Truyện Kiều- The Tale of Kieu (Verses 600-635)

Truyện Kiều (Câu 600-635)

Nguyễn Du

600.
Trong khi ngộ biến tòng quyền biết sao?
Duyên hội ngộ, đức cù lao,
Bên tình bên hiếu, bên nào nặng hơn?
Để lời thệ hải minh sơn,
Làm con trước phải đền ơn sinh thành.

605.
Quyết tình nàng mới hạ tình:
Dẽ cho để thiếp bán mình chuộc cha!
Họ Chung có kẻ lại già,
Cũng trong nha dịch lại là từ tâm.
Thấy nàng hiếu trọng tình thâm,

610.
Vì nàng nghĩ cũng thương thầm xót vay.
Tính bài lót đó luồn đây,
Có ba trăm lạng việc này mới xuôi.
Hãy về tạm phó giam ngoài,
Dặn nàng qui liệu trong đôi ba ngày.

615.
Thương tình con trẻ thơ ngây,
Gặp cơn vạ gió tai bay bất kỳ!
Đau lòng tử biệt sinh ly,
Thân còn chẳng tiếc, tiếc gì đến duyên!
Hạt mưa sá nghĩ phận hèn,

620.
Liều đem tấc cỏ quyết đền ba xuân.
Sự lòng ngỏ với băng nhân,
Tin sương đồn đại xa gần xôn xao.
Gần miền có một mụ nào,
Đưa người viễn khách tìm vào vấn danh.

625.
Hỏi tên rằng: Mã Giám sinh.
Hỏi quê, rằng: Huyện Lâm Thanh cũng gần.
Quá niên trạc ngoại tứ tuần,
Mày râu nhẵn nhụi, áo quần bảnh bao.
Trước thầy sau tớ lao xao

630.
Nhà băng đưa mối rước vào lầu trang. (630)
Ghế trên ngồi tót sỗ sàng,
Buồng trong mối đã giục nàng kíp ra.
Nỗi mình thêm tức nỗi nhà,
Thềm hoa một bước, lệ hoa mấy hàng!

(English Version)

Author: Nguyễn Du
Translation: Đặng Hoàng Lan

600. When faced with such challenges we must respond with integrity.
Love for Kim and filial piety wrestled within her.
Which one would she serve? What must she do?
She had no choice, of course, but to abandon her vow of love,
Because children must first and always honor their parents.

605. She saw no other way and only one contingency occurred to her.
“…Let me sell my body for a ransom… ” she thought.
There was one among them, he seemed just as hardhearted.
His name was Chung, he was old and only slightly more amiable.
Upon witnessing her demonstration of filial piety,

610. He was touched by a secret grief for her plight.
Considering all possible bribes that may come from every direction,
He decided three hundred taels of gold should suffice.
Her father and brother would be merely detained,
If she could tender this amount within two or three days.

615.
What a pitiful child, so young and so naive!
Misfortune blew in as a sudden storm threatening to drown her.
How heart-rending is separation from love, in life or in death!
Kieu had no concern for her body, or any need for love in the touch.
Like a drop of rain, she didn’t consider where she might fall.

620.
She decided to risk her life to save her father.
Kieu made her availability known to the marriage broker.
The news was spread near and far as on a windstorm.
In the next town there was an old woman who made arrangements,
She invited a suitor from afar to visit Kieu.

625.
Asking his name, he said he was Ma Giam Sinh.
Asking his home, he said Lam Thanh district, which was nearby.
Beyond his youth, he was in his forties.
He wore a clean-shaven face and was dressed smartly.
Master and servant came following, noisily

630.
The marriage broker accompanied him upstairs to Kieu’s boudoir.
He jumped onto a chair in the hall to take a seat, quite impolitely.
Outside the door of her chamber, the broker urged her to come out.
She bore the weight of her family’s troubles, as well as her own pain.
Her tears ran in a stream with each step toward the door.