98 t He Han Dy na s t y
On a white steed followed by a black colt. 白馬從驪駒 (băi mă cóng lí jū)
40 Blue silk strands are tied to the horse’s tail, 青絲繫馬尾 (qīng sī xì mă wěi)
Yellow gold halters the horse’s head. 黃金絡馬頭 (huáng jīn luò mă tóu)
42 On his waist is a windlass-style sword; 腰中鹿盧劍 (yāo zhōng lù lú jiàn)
It is worth millions of cash! 可直千萬餘 (kĕ zhĭ qiān wàn yú)
44 At fifteen he was a petty bureau clerk. 十五府小史 (shí wŭ fŭ xiăo lĭ)
At twenty he was a court grandee. 二十朝大夫 (èr shí cháo dài fū)
46 At thirty he was a palace gentleman. 三十侍中郎 (sān shí shì zhōng láng)
At forty he dominates an entire city. 四十專城居 (sì shí zhuān chéng jū)
48 He is man of a pure white skin, 為人潔白晳 (wéi rén jié bái xī)
Thin sideburns and a slight beard. 鬑鬑頗有須 (lián lián pŏ yŏu xū)
50 Elegantly and gracefully he paces in his bureau, 盈盈公府步 (yíng yíng gōng fŭ bù)
Slowly he walks within his residence. 冉冉府中趨 (rán rán fŭ zhōng qū)
52 A thousand men sit there, 坐中數千人 (zuò zhōng shù qiān rén)
All say my husband is exceptional.” 皆言夫壻殊 (jiē yán fū xù shū)
[SS 21.617]First of all, from the consistent use of the pentasyllabic lines, the poem has
been roughly dated to the Later Han, when this style became mature, despite the
absence of internal evidence to support this view. Literary style can be deceiving
and cannot serve as absolute evidence in dating a literary work. Basically, this song
tells of a resourceful woman named Luofu who successfully rebuts the advances
of a flirting governor. Traditionally this poem has been interpreted as a represen-
tation of social injustice, depicting as it does an official harassing a peasant girl.
Recently, however, scholars have begun to deviate from this line of interpretation.
Analyzing its form from a comparative perspective, Hans Frankel has pointed out
that there is “a type of medieval European pastourelle where a shepherdess thwarts a
philandering gentleman.”29 Nevertheless, “Mulberry Along the Lane” has no exact
European counterparts. However tempting it might be for scholars to compare
similar types of literature from different cultures, such comparisons are in danger
of disregarding real cultural differences. Frankel also lists three stylistic features
of the poem that, in his view, demonstrate its oral nature: formulaic language,
various types of repetition, and exaggeration.30 Lines 3 and 4 (and 25–26) are con-
sidered to be instances of formulaic language, since they are similar to a passage in
the famous yuefu poem “Kongque dongnan fei” (Southeast Fly the Peacocks). This
view probably needs to be modified because it is difficult to ascertain cases of for-
mulaic language with the extremely short length of Chinese poetry.31 Repetition,
which is often interpreted as an aide-mémoire and a device to advance the action,
is prevalent and obvious in this poem. Exaggeration (lines 38–48, where the young
woman boasts of her husband) as evidence of the poem’s oral nature is the weakest,
since many kinds of poetry may contain such a device. Although these features are
not sufficient to prove that this work is an orally composed poem, they do remain
its stylistic characteristics and serve as evidence of its possible borrowing from