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Soushenji No. 351 translation: Chang'e Flies to the Moon'

搜神記：嫦娥奔月 （三五一）

This is a translation and annotation of text No. 351 in 搜神記 (Soushenji – ‘In Search of the Supernatural’), a collection of strange happenings compiled by 干寶 (Gan Bao) in the 4th century C.E.

In order to be useful to people studying the text, this translation aims to be literal and close to the original.

嫦娥奔月 Cháng'é bēn yuè [_Chang_] [_E_] [rush] [moon] Chang'E Flies to the Moon

羿請無死之藥於西王母， Yì qǐng wúsǐ zhī yào yú xīwángmǔ, [_Yi_] [ask] [not] [die] ['s] [medicine] [from] [west] [king] [mother] The archer Yi requested the elixir of life from the Queen Mother of the West,

嫦娥竊之以奔月。 Cháng'é qiè zhī yǐ bēn yuè. [_Chang_] [_E_] [steal] [it] [take] [rush] [moon] but Chang'E stole it and took it to the moon.

將往，枚筮之於有黃。 Jiāng wǎng, méi shì zhī yú Yǒu Huáng. [will] [go] , [peg] [divination] [from] [_You_] [_Huang_] When she was about to go, she asked for a peg divination from You Huang.

有黃占之曰： Yǒu Huáng zhànzhī yuē: [_You_] [Huang] [divine] [say] You Huang's divination said:

「吉。翩翩歸妹， `Jí. Piānpiān guī mèi, [auspicious]. [fly fast] [fly fast] [go] [sister] It is auspicious. Fly fast, little sister,

獨將西行。 Dú jiāng xī xíng. [alone] [shall] [west] [go] alone you shall go to the west,

逢天晦芒， Féng tiān huì máng, [encounter] [sky] [dark] [ray] if you encounter dark skies,

毋恐毋驚， Wú kǒng wú jīng, [do not] [fear] [do not] [startle] do not be afraid and do not be startled,

後且大昌。」 Hòu qiě dàchāng. ' [after] [about to] [great] [prosperous] you are about to have great prosperity,

嫦娥遂托身於月， Cháng'é suì tuōshēn yú yuè, [_Chang_] [_E_] [then] [entrust] [body] [to] [moon] Chang'E then entrusted her body to the moon,

是為「蟾蠩」。 Shì wèi `chán zhū'. [is] [become] [moon toad] [toad] and became "the moon toad".

Note that ‘the man in the moon’ looked like a toad to the ancient Chinese. If you notice an error or disagree with the translation, please comment below to improve this resource.__


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