Records of the Words and Deeds of Wang Fengyi, Chapter 3 Herding Cows

Wang Fengyi 王凤仪:
Records of the Words and Deeds of Wang Fengyi 王凤仪⾔⾏录三、

Chapter 3 (excerpt)
放牛
Fang Niu
(3) Herding Cows

我听王善人说过：
wo ting wang shan ren shuo guo:
I have heard Wang, the Benevolent, said:

我是极愚极笨的人，
wo shi ji yu ji ben de ren,
I am an extremely stupid and extremely dumb person,

又没念过书，
you mei nian guo shu,
Further, I also have not memorized by heart the [classical] books,

家里有些山坡地，
jia li you xie shan po di,
My home had a bit of land on a mountain slopes,

因为缺少粪土，
yin wei que shao fen tu,
Because they were lacking dung and soil,

打的粮食很少。
da de liang shi hen shao.
the harvest of grains was scarce.

我十四岁那年，
wo shi si sui na nian,
That year, at the age of fourteen, I

就给村东头王树德家放牛。
jiu gei cun dong tou wang shu de jia fang nie.
precisely herded the cows of the family of the village landlord Wang Shude.

我上工时，
wo shang gong shi,
At the time of starting work,

东家（雇主）吩咐我说：
dong jia (gu zhu) fen fu wo shuo:
the landlord (employer) instructed me by saying:

“你每天上山放牛，
“Wo mei tian shang shan fang niu,
‘You must go up the mountain every day to herd the cows,

要把牛放饱了，
yao ba niu fang bao le,
as the cows must be herded until they have eaten their fill,

饮好了水。
yin hao le shui.
and have drunken enough water.

当心不要叫牛吃了人家的庄稼。
dang xin bu yao jiao niu chi le ren jia de ya jia.
Be careful and do not make the cows eat the crops of other people’s families.

晚上再烧好这十二铺火炕，
wan shang zai shao hao zhe shi er pu huo kang,
In the evenings again heat up well these twelve brick beds.

挡（关）好鸡架和猪圈的门。”
dang (guan) hao ji jia he zhu juan de men.”
Obstruct (close) well the chicken pen’s and the pigsty’s door.’

我就照着东家吩咐的话，
wo jiu zhao zhe dong jia fen fu de hua,
Accordingly I did exactly what the landlord had instructed,

每天上山放牛。
mei tian shang shan fang niu.
Every day went up the mountain to herd the cows.

我不和别的放牛的在一起放，
wo bu he bie de fang niu de zi yi fang,
I did not herd them with other herdsmen,

因为他们把牛圈在一处，
yin wei ta men ba niu juan zai yi chu,
Because they tied up the cow’s pen in one place,

就只顾自己去玩耍，
jiu zhu gu zi ji qu wan shua,
exactly to only care about their own amusement.

也不管青草好坏，
ye bu guan qing cao hao huai,
The also did not taking into account if the azure grass was good or bad.

一有跑出圈的，
yi you pao chu juan de,
When one [cow] ran out of the pen,

就拼命毒打，
jiu pin ming du da,
They exactly exerting their utmost strength to beat it up savagely,

都有打断腿的。
dou you da duan tui de.
They all had [cows] with broken legs from beatings.

也有牛把牛抵伤了的，
ye you niu ba niu di shang le de,
There were also cows hurt from pressing against other oxen,

伤口化脓长蛆，
shang kou hua nong zhang qu,
as their wounds festered and grew maggots.

还有因为吃不饱生病死的，
hai you yin wei chi bu bao sheng bing si de,
There were also [cows] that did not eat their fill, got sick and died.

看着实在不忍心。
kan zhe shi zai bu ren xin.
Upon seeing this I truly could not endure in my heart.

我专找草好的地方去放。
wo zhuan zhao cao hao de di fang qu fang.
I specifically searched for a place with good grass to herd [them].

给牛饮水的时候，
gei niu yin hao shui de shi hou,
Whenever I had given the cows enough water to drink,

饮完了不叫牛跑，
yin wan le bu jiao niu pao,
and they had finished drinking I did not make them run,

怕它患了水受病。
pa ta huan le shui shou bing.
Out of fear that they may be inundated by the water and fall ill.

冬天生牛犊时，
dong tian sheng niu du shi,
Winter is the time for bearing calves,

晚上我把牛犊抱到伙房（农家工人住的房屋）炕上，
wan shang wo ba niu du bao dao huo fang (nong jia gong ren zhu de fang wu) kang shang,
In the evening I took the calves in embrace to the quarters of the hired laborers (the farm household workers’ living rooms) atop the heatable brick bed,

怕它冻死。
pa ta dong si,
out of fear that they might freeze to death.

所以我放的牛都吃得肥胖，
suo yi wo fang de niu dou chi de fei bang,
That is why the cows which I herded all ate until they were fat,

毛色油光水滑的，
mao se you guang shui hua de,
the colour of their hair was smooth and shining,

生的小牛犊也没有损伤。
sheng de xiao niu du ye mei you sun shang.
and the born small calves also had no injuries.

Post-Scriptum:
Purple Cloud Press hopes to have this masterpiece translated one day and make it accessible to the English-speaking world. For more information on Wang Fengyi as a person, see: https://purplecloudinstitute.com/who-was-wang-feng-yi-%e7%8e%8b%e9%b3%b3%e5%84%80/More on Wang Fengyi is available in Purple Cloud’s Press: Discourse on Transforming Inner Nature (https://purplecloudinstitute.com/discourse-on-inner-nature/) and in Happy Goat Productions Sabine Wilms’ Twelve Characters.