蜜蜂和農人 The Bee and the Farmer

Bees and Farmers

，，，，：The rain had just cleared; the butterflies, having no straw raincoats, dared not venture out rashly — but all around the melon trellis, the bees were already singing their work-song to the full:

『，！"Fluttering, faltering!，！Faltering, fluttering!

，，！Life is just like this — faltering, fluttering!

．Seize the chance and make the honey.

；Everyone lend a hand;

．don't let the good hours slip by.

，！Fluttering, faltering!，！』Faltering, fluttering!"

，．Though the bees sang like this, sitting below them were three or four farmers, each holding his pipe, chatting idly there.

，？A man's life is longer than a bee's — need he be as busy as they are?．．，．：Not necessarily so. It's only that the farmers don't understand the bees' song. But when the farmers work, they too sing. What they sing goes:

人: rén — 1. person; people 2. classifier: 個 (gè), 位 (wèi), 名 (míng) (HSK 1)
底: de — (equivalent to 的 as possessive particle) (HSK 4)
壽命: shòu mìng — 1. life span 2. life expectancy 3. lifetime (of a machine) (HSK 7-9)
比: Bǐ — 1. Belgium 2. Belgian 3. abbr. for 比利時 (Bǐ lì shí) (HSK 1)
蜜蜂: mì fēng — 1. bee 2. honeybee 3. classifier: 隻 (zhī), 群 (qún) (HSK 7-9)
長: cháng — 1. long 2. (bound form) length 3. (bound form) strong point; forte 4. (bound form) to be good at 5. (literary) surplus; spare (Taiwan pr. (zhàng)) (HSK 2)
不必: bù bì — 1. need not 2. does not have to 3. not necessarily (HSK 3)
像: xiàng — 1. to resemble 2. to be like 3. to look as if 4. such as 5. appearance 6. image 7. portrait 8. image under a mapping (math.) (HSK 2)
他們: tā men — they; them (HSK 1)
那麼: nà me — 1. like that; in that way; to that extent 2. (before a number) ... or so; about ... 3. then; in that case (HSK 2)
忙: máng — 1. busy 2. hurriedly 3. to hurry 4. to rush (HSK 1)
麽: me — variant of 麼 (me)
未必: wèi bì — 1. not necessarily 2. maybe not (HSK 4)
如此: rú cǐ — like this; so; such (HSK 5)
不過: bù guò — 1. only 2. merely 3. no more than 4. but 5. however 6. anyway (to get back to a previous topic) 7. cannot be more (after adjectival) (HSK 2)
農夫: nóng fū — 1. peasant 2. farmer
們: men — plural marker for pronouns, and nouns referring to individuals
不: bù — 1. no; not so 2. (bound form) not; un- (HSK 1)
懂: dǒng — 1. to understand 2. to comprehend (HSK 2)
他們: tā men — they; them (HSK 1)
底: de — (equivalent to 的 as possessive particle) (HSK 4)
歌: gē — 1. song (classifier: 首 (shǒu), 支 (zhī)) 2. (bound form) to sing (HSK 1)
就是: jiù shì — 1. exactly; precisely 2. only; simply; just 3. (used correlatively with 也 (yě)) even; even if (HSK 3)
了: le — 1. (completed action marker) 2. (modal particle indicating change of state, situation now) 3. (modal particle intensifying preceding clause) (HSK 1)
但: dàn — 1. but; yet; however; still 2. merely; only; just (HSK 2)
農夫: nóng fū — 1. peasant 2. farmer
們: men — plural marker for pronouns, and nouns referring to individuals
工作: gōng zuò — 1. to work 2. (of a machine) to operate 3. job 4. work 5. task 6. classifier: 個 (gè), 份 (fèn), 項 (xiàng) (HSK 1)
時: Shí — surname Shi (HSK 3)
也: Yě — surname Ye (HSK 1)
會: huì — 1. can; to have the skill; to know how to 2. to be likely to; to be sure to 3. to meet; to get together 4. meeting; gathering 5. (suffix) union; group; association 6. (bound form) a moment (Taiwan pr. (huǐ)) (HSK 1)
唱: chàng — 1. to sing 2. to call loudly 3. to chant (HSK 1)
底: de — (equivalent to 的 as possessive particle) (HSK 4)
他們: tā men — they; them (HSK 1)
唱: chàng — 1. to sing 2. to call loudly 3. to chant (HSK 1)
底: de — (equivalent to 的 as possessive particle) (HSK 4)
是: shì — 1. to be (followed by substantives only) 2. correct; right; true 3. (respectful acknowledgement of a command) very well 4. (adverb for emphatic assertion) (HSK 1)

『，"When the village cock crows once,

．the sunlight begins to rise.

．With the sun risen, it's good for transplanting the rice seedlings.

，The seedlings need water to nourish them,

．so everyone is busy treading the water-wheel.

；The house to the east must not cut off the water of the house to the west;

．the house to the west will not lend grain to the house to the east.

——Each person is busy only for himself——

「，"Each man sweeps only the snow before his own door,

．」and troubles not over the frost on another's roof tiles."

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What it’s about

As rain clears, bees fill the air around a melon shelter with a work song urging one another to seize the moment, make honey together and not waste good weather. Beneath them three or four farmers sit smoking and chatting. The narrator first wonders whether humans can idle because their lives are longer, then rejects that explanation: the farmers simply do not understand the bees' song. Yet when the farmers work, they too sing, and their song begins with sunrise, transplanting rice and the shared labor of operating waterwheels.

The apparent parallel breaks at the farmers' refrain. East must not cut off west's water, west will not lend east grain and everyone stays busy only for himself, summed up by the proverb about sweeping one's own doorstep while ignoring frost on another's roof. Bees make collective labor sound instinctive; human cultivation depends on resources whose division creates rivalry. Xu does not merely shame the resting farmers, since their own song knows exactly how work is organized. The fable asks why beings capable of articulating cooperation are also capable of making isolation into common sense.

When it was written 背景

Work songs were a familiar feature of rural labor and an important object for early twentieth-century folklorists, who treated oral song as a record of ordinary social life. Xu builds a literary imitation through repeated sounds and alternating lines, contrasting the bees' communal hive with farmers divided by property, irrigation and debt. Paddy agriculture often required coordinated control of water, so the dispute over blocking channels is material rather than a vague moral failure. The closing proverb usually reads “each sweeps the snow before his own door”; Xu's version makes that ethic the farmers' chorus. Period readers could hear both a call for social cooperation and a critique of individualism. Learners should read the two songs aloud: their similar rhythm makes the opposing economies especially clear.

Words in this chapter 生词

彷pángHSK 7-9彷páng — used in 彷徨 (páng huáng) and 彷徉 (páng yáng) (HSK 7-9)
徨huáng徨huáng — used in 彷徨 (páng huáng)
蜜蜂mì fēngHSK 7-9蜜蜂mì fēng — bee · honeybee · classifier: 隻 (zhī), 群 (qún) (HSK 7-9)
踏車tà chē踏車tà chē — treadwheel · treadmill
鷄jīHSK 2鷄jī — variant of 雞 (jī) (HSK 2)
壽命shòu mìngHSK 7-9壽命shòu mìng — life span · life expectancy · lifetime (of a machine) (HSK 7-9)
幫幫忙bāng bang máng幫幫忙bāng bang máng — to help · to do a favor · (Shanghainese) Come on! · Give me a break!
趁機chèn jīHSK 7-9趁機chèn jī — to seize an opportunity (HSK 7-9)
農夫nóng fū農夫nóng fū — peasant · farmer
好時Hǎo shí好時Hǎo shí — Hershey's (brand)
插秧chā yāng插秧chā yāng — to transplant rice seedlings
昇shēngHSK 3昇shēng — to ascend; to rise (variant of 升 (shēng)) · to promote; to elevate (variant of 升 (shēng)) (HSK 3)