exhaustion, and miasma plague infestation outside, sorrow and depression in the heart, how can it not die? I knew that you would die, but I did not expect that you would die so soon, nor did I expect that your sons and servants would die so soon after you! You brought this on yourself. What else can you say? It fills me with endless sorrow that I have come to bury your bones, because they have not been gathered.
How sad! Even if I do not bury you, the foxes on this desolate cliff and the vipers in this dark valley are as big as wheels, they will surely swallow you up and not leave you long dead in the mountains. You have no sense, but how can I bear it? It has been three years since I left my parents' hometown and came here, and I have survived the miasmatic gas infestation, because I have not had a single day of sorrow. Today is so sad, mostly because of you, rarely because of myself. I shouldn't grieve for you anymore. I made a song for you. Listen to it.
The lyrics go like this. The mountains are so close to the sky that not even birds can fly through them. Wandering wanderers miss their homeland and can't tell the difference between east, west and north. If you don't know the direction, only the sky is the same everywhere. A foreign country is also surrounded by the four seas. A philosophical person who lives everywhere does not have to have a fixed residence. Do not grieve, your soul.
And he made a song to comfort them. You and I are far from home, and do not understand the language of the barbarians. The length of my life is unpredictable. If I die here, you bring your son and your servant to be with me. I invite you to swim and play, driving a purple tiger, sitting on a colorful dragon. Climb to look at the distant hometown, issued a long sigh. If I make it back alive, you'll have your son and servants with you, and you won't be sad because you're alone. The mounds of graves by the roadside are mostly the people of the Central Plains who have been displaced here. Everyone called to each other, and lingered here together. If you sleep out, you won't be hungry. Make friends with elk in the morning, roost with apes in the evening. You should be at ease to live here, do not like a demon will make this backcountry a mess!