Master Yan Creates an Artificial Man - Chinese Fairy Tale Translation

Jan 08, 2022

A Chinese fairy tale about King Mu who meets an artificer/craftsmen who creates a man out of matter

Chinese	English
周穆王到西方視察,越過了崑崙山，快到傳說中太陽落下的弇山便折了回來。還沒有回到國都時，就在路上碰到一個製作工藝品匠人，名叫偃師。週王特別接見他，問他：“你有些什麼特殊的才能啊?"。偃師回答："我可以任憑吩咐製造任何東西。不過我已經造好一件品，希望大王先看看"。週王說："好,明天一道帶來吧，我跟你一起看看是什麼特殊的好東西"。	Zhou Mu Wang (King Mu) went to The West [1] and crossed the Kunlun Mountains approaching the legendary Mount Yan when the sunset and he turned back. Before he reached the capital he came across a tinkerer named Master Yan. King Mu was particularly receptive to him, and asked him "Do you any special skills?". Master Yan replied "I can make whatever you ask of me, but I have already prepared an item. I hope that you take a look." King Mu said "Good, tomorrow I will return, and I will take a look what wonderous thing it is".
第二天，偃師又來拜見穆王，穆王見他身旁另有一個人，便問他：跟你一起來的是什麼人？偃師回答：這是我製造能夠表演技藝的假人。穆王很驚奇地看著，這個假人走路,彎腰仰頭無不像極了真人,十分的靈巧！輕輕搖一搖它的下巴，便唱起歌來，歌聲悅耳，也很合旋律；撥弄一下它的手,便手舞足蹈起來，也很有節奏感，可以千變萬化，想要它做什麼便做什麼。	On the second day, Master Yan was received by King Mu, and King Mu saw that by his side stood another person, and he asked him "Who is that person following you?" Master Yan replied "This is my artificial man [2], who can put on a performance". King Mu looked bewilderingly; the dummy was walking on the road, bending and raising its head, looking exactly like a real person, and was exceedingly nimble. Softly shaking it's jaw it began to sing a song, singing pleasantly and very melodically, and moving its hand rhythmically, ever-changing and doing whatever it wished to do.
穆王把他當成了真人，連他寵愛的美人，侍妾也一起夾欣賞表演. 穆王把它當成了真人，連他寵愛的美人侍妾也一起來欣賞表演. 沒想到表演快結束時，這個假人竟轉動眼珠，向穆王的侍妾眉目傳情。	King Mu treated it as a real person, even his most adored women, his concubines enjoyed the performance. But, before the performance ended, the artificial man turned it's eyes at King Mu's concubines and made eyes at them.
穆王大怒，認為偃師戲弄自己，要馬上懲處偃師，偃師嚇壞了，立還立刻拆散了假人，一個個零件指給穆王看。原來都是用皮革，木頭，樹膠，生漆等原組合,再塗上白,黑,紅,青等顏料而成。穆王仔細的觀察那假人體內的肝，瞻,心,腎,脾,肺,腸,胃,以及體表的筋絡,骨頭，四肢，關節，皮膚，毛髮，牙齒等，都是假造的，而且樣樣齊全。	King Mu got angry, thinking that Master Yan was mocking him, and from his horse ordered for Master Yan to be punished. Master Yan became afraid and immediately stoop up and broke apart the artificial man. Each and every part he gave to King Mu to see. As it turns out, it was made of leather, wood, tree gum, raw lacquer, and other original combinations, then painted with white, black, red, blue and other pigments. King Mu carefully inspected the inner parts of the fake man, it's liver, gallbladder, heart, kidney, spleen, lung, intestines, stomach, the main and collateral channels [3] on the surface of the body, bones, arms and limbs, joints, skin, hair, teeth, and all were artificed and everything was in order.
把這些東西組裝起來，又恢復了一開始看到他的樣子。穆王命令摘掉他的心，它便不能說話；摘掉他的肝，便不能看東西；摘掉它的腎，便不能走路。穆王高興的讚嘆：人為的技術竟然能夠跟造物者一樣巧妙啊。	These parts were put together and restored, and they saw it appear as it was in the beginning. King Mu ordered the heart be taken out, and it couldn't speak; he ordered its liver to be taken out, and it couldn't see; he ordered its kidney to be taken out and it couldn't walk. King Mu excitedly exclaimed: Man-made technology can be just as clever as its creator.

Footnotes

[1] The word literally translates to “Western Place” which may refer to the western extremities (Xinjiang for example) of the Chinese civilization which is mainly based in the Eastern part of China. Mythological Kunlun is based both on mythology and geography of the real Kunlun Mountain range in The Tibetan Plateau.

[2] I have chose to translate 假人 as artificial man, but it translates literally to “fake man” or “fake person”. My dictionary also translates it as “dummy”. Alternative translations include plastic man, android, etc. I thought some of these terms seemed to modern for the age in which it was set since plastic and robots were invented rather recently.

[3] The term 筋絡 is used in traditional Chinese medicine to refer to channels where vital energy (qi) passes.