My mother remembered the beginning of a poem from her childhood, which went: "nget6 gong1 gong1, siu4 toi2 long2, ki2 pak6 ma1, go4 len1 tdong2..." meaning, "By the moonlight, the scholar went, upon a horse, past the lotus pond..." On Saturday 21st February 1998, I requested help from the Hakka Forum about a poem for children, I had a good response from Margery Yeung.
Dear Marjery,
Thank you and your parents so much for sending the poems. I realise now
that I was wrong to call them three syllable poems when they definitely
have a seven syllable verse too. By the way, I had no problems with the
words.
Of the examples you give, its number one that I have heard, though in the
version I heard, there was definitely something about ½¬¶í± lian tong mian
(on the surface of the lotus pond...)
'giu' is the character for "chives" which should be be ´ with the grass
radical Èã on top, though both are the same word it seems. The "lau"
syllable is given by Hashimoto as "lo" meaning old, hence I've done the
same here, and that means that the tone has changed from from tone 2 to
tone 4, i.e., lau4 hai3 for crab.
The sound 'dut dut' doesn't seem to have a suitable Big5 equivalent, so
I've come up with ©F©F which reads "dut dut" in Cantonese
The sound 'dung' is like that for a wood beam ´É, so I've used it here.
I've taken the ZhuYin character 'e' £ for the Hakka, so it looks neater.
The sound 'kia' in Meixian seems to be 'gia' in HK Hakka. i.e. ngan3 gia1
gia1 meaning "staring opened eyed (in disbelief/distrust)"
¤ë¥ú¥ú, ngiat guong guong : The moon shines brightly
¨q¤~®Q, siu coi liong : The poet travels
ÃM¥Õ°¨, kia pak ma : Riding a white horse
¹L½¬¶í, guo lian tong : Past the lotus pond
½¬¶íI, lian tong boi : Behind the lotus pond
ºØ´µæ, jiung giu coi : Are planted chives
´µæªá, giu coi fa : The chives will be used
µ²¿Ë®a, giat cin ga : To marry and get in-laws
¿Ë®aªù¤f¤@¤f¶í, cin ga mun khiu yit khiu tong
: At the front of the in-laws house is a pond
©ñªºÃU¹À¤K¤Øªø, fong det li ma bat cak cong
: Catch a carp that could be eight feet long
ªø£®³¨Ó¥æ°s¹, cong e na loi gau jiu sit
: If its long then barter it for wine to drink
µu£®³¨Ó¥æ©h®Q, don e na loi gau gu ngiong
: if its short then barter it for a young maiden
¥æ£©h®Q¸G©F©F, gau e gu ngiong ai dut dut
: if the maidens shortly built
´Â´Â°_¨Ó¥´«Ë±U. zau zau hi loi da si fut
: Every morning when she rises, she get spanked!
------------------
¤ë¥ú¥ú, ngiat guong guong : The moon shines brightly
¥|¥|¤è, xi xi fong : All round and even
²î¨Óµ¥, son loi den : The boat comes to dock
¥s¨Ó¦ª, giao loi gong : Calling; All Aboard!
¤@¦ª¦ª¨ìªe´É¤ß, yit gong gong dau ho tung sim
: When boarded it embarks to the middle of the river
½¼°G¦ÑÃÉ«ôÆ[µ, ha gung lau hai bai guon yim
: the shrimps and crabs are worshipping Gon Yim
Æ[µ¸}¤U¤@±ø½u, guon yi, giok ha yit tiau sen
: At Gon Yim's feet is a string
®³¤Àªü©f°µ¾c±a. na fun a moi zo hai dai
: The young girl take it for a shoelace.
-----------------
¤ë¥ú¥ú, ngiat guong guong : The moon shines brightly
¥|¥|¤è, xi xi fong : All round and even
²î¨Óµ¥, son loi den : The boat has docked
¥s¨Ó¦ª, gieu loi gong : Calling; All Aboard!
¤@¦ª¦ª¨ìªe´É¤ß, yit guong guong dau jo tung sim
: When boarded it embarks to the middle of the river
½¼°G¦ÑÃÉ«ôÆ[µ, ha gung lau hai bai gon yim
: the shrimps and crabs are worshipping Gon Yim
Æ[µ¸}¤U¤@±ø³D, gon yim giok ha yit tiau sa
: At Gon Yim's feet is a snake
À~¨ì²Ó©f²´{{ hak da se moi ngian gia gia
: frightening the young girl until her eyes bulged out!
Thanx again Marjery,
Dylan.