To give me wooden peaches and to repay Qiong Yao means: you give me wooden peaches, and I will give you Qiong Yao (beautiful jade) in return.
Source: "Papaya"
"Papaya"
The author is anonymous? Pre-Qin Dynasty
Give me papaya and give me gold in return Ju. It's always good to be rewarded by a bandit!
Give me peaches and give me Qiongyao in return. It's always good to be rewarded by a bandit!
You gave me wood and plums, and you gave me Qiongjiu in return. It's always good to be rewarded by a bandit!
Translation:
You give me papaya, and I will give you Qiongju in return. It’s not just to thank you, I cherish my affection and stay with you forever!
You give me the wooden peach, and I will give you Qiong Yao in return. It’s not just to thank you, I cherish my affection and stay with you forever!
You donate the wooden plum to me, and I will give you the Qiongjiu in return. It’s not just to thank you, I cherish my affection and stay with you forever!
Extended information:
"Guo Feng·Wei Feng·Papaya" is a poem in the "Book of Songs", the first poetry collection in ancient China. The poem has three chapters, each chapter has four lines. There are many debates about the purpose of this poem. After the research and interpretation by Han people, Song people, Qing people and even today's scholars, the "Meiqi Huan Gong theory", "the theory of men and women giving each other gifts" and "the theory of friends giving each other replies" have appeared in the history of literature about this poem. There are seven kinds of sayings, including "the theory of reporting to ministers", "the theory of satirizing the guards in return for the Qi", "the theory of satirizing gifts and bribes", and "expressing the idea of ??reciprocity".
In terms of art, the sentences of the whole poem have a very high degree of overlapping and repetition, and are very musical. The uneven sentence patterns create an ups and downs of charm, achieving the effect of both sound and emotion, and have Strong folk song color.
Overall appreciation:
The poem "Wei Feng·Papaya" is very distinctive in terms of chapter and sentence structure. First of all, there is no four-character sentence, the most typical sentence pattern in the Book of Songs.
This is not impossible to use a four-character sentence (for example, if you use a four-character sentence, it becomes "Throw me a papaya (peach, plum), and repay Qiongju (Yao, Jiu); the bandit will repay you, and you will always think it is good." , the same can be done), but the author intentionally or unintentionally uses this sentence pattern to create an ups and downs of charm, which is easy to achieve the effect of both voice and emotion when singing.
Secondly, the statements have a very high degree of overlap. Not to mention that the last two sentences of each chapter are exactly the same, even the first two sentences are only one word different, and although the words "Qiongju", "Qiongyao" and "Qiongjiu" have slightly different meanings, they have the same meaning, while "Papaya" and "Mutao" According to Li Shizhen's "Compendium of Materia Medica", "Wu Plum" is also a plant of the same genus.
The difference between them is roughly like the difference between tangerines, tangerines and oranges. In this way, the three chapters are basically repeated, and such a high degree of repetition is not very common in the entire "Book of Songs". The format looks like the song "Yangguan Sandie" written in the Tang Dynasty based on Wang Wei's poems - naturally this It is determined by the duality of music and literature in The Book of Songs.
“You give me fruit, and I give you beautiful jade in return.” This is different from “reciprocating a favor”. The value of the things returned is much greater than the things received. This reflects a noble human emotion ( Including love and friendship).
This kind of emotion is about heart-to-heart connection and spiritual agreement. Therefore, the things given back and their value actually only have a symbolic meaning here, expressing the feelings towards others towards oneself. The cherishment of affection is why it is said to be "a bandit's reward". "You gave me papayas (peaches, plums), and in return you gave me Qiongju (Yao, Jiu)", its deep meaning should be: Although the thing you gave me was papaya (peaches, plums), your affection is truly more precious than anything else. Qiongju (Yao, Jiu);
I can't repay you with Qiongju (Yao, Jiu), but I can't fully express my gratitude to you. It is not appropriate to take the basically abstract objects such as papaya and Qiong Yao too seriously. In fact, the author is so broad-minded that he no longer has the heart to weigh the thickness and weight. What he wants to express is: cherishing and understanding the affection of others is the noblest affection.
From this point of view, later in Zhang Heng's "Poetry of Four Sorrows" of the Han Dynasty, "How can I repay Ying Qiongyao when a beauty gave me a gold knife?" although it said "gold in return for jade". Its meaning is actually the same as "throwing wood in return for gold".