韓憑夫婦

搜神記, 卷十一 (英譯: 楊憲益 戴乃迭, 六朝小說選. Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang, The Man Who Sold a Ghost)

Han Ping and his wife:

Han Ping, steward to Prince Kang of Song, married a beautiful daughter of the He family. But the prince took her from him. When he protested, he was imprisoned and sentenced to hard labor on the city wall.

宋康王舍人韓憑，娶妻何氏，美，康王奪之。 憑怨，王囚之，論為城旦。

Then his wife secretly wrote to him to say: Rain, ceaseless rain, / Great the river, deep the water, / Yet there is sunrise in my heart.

妻密遺憑書，繆其辭曰：「其雨淫淫，河大水深，日出當心。」

This letter fell into the hands of the prince, who showed it to his followers, but no one could make out its meaning.

既而王得其書，以示左右；左右莫解其意。

Then the minister Su He said: "The first line means that she is longing for him all the time, the second that they have no way of getting in touch, the third that she intends to take her life." Then Han Ping killed himself.

臣蘇賀對曰： 「其雨淫淫，言愁且思也；河大水深，不得往來也；日出當心，心有死志也。」 俄而憑乃自殺。

His wife secretly tore her clothes. When the prince went up the tower with her, she threw herself from the top; and when his followers tried to seize her, her clothes tore away and she was dashed to death.

其妻乃陰腐其衣。王與之登台，妻遂自投台；左右攬之，衣不中手而死。

On her belt she had left this message: "Your Highness wishes me to live, but your servant chose to die. Please bury me with Han Ping."

遺書於帶曰：「王利其生，妾利其死，願以屍骨，賜憑合葬！」

The prince was angry and refused her request, ordering the local people to bury her in a separate grave.

王怒，弗聽，使里人埋之，塚相望也。

"You speak of your endless love," said the prince. "If you can make these tombs come together, I will not stand in your way."

王曰：「爾夫婦相愛不已，若能使塚合，則吾弗阻也。」

Then within one day two great catalpa trees sprang up above the two graves. In ten days they grew to an enormous size, and their branches inclined towards each other, their roots intertwined together beneath the soil, and their twigs interwound above.

宿昔之間，便有大梓木生於二塚之端，旬日而大盈抱。屈體相就，根交於下，枝錯於上。

And two love birds, one male and one female, stayed on these trees, not departing morning or night. They billed and cooed most plaintively, and uttered heart-rending cries.

又有鴛鴦雌雄各一，恆棲樹上，晨夕不去，交頸悲鳴，音聲感人。

The people of Song lamented the lovers' death and gave this tree the name "the tree of love." The southerners say the birds were the spirits of Han Ping and his wife.

宋人哀之，遂號其木曰相思樹。(相思之名，起於此也。) 南人謂此禽即韓憑夫婦之精魂。

In Suiyang today there is a town named Han Ping, and people still sing of the lovers.

今睢陽有韓憑城。其歌謠至今猶存。