In Chinese:
"Shĩ Shì shí shì shĩ"
Shíshì shīshì Shĩ Shì, shì shĩ, shì shí shí shĩ.
Shì shíshí shì shì shì shī.
Shí shí, shì shí shì shì shì.
Shì shí, shì Shĩ Shì shì shì.
Shì shì shì shí shĩ, shì shĩ shì, shĩ shì shí shĩ shishì.
Shì shí shì shí shĩ shĩ, shì shíshì.
Shíshì shĩ, Shì shì shì shì shíshì.
Shíshì shì, Shì shì shì shí shì shí shĩ.
Shí shí, shĩ shí shì shí shĩ shĩ, shí shí shí shĩ shī.
Shì shì shì shì."
*** *** ***
English Translation:
In a stone den was a poet called Shi, who was a lion addict, and had resolved to eat ten lions.
He often went to the market to look for lions.
At ten o'clock, ten lions had just arrived at the market.
At that time, Shi had just arrived at the market.
He saw those ten lions, and using his trusty arrows, caused the ten lions to die.
He brought the corpses of the ten lions to the stone den.
The stone den was damp. He asked his servants to wipe it.
After the stone den was wiped, he tried to eat those ten lions.
When he ate, he realized that these ten lions were in fact ten stone lion corpses.
Try to explain this matter.
*** *** ***
"Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den" is a short narrative poem written in Literary Chinese, composed of around 92 to 94 characters (depending on the specific version) in which every word is pronounced shi ([ʂɻ̩]) when read in modern Standard Chinese, with only the tones differing.
The poem was written in the 1930s by the Chinese linguist Yuen Ren Chao as a linguistic demonstration. The poem is coherent and grammatical in Literary Chinese, but due to the number of Chinese homophones, it becomes difficult to understand in oral speech.
"Shĩ Shì shí shì shĩ"
Shíshì shīshì Shĩ Shì, shì shĩ, shì shí shí shĩ.
Shì shíshí shì shì shì shī.
Shí shí, shì shí shì shì shì.
Shì shí, shì Shĩ Shì shì shì.
Shì shì shì shí shĩ, shì shĩ shì, shĩ shì shí shĩ shishì.
Shì shí shì shí shĩ shĩ, shì shíshì.
Shíshì shĩ, Shì shì shì shì shíshì.
Shíshì shì, Shì shì shì shí shì shí shĩ.
Shí shí, shĩ shí shì shí shĩ shĩ, shí shí shí shĩ shī.
Shì shì shì shì."
*** *** ***
English Translation:
In a stone den was a poet called Shi, who was a lion addict, and had resolved to eat ten lions.
He often went to the market to look for lions.
At ten o'clock, ten lions had just arrived at the market.
At that time, Shi had just arrived at the market.
He saw those ten lions, and using his trusty arrows, caused the ten lions to die.
He brought the corpses of the ten lions to the stone den.
The stone den was damp. He asked his servants to wipe it.
After the stone den was wiped, he tried to eat those ten lions.
When he ate, he realized that these ten lions were in fact ten stone lion corpses.
Try to explain this matter.
*** *** ***
"Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den" is a short narrative poem written in Literary Chinese, composed of around 92 to 94 characters (depending on the specific version) in which every word is pronounced shi ([ʂɻ̩]) when read in modern Standard Chinese, with only the tones differing.
The poem was written in the 1930s by the Chinese linguist Yuen Ren Chao as a linguistic demonstration. The poem is coherent and grammatical in Literary Chinese, but due to the number of Chinese homophones, it becomes difficult to understand in oral speech.