陸遊《鼠屢敗吾書偶得貍奴捕殺無虚日羣鼠㡬空為賦此詩》
“My books having been destroyed by mice time after time, [I] chanced to get a cat that chases and kills [them] every day, almost extinguishing the horde; therefore [I] write this poem” by Lu You (1125-1210)
服役無人自炷香，
貍奴乃肯伴禪房。
晝眠共藉床敷暖，
夜坐同聞漏鼔長。
賈勇遂能空鼠穴，
策勛何止履胡腸。
魚飧雖薄真無媿，
不向花間捕蝶忙。[1]
No servant around, [I] lit my own incense,
Only my cat caring to keep [me] company in the chamber of musing.
Slumbering away the day [we] both cling to the warmth of the bed,
Sitting in the night [we] hearken alike to the lingering of water-clock drumbeats.
Courage in surplus,[2] [my cat] is set to empty mouse nests;
Its certified merits go beyond treading barbarians’ guts.
The fish for food is meagre but well-earned:
No bustling about among flowers, chasing butterflies.
* From Lu You 陸游 (1125-1209), Jiannan shigao jiaozhu 劍南詩稿校注 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1985), collated and annotated by Qian Zhonglian 錢仲聯, 65.3666.
[1] Red characters rhyme. [2] Guyong 賈勇 (literally “selling courage”) alludes to Gao Gu 高固 (fl. 589 BCE), a general of the state of Qi who led a charge into the troops of Jin and boasted about his bravery, saying that he had surplus courage for sale if anyone needed it; see Zuozhuan 左傳: https://ctext.org/chun-qiu-zuo-zhuan/cheng-gong-er-nian.
Album leaf attributed to Li Di 李迪 (1100-1197)
Image credit: National Palace Museum, Taipei
Cat and butterfly by Xugu 虛谷 (1824-1896)
Image credit: The Metropolitan Museum of Art