1. Poems about the Weaver Woman
Tang Dynasty: Yuan Zhen
Why is the Weaver Woman too busy? She lies down and walks on the silkworm sutra three times to get old.
The Silkworm Goddess became silk early, and the silk tax was collected early this year.
Early recruitment is not a bad thing for officials and people. Last year, officials and their families were in trouble.
Conscripting soldiers and fighting hard, the swordsmen are sore, and the general Xun Gao is replaced by Luo Mu.
Reeling silk and weaving silk are still hard work, but it becomes difficult to weave on the machine.
The boss’s daughter has a white head and two daughters, but she can’t get married to solve the problem.
On the hairsprings curling in front of the eaves, there are spiders coming and going skillfully.
I envy him that the insect can connect with heaven and weave a net into the void.
Translation
Why is the Weaver Woman so busy? It turns out that silkworms will grow old after three years of breeding. The weavers sincerely pray to the Silkworm God to bless the silkworms to produce silk as soon as possible, because this year the government will collect silk tax in advance. The early taxation this year is not because officials imposed excessive taxes, but because they launched a war last year. When the war was tough, silk fabrics could be used to bandage the wounds of wounded soldiers, or they could be made into silk tents to reward generals with outstanding military achievements.
Ordinary silk weaving is already laborious enough, but weaving patterned silk is even more difficult. It is extremely difficult to turn the loom and change the threads to pick out patterns on the fabric, which requires a high level of craftsmanship. It is not easy to train an expert in picking wrinkles. There are actually some clever girls who were detained by their parents because of their outstanding skills and wasted their youth.
On the silk web fluttering in front of the eaves, spiders crawled back and forth. I envy this little insect who is pure in nature and can freely weave a snare!
2. Ci of the Weaver Woman
Tang Dynasty: Meng Jiao
The husband is a man from the field, and the concubine is a girl from the field.
When I married you, I acted wisely for you.
I am already exhausted, so I don’t stop getting off the plane.
How to weave plain fabrics and wear blue silk clothes.
Mulberry trees are planted on Guanjiabangcun Road.
Translation
My husband is a farmer and I am a farmer’s wife. When I married my husband, I started working as a textile worker in my husband's family. I grew tired day by day and lost more and more strength, but I could not stop spinning for a moment. Why is it that what I weave is fine white silk, but what I wear is tattered clothes. The government posted notices on the roads in the village asking farmers to plant mulberry trees, raise silkworms and reel silk.
3. Nocturne
Southern and Northern Dynasties: Shen Yue
The solitary lamp is dim and the cold dawn is still weaving.
Who do you say to with zero tears? The rooster crows and sighs.
Translation
In the empty room, a solitary lamp was half-lit. Regardless of the cold weather, the loom was still set up and weaved. I can't stop crying, but who can I tell it to? I could only sigh as I listened to the crowing of the cock.
4. Red Thread Blanket
Tang Dynasty: Bai Juyi
To make a red thread blanket, choose cocoons, reel the silk, boil it in water, and select the silk to practice the thread red and blue dyeing. ?
Dye it into red thread, redder than blue, and weave it into a blanket for the incense hall.
The Pixiang Hall is more than ten feet wide, with red threads woven into the hall pavilion.
The colorful silk and velvet are fragrant, the threads are soft and the flowers are insignificant.
The beauties are dancing and singing, and their stockings and embroidered shoes are gone.
Translation
The red thread blanket is made by southern women who work hard day and night through many processes such as picking mulberry and raising silkworms, selecting cocoons and reeling silk, selecting silk and threading, and dyeing red and blue flowers. Woven. This work of painstaking efforts and sweat was spread on the palace floor as a carpet. The soft texture, faint fragrance, and beautiful patterns were not cherished and appreciated by the beauties, and beauties trampled on it, sang, danced, and trampled at will.
5. Liao Ling
Tang Dynasty: Bai Juyi
The achievement of Liao Ling weaving is incomparable to ordinary silk and silk.
Many women's hands hurt because of the silky silk, and a thousand sounds are not enough.
If you see the singers and dancers in Zhaoyang Palace weaving, you should feel sorry for them.
Translation
You must know that it takes a lot of effort to weave silk silk, and don’t compare it with ordinary silk. The cocoons were boiling and the threads were spinning, which hurt the Weaver Girl's hands. She pricked a thousand times, but the silk was still less than a foot long. If the beauties in the palace who sang and danced happily saw the hardships of weaving, they would also cherish it.