The Butterfly Lovers · chapter 25 of 25
Two Butterflies
两只蝴蝶
The storm passes and the sun comes out over the grave by the road, and the torn red pieces in Yinxin's hands begin to fly.
Read what you hear
- Narrator 风停了。乌云慢慢地散开，太阳出来了，照在那个裂开过的墓上。
Fēng tíng le. Wūyún mànmàn de sànkāi, tàiyáng chūlái le, zhào zài nàge lièkāi guo de mù shàng.
The wind stopped. The black clouds slowly drifted apart, and the sun came out, shining on the grave that had split open.
- Yinxin 四九，你看，这些碎红布飞起来了！
Sìjiǔ, nǐ kàn, zhèxiē suì hóng bù fēi qǐlái le!
Sijiu, look, these torn red pieces are flying!
- Sijiu 这不是布，是蝴蝶！红布都变成了蝴蝶！
Zhè bú shì bù, shì húdié! Hóng bù dōu biànchéng le húdié!
They're not cloth, they're butterflies! The red cloth has turned into butterflies!
Chapter 25 is part of SayMei Stories Unlimited ($2.99 a month) and SayMei Premium. Chapters 1–3 of The Butterfly Lovers are free, and The Second Cup of Tea, The Great Race: The Twelve Animals, The Kitchen God, Little Red Riding Hood, The Ugly Duckling, Chang'e and the Moon, Alice in Wonderland and Judge Dee's Cases are free from start to finish.
- The Matchmaker 天哪……这么多红蝴蝶……我活了这么大，从来没见过……
Tiān na… zhème duō hóng húdié… wǒ huó le zhème dà, cónglái méi jiàn guo…
Heavens... so many red butterflies... in all my years, I've never seen...
- Yinxin 你们看！墓上又飞起来两只大蝴蝶，一红一黑！
Nǐmen kàn! Mù shàng yòu fēi qǐlái liǎng zhī dà húdié, yì hóng yì hēi!
Look! Two big butterflies are rising from the grave, one red and one black!
- Sijiu 红的是祝小姐，黑的……黑的是我家公子！
Hóng de shì Zhù xiǎojie, hēi de… hēi de shì wǒ jiā gōngzǐ!
The red one is Miss Zhu, and the black one... the black one is my young master!
- Yinxin 小姐，是您吗？您听得见银心吗？
Xiǎojie, shì nín ma? Nín tīng de jiàn Yínxīn ma?
Miss, is that you? Can you hear Yinxin?
- Sijiu 你看，红的那只飞到你头上了！祝小姐在跟你说再见呢。
Nǐ kàn, hóng de nà zhī fēi dào nǐ tóu shàng le! Zhù xiǎojie zài gēn nǐ shuō zàijiàn ne.
Look, the red one has flown right over your head! Miss Zhu is saying goodbye to you.
- Narrator 两只大蝴蝶飞过墓前，飞过春天的绿草和小花，一会儿红的在前，一会儿黑的在前。
Liǎng zhī dà húdié fēi guò mù qián, fēi guò chūntiān de lǜ cǎo hé xiǎo huā, yíhuìr hóng de zài qián, yíhuìr hēi de zài qián.
The two big butterflies flew past the grave and over the green grass and little flowers of spring, now the red one ahead, now the black.
- Yinxin 它们在跳舞！小姐，您和梁公子终于在一起了！
Tāmen zài tiàowǔ! Xiǎojie, nín hé Liáng gōngzǐ zhōngyú zài yìqǐ le!
They're dancing! Miss, you and Young Master Liang are together at last!
- Sijiu 公子以前说，两只蝴蝶就像两个好兄弟，一个哥哥，一个弟弟。
Gōngzǐ yǐqián shuō, liǎng zhī húdié jiù xiàng liǎng gè hǎo xiōngdì, yí gè gēge, yí gè dìdi.
Young master used to say two butterflies were like two good brothers, an older one and a younger one.
- Yinxin 那个书呆子，这一次，他应该看明白了吧？
Nàge shūdāizi, zhè yí cì, tā yīnggāi kàn míngbai le ba?
That bookworm. This time he must finally see it, don't you think?
- Sijiu 他看明白了！你看，他们一会儿也不分开，就像一对鸳鸯。
Tā kàn míngbai le! Nǐ kàn, tāmen yíhuìr yě bù fēnkāi, jiù xiàng yí duì yuānyāng.
He's got it now! Look, they're never apart, not for a moment, just like a pair of mandarin ducks.
- Yinxin 小姐，您说过想变成蝴蝶。以前您哪儿也不能去，现在，您想飞到哪儿，就能飞到哪儿了。
Xiǎojie, nín shuō guo xiǎng biànchéng húdié. Yǐqián nín nǎr yě bù néng qù, xiànzài, nín xiǎng fēi dào nǎr, jiù néng fēi dào nǎr le.
Miss, you said you wished you could become a butterfly. You could never go anywhere before. Now you can fly wherever you like.
- Sijiu 公子，祝小姐，你们放心飞吧。太太那边，有我四九呢！我说到做到！
Gōngzǐ, Zhù xiǎojie, nǐmen fàngxīn fēi ba. Tàitai nàbiān, yǒu wǒ Sìjiǔ ne! Wǒ shuōdào zuòdào!
Young master, Miss Zhu, fly without a care. I'll look after your mother, young master! I keep my word!
- Yinxin 四九，你哭了。今天没有沙子，没有雨，也没有雪。
Sìjiǔ, nǐ kū le. Jīntiān méiyǒu shāzi, méiyǒu yǔ, yě méiyǒu xuě.
Sijiu, you're crying. And today there's no sand, no rain and no snow.
- Sijiu 那……那是太阳。太阳太亮了，照进了我的眼睛。
Nà… nà shì tàiyáng. Tàiyáng tài liàng le, zhào jìn le wǒ de yǎnjing.
That's... that's the sun. The sun's so bright, it got in my eyes.
- Yinxin 好，是太阳。我的眼睛里，也是太阳。
Hǎo, shì tàiyáng. Wǒ de yǎnjing lǐ, yě shì tàiyáng.
All right, it's the sun. There's sun in my eyes too.
- Sijiu 你们看那个媒人，刚才话最多，现在站在那儿，半天一句话也没说。
Nǐmen kàn nàge méirén, gāngcái huà zuì duō, xiànzài zhàn zài nàr, bàntiān yí jù huà yě méi shuō.
Look at the matchmaker. A moment ago she was doing all the talking, and now she's been standing there all this time without a word.
- Yinxin 她的红包被风吹跑了，她都没去找。
Tā de hóngbāo bèi fēng chuī pǎo le, tā dōu méi qù zhǎo.
Her red envelope blew away, and she hasn't even gone looking for it.
- The Matchmaker 去吧……
Qù ba…
Go on...
- Yinxin 你们看，媒人手上的那块红布，也飞走了。
Nǐmen kàn, méirén shǒu shàng de nà kuài hóng bù, yě fēi zǒu le.
Look, the red scrap in the matchmaker's hand has flown away too.
- Sijiu 它们越飞越高了，飞过了那个十字路口……
Tāmen yuè fēi yuè gāo le, fēi guò le nàge shízì lùkǒu…
They're flying higher and higher, out over the crossroads...
- Yinxin 四九，它们要飞到哪儿去？
Sìjiǔ, tāmen yào fēi dào nǎr qù?
Sijiu, where will they go?
- Sijiu 飞到哪儿都好。只要两个人在一起，哪儿都是家。
Fēi dào nǎr dōu hǎo. Zhǐyào liǎng gè rén zài yìqǐ, nǎr dōu shì jiā.
Anywhere at all. As long as they're together, anywhere is home.
- Yinxin 以后每年春天，我们都来这儿看他们，好不好？
Yǐhòu měi nián chūntiān, wǒmen dōu lái zhèr kàn tāmen, hǎo bu hǎo?
From now on, let's come here every spring to see them, all right?
- Sijiu 好，每年春天都来！
Hǎo, měi nián chūntiān dōu lái!
All right, every spring!
- Narrator 从那以后，每年春天，人们看见一红一黑两只蝴蝶一起飞，都会叫出它们的名字。
Cóng nà yǐhòu, měi nián chūntiān, rénmen kànjiàn yì hóng yì hēi liǎng zhī húdié yìqǐ fēi, dōu huì jiào chū tāmen de míngzi.
From then on, every spring, whenever people saw a red and a black butterfly flying together, they would call them by name.
- Yinxin 看，梁山伯和祝英台。
Kàn, Liáng Shānbó hé Zhù Yīngtái.
Look: Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai.
Hear the chapter
What changed in the story?
- What happens to the torn red pieces?
“红布都变成了蝴蝶！”
- What colors are the two big butterflies?
“两只大蝴蝶，一红一黑！”
- What did Shanbo once say about two butterflies?
“两只蝴蝶就像两个好兄弟”
- Why does Sijiu say there are tears in his eyes?
“那……那是太阳。太阳太亮了，照进了我的眼睛”
- What does Sijiu promise Shanbo?
“太太那边，有我四九呢！”