The dodder twines around the huang-po tree,
sharing with it the mist and rain.
But the tree's branches and leaves are rooted:
the dodder alone encounters a bitter fate.

The marriage occurred at an auspicious time;
a magpie carried a plum branch in its beak.
Everybody said, " The bride is beautiful! "
The go-betweens enjoyed their glory.

As broths and roasts were cooking in the kitchen,
in the hall calamity approached!
Just as the go-betweens were sent off to the west,
from the east, the doctor was ushered in.

" For drinking, hot soups are inappropriate;
for eating, he'd better not eat gruel. "
The ghost chief was pressing this man's fate;
the ghost boss was anxious for his flesh.

The great man had no weak daughter,
nor had he any other son.
Sick with consumption, his flesh wasted away,
how could his one son bear to cut and slice?

At night the woman rises, beneath the constellations,
a knife at the ready in her hands.
Before the god she kneels and worships, and then
the sharp blade moves along her arm.

" Gee-oo, gee-oo, " ghosts wail and weep;
the lamp goes out, extinguished by the wind.
In the valley sway grasses and trees, all wild;
outside, pigs and sheep squeal and bleat.

Cutting her body, could she be following custom?
Bearing the pain, because she's taken her husband's place.
And does she grudge the blood, drop after drop,
for twelve days and nights, flowing?

Having obtained this flesh, father-in-law is pleased;
having taken husband's place, the woman has died.
Alas, alas, all family members weep:
can anyone now bring her back to life?

Her in-laws compete to be the first to visit;
her fragrant fame spreads through the neighborhood.
In the past she was the twining dodder;
now she is a grove of orchid bloom.