和答钱穆父咏猩猩毛笔的译文及注释
译文及注释：
Translation:
The drunken gorilla cannot walk as it loves to drink excessively. The gorilla can also speak human language so secrets cannot be kept.
Even though the gorilla loves shoes how many pairs can it wear in the end? However after the gorilla dies its fur can be used to make brushes which can write numerous books.
The gorilla brushes come from Goryeo and their merit lies in people's writings.
The fur pulled out by the gorilla is made into a brush which can be used in your hands to benefit the world. It seems that the principle of benefiting the world by pulling out a single hair should be told to Yang Zhu.
Annotations:
Qian Mu's father: Name Xie also known as Mu Fu. He was from Hangzhou and served as a scholar in the Imperial Academy. He went on a mission to Goryeo and obtained the gorilla brush which he used to write poems as a memory. This poem is a response to another poem.
Gorilla brush: Goryeo brush made of reed tube and yellow bristles durable but easily worn out. According to Ji Lin Zhi it was said to be made from gorilla fur.
Love for alcohol: According to Tang Wen Cui Pei Yan's Gorilla Story states: Ruan Yan was sent to Fengxi and saw the local people saying: Gorillas are found in the valleys numbering in the hundreds. People place wine on the side of the road and gorillas also love to wear shoes. The local people weave grass into shoes and connect them together. When gorillas see the wine and shoes they know that the local people have set up a trap. They curse and say 'They want to trap me!' and leave. They repeatedly say to themselves 'Let's try the wine together.' After tasting it and getting drunk they take the shoes and wear them and then they are captured by humans.
Able to speak: Book of Rites states: Gorillas can speak and are not separated from birds and beasts.
Confidential matters: Secret matters. Book of Changes Commentary on the Appended Phrases says: If a few matters are not kept confidential harm will be done. The words a few and confidential are related. The two sentences mean that the gorilla loves to drink excessively so when it gets drunk it cannot walk. As the gorilla can also speak human language secrets cannot be kept. This describes how the gorilla dies due to its greed.
How many pairs of shoes in a lifetime: According to Book of Jin Biography of Ruan Fu Ruan Fu loved shoes and made them himself. He once sighed and said I wonder how many pairs of shoes I can wear in my lifetime. Five carts of books: Zhuangzi says: Hui Shi had many ideas and his books filled five carts. The two sentences mean that even though the gorilla loves shoes how many pairs can it wear in the end? However after the gorilla dies its fur can be used to make brushes which can write numerous books.
Search for: Seek and acquire. Wang Hui: Ji Zhong Zhou Shu in Ji Zhong Zhou Pian. Zheng Xuan believed that it was written after the construction of the Zhou royal city when the various vassals and barbarians gathered. This is used here to indicate that the brush comes from a foreign country. Shi Qu: The imperial library of the Han Dynasty. Ban Gu's Xi Du Fu says: Tian Lu and Shi Qu the treasury of books. Merit and labor: The merit of the brush. The two sentences mean that the gorilla brushes come from Goryeo and their merit lies in people's writings.
Yang Zhu: Yang Zhu a philosopher of the Warring States period and his school of thought.