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Children’s Story: 《猪先生去野餐》 Mr. Pig’s Picnic

I love it when I find a longer story that’s suitable for beginning readers. This one, which is either a tale that reminds us what happens when you try to be something you’re not, or a tale that reminds us that men should never be allowed to give each other fashion advice, definitely fits the bill.

The first sentence isn’t super simple, so push through that one if you can, it gets much easier in the following paragraphs. Four points of grammar:

能有幸请 néng yǒu xìng qǐng – A politely formal phrase of invitation “May have the pleasure of inviting you …” or more specifically, “May I be so lucky as to…” (have this dance?) (take you on a date?).

看上去 kàn shàng qù – To look like.

你要是再不走开 nǐ yào shì zài bù zǒu kāi – This one might be a little confusing. Let’s break it down:

你 – You
要是 – If
再不 – Otherwise / If not
走开 – Go away

The full phrase means “If you don’t go away….”

他会来收拾你的 tā huì lái shōu shi5 nǐ de5. In the story, Miss Pig says this to an unwelcome guest. The “他” in this case is Mr. Pig. The Beginners often learn the word “收拾”, meaning “to tidy up”. Usually, this means exactly what it sounds like, and applies to cleaning up a room or an apartment. In this case, it’s being used in kind of an action movie way, meaning “He’ll come over and deal with you!” or “He’ll come straighten you out!”. So Miss Pig is threatening the unwelcome guest, telling him that Mr. Pig will come over and beat him up.

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猪先生去野餐

今天,真是个野餐的好日子。 猪先生精心打扮着自己,他期待着猪小姐能与他一起去野餐。

“呵呵,真希望她会说‘我愿意’啊。 嗯,我再摘朵花送给她,一定能够打动她!”

路上,猪先生遇到了他的朋友狐狸。狐狸听说了野餐的事,就说:“让我给你一个建议,把我美丽的尾巴去吧。瞧,你看上去有多聪明啊,猪小姐肯定会喜欢的。” 猪先生很满意。

接着,他又遇到了他的朋友狮子。狮子听说了野餐的事,就说:“让我给你一个建议,把我美丽的头发借去吧。 瞧,你看上去有多威猛啊,猪小姐肯定会喜欢的。” 猪先生很满意。

后来,他又遇到他的朋友斑马。斑马听说了野餐的事,就说:“让我给你一个建议,把我美丽的条纹借去吧。 瞧,你看上去有多英俊啊,猪小姐肯定会喜欢的。” 猪先生很满意。他觉得自己从来没有这样英俊过。

终于来到猪小姐家了,猪先生激动地敲了敲门。“能有幸请你一起去野餐吗?”他问。

猪小姐吓了一大跳:“噢,不行!你是哪儿来的妖怪呀?你要是再不走开,我就去叫猪先生了,他会来收拾你的!”

猪先生连忙往回跑。一路上,他把条纹还给了斑马,把头发还给了狮子,把尾巴还给了狐狸。然后,他又赶回到猪小姐的家,再一次摁响了门铃。

“能有幸请你一起去野餐吗?”他又问。

“啊呀,猪先生!” 猪小姐叫道,“看到你我真是太高兴啦,我很愿意跟你一起去野餐。刚才来了个丑八怪,就站在我的院子里,可把我吓坏啦。”

一路上,猪小姐把那个丑八怪的故事仔细地讲给了猪先生。她英俊的朋友猪先生,则一直满怀同情地听着。这真是一个去野餐的好日子啊。

Show English translation »
Today, it’s a great day for a picnic. Mr. Pig dressed himself with care, looking forward to [the possibility of] Miss Pig and himself going on a picnic together.

“Heh, I hope she says ‘Yes’ [lit: I’m willing]. Hm, I’ll also pick some flowers to give her, that will certainly be enough to sway her!”

On the road, Mr. Pig ran into his friend Fox. When fox heard about the picnic, he said: “Let me give you a suggestion, let me lend you my beautiful tail. See, you look so clever, Miss Pig will certainly like it.” Mr. Pig was very pleased.

Continuing on, he ran into his friend Lion. Lion heard about the picnic and said: “Let me give you a suggestion, borrow my beautiful hair for when you go over there. See, you look so powerful, Miss Pig will certainly like it.” Mr. Pig was very pleased.

After a while, he ran into his friend Zebra. Zebra heard about the picnic and said: “Let me give you a suggestion, I’ll lend you my beautiful stripes. See, you look so handsome. Miss Pig will certainly like it.” Mr. Pig was very pleased. He felt that he’d never before looked so handsome.

Finally arriving at Miss Pig’s house, Mr. Pig excitedly knocked on the door. “Would you do me the honor of going on a picnic with me?” he asked.

Miss Pig was terrified: “Oh, no way! What kind of monster are you? If you don’t go away, I’ll go get Mr. Pig, he’ll straighten you out!”

Mr. Pig hurriedly ran away. On the road, he gave the stripes back to Zebra, the hair back to Lion, and the tail back to Fox. AFter that, he hurried back to Miss Pig’s house, and again pressed the doorbell.

“Would you do me the honor of having a picnic with me?” he asked again.

“Goodness, Mr. Pig!” Miss Pig cried out. “I’m so happy to see you, I’d love to go on a picnic with you. An ugly wretch just came by here, standing in my garden, and scared me so.”

On the way, Miss Pig told Mr. Pig the story of the ‘ugly wretch’ in great detail. Her handsome friend Mr. Pig, though, listened with great sympathy. It really was a great day for a picnic.

66 replies on “Children’s Story: 《猪先生去野餐》 Mr. Pig’s Picnic”

This website is my new favorite little part of the world, a friend introduced me. He and I are both University students avidly studying Chinese. Your website is super accessible. and I will definitely be back.

Really cool website. Where did the original come from? There’s a little error. The first time Mr. Pig knocks on the door, the second time he rings the bell, though it says he rang the door bell “once more” (再一次摁响了门铃). Anyway, the small detail gives the story a kind of Goofus and Gallant quality. Well done!

Thank you for putting this up and really breaking down the translation for us beginners =D haha took like half an hour to read, but was totally worth it!!

Hi Kendra, just want to drop by and say hi. 🙂

Your site is a such a neat and cool place for Chinese learning and reading. Well done!

If you have time, you’re welcome to drop by my site to have a look at the audio stories that I made. Hope you’ll like them too.

Cheers,

Grace

Thanks for this wonderful site, which is very useful for beginning learners.

May I suggest what one native speaker confirmed as a couple useful corrections:

我再摘朵花, translated here as “I’ll also pick some flowers to give her.”

1. In spoken Chinese, the number 1 very often gets omitted, so that the measure word/classifier does not have the number which frequently precedes it. Here, it is one flower being picked; if it were some flowers, it would probably be “摘些花”
2. 再 implies that the action is being repeated, whereas translating it as “also” suggests that flowers are being picked for the first time. So a better way to translates this would be “I will pick another flower to give her

Grazie, veramente utile! Sei la numero uno. Siti come il tuo sono veramente fondamenti per superare certi scogli linguistici…

Thank you, really useful! You’re the number one. Sites like yours are fundamental indeed in order to overcome language obstacles…

I may be (and probably am) entirely wrong, but I THINK that there may be a small error when Mr. Pig is talking to his friend Lion. The English translation says that Lion offers Mr. Pig his stripes, but wouldn’t 头发 be referring to the Mane instead of stripes? (Also, lions don’t have stripes)

Otherwise, great work! I’ll definitely be using this site as a resource to improve my Mandarin reading!

I’m starting to learn mandarin, so probably I’m worng, but in the second sentence wouldn’t it be “猪先生精心了…” or something like that? If the action is finished (just like in this case), the particle is 了, isn’t it?

I found this site, lost it, and have (thankfully) found it again. It is one of my favorites for reading and vocabulary! I may try to learn to tell this story and tell it to my Chinese teacher:) Thanks so much for such a great learning site!

I just stumbled on this story, read it with pleasure, but have a question. Normally I see “把” in sentences with concrete objects:
“请把椅子拿过来” (Please bring the chair over to me).
“他把牛奶放在冰箱里” (He puts the milk in the fridge).
Also in the story it is obvious to use 把 when Mr. Pig takes resp. the tail, hair, and stripes of his friends.

However, later in the story ” 把” is used even though there is no concrete object:
“可把我吓坏啦” (It made me very frightened).
“猪小姐把那个丑八怪的故事仔细地讲给了猪先生” (Ms. Pig told the story of the ugly person to Mr. Pig in great detail).

Can someone explain me why the 把 is used in the latter sentences? Is it also possible to omit 把 there?

I don’t think the issue here is with the object – in both cases, the sentences have an object. What they do not have is the actual act of physically picking something up (taking it) literally and doing something with it.

In both of your example sentences, what is being taken is figurative.

可把我吓坏啦 – This is a very similar type of usage as the English phrase “The sight of that stunning scenery really grabbed me.” In this case, no one was actually grabbed. Same deal here. I’m not a grammarian, so I can’t explain it to you in those terms, but if you study the actual make-up of the word 吓坏, you’ll see why “把” makes sense. These two characters together – 吓坏 – mean “to really frighten”. But separately, they mean 吓 – “to startle” and 坏 – “to break”. You have to “take” something (把) before you can startle it so bad you break it. 吓坏 is actually an act-result type of word. Because 吓 happened (I was started), then 坏 happened.

Same thing here – 猪小姐把那个丑八怪的故事仔细地讲给了猪先生 – What is being “taken” is the story (故事), so 故事 is the object. But then what is being done with the story? It’s being GIVEN (讲给) to Mr. Pig. You have to TAKE something (pick it up, figuratively have it) before you can GIVE it.

Thanks a lot! Your website is really helpful and has everything needed to learn this amazing language. Just one question…is it possible to download these texts? I have tried copy&paste but it does not work. I want to do it so I can print these tales and study whenever I have some spare time.
Cheers

Hm, the copy-paste seems to work ok for me – what problems are you having? You’re more than welcome to copy them, but bear in mind I am translating other people’s stories, so you can’t print / resell the original texts, as I don’t own the rights.

Thank you for the stories and the translation..
You have done a very good job…
I just found this site 13 hours ago and so happy to have found what I’d been looking for…Stories which are not complicated and help me learn Chinese better…

I am just a kid but I am good at typing and whatsaping. I love to meet new friends!
I love to eat sandwiches

Dear Chinese Reading Practice,

I like your site very much!! Do you plan to have a traditional character addition to your site? That would be so great.

Thank you again. This is very helpful.

This was a great text. Long, interesting, also easy and great fun to understand. Thaaank you so much for this initiative of putting up such amazing texts and stories.
Many thanks

This was a great text. Long, interesting, also easy and great fun to understand. Thaaank you so much for this initiative of putting up such amazing texts and stories.
Many thanks 🙂

I love this site and am very grateful for it –

But is it me, or is the translation for this story pretty simplified compared to the Mandarin text?

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