Du Mu [Tang Dynasty]
In the autumn night, candlelight reflected the screen, and Fan slapped the fireflies with his hand.
The stone steps at night are as cold as cold water, sitting and staring at the cowherd and the weaver girl. (the first work of the Japanese order: Tianjie; Lie down and watch: sit and watch)
The first two sentences have painted a picture of life in the palace. On an autumn night, the silvery white candle gives off a faint light, adding a dim and cold tone to the picture on the screen. At this time, a lonely maid-in-waiting was flapping the flying fireflies with a small fan. This sentence is very implicit and contains three meanings: first, the ancients said that rotten grass turned into fireflies. Although unscientific, fireflies were always born in those desolate places between grass graves. Nowadays, there are fireflies flying in the courtyard where maids live, and the bleak life of maids can be imagined. Secondly, we can imagine the loneliness and boredom of the maid-in-waiting from her flapping fireflies. With nothing to do, she had to release fireflies to amuse her lonely years. She slapped the firefly with a small fan, and suddenly seemed to want to drive away the loneliness and loneliness that surrounded her, but it was useless. Thirdly, the small fan in the hand of the maid-in-waiting is symbolic. Fans were originally used for cooling in summer, but they are useless in autumn. Therefore, autumn fan is often used as a metaphor for abandoning a wife in ancient poetry. In this poem, the "small fan" symbolizes the fate of the maid-in-waiting who holds the fan being abandoned.
The "Riling" in "Riling Night as Cool as Water" refers to the stone steps in the palace. "The night is as cold as water" means that the night is deep and the chill is attacking people. It's time to go into the house and sleep. But the maid-in-waiting still sat on the stone steps, looking up at the Altair and Vega on both sides of the Tianhe River. According to folklore, the Weaver Girl is the granddaughter of the Emperor of Heaven. She marries the cow and petunia and meets him once a year when crossing the river on Qixi, with a magpie as the bridge. The "distant Altair" in Nineteen Ancient Poems of Han Dynasty is to write their stories. The maid-in-waiting watched Penny Weaver for a long time and didn't want to sleep at night, because the story of Penny Weaver touched her heart, reminded her of her unfortunate life experience and made her yearn for sincere love. It can be said that it is full of worries and expectations.