WEI YUANFU
Shuttle in hand, Mulan heaves a sigh;
“Who is it for this time?” I ask,
wanting to know why she sorrows.
Deeply moved, she composes her face.
“My father is listed in the draft’s register,
But his strength and energy daily wane.
How could he journey a myriad miles?
He has a son, but the boy is still too young.
“The steppe sands envelop horses’ hooves;
Northern storms crack a man’s skin.
My father has grown old, and worn by age;
How can he survive service?”
Mulan goes in place of her father,
Feeds his horse and takes his place in the ranks.
She changes away her white silk skirt;
She washes away her powdered, rouged face.
Riding the horse, she reports to the garrison;
Filled with noble courage, she wields a sword.
Camping at dawn at the foot of snowy mountains,
Resting at dusk on the bank of Qinghai Lake:
At night she surprises the captives at Mt. Yanzhi,
And she also captures the Tibetans from Khotan.2
The victorious commander in chief returns,
And officers and men can go back home.
When her father and mother see Mulan,
Late Qing New Year print illustration of Mulan. The inscription reads:
Mulan was in origin a cute young girl
Who went to the war instead of her father—how admirable!
Fighting far and wide for ten years, she preserved both name and honor.
The peerless general claims to be surnamed “Hua” (flower).
Inscribed by … Inkstone Field, on the mao month, guiyou year. Tianjin, Yangliuqing. Late Qing.
Source: Qingmo nianhua huicui (Beijing: Renmin meishu chubanshe, 2000).
Extreme joy turns into sadness and worry.
Mulan can understand the expressions on their faces,
So she discards turban and gauntlet and then tunes the strings:
“Before, I was a hero amongst warriors,
But from now on I’ll be your darling girl again!”
Relatives bring wine in congratulations:
“Only now do we know that a daughter is as useful as a son!”
Her old army buddies, assembled outside,
For ten years shared in her trials.
At the outset they swore friendship as brothers,
An oath never broken even in the death of battle!
But when now on this occasion they see Mulan,
Though the voice is the same, the features are quite different!
Stunned and perplexed, they don’t dare approach;
Heaving heavy sighs, in vain filled with wonder.
If in this world the hearts of officials and sons
Could display the same principled virtue as Mulan’s,
Their loyalty and filiality would be unbroken;
Their fame would last through the ages—how could it be destroyed?
Translated by Wilt L. Idema
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1 Wei Yuanfu’s “Song of Mulan” is written in lines of five syllables, with an occasional admixture of lines of seven syllables. Line spaces in the translation reflect a shift of rhyme in the original. The translation is taken from Wei, 1979, pp. 373–5.
2 Now known by the modern name Hotan or Hetian in pinyin.