Gedo Senki (Tales from Earthsea)

7th February 2006

Number 31 - Wintersweet is panic but not a plum[1]

Last night, though it was only for a short time, a lot of snow fell.
By the middle of the night the surrounding area had become a silver world,
but after that the snow turned to rain and the snow that had piled up on the asphalt was almost all washed away.

Just recently, the Wintersweet began to bloom,
although it is called Roubai (lit. 'wax plum'[2]) it really belongs to the family Calicanthacae, separate to plums which belong to the family Rosacae along with cherries.

Because it blossoms slightly before the plums,
whenever I saw the golden glint of these pretty flowers, like delicate wax carvings,
I always felt excited that spring was just round the corner, but...

This year although I saw the flowers my thoughts were elsewhere.
All I could hear were the footsteps of my tight schedule.

The fact that spring has advanced so far,
means, of course, that summer is waiting in the wings,
and summer means the opening of "Tales from Earthsea"!?

But working myself up into a panic like this doesn't help either,
so, right, time to get back to work.

Sorry for the lame entry.

Translator's Notes

[1]: The title is a play on words. Roubai [蝋 梅] (English name Allspice or Wintersweet) is a flower. Roubai [狼 狽] means to panic. Ume [梅] actually closer to an apricot, is traditionally translated as 'plum'. Note that the character in Ume [梅] is the same as the last character in Roubai (Wintersweet) [蝋 梅]

[2]: This is a literal translation of the two characters in the name 'wax' [蝋] and ume or 'plum' [梅].