The Tale of Kiều
by Nguyễn Du
Ch. 51: Forced to Wed a Tribal Chief
Translated by Vuong Thanh 

Chapter 51: Forced to Wed a Tribal Chief 

In the headquarters, a victory feast was held. Place was filled 

with sounds of  flutes and strings, and voices of soldiers and officers. 

She was ordered to serve Lord Ho behind the curtain.

He pretended to be drunk and forced her to play the lute.

Like the wind wailing, the rain weeping, so heart-rending,

 it seemed the four strings dripping blood from her fingers!

The howlings of gibbons, the wailings of cicadas, cannot match such sorrow. 

Ho listened, frowned, and shed some tears.

Ho asked: “What’s the music piece that you’re playing?

It sounds so full of bitterness and sorrow!”

Kiều replied: “It’s called “Thankless Fate”.

I had composed it when I was young. 

The  melody was created in days long gone, 

but the example of “thankless fate” is now and here before you.”

The more he watched and listened, the more enchanted he was. 

What a miracle! An iron mask could become dazed with love. 

He said, “We are destined for each other. 

Let me reconnect your lute strings with phoenix glue.  

She said, “I’m just a fallen woman.

On my conscience is the unjust death of a person. 

Nothing left of me, this tattered flower.

Like Hsiao-lin’s lute strings, my heart’s broken.

With your kindness, I hope to still live. (word play: to keep my pink pants) 

I’d be fortunate  to see my native village with my dying breath.”

During the feast, the governor had drunk too much.

The next morning he woke up and remembered:

“Being a high official of the realm, 

I’m constantly watched by the higher authorities and the public. 

It’s not becoming of my office to act like a womanizer.

So how do I settle this matter now?”

When the office opened for work, 

his mind resolved, Hồ  made his decision.

Who dares to protest the words of a high-ranking official?

By his order, Kiều was forced to wed a tribal chief. 

O how meddling you can be, the matrimony god!

Why do you tie the red silk threads so heedlessly?”

The flowered carriage was led straight down onto the boat.

The curtain pulled down, the lamp lit. 

She seemed like a willow withered, a peach blossom faded.

There wasn’t a single spark of  liveliness in her body and face.