Help translating the Lady in the Painting

[sniffles]

I'm still a bit confused by 一样地头大叫。 I understand that 大叫 can be interpreted as "screamed" or "cried out loud", but the rest is still not quite making sense to me.

Jiang Bao, you translated it as "They also screamed". I understand that "they" is implied based on the context of the previous sentence. But I don't quite comprehend how the other characters are interpreted in this context. NJStar defines 地头 as "place", so is it literally "(at) the same place cried out loudly", meaning that they cried out in the same way the king had done under the same circumstances?

Also, isn't this 在水里用手拉国王后头的依常 "(He) grabbed the back of the king's clothes"? Or does 后头的依常 refer to his collar? I left out "back" when I was writing out my translation. I notice on reviewing it now that I did a sloppy job of translating that section.

Edit: Crap!! I just discovered that the cd-rom of the book somehow got snapped in two!

[sniffles]

I'm going on to the next portion.

过了十级分终，国王可以站起来了。可是他不知道是谁把他拉上来了。当然他很生气。

Ten minutes later, the king was able to stand up. But he didn't know who
pulled him out. Of course he was very angry.

他手下的人都不知道说什么好，因为他们不知道国王向什么。他们怕国王说他们做
船做得不好，有怕他说他们拉他拉得台慢。可是没想到国王没说那些事情。

His subordinates didn't know what best to say, because they didn't know
what the king was thinking. They were afraid the king would say they made
the boat poorly, they were also afraid he would say they pulled him out
(of the river) too slowly. But they didn't expect that the king wouldn't
say anything about these matters.

国王看着他的依常，跟张大明说，“你看，你把我的依常弄坏了。这件是我最好的
依常。三天以后，我打算穿这件依常见级个外国客人，你把我的依常弄坏了，我那
天穿什么？”

The king looked at his clothes, and said to Zhang Daming, "You look, you
ruined my clothes. These are my best clothes. Three days from now I plan to wear these clothes to meet a few royal visitors, you ruined my clothes. What will I wear that day?"

他又说，“你快一点儿叫你太太给我做一件新的。跟这件一样。要用鸟儿的毛做。
依裳上得修上水，还修上太阳。三天里头一定得给我做好。要不然我就把你杀了。

He also said, "You quickly call your wife to make me new ones. The same
as these. I want them made with feathers. The clothes must be decorated with water and with sun. You must definitely finish within three days. Otherwise I will kill you."

张大明没有法子，就回家了。他在路上向来向去，后来他向美真什么都会做，她一
定有法子。所以他新里一点儿都不怕，可是他想不出来美真有什么法子。

Zhang Daming didn't have a solution, he returned home. On the road he thought over and over, after he thought about what Meizhen would do, he thought she will certainly have a method. So he wasn't at all afraid inside, but he (not sure of this phrase).

[jiang bao]

I'm going on to the next portion.

过了十级分终，国王可以站起来了。可是他不知道是谁把他拉上来了。当然他很生气。

Ten minutes later, the king was able to stand up. But he didn't know who
pulled him out. Of course he was very angry.

他手下的人都不知道说什么好，因为他们不知道国王向什么。他们怕国王说他们做
船做得不好，有怕他说他们拉他拉得台慢。可是没想到国王没说那些事情。

His subordinates didn't know what best to say, because they didn't know
what the king was thinking. They were afraid the king would say they made
the boat poorly, they were also afraid he would say they pulled him out
(of the river) too slowly. But they didn't expect that the king wouldn't
say anything about these matters.

国王看着他的依常，跟张大明说，“你看，你把我的依常弄坏了。这件是我最好的
依常。三天以后，我打算穿这件依常见级个外国客人，你把我的依常弄坏了，我那
天穿什么？”

The king looked at his clothes, and said to Zhang Daming, "You look, you
ruined my clothes. These are my best clothes. Three days from now I plan to wear these clothes to meet a few royal visitors, you ruined my clothes. What will I wear that day?"

他又说，“你快一点儿叫你太太给我做一件新的。跟这件一样。要用鸟儿的毛做。
依裳上得修上水，还修上太阳。三天里头一定得给我做好。要不然我就把你杀了。

He also said, "You quickly call your wife to make me new ones. The same
as these. I want them made with feathers. The clothes must be decorated with water and with sun. You must definitely finish within three days. Otherwise I will kill you."

张大明没有法子，就回家了。他在路上向来向去，后来他向美真什么都会做，她一
定有法子。所以他新里一点儿都不怕，可是他想不出来美真有什么法子。

Zhang Daming didn't have a solution, he returned home. On the road he thought over and over, after he thought about what Meizhen would do, he thought she will certainly have a method. So he wasn't at all afraid inside, but he (not sure of this phrase).

一样地 is one term -> in the same way. 头is the word that is out of place, unless it's a term I have not heard before. It's possible it's supposed to be a different character. I noticed a few instances of wrong characters in the sentences.

张大明没有法子，就回家了。他在路上向来向去，后来他向美真什么都会做，她一
定有法子。所以他新里一点儿都不怕，可是他想不出来美真有什么法子。


On the road he thought things over and over, eventually he concluded that since Mei Zhen can do anything, she must have a solution. So he wasn't afraid at all, but he can't figure out what solution Mei Zhen may have.

[sniffles]

一样地 is one term -> in the same way. 头is the word that is out of place, unless it's a term I have not heard before. It's possible it's supposed to be a different character. I noticed a few instances of wrong characters in the sentences.

张大明没有法子，就回家了。他在路上向来向去，后来他向美真什么都会做，她一
定有法子。所以他新里一点儿都不怕，可是他想不出来美真有什么法子。


On the road he thought things over and over, eventually he concluded that since Mei Zhen can do anything, she must have a solution. So he wasn't afraid at all, but he can't figure out what solution Mei Zhen may have.

I thought that was probably what that last phrase meant, but I just couldn't quite see how the syntax worked.

I probably am getting some characters wrong since the book is in traditional and I'm typing in simplified. I should just type in traditional and then convert it to simplified after I'm done. Or I could leave it in traditional, I suppose.

[sniffles]

头is the word that is out of place, unless it's a term I have not heard before. It's possible it's supposed to be a different character. I noticed a few instances of wrong characters in the sentences.

I double-checked this character and it's correct. It's tou2. In traditional it's 頭. Both NJStar and my character recognition book agree on it.

Here's the rest of Chapter 6:
张大明回到家里，把跟国王塞船的事情告诉美真。美真没等他问做依裳怎么做，就跟
大明说，“三天的工夫太短，我们得会一旦儿做。”
Zhang Daming arrived home and told Meizhen about the business with the king's boat race. Meizhen didn't want for him to ask about making the clothes, she said to Daming, "Three days is too short a time, we must work quickly."

张大明帮者美真做过跟多事，可是每次做的事都不一样。 所以他问美真，“你说我
们先什么？”
Zhang Daming had helped Meizhen do many things, but each time the things were different. So he asked Meizhen, "What do you say we do first?"

美真拿出很多白纸来，跟大明说，“你帮我用这些纸做些个鸟儿。” 张大明说，
“做什么样儿的鸟儿呢？”美真说，“什么样儿的鸟儿都行。可是有一件事，你得
记在新里。就是你做的时候，心里要想，这些鸟儿，都是我们的朋友，我们有事情，
他们都愿意帮我们的忙。”
Meizhen took many blank pieces of paper and said to Daming, "You help me make these papers into birds." Zhang Daming said, "What kind of birds?" Meizhen said, "Any kind of birds will do. But one thing you must remember. When you do this, believe in your heart that these birds are all our friends and whatever we do, they will be willing to help us."
--------------------------
Chapter 7
做依裳
Making the Clothes

张大明听了，就立刻帮美真用纸做鸟儿。做的时候，心里老者美真告诉他的话，他
老想者，这鸟儿，都是他们的好朋友。一定能帮他们的忙。可是他不知道那些鸟儿
怎么能帮者他们。
Zhang Daming listened and immediately helped Meizhen make paper birds.
While working, he remembered what Meizhen told him, he remembered these birds are all their good friends. They definitely would help them. But
he didn't know how those birds could help them.

他们做得很快，一会儿的工夫，就做了很多很多的鸟儿。太的，少的，多有。
They worked very quickly, and in a little while, they had made many birds.
Big ones, small ones, all kinds.

他们做完了的时候，那些纸鸟儿，有的在桌子上，有的在地方上。张大明看了看，
心里想，这些纸鸟儿怎么能帮者做依裳呢？可是又想美真的法子很多，没有人能知
道这美真的法子是件么。要是问 她，她也不一定说。那么就等者看好了。
When they finished, some of the paper birds were on the table and some were everywhere. Zhang Daming looked and thought, how can these birds help make clothes? But he also thought Meizhen could do anything, no one could know what she would do. If he questioned her, she surely wouldn't say. That being the case he just watched.

他想到这个地方，就者见美真把那些鸟儿用两个手拿起来，往天上一仍，又吹了一
口气，那些鸟儿就都飞起来了。这样儿的事情，张大明已经看见过好机次了。所以
他也不觉得奇怪了。
He thought to that point and saw Meizhen pick up those paper birds with
both hands and throw the birds up, and again blew a breath of air and those birds were all flying. Zhang Daming had already seen this kind of thing several times before, so he didn't feel it was strange.

那些鸟儿，有的太，有的少，有的飞得很高，有的飞得不太高，可是都很好看。
Some of the birds were big, some were small, some flew very high, some didn't fly very high, but they were all very good-looking.

那些鸟儿在大明跟美真的头上来回地飞，太声地叫。真跟他们的朋友一样。
Those birds flew around Daming and Meizhen's heads and called out loudly.
They really were like their friends.

[jiang bao]

Pretty good job of translation. Any changes would be nitpicking. But there are about 6 or 7 wrong characters used.

For example:
大 --> 太
小--> 少
都--> 多

[sniffles]

Thanks for the feedback, jiang bao.

Continuing on with Chapter 7, there's a song that was quite a challenge for me to interpret. There are a couple of lines I'm just not sure of, even though I'm now familiar with all the characters in those lines. I marked them with an asterisk.
I left it in traditional characters this time.
----------------------

大明跟美真兩個人往上看﹐看看這個﹐看看那個。他們真覺得那些鳥兒喜歡他們﹐他們也真喜歡那些 鳥兒。
Daming and Meizhen looked upwards and saw all this. They really felt those birds liked them, they also really liked those birds.

一會兒有的鳥兒落在張大明的頭上﹐有的落在美真的手上﹐這個飛走了﹐那個又來了。他們好像有很多話要說。
A few of the birds landed above Zhang Daming's head, some landed on Meizhen's hand, they flew back and forth. It seemed as if they wanted to say many things.

那些鳥兒好像都明白﹐美真跟大明有難辦的事﹐他們都要幫他們兩個人的忙﹐又好像不一定知道得怎麼幫他們。所 以在他們兩個人的頭上來回地飛﹐大聲地叫。
It seemed like those birds understood Meizhen and Daming's difficulty and they wanted to help the couple, it also seemed liked they didn't know how to help them. So they flew around above their heads, crying out loudly.

後來美真對這那些鳥兒唱了一個歌兒。她唱的是﹕
Afterwards Meizhen answered the birds by singing a song. She sang like so:

飛﹐飛﹐飛! 飛到天上去。
“Fly, fly, fly! Fly to the heavens.

飛到天邊去。
Fly to the ends of the earth.

什麼地方好﹐
Anyplace is good*,

就飛到什麼地方去。
Fly wherever*.

看! 天多麼高!
Look! The heavens are very high!*

路多麼遠。
The road is long.*

快快飛! 飛巴! 飛巴!
Quickly fly! Fly! Fly!

現在天還不大晚。
(I've got no idea on this one)*

飛! 飛! 快飛!
Fly! Fly! Quickly fly!

飛到什麼地方﹖
Where will you fly to?

最好是那兒好。就飛到那兒。
The best is there.* Fly there.*

可是離開我們以前﹐
But before we part,

情把你們的毛給我們一點兒。
Please give us a few of your feathers.“

她唱得很好聽。
She sang very well.

那些鳥兒聽美真唱完了歌兒以後﹐又來回地飛了一會兒﹐每一個鳥兒都送給他們一點兒毛。因為鳥兒很多﹐所以毛很多。那些毛什麼顏色都 有﹐從天上飛下來﹐好看極了.
After those birds heard Meizhen finish her song, they again flew around a little bit and each one of the birds gave them a few feathers. Because the birds were many, so the feathers were also many. Those feathers were all colors, they flew down from heaven and were extremely good-looking.

那些鳥兒都不願意離開他們兩個人﹐飛起以前都回過頭來﹐看看他們﹐想要跟他們兩個人說﹐”再見。"
All the birds were unwilling to leave the couple, before they flew out of sight, they looked at them as if they wanted to say to the two people, "See you later."

[jiang bao]

If I only mention part of the sentence, that means the rest of your translation was good as is.

----

大明跟美真兩個人往上看﹐看看這個﹐看看那個。他們真覺得那些鳥兒喜歡他們﹐他們也真喜歡那些 鳥兒。


Daming and Meizhen looked upwards and looked here and looked there.

--Literally, they looked at these (birds over here) and looked at those (birds over there) I guess you could say “look all over.”

一會兒有的鳥兒落在張大明的頭上﹐有的落在美真的手上﹐這個飛走了﹐那個又來了。他們好像有很 多話要說。

After a while some birds landed on DM’s head, and some landed on MZ’s hand. When some flew away, others came.

那些鳥兒好像都明白﹐美真跟大明有難辦的事﹐他們都要幫他們兩個人的忙﹐又好像不一定知道得怎 麼幫他們。所 以在他們兩個人的頭上來回地飛﹐大聲地叫。


Those birds seemed to understand that DM and MZ had a difficult task at hand and needed their help, but they seemed like they didn’t know for sure how to help them.

後來美真對這那些鳥兒唱了一個歌兒。她唱的是﹕
Afterwards Meizhen answered the birds by singing a song. She sang like so:

No need for “like so.”



飛到天邊去。
Fly to the ends of the earth.

More literally, fly to the edge of the heavens

什麼地方好﹐
Anyplace is good*,

Where ever is good

就飛到什麼地方去。
Fly wherever*.

Fly there.


路多麼遠。
The road is long.*

The journey is long



現在天還不大晚。
(I've got no idea on this one)*

Now the sky isn’t dark yet. (I.e. the day is not too late)



最好是那兒好。就飛到那兒。
The best is there.* Fly there.*

Preferably fly to wherever is good.

--I assume “good” means “suitable for the birds.”

可是離開我們以前﹐
But before we part,

But before you leave us




那些鳥兒聽美真唱完了歌兒以後﹐又來回地飛了一會兒﹐每一個鳥兒都送給他們一點兒毛。因為鳥兒很多﹐所以毛 很多。那些毛什麼顏色都 有﹐從天上飛下來﹐好看極了.


There were feathers of all colors, falling down from above, such a pretty sight.

[sniffles]

As usual, jiang bao, when I see your comments I wonder why I couldn't figure that out for myself.

[sniffles]

I'm finally getting back to this after a very busy time at work.

Chapter 7 continued (sorry about the odd line breaks; it's something about copying and pasting from NJStar):

美真看见那些飞着的鸟儿毛，有长得，有短的；颜色都不一样。飞得那么好看，心里
很高兴。脸上也带着笑的样子，立在那儿想用手去拿那些飞着的鸟儿毛。那个时候，
她把所有的不高兴的事都忘了。
Meizhen looked at the feathers of the flying birds, some were long, some
were short, all the colors were different. They were all pretty and in
her heart she was very happy. Her face was covered in smiles, she stood
there thinking about what she could make with the feathers. At that moment, she forgot to be unhappy anymore.

鸟儿的毛一点儿一点儿地落下来，掉在地上。地上的毛很多，可是这边一点儿，那
边一点儿， 不在一个地方。张大明把那些毛放在一块儿，问美真，“现在我们应当
怎么办呢？” 美真正看那些鸟儿毛看得高兴，把所有的是都忘了。听大明一问，这
才想起来，他们的时候不多。做一件那样的依常，三天的工夫也许不句。他们得快
一点儿去做。所以她跟大明说，“对不起! 我忘了我们得做事了。我得立刻去预备。
情你立刻把这些鸟儿毛给我拿到房子前头来。” 她说忘了，就去预备去了。
The bird's feathers descended little by little and fell on the ground. All
over the ground were many feathers, but some were over here, some were over there, they weren't all in once place. Zhang Daming gathered up the feathers and asked Meizhen, "Now what should we do?" Meizhen was in the midst of looking at the feathers happily, she forgot all about what she was doing. Hearing Daming's question, she remembered, their time was limited. They would have to work quickly. So she said to Daming, "Sorry! I forgot we have things to do. We must prepare at once. Please immediately bring these feathers out front (of the house)." When she finished saying this, she went to prepare.

美真到屋子里去预备她的东西。把她的纺车拿出来，放在他们的屋子前头。等大明
把鸟儿毛拿来，她就可以纺线。
Meizhen went to the room to prepare her things. She took out her spinning
wheel and took it outside. Later Daming brought the feathers and she could spin thread.