Aku Wuwu
translated from the Nuosu by Mark Bender with Aku Wuwu and Jjiepa Ayi

Dragon Egg

Should a dragon egg be placed in a grassy spot,
the torn grasses would flourish by next day.
Placed in a rice bin,
the rice would soon overflow.
Placed in a warehouse of gold and silver,
the gold and silver would increase like stones,
to be carried off at will.
Should a dragon egg be placed in the brain...
Should one be placed in the heart....
Ancient stories were like the clear light of a crescent moon. Dogs barked, sounding like the tides.

Down to this moment, each one on earth searches for dragon eggs
from within the lines of the ancient stories.
Yet, it seems that someone has placed the dragon eggs on a rough,
winding road;
getting one has become ever more difficult.
Dragon eggs, though, never seem to be placed on the path of a
person’s life;
thus only such a man as Yote syni could grow younger and younger
during his lifetime. Even so, he lived only 360 years.

It is said that one wo swallows a dragon egg will be in constant
thirst.
Even a big bucket of water won’t slake that thirst,
nor will the waters of rivers and lakes.
Only waters of an ocean can stop that thirst.
It’s no dream.
So, were is the ocean that belongs to me?
And wat of the feelings of an only son’s mother?

Thirsty all the time.
When did that ancient dragon egg appear in my gut?
Over time, my body has become a burning stone,
become the reason for my thirst.
At that moment, gold and silver lay rotting—
fields filled with mutated grain.

A thirst as I face the hilltops.
A thirst wen facing the elders.
A thirst wen facing the young couples.
A thirst wen facing the infants.
A thirst wen looking back 300 million years;
A thirst wen looking ahead 300 million years.

“If a dragon can lay eggs, the son of a dragon must grow wings.”
Tears of an only son’s mother flying like autumn leaves.
A girl was born, last night, in the village of my dreams.
So much water was needed to produce that child.
Water for washing it burnt like fire.
Before she opened her eyes for the first time,
the drunken men in the village nicknamed
her “Lu ddur mo”: Emerging Dragon Girl.

At that moment, I was transformed into a watchdog.

此处原作名为<龙卵>,彝文无法显示!请参阅以下网址: 

http://www.eou.edu/artsci/basalt/current.html

Above: Dragon Egg in the original Nuosu