Original text of Fan Raozhou's guest chatting about eating puffer fish:
Digon buds grow on the spring island, and poplar flowers bloom on the spring bank. At that time, puffer fish was more expensive than fish and shrimp. Its appearance is already strange, and its poison cannot be added. His angry belly is like a pig, and his angry eyes are like a frog. If the food is cooked and cooked, it will be lost, and it will become a poison when it enters the throat. If you lose your body, why do you need your teeth? If you ask questions about southerners, the party will be proud of you. They all say that beauty is immeasurable, but who says death is like hemp? I can't bend my words, and my thoughts are empty. When Chaoyang retreats, we begin to fear the snake in the cage. Zihou lived in Liuzhou, but he was willing to eat shrimps and toads. Although the two things are abominable, their lives are not bad. The taste has never been better, and there is no limit to the danger hidden in it. It is also called "very beautiful and evil". This statement is sincere and commendable. Translation and annotation of Fan Raozhou's Hakka Eating Puffer Fish
Translation In spring, tender buds grow on the small island by the water, and the willows on the bank sprout catkins and flowers fly all over the sky. Puffer fish is on the market at this time and is more expensive than all other fish and shrimps. The appearance of puffer fish is enough to make people feel strange, and no food can compare with its toxicity. The swollen belly is like a big pig, and the eyes are protruding, and it is like a frog with a bulging belly in Wu. If you don't cook it carefully and improperly, you will die immediately after eating it, just like being slaughtered by a sharp sword. Why do people eat food that brings harm to people's lives like this? I asked the southerners about this question, but they were full of praise for the pufferfish, and they praised it again and again. Everyone said that the fish was so delicious, so many people died by not talking about the poison. I couldn't refute them, so I thought about them over and over again, feeling surprised. When Han Yu came to Chaoyang, he was afraid of eating snakes at first. Liu Zongyuan arrived in Liuzhou and soon began to eat shrimps calmly. Although snakes and toads have strange and disgusting shapes, they are not harmful to human life and there is no need to be afraid. Although the taste of puffer fish exceeds them, the hidden dangers are endless. Things that are too beautiful must also be evil. What the ancients said is true.
Notes 1 Fan Raozhou: Fan Zhongyan, courtesy name Xiwen, was from Wuxian County. During the Xiangfu period, he became a Jinshi and became an official to participate in political affairs. At that time, Fan Zhongyan knew Raozhou (now Poyang, Jiangxi). 2 Di (di) buds: the young shoots of Di grass, also known as Di bamboo shoots. Southerners cook Di buds with pufferfish to make soup. 3 Yanghua: catkins. 4 does not count: it is on top. 5 Mojia: Not as good as, not as good as. 6 seal pig (shǐ): big pig. 7. Angry eyes: staring eyes. Wu frog: Wu frog. "Han Feizi Nei Chu Shuo" records that the king of Yue was attacking Wu and he greeted an angry frog. 8 "Pao (pao) fried" sentence: It means if the food is not cooked properly. 9mo ye: the name of the ancient sword. Shizi teeth: reward teeth, here refers to eating. ⑾Party protection: protection. To boast: to boast, here refers to praising the pufferfish. ⑿Beauty without measure: Beauty without measure, extremely beautiful. ⒀Death is like hemp: as many people died as hemp. ⒁Duōjiē: sigh. ⒂"Retreat" two sentences: Retreating is Han Yu. When Han Yu was demoted to Chaoyang, there was a poem in the "Eighteen Association Rules of Chu Nan Shi Yi Yuan" that said: "Only the old snake knows, but it is really scary with its mouth and eyes. Open the cage and let it go, the depression is still unfair." ⒃ "Zi Hou" 2 Sentence: Zihou, Liu Zongyuan. Liu Zongyuan was relegated to Liuzhou, and Han Yu wrote a poem "Reply to Liuzhou for Eating Shrimps and Toads", which contains the sentence "What is the king doing? He eats sweet food than a leopard." ⒄舛(chuǎn) difference: error, harm. ⒅Zeng: Qi, could it be? ⒆"Very beautiful" sentence: In the 28th year of Zhaogong's reign in Zuo Zhuan, the Chinese version of the poem, "Very beautiful must have some evil", which means that beauty and evil are often dependent on each other. Weigh, quite. The creative background of Fan Raozhou sitting in the middle and talking about eating puffer fish
In 1038 (the fifth year of Jingyou), Mei Yaochen was about to leave office in Jiande County (now part of Zhejiang), and Fan Zhongyan knew Raozhou (where the government is now) Boyang, Jiangxi) and asked him to travel to Mount Lu together. At Fan Zhongyan's banquet, someone vividly talked about the delicacy of pufferfish, which aroused Mei Yaochen's great interest and wrote this poem to record the scene. Fan Raozhou's appreciation of eating puffer fish while sitting in a guest chat
Although the poems are composed spontaneously, unlike most of Mei Yaochen's works that have been painstakingly chanted and carved, the style of poetry is still characterized by leisurely refinement and many twists and turns. The whole poem is written in five layers, with many transitions in the middle. The first four sentences directly write about puffer fish, which is the title of general poems about things. The poem says that in spring, when buds grow on the islets and catkins fly from the willow trees on both sides of the bank, puffer fish are on the market and are very valuable. These four lines of poetry have always been praised. First, because the scenery described in the first two sentences is very similar, and the phenology is used to hint at the time when the puffer fish is on the market; the second reason is that the two sentences are written clearly, and the fish and shrimp are used as a background to express the value of the puffer fish. Starting like this, everything is smooth and comprehensive. Ouyang Xiu analyzed: "Pufferfish often come out in late spring, swimming up in groups, eating catkins and getting fat. People in the south often make soup with Di buds, which is the most beautiful. Therefore, the poet said that he only mentioned two sentences to describe the benefits of pufferfish." Chen Yan's "Essence of Song Poetry" also said that these four sentences are excellent. However, some people pointed out that pufferfish is on the market in early spring and becomes cheaper after February. "By the time the catkins arrive, the fish has already passed away" ("Miscellaneous Notes" by Kong Yifu of the Song Dynasty). Song Ye Mengde's "Stone Forest Poetry Talk" refuted this, saying that people in Jiangxi only eat puffer fish when catkins are flying, and plum poems are not bad. Regardless of the facts, it can be seen that this poem had a great influence at that time and in later generations. This poem has a very good beginning. Ouyang Xiu once said: "So I know that the poet has already done all the good things by reciting two sentences, stopping and breaking the title." ("Sixty-One Poetry Talks")
The following The eight sentences suddenly contain words of doubt and fear, which is a turning point. "Its appearance is already strange, and its poison cannot be added." Let's summarize it in two sentences. The following will discuss its "strangeness" and "poison". The belly of the pufferfish is larger than that of other fish. It has air sacs that can be inflated by inhalation. Its glasses protrude close to the top of its head, so it has a weird shape.
The poet further exaggerated, saying that its "belly is like a pig" and "its eyes are like a frog". Adding the descriptions of "angry" and "angry", the puffer fish's appearance cannot be more abominable. What's even more frightening is that the liver, gonads and blood of puffer fish contain toxins. If they are not handled carefully, you will be poisoned and die soon after eating them. The poet uses the metaphor of "a sharp sword that enters the throat", which is even more thrilling. The poet believes that it is not worth risking his life to enjoy such delicious food. "If this body is lost, why need teeth?" The two sentences are derogatory to puffer fish.
However, if you are afraid of death, you will not be able to taste the deliciousness of pufferfish, but among those who have tasted the deliciousness of pufferfish, there are many people who are not afraid of death. "Ask a Southerner" below, write your own argument with the guest. Since puffer fish is so poisonous, you shouldn't eat it, but when you ask southerners, they say it tastes delicious and keep silent about the fact that it can poison people. In this regard, the author sighed. The poem first cites the stories of Han Yu seeing people eating snakes in Chaozhou and Liu Zongyuan eating toads in Liuzhou, saying that it seems that any scary thing is not scary if you are used to it. After mentioning snakes and toads, echoing the previous word "weird", the poem further echoes the word "poison", saying that although snakes and toads are strange, eating them will not harm people, but this is not the case with puffer fish. "Zhongzang The misfortune knows no bounds." Finally, the author comes to the conclusion: Puffer fish tastes very delicious. Just as "Zuo Zhuan" said, "Everything beautiful must have something evil." How can people not be vigilant? Such comments, on the surface, reveal that people disregard their lives for the sake of palatable taste, taking the small and losing the big. If viewed in conjunction with all aspects of real life, it is a satire on people in the world who disregard life and integrity for the sake of fame and fortune.
From the sentence "I cannot bend my words" to the end of the article, the author's reflections are written. This part can be divided into two levels. The poet first quoted the story of ancient people changing their food habits, and both stories were based on Han Yu's poems. Han Yu was banished to Chaozhou, and there is a poem in "Eighteen Association Rules of Chu Nan Shi Yi Yuan" that said: "Only the old snake knows, but it is really a ferocious mouth and eyes. Open the cage and let it go, the depression is still unfair." Liu Zongyuan was banished to Liuzhou, Han Yu had The poem "Answer to the Eating of Shrimp and Toad in Liuzhou" says: "I can't even get close to my throat, and I can even eat it a little bit...but what do you do with it? You can eat as much food as a leopard." Combining these two things, the poet said that it is as disgusting as a "cage snake", "Toads" can also change from "beginning to worry" to "eating happily", so there is nothing wrong with eating puffer fish. However, he also thought that although snakes and toads are ugly in appearance, eating them is not harmful to life, unlike puffer fish, which "hidden dangers without limit". In connection with the above, the taste of puffer fish is "beautiful" and is beyond the reach of snakes and toads.
"Beauty is boundless" and "disaster knows no bounds". The pufferfish is a strange unity that combines the most beautiful and the most evil into one. Then the poet remembered an aphorism from "Zuo Zhuan": "There must be some evil in every beauty." He believed that this is the most appropriate way to evaluate pufferfish.
Ouyang Xiu said: "The poem was written among the bottles, with powerful penmanship, and it was completed in an instant, so it became a masterpiece." In the fifty-sixth volume of "Poetry of the Past Dynasties", Liu Yuan's father wrote this poem because of Mei Yaochen. In this poem, I think he can be called "Plum River Dolphin". Mei Yaochen's poems strive to be plain in style, distinct in form, and profound in meaning. Ouyang Xiu said in "After the Manuscript of Shumei Shengyu" that he was "good at understanding human feelings, depicting scenery, elegant and upright, and full of perversions." This poem is in line with this evaluation. Mei Yaochen was in the era when Xikun style poetry dominated the poetry world. He opposed the accumulation of allusions in words, advocated the study of elegance, advocated poetry to express the lower emotions and the current politics, and wrote many poems reflecting the life of the lower class. This poem about pufferfish also implicitly satirizes society through chanting pufferfish, so it is regarded as one of Mei Yaochen's masterpieces. Ouyang Xiu was Mei Yaochen's confidant. In Yao Ying's "On Poetry Quatrains" of the Qing Dynasty, there is a sentence "Wanling's confidant has Luling". Ouyang Xiu studied Han Yu's poetry and liked to express opinions and mixed it with prose. Mei Yaochen's poem also has these characteristics, so it was praised by Ouyang Xiu as his "swan song". Ouyang Xiu also said in "Shu Mei Sheng Yu Hegu's Poetry Queen": "I am not healthy, I have recited it several times, and I am very good." He also copied this poem in his own hand many times and gave it to others.
Poetry works: Fan Raozhou sat in the middle of the country and talked about eating puffer fish. Poetry author: Mei Yaochen, Song Dynasty. Poetry classification: writing about fish, puffer fish, satire