The Deer Covered by Plantain Leaves

Text by Guo Dan Translation by Leo Illustration by Liao Jie

The Deer Covered by Plantain Leaves

Text by Guo Dan Translation by Leo Illustration by Liao Jie

Geese and deer are two species of animals that are frequently mentioned in A Dream of Red Mansions, one of the best-known classic novels in Chinese history. In Chapter 37, entitled “Begonia Club Takes Form One Day in the Studio of Autumn Freshness and Themes for Poems on Chrysanthemums Are Prepared One Evening in Alpinia Park”, Tanchuan proposed to start a poetry club. The following conversation occurred when they tried to choose pen names for themselves.

“I'll be Master of Autumn Freshness,” cried Tanchun. “There's something unreal and awkward about 'master' and 'scholar,'” objected Baoyu. “With all these wu-tung trees and plantains here, why not use them in your name?”

“Yes, I know what. I like plantains best so I'll call myself The Stranger Under the Plantain.” The others approved this as more original. Only Daiyu teased, “Drag her off, quick! Stew some slices of her flesh to go with our wine.” When the others looked mystifled, she explained with a smile, “Didn't an ancient say, ‘The deer was covered with theplantain'? If she calls herself The Stranger Under the Plantain, she must be a deer. Let's hurry up and cook this venison.” With this, the others burst into laughter.

Kallen Guo

Senior filmmaker, socialite and bestselling author, authored Don't Fall in Love with Zurich, the winner of The Best Foreign Language Novel.

郭丹

資深影視人、名媛、暢銷書作家。代表作包括最佳外語小說獎獲得作品《別愛蘇黎世》等。

The allusion to the Stranger under the Plantain can be traced to a story found in King Mu of Zhou, a chapter in Liezi, a Taoist text attributed to an ancient Chinese philosopher by the name of Lie Yukou. The story goes that a man was collecting flrewood when he saw a deer limping his way. It was obviously injured, perhaps by a huntsman, he thought. He dashed forward and killed it using a pole. For fear of being found by the huntsman, the man hid the dead deer in a pit and covered it with plantain leaves before he continued his work nonchalantly. As darkness set in, the huntsman still did not show up, so the man made his mind to take home the deer, along with some flrewood. But he could no longer locate the pit where he had hidden the deer. “Perhaps I never saw such a deer, let alone covered it with plantain leaves. It must have been a dream” he thought to himself. From the story came the term “the deer covered by plantain leaves”, which generally refers to confusingly dreamy happenings or people.

The allusion in the novel may be a hint of Tanchuan's failed attempt, through a reform, to save the families collapsing. But who knows?

蕉葉覆鹿

《紅樓夢》里遇到最多的動物，就是鵝和鹿。第四十九回《琉璃世界白雪紅梅，脂粉香娃割腥啖膻》說的就是大觀園一眾美女和一個俊男張羅著吃烤鹿肉的事。

說起鹿，也是探春在詩社的別號。大家為自己的詩翁想名號時，探春笑道:“我就是‘秋爽居士’罷。”寶玉道:“居士、主人到底不恰，且又瘰贅。這里梧桐芭蕉盡有，或指梧桐芭蕉起個倒好。”探春笑道：“有了，我最喜芭蕉，就稱‘蕉下客’罷。”眾人都道別致有趣。黛玉笑道：“你們快牽了他去，燉了脯子吃酒。”眾人不解。黛玉笑道：“古人曾云‘蕉葉覆鹿’。他自稱‘蕉下客’可不是一只鹿了？快做了鹿脯來。”眾人聽了都笑起來。

蕉葉覆鹿這個典故見于《列子·周穆王》：“鄭人有薪于野者，遇駭鹿，御而擊之，斃之。恐人見之也，遽而藏諸隍中，覆之以蕉，不勝其喜。俄而遺其所藏之處，遂以為夢焉。順途而詠其事，傍人有聞者，用其言而取之。”

有一個鄭國人，一天在野外砍柴，忽見一只鹿慌忙地跑過來，受了一些傷，跑得不太快。這人乘機趕上去，一扁擔將它打死了。他怕獵人追來發現，就把死鹿藏在一個洼坑里，上面“覆之以蕉”，藏好以后就若無其事地繼續砍柴。天快黑了，并沒有什么人來，他準備把死鹿連同砍得的柴一塊挑回去。可是，這時他忘了藏死鹿的地方，找來找去，最后他想：“恐怕我根本并沒有打到過什么鹿，也根本并沒有把它藏在什么蕉葉下面，一定是我做了這么一個夢罷了！”由于這個故事，有人就把恍惚如夢的糊涂事兒，叫做“蕉鹿”。元代洪希文詩：“得非愛惑聰，戲我如蕉鹿。”

其實故事還有后續，說另一人夢中得鹿，是否預示探春的改革是一場稀里糊涂的事兒，就不得而知了。