《施氏食獅史》 "[An] History of Mr Shih's Eating Lions"

This is the passage composed by Yuen Ren Chao, with every character pronounced ㄕ (Pinyin: shi) up to tone in Mandarin.

Translation

The Chinese source text is from Page 143 of Chao's 《語言問題》 (臺灣商務印書館, 1968).

Source text Target text Notes
《施氏食獅史》 "[An] History of Mr Shih's Eating Lions"
  • 施氏： Mr Shih; lit. surname Shih
石室詩士施氏，嗜獅，誓食十獅。 [The] poet Mr Shih of [a] stone house, liked lions, [and] sware to eat ten lions.
  • 石： stone; or rock
氏時時適市視獅。 Mr [Shih] constantly went unto market [to] view lions.
  • 氏

    Here, 施 has been dropped from 施氏.

十時，適十獅適市。是時，適施氏適市。 [At the] tenth hour, ten lions [were] just gone unto market. [At] this time, Mr Shih [was] just gone unto market.
氏視是十獅，恃矢勢，使是十獅逝世。 Mr [Shih] viewed these ten lions, [and], relying upon the arrow's momentum, made these ten lions pass away.
  • 使： made; or caused
氏拾是十獅屍，適石室。 Mr [Shih] picked up these ten lions' carcasses, [and] went unto [the] stone house.
石室濕，氏使侍拭石室。 [The] stone house wet, Mr [Shih] made servants wipe [the] stone house.
石室拭，氏始試食是十獅屍。 [The] stone house wiped, Mr [Shih] began to try eating these ten lions' carcasses.
食時，始識是十獅屍，實十石獅屍。 [Only] when eating, [did he] first know [that] these ten lions' carcasses, [were] actually ten stone lions' carcasses.
  • 始： first; lit. begin to
試釋是事。 Try to interpret these events.
  • 是事： these events; or this incident

Cite this page

Conway (2023). "[An] History of Mr Shih's Eating Lions". <https://yawnoc.github.io/lit/lion-eating> Accessed yyyy-mm-dd.