Live-Action Mulan remake.

So, there are a bajillion translations out there already. I've been wondering how I'm going to contribute so I am wheeling out my one party trick of knowing the thing off by heart. I am translating this from my head.

It's an oral tradition, after all, so here it is as I memorized it over a decade ago. I cannot promise it is the most accurate translation but it is the one I carry with me everywhere, in my head. Ballad in "quotations" and I will provide notes/musings as I go.

"Clack-clack swish clack-clack

Mulan weaves by the window

The loom is silence but for the sighing of the daughter.

'What weighs down your thoughts, my daughter? What memories stay your hand?'"

"'Last night I saw the summons, the Khan is counting all his soldiers.

The summons fill ten & two rolls, every roll with my father's name.

My father has no elder sons, Mulan has no older brothers,

but willing am I to buy a horse at market & henceforth take my father's place.'"^note Quick interruption to call attention to the fact that a Khan is on the throne and that the thing she needs for military service is not a sword, but a horse. I have said before but Turkic Mulan is very much textually supported.

"From the eastern markets, a handsome horse.

From the western markets, a saddle.

From the southern markets, a bridle.

From the northern markets, a long whip.

At dawn I leave my father and my mother,

And sleep by the yellow river."^note Animated Mulan actually got one thing right from the earliest recorded ballad I can't immediately think of any other version doing: it gives screen time and emphasis to her horse. Arguably they arrived at this accidentally (via little girls like horses) but still.The ballad is very horse-centric, without a single mention of swords or armour. Mulan prepares for war by buying a horse, a whip, saddle, a bridle. That is it. No swords, no martial arts. I find it fascinating how much other versions omit this very central part of the ballad. The weaving has become foundational and dominating plot points in many adaptions, but I've never seen an extended mini quest for the horse accessories. The reason for this goes back to how the Turkic elements are downplayed (regardless of whether or not the story is set during Northern Wei), Chinese femininity (strongly associated with needlework) and the antagonists being framed as evil horse-nomads.

"I cannot hear them call for their daughter,

Only the rushing of the yellow river.

At dawn I depart from the yellow river,

And sleep by black hills,

I cannot hear them call for their daughter,

Only the shouting of the mountain riders."^note I went for the unorthodox decision of putting this in first person instead of second. Poetry is.... lax about pronouns and obviously one is obliged to add some back in when translating (in fairness, I don't always, it makes my translations read weird tho)

"Ten thousand miles fly by, the mountains rush tumble onwards,

Sweat soaks into to her arming jacket,

Cold light shines upon her iron armour."^note Note: I'm a little fuzzy on the first two lines, I remember the SOUNDS very well as I rattle through but the meaning is vague? I also decided on arming jack instead of gambeson, though again, because I'm not looking anything up, maybe it actually means armour? I'm rolling the sound in my mouth and they're not exactly common words.....

"After a hundred battles, generals die

After a full ten years, strong soldier return

Return to see the lord of heaven,

The lord of heaven sits in a brilliant hall

The rewards fill ten and two rolls,

The gifts number hundreds upon thousands."^note Note: there's a poetic device where you begin the next line with the same words as you end the line on. The repetition makes it easier to remember. This bit is very sticky in my head for that reason. I tried to preserve that despite clunkiness. Think glad you came, the pop song.

"The Khan asks what I desire.

'Mulan does not need to be a secretary of the court,

Desires only to borrow the famed camel's thousand-mile stride

To bring his lost child home.'"^note Note: lost is my artistic flourish. I wanted an extra syllable there. Due to doing this literally as I write this thread, this is very rough, but I still apparently care deeply about rhythm. Note also the camel making an appearance for again Turkic Mulan. Yes, Mulan talks in the third person here about herself in my version, which is quite common in Chinese speech, even now, especially when talking to ppl of higher social status.

My father and my mother hear of their daughter's return,

And go out to city to greet me.

My older sister hears of my return,

And clads herself in joyous red.

My little brother hears of my return,

And sharpens his knife against the pigs and goats."^note I love present tense, especially for old things that feel like they should be from long ago, I like the idea of trying to give an illusion of immediacy. It's happening NOW. So that's why I use it so much in my translations. It's not like literary chinese has tense. Note that sheep and goats are the same word. I went for goat on a whim.

"The eastern door I fling open and sit upon the western bed,

I shed my warrior's clothes, and wear again the robes of long ago.

To the window I wind my hair into braids, to mirror I anoint my forehead with a petal."^note I rolled this around my head a lot but I thought the "my" warriors robes and the robes of long ago not being with a possessive important given the language of the original. Or how I read it. I'm 75% sure the last line refers to the drawing of floral beauty marks?

"I step out to meet my companions,

My companions are shocked and swoon,

Together we have fought for ten and two years

Not knowing Mulan was a woman."

"But the male rabbit thumps his leg when still,

The female rabbit has daintier eyes,

When the two run side by side,

Who can tell if I am male or female."^note Note: I am doing the annoying "ten and two" thing because again rhythm? I feel like "twelve" just doesn't have the right ring to it. And I'm in a hurry.