Eastern Fables — Introduction & Preface
There is a book I “borrowed” from my parents ages ago, while I was probably still a teenager, and never returned. It is titled 東方寓言(Eastern Fables), and the first story affected me deeply, so even though I never made it any further in the book, I hung onto it all these years, intending to finish it.
Recently, I decided to give it another try. Even though my Chinese isn’t at the level it was when I first read it, I figured with the help of Google Translate, ChatGPT, and the perspective middle age, it would be a satisfying and worthwhile project. And while I was at it, I could render these beautiful stories in English for others to enjoy.
So here I will start sharing my translations of the stories in Eastern Fables as I work my way through the book. I will include the original Chinese, as well, so folks with better knowledge of the Chinese language, culture, and mythology, as well as Buddhist theology and Daoism and Confucian philosophy can flag errors or suggest opportunities for improvement.
Naturally, I will start with the preface.
Butterfly Discourse (Preface) 蝶語（代序）
PDF of the original (in Chinese)
A pair of butterflies were resting on a lotus leaf, sunning themselves. Suddenly, one butterfly turned to the other one and said, “I just dreamt that I was the great Daoist sage Zhuangzi, and I wrote a great many fables.”
“What kind of fables?” the other butterfly asked.
“I can’t really remember anymore. I only remember that writing was excruciatingly difficult. All I wanted to do was turn into a butterfly and leave it all behind.”
“Humph,” the other butterfly grunted dismissively. “You already are a butterfly, so why would you dream about wishing you were a butterfly?”
With that, the two butterflies looked at each other, burst out laughing*, then spread their wings out and fluttered off into the sky.
* I originally translated this as “realizing that they’re not supposed to be able to talk,” because Google translated “啞然失笑” as “dumbfounded.” However, my brother Andrew pointed me to https://www.zdic.net/hant/%E5%95%9E%E7%84%B6%E5%A4%B1%E7%AC%91, which translates the phrase as “unable to stifle a laugh”, which sounds more reasonable given the context.
The Stories
Coming Up
- Island (Part 2)
- Deathbed Convert
