Cat

Inscription: Artist’s inscription and signature (17 columns in semi-cursive/standard script)

[Poem not translated]

Kittens are categorized by the number in the litter. If only one, it is a dragon; if two, they are tigers; if three, they are cats; and four, they are rats. Kittens are born with their eyes closed. When you stare at the kittens, the mother will pick them up in her mouth and hide them. When they become two to three months old, they are called “young silkworm cats.” A white cat with a black tail and spots on its head is called “the iron stick beating the cherries.” If one is born with a rat-shaped mark on its mouth, it will be a great hunter. “Chixiao” is the nickname for owls and means a “cat-headed eagle.” When purring, a cat is said to be chanting a Buddhist sutra. There is a children’s song in the Suzhou area: “When chicken fight, both fly. Even if the cat comes they do not fear.” There is a proverb: “If someone offers a yellow cat or a white dog, never take it.” Jumpy people are called “white-footed piebald cats.” In the toy shop there are large and small cats made of clay. “The cat who steals food is the worst,” and “the rat-catcher never cries” are two Suzhou proverbs. When children cry at night, they are threatened with the coming of the red-eyed cat.”

品評龍虎，窺防母見護。蠺還蚤，棒打櫻桃。鼠印嘴邊都好。蹲如鴟小，學佛念彌陀馴擾。飛又鬥雞雞不怕，任伊憨跳。送去斑黃旋到，更花貍白腳，守簾時少。戲耍牀頭，捏就香泥維肖。頻偷食料。厭一遞一聲廝叫。兒啼惱，住也紅睛來了。

一龍二虎三貓四鼠。以乳之多寡驗貓之高下。未開眼稚貓，人頻看，則啣置他處。乳于二三月時號早蠶貓。身白尾黑頭有墨點，名鐵棒打櫻桃。嘴邊有鼠印者善捕鼠。鴟鴞偽名貓頭鷹。貓腹中嗚嗚作聲稱貓念佛。吳中小兒歌：雞雞鬥，共共飛，貓貓來，不怕伊。諺云：黃貓白狗，送人弗受。人無坐性，嘲之曰：白腳花貍貓。耍貨中有大小泥貓。偷食貓最劣。會捉老鼠貓弗叫，亦吳下諺語。小兒夜啼，輒以紅眼睛野貓來恐之。

[Poem not translated]
“A hua mi mi” is the call women use to summon their cats. When you cannot find the person you are looking for, it is like “summoning your cat at night.” The word for a cat howling incessantly in the night is the word used for “erection.” “The cat who sleeps in the dew” is the expression used for men who often stay out all night. The sixth day of the sixth month is Cat and Dog Day. There is a children’s song: “On the sixth day of the sixth month all cats and dogs play by the lake.” On that day all families eat huntun [wanton soup]. People who know a bit about everything but nothing in depth are called “three-footed cats.” In Suzhou the eldest child is called “big cat-head,” the second child “second cat-head,” the third, “third cat-head” and so on, in order. The man who sleeps with your daughter before marriage is known as a “cat-foot-son-in-law.” When one who cannot sing sings, we say “the old cat calls.” A heartless person crying false tears is “a cat who cries for a rat.” The cat who sleeps at the stove [looking for the good life] is the “stove-snuggling cat.”

The “Xueshier diao” [Snow Lion tune] is an old folk tune. There are as many wonderful writings about cats as trees in the forest. But none of the later ones compares with early ones.

For fun, my friend Youxia collected Suzhou proverbs and composed them into these two poems that I have recorded here. Qiu Daoren, Wang Li, recorded this by candlelight at the window of my lodging in the Qiushuiyiren Ge Studio.

[Translation by Keita Itoh and Lawrence Wu with Jean Schmitt and Caron Smith in Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, ed., Later Chinese Painting and Calligraphy: 1800-1950, Volume I: Text, New York: Random House, 1986, pp. 99‒100. Modified. The Romanization of Chinese characters has been changed from the Wade-Giles system to the pinyin system.]

阿花弭弭，呼來夜半，交昏頻起，野性難馴。又趁露華如水生朝浴，未待洛向餛飩湯裏。卻不道趔趄三腳，事解能記。兒小排頭依次憶。跫然先到，足音聼婿。聲破於鑼，老厭歌喉非細。無端隕涕，是假作慈悲而已。更偎鍋底竃婢，嗔他焦尾。

阿花弭弭，婦女呼貓聲。尋人不到謂之半夜裏呼貓。貓頭交鳴不止謂之起。露水裏睡貓，謂人常不居家。六月六日俗傳貓狗生日。小兒歌，六月六，貓狗耍潮湖。是日人家俱食餛飩。百事解曉而不精，曰三腳。吳俗生小兒呼貓頭，曰大貓頭，二貓頭，小貓頭，以次排之。未結褵先進婦家，曰貓腳女婿。破喉嚨唱書，嘲之曰老貓聲。貓哭老鼠假慈悲，笑狠心人。眠竃曰偎竃貓。

前人雪獅兒調，詠貓名作如林，徵引典實各臻灝妙。後有作者弗可及其。
友霞五兄戲彚吳諺，填成二闕，予爲寫此并錄一通。秋道人王禮客秋水伊人閣，夜窗秉燭記。


Artist’s seal

Qiuyan shihua 秋言詩畫


Collector’s seals

An Siyuan 安思遠 (Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, 1929–2014)
An Siyuan cang 安思遠藏
Shuimo Shanzhuang 水磨山莊

Robert H. Ellsworth American, New York (until 1986; donated to MMA)